During the planning of our big Southeast Asia trip, I realized there would be a can’t-miss festival call Loi Krathong or Yi Peng in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. I had a difficult time finding a way to get here from Siem Reap, Cambodia without ridiculously long bus rides through remote jungles and mountains. I eventually gave in and bought airline tickets that hopped from Siem Reap to Chiang Mai – a significantly less stressful method.

In the days leading up to the main festivities we did a whole bunch of fun stuff! The first night we went to a Muay Thai fight.

The fans get really in to it with rampant betting all around. There was about seven matches and several fighters got knocked out cold. One of the earlier matches featured very young looking boys.

The next day, we took a fantastic course at Baan Thai Cooking School. Before the actual cooking, we went to a local market to pick out ingredients for the dishes.

Chiang Mai was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom, which was eventually absorbed into Siam (now Thailand), and they have their own unique and delicious cuisine. At night, we enjoyed heading to the night market and random restaurants for fantastic food.