Chiang Mai Lantern Festival with a Baby

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In our previous adventure in Khao Lak, we spent a week of R&R on the shores of Bangsak Beach. Our next destination is Chiang Mai during one of the most well known festivals in the world. We timed our stay in Chiang Mai so that we would be there during the Yee Peng Festival, otherwise known as the Lantern Festival. If you’ve ever wondered if this festival was family appropriate, you’re not alone. This post shares our experience at the Chiang Mai Lantern Festival with a baby.

Table of Contents

• Background
• Day 1 – Travel Day and Check In
• Day 2 – Umbrella Making Centre, Release of Sky Lanterns
  • Umbrella Making Centre
  • Lantern Festival
• Day 3 – Loy Krathong
• Day 4 –  Check Out, Road to Pai

Background

The Yee Peng Festival (Lantern Festival) is held in Thailand every year on rotating dates.  The name Yee Peng translates to ‘Second Moon’.  This refers to when the festival is held.  Every year it is held over the full moon in the second month of the Lanna Luna Calendar, which usually falls in November.  Sky lanterns are released into the sky to say goodbye to your misfortunes of the previous year. 

There are actually two festivals that take place simultaneously during the Lantern Festival. Sometimes known as the Festival of Light. Yee Peng makes up one portion, where sky lanterns are released. Loy Krathong makes up the other half. Loy Krathong roughly translates to ‘Floating Basket’. During this festival small boats made from organic material filled with candles are released into the canals at night. This festival is in thanks for a successful rainy season which would result in a great rice harvest. When you release your krathong into the water, you are letting go of all your negative thoughts from the previous year and starting fresh.  

Day 1 – Travel Day and Check In

We left our beachside resort in Khao Lak, and drove the hour and a half back to the Surat Thani airport. Our next stop was Chiang Mai for three nights. We dropped off our rental car at the airport, and checked in for our flight. We had booked flights on Air Asia and for two adults and a baby, we paid 6000 Baht (฿) which is just shy of $200 USD. The flight was an hour and forty five minutes long.

Once we landed and collected our luggage, we took a taxi to our hotel. We were staying at the Villa Duangchampa. This small boutique hotel is perfectly situated in the middle of Chiang Mai’s “Old Town”. The hotel is small, with only ten rooms spread over four floors. We were given a room on the top floor. There was no elevator. The temperature each day was above 95°F and the building was not enclosed, it was open air. It was tough work climbing up four stories holding a sweaty 8 month old after just walking around the city in the heat. If we weren’t exhausted by the time we got to our hotel, we were exhausted when we got to our room.

Our room included breakfast each day. It was a good breakfast with fresh food. Eggs cooked fresh to your liking. There was a station where you could make your own toast or have fresh bread, as well as plates of fresh fruit and yogurt. The hotel offered live music in the lobby many nights, but as we coordinated our stay in Chiang Mai over the lantern festival, we weren’t around the hotel in the evenings for the live music. The cost for this boutique hotel for 3 nights during the Lantern Festival was ฿8100 ($260 USD).

We checked into our hotel, and after a short freshen up we went out for a walk to explore our new neighbourhood. We stopped at a small restaurant for dinner. Most restaurants in Chiang Mai are open air restaurants, with no real walls. This makes for great people watching, but doesn’t give you any opportunities to cool down. 

Chiang Mai has a famous dish that they are known for. Khao Soi is a coconut cream soup with egg noodles and chicken thighs topped with crispy noodles. We could not get enough of this soup. It was amazing at most restaurants we tried. As mentioned in 10 Tips for Family Travel on a Budget, and why it’s great to have SIM card, we always google restaurants in an area before we decide on one. You can have some amazing meals by choosing where to eat via reviews. We will walk out of our way a few blocks to go to a highly rated restaurant over a close one. If you like Thai food (and who doesn’t), you have to try the Khao Soi.

After dinner we ventured a bit farther away from our hotel and admired all the lights and lanterns that were placed around the city for the upcoming festival.

Day 2 – Umbrella Making Centre, Release of Sky Lanterns

Umbrella Making Centre

On the morning of our first full day in Chiang Mai, we decided to check out the Umbrella Making Centre. It was a little ways out of town, so we booked a Grab, which is their version of Uber, and took the 20 minute drive east of Chiang Mai.

At the Umbrella Making Centre, you can take a tour of umbrellas being made by hand. These types of umbrellas in Northern Thailand date back to more than 200 years. They are made from all natural sources and are used for the purpose of a sun shade. The scaffolding is made from bamboo sticks, and the paper is a natural oil paper pressed by hand. Once the paper is dry, it is hand painted in usually bright colours and patterns.

Aside from watching the umbrellas be made, there is also a massive gift shop and a little cafe. When wandering through the back area where the umbrellas are made, Fox and I were swarmed by people all wanting to say hi and hug and cuddle our 8 month old. This was a common occurrence all over Thailand.

The neighbourhood around the Umbrella Making Centre is full of other handicraft centres. You can walk down the block and stop in shop after shop of handmade goods. Other umbrella makers, wooden figures and bowls, and paper crafts can be purchased. We spent a few hours in the area window shopping before ordering a car to take us back to our hotel for a rest before the festivities

Lantern Festival

We left our hotel just before sunset and started walking towards the Phae Gate. It wasn’t dark yet but you could feel the excitement in the air. The crowds at the Phae Gate were large, and there were many vendors set up selling small toys and glow sticks for kids. It was starting to get dark now. We continued walking east towards the Ping River. It was very easy to follow the crowds at this point, everyone was headed to the same place, the Nawarat Bridge.

Along the way there were lots of people selling lanterns. Depending on what size you want, they are around ฿50-100 ($1.50-3.20 USD). Make sure to bring a lighter with you. You can purchase one beforehand in any convenience store. We bought two lanterns from a seller and proceeded to walk closer to the bridge. As we were walking slowly towards the bridge, a sky full of lanterns could be seen in the distance. It was very beautiful and quite a sight to see.  

Fox was in his carrier on my chest as we pushed through swarms of people. My elbows were on guard to keep people from bumping into him, or hitting him. For the amount of people present, everyone was very courteous and polite. We didn’t have any issues with people shoving us, and minimal people bumping into us even. 

We stopped at a spot where we could get some room to light our first lantern. We had no idea what we were doing but watched a few around us before attempting our own. The paper that makes up the lantern is very thin. It breaks very easily. We had to carefully open our lantern, as you buy them flat. The paper opens up to form the lantern, while a wire base with a quick starter is at the bottom. You essentially hold your lantern up and wait for it to burn hot enough to fly away.

You may not have to watch for people bumping into you, but you do have to watch for stray lanterns. If someone lets go of their lantern before it is burning hot enough for a proper lift off, it floats sideways before bumping into something. Sometimes it was trees and buildings, but sometimes it was people. On more than one occasion we had to bat away or even catch a stray lantern. Make sure you hold your lantern long enough before releasing it.

After releasing our lanterns, we just walked around and enjoyed the festivities. Fox was mesmerized by all the flickering lights and people moving around him. We found a small square set up with hanging lanterns in bright beautiful colours. There was also live music, and food trucks (In Thailand you will always find food trucks). There was plenty of space on the grass to let Fox crawl around while we watched the lanterns flicker in the sky.

We eventually started to wander back to our hotel room close to midnight. We were all exhausted from the evening.

Day 3 – Loy Krathong

We slept in the next day and took our time with breakfast. After breakfast we went for a walk around the old town and stocked up on water and food and diapers for Fox. The following day we would be making our way to Pai, and wanted to be prepared. As it was a much smaller town, we weren’t sure how easy it would be to purchase baby necessities while there. After doing our little bit of shopping, we went back to our hotel room to collect our laundry.

We gathered our clothes and walked to a nearby laundromat where we could wash the clothes ourselves. The coin operated machines were easy to use and there was a nearby restaurant, so we had some lunch while waiting. By this time we decided it would be best to head back to our hotel for a nap. We wanted to be well rested for whatever tonight was going to bring us.

We went for an early dinner, and had more Khao Soi. I don’t think I ate anything else while in Chiang Mai. I can not stress enough how good this soup is. By this time it was getting dark. We started to make our way back to the bridge. Along the way we purchased two Krathongs from two different makers. There were many tables set up along the way to the bridge to buy these boats from. They were around ฿100 ($3.20 USD). We carried our boats towards the Ping River. 

Around the Phae Gate a large parade had started.  Floats and dancers were moving down the street past the gate.  We stayed and watched for a short time only.  The crowds were large and the spectators were not organized in the way we were used to in North America.  There were no straight lines.  Everyone stood where they wanted, which was often in front of the floats as they came down the street.  We were eager to float our Krathongs, so we continued on.

We chose two different locations along the river to release our Krathongs. Instead of crossing the bridge tonight when we arrived at it, we decided to head north along the water.  There were many places to launch your Krathong into the water.  We chose two different locations with which to do so.  The water glowed with candle light.

We continued on and came across rows and rows of food stalls set up along the side of the road.  We, of course, stopped for a quick bite to eat.

We came upon a foot bridge across the river.  The bridge was very busy with foot traffic, most of which weren’t crossing the bridge at all, but standing and watching the lights in the water and in the sky.  We pushed through the crowds and walked across the Chansom Memorial Footbridge to the east side of the river.

We were in a whole new area.  It was just as busy during the Lantern Festival, but had a different feel.  It was more local.  This side of the river was filled with homes decorated with lanterns.  Locals were in the street and sitting on blankets by the water.  There were lots of food stalls set up, and more vendors to purchase Krathongs from.  

We sat along the water in the grass for a time watching the lights, while a few local women and children played with Fox before continuing on our way.  We eventually made it back to the Nawarat Bridge where we decided to purchase one of the largest sized sky lanterns.

Our huge sky lantern proved a challenge to light and successfully send into the air.  As it was so much bigger than the smaller ones, you had to hold onto it for quite some time before there was enough heat to make it fly.  This meant you had to hold all that heat pretty close to your face.

 After our final lantern was released, we called it a night and walked back to our hotel under the glow of thousands of lanterns.

Day 4 – Check Out, Road to Pai

Our next destination in our Thailand journey was Pai.  There are two ways to get to Pai, by air, or by land.  By air, it’s a quick flight, one hour long, that usually costs around $80 per person.  By land, it’s about a three to four hour drive.  The drive however has 762 twists over 90 miles (145kms).  For someone like me who can get motion sickness in cars, this drive is your worst nightmare. 

After our last breakfast at Villa Duangchampa, we checked out.  Stay tuned for our Pai adventure, including if we survived “The Road to Pai.”

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