We Had A Quiet Day,

but in the evening we were out on the town,

I have split this post into two parts as we took so many pictures, the reason we were in town was that this evening it was the Loi Krathong festival, it takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, so we took motorcycle taxis to the end of Soi Diamond, which we then walked down,

 we walked past Heavens Above on the right,

 and the revolving bar, the first bar you see if you are staying at the Diamond Beach Hotel and walk down the steps,

 we were then into Walking Street,

and found our first Krathong,

 most of the big restaurants and bars,

 make Krathongs to float out to sea or if inland in a lake or river,

 many of the staff also put on traditional Thai costumes,

 we also found the first stall selling Krathongs, normally ones like these cost about 100 baht,

 a frog is atop of this Krathong as it is outside the frog bar,

 naturally there will be lots of food later,

 we were a bit early so many of the bars had only just opened,

 having said that in the distance many lanterns were already filling the night sky,

 another selection of Krathongs, the amount of work that goes into making them has to be seen to be believed,

 at the waters edge,

 someone watches their Krathong going out to sea whilst a family light the candle on theirs,

 we then turned around, Beach Road was very quiet,

 as we made our way back to Walking Street,

 we saw this gentleman again, I still remember him from my first trip out here in 1983,

 I just love looking at neon signs,

 if only we had not eaten before we left,

we would have stopped in here for a seafood supper,

 the lights from the Mandarin giving the street a red glow,

 by now the street was starting to fill up,

 we stopped by some more Krathongs,

 this one a 3 headed Nāga,

 as we made our way towards Bali Hai pier we could not help but notice the number of new clubs that had opened up,

 it seemed like every few bars there was a new one,

some with balloons out for party night,

 going past Soi Happy a Gogo it seems like it is all change for the beer bars that lead to it,

 this is also new, the huge television like sign over the Marine bar,

 by now everyone was in festive mood,

with age being no barrier to having fun,

 outside the Marine bar there were a number of Krathongs, all made by local businesses,

 along the street a photo-shoot was taking place, so I had to take a quick picture,

 the Turkish ice cream sellers were out in force, this is the third or fourth that we have seen this evening,

also new on the street the first of two new 3D movie shows, where you are bounced around for a 10 minuet movie, also you have a few special effects, like snow, smoke, water and wind directed at you as the movie progresses,

 we stopped by Nang Nual,

to have a look at their Krathong,

 there was no way we were going to make it past McDonald's,

 Diana just had to have an ice cream,

 we past the second of the 3D movie theatres,

 and a couple more new businesses,

 like these,

 also new for us was the ship in the distance,

 with waves and jumping dolphins,

 changing colour in a light show,

 we took a walk down to the beach,

 and watched as lanterns in the distance rose up into the sky,

 there were also a few fireworks,

 that were nice to look at, we then decided to buy our Krathong, if you want see more of our night out, just scroll down or hit the 'older posts' button.