Jamie Sinz

wanderer extraordinaire

10,000 Lanterns : 10,000 Wishes

November 9, 2008

**All photos were taken by Nik.

Fifteen hours later, and I am still in awe of watching 10,000+ lanterns float through the sky.  I suspect that I will still be in awe of this moment 15 years from now.  In fact, I think I might look at these photos every single day for the rest of my life.  And the most amazing part is that not only did 10,000+ lanterns float through the sky; 10,000+ people launched them into the sky, and Nik and I were among them!

The Buddhist tradition states that when you release a lantern, Kome Loy, into the sky, you are releasing your misgivings and are to make a wish.  This cleansing ritual makes it difficult to think of anything but how beautiful our lives are as we watched everyone’s wish float toward the heavens.

My wish is to celebrate Loy Krathong with my entire family through the act of releasing Kome Loy into the sky!

I also took a short video of the main release that Nik put to music.  You can watch a high quality version here on YouTube.  It is amazing!!!!

Nik also posted a lot of photos from our day of beauty: Fire in the Sky

The Floating Lantern Ceremony is part of Northern Thailand’s Loy Krathong Festival, also known as Yee Peng, and is held at the Buddhist Meditation Center, Tudong Ka Sathaan Lanna, behind the Mae Jo Agricultural University in San Sai District, Chiang Mai.

10 comments ↓

  • NIKDAUM.COM – News » Blog Archive » Fire in the Sky: Loy Krathong Begins and Lanterns Fly in Mae Jo, Thailand
    November 9, 2008 at 9:02 pm

    [...] There are more days of festival ahead of us. I’m looking forward to heading to the river in town to experience again the beautiful battlefield that is this celebration of floats, flames, fireworks, parades, and food. J. posted a bunch more of my lantern photos on her blog too. [...]

  • craig
    November 11, 2008 at 10:55 pm

    Never hard to find something new and exciting to witness in Thailand — on my list for 2009. Thanks!

    //craig of travelvice.com

  • Prêt à Voyager
    November 11, 2008 at 11:07 pm

    Simply stunning! What an amazing event to be a part of! How do they float? Is it not dangerous with the candles???

    Anne

  • craig
    November 13, 2008 at 2:54 am

    Another profile of the bags that I saw on New Year’s Eve 2004 in Ko Samui. They work like a hot air balloon — the candle in the center warms the air inside the bag.

    From http://www.howstuffworks.com/hot-air-balloon.htm :

    Hot air balloons are based on a very basic scientific principle: warmer air rises in cooler air. Essentially, hot air is lighter than cool air, because it has less mass per unit of volume. A cubic foot of air weighs roughly 28 grams (about an ounce). If you heat that air by 100 degrees F, it weighs about 7 grams less. Therefore, each cubic foot of air contained in a hot air balloon can lift about 7 grams. That’s not much, and this is why hot air balloons are so huge — to lift 1,000 pounds, you need about 65,000 cubic feet of hot air.

  • John Taylor
    December 2, 2008 at 11:25 am

    This is really staggeringly beautiful, thank you for sharing these pictures.

  • Morgan Coudray
    December 8, 2008 at 6:00 am

    That’s is simply beautiful! Simplicity is magical!!!!

  • Don
    March 20, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    What is the music that accompanies this lovely and moving video?

  • Jamie
    March 22, 2009 at 8:27 pm

    Don, unfortunately, I don’t know what the music is. Nik put it together, and he doesn’t recall the artist either. Sorry…I know it’s so great!!

  • Sue
    April 23, 2009 at 7:16 am

    We are just back from a trip to Thailand and our tour director staged a kome loy (flying lantern) festival in the hotel parking lot one evening. There were only 15 of us and 20 lanterns but still a beautiful and moving event. Twenty wishes floated into the sky!!!!

  • 30Traveler
    November 16, 2012 at 11:16 pm

    Being in Thailand for this is on my bucket list. Amazing pics!

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