Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival 2013

[Guest fountainhall]

Just a reminder that one of Thailand's great Festivals takes place in Ubon Ratchathani this year on July 22 and 23, the start of the Buddhist Lent. I wrote a long report on the Ubon Candle Festival after I was there in 2007. Sadly that is no longer in the archives, but I did a little update with photos  two years ago.

 

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/7154-ubon-candle-festival/?hl=ubon

 

The Parade is the largest in the country and seems to involve the whole town. Each temple (and there are about 70 of them) prepares massive wax floats which take about a month to carve, community groups and students take part dressed in local costumes - and the whole affair lasts about 5 hours. I loved every minute of it. That year I noticed quite a few Japanese and Korean tourists, but I was one of only about a dozen westerners. So many people wanted photos with me(!), including some of the gorgeous students from the local university.

 

The one problem I found was getting a hotel - even 6 months in advance. I had an air ticket, but no accommodation, Thankfully, I got a last-minute cancellation. If you have a car, it's no problem because you can stay outside the city. If not, and you are interested in attending this year, then book whatever is available now.

 

Ubon is very quiet at night. When I was there, there was a gay sauna near the river which was quite active. Not sure if it is still going.

 

For info about last year's Festival - http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2012/07/candle-festival-reaches-111-years/

 

A sample pic

[TotallyOz]

I wrote a long report on the Ubon Candle Festival after I was there in 2007. Sadly that is no longer in the archives, but I did a little update with photos  two years ago.

Archives don't get deleted.

 

Is this the one? I found several from you and me posted over the years.

 

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/1869-ubon-ratchathani/?hl=candle

[Guest fountainhall]

Thanks Michael. I looked again at the archives. I had an older post describing the Festival, bit cannot find one with photos. I must have been mistaken. The link in the OP must have been my first post with pics.

[ceejay]

I would have replied to this days ago, but I have been having log in problems. The Isaan has some wonderful festivals, and I have been to several of them, including the Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival. I have had it in mind to make some posts giving an overview of these, but have been prevented by laziness so I'll tag the first of them onto Fountainhall's post if I may.

One of the strange difficulties in arranging a visit to these festivals is finding out when they are! Mostly, the date is determined by the lunar calendar, and often websites like the Tourist Authority of Thailand don't give an actual date until a month or two in advance. Not much use, if you are planning and booking a holiday 6 or 9 months ahead. The difficulty with the Candle Festival is that it is part of the larger Ubon Ratchathani International Wax Sculpture competition, which lasts for all of July, and this is all the information you get on the TAT website.

The Candle Festival Parades (there are actually three) take place on the Buddhist festival days of Asanha Bucha (night parade) and Wan Khao Pansa (the day after Asanha Bucha - the main daytime parade and another night parade). Asanha Bucha is one of Buddhism's holiest days and a public holiday in Thailand and so finding this date is the easiest way of determining the date of the Candle Parade, although the date was not known for certain in 2012 until quite late on because of the occurence of a "repeated month" in the Buddhist calendar. It took place on 3rd August (which is about as late as it can be and would have been a problem to anyone who believed the TAT website which said the festival ended on July 31st). Wan Khao Pansa is the start of the Buddhist Rains Retreat, when monks are required to remain in their "home" Wat for a period of 3 months. It is traditional to present them with candles and clothing on Wan Khao Pansa, and this is the cultural foundation of the Canlde Festival.

If, a day or two before Asanha Bucha, you go around the various Wats in town, you can see the floats being prepared. It's all done by hand - the monks are preparing thousands of little fretwork wax panels which are appliqued onto the candles and carvings:

The ceremonies begin on Asanha Bucha with the presentation of the Royal Candle and Royal Loin Cloth. They are taken from Wat Luang (near the bridge over the Mun River) to Wat Supattanaram, to be kept there overnight, each to be paraded on it's own float the next day. They are taken by river, each with it's own barge. There is an escort of oared longboats which covers the river from side to side. The crews' unforms are red, white and blue to make a waterborne Thai Flag.

The evening of Asanha Bucha day, after dark, there is the first parade of the floats through the city:

The following day, starting quite early in the morning (8.30 or 9.00) is the main, daytine candle parade:

The Candle Parade is a "Festival of Festivals". All of the local Wats have there own candles and floats, and many parade them locally before the main festival. This was at Wat Muang. I cam on it quite by accident - I was just visiting the Wat and had no idea this was happening:

I have always taken the opportunity on these Isaan visits to see around the area, to visit places that I might not otherwise go to. I travelled out from Bangkok by road on this occasion, taking in Bang Pa In Palace, a retreat near Ayuttayah built by Rama V, notable for it's eccentric architecture:

Then went on to Phimai to stay overnight, because I wanted to visit the Khmer temple there (one of the best preserved in Thailand)

I made side visits from Ubon itself to the Sirindhorn Dam (no pictures because it rained all day) and the "Mekong Mooscape" (a rocky stretch of the Mekong pitted by many potholes) (no pictures because it was underwater.) There were more successful side trips to:

Khong Chiam on the Mekong where you can make a (strictly speaking illegal) exit from the country to make a trip to a Lao market on the opposite side of the river. You get a day ticket for 100 baht from the Lao immigration office where you land:

Sao Chaliang National Park, which has some striking natural rock formations that look like Breton dolmens:

Pha Taem, which is close to Sao Chaliang and has the oldest prehistoric cave paintings in Thailand:

Where I stayed: The Sri Isaan Hotel. Typical budget Isaan hotel with very small rooms, but clean and adequate. Ideally situated - it's no more than 5 minutes walk from Wat Luang and 10 minutes from the street where the parades take place:

http://www.sriisanhotel.com/

Don't bother emailing them. They don't reply. I got Suphot to phone them and book a room for me.

How I got there and travelled around. I hired Suphot (Smiles' better half) seen here with his car.

You can have no better driver or guide for the Isaan (or anywhere else in Thailand) than Suphot. Knowledgeable, a safe driver and very committed to serving his customers, he can be contacted at

suphot.tours@gmail.com

[Guest fountainhall]

Great Report ceejay - many thanks for posting. I entirely agree with your suggestion about visiting the temples on the day before the Parade proper. It's amazing to see the finishing touches being put to all the floats.

 

Have you been to the Ghost Festival in Loei? If so, any tips? That's the one I would really like to visit next.

 

Maybe you could open a new thread on "Thailand's Traditional Festivals" where others can share their reports/photos on Loy Krathong, Songkran and the other more local Festivals etc.