Thai Buddhists light candles en masse at the beginning of Magha Puja festivities at a temple just off Ratchadamnoen and San Lan Road.
Approaching the end of my stay in Chiang Mai, a major Buddhist festival was going down all across Thailand. Magha Puja is especially well-celebrated in this burg, seeing how the Old City is just jam-packed with temples, many of which of some the best regarded in the entire country.
Alot of the customs surrounding this holiday were unfamilar to me, but it involved circling the temple at Wat Chedi Luang numerous times with candles, incense and flowers to honour Buddha …
…while the monks prayed and chanted. While understanding Thai would have made the proceedings much more profound, it was a very enlightening experience!
The most massive tree I’ve ever seen inside the grounds of Wat Chedi Luang … must be hundreds of years old at this girth … wow!
No better way to finish an exhausting but rewarding evening of temple tramping then with a refreshing fruit shake from Ms. Pa! Visit her stall, open most evenings in the nightly food market located on Bumrung Buri Road, which is the street on the south-inner side of the moat, near the southeast corner.
Next photo essay will be the last one from Chiang Mai on this trip, tying up the odds and ends from my two week writing visit…
