Yesterday was a holiday in Thailand – Loy Krathong.

A beautiful. traditionally Thai celebration where you float a small krathong made of banana leaf or Styrofoam (though recently discouraged) with a candle, incense, and a small offering on the lake, canal, or in the sea. Loy Krathong is celebrated nationwide and is a major excuse to party.  Fun, food, booze, music, dance, beauty contests, and more food is everywhere and anywhere near water.

So, when I went out for my morning bicycle ride around Beung Nong Khot, a very small lake in Khon Kaen, i expected to see the remnants of the previous night’s celebration.  I knew that there would be krathongs in the water that will hopefully disintegrate (if bio-degradable) but I didn’t expect to see such a mess at the park by the lake.

Loy Krathong Beung Nong Khot

Who is to blame of the Loy Krathong mess?

I don’t want to point fingers and can only guess since I wasn’t there, but from the looks of things, there definitely wasn’t enough trash bins for the amount of people and their rubbish.  I only saw a handful of small trash bins around the perimeter of the park and they were all overflowing.

But, just because there are an insufficient number of trash receptacles doesn’t mean that people should just toss their trash on the ground.

Loy Krathong Beung Nong Khot Park

Since I have lived here the past 9 months and been a visitor for the past 37 years, I have come to the conclusion that many Thai people feel that any area outside of their front door is considered fair game for trash.  Thais will keep the inside of their house spotless but toss trash anywhere else they feel like.

I even showed my Thai wife my photos and she chuckled and said that it was very dirty.  i asked her why she laughed and all she could say was that it was like that every year.

Loy Krathong Stage Beung Nong Khot Park

Now, Beung Nong Khot is a small body of water.  I hate to think of what the trash looked like the larger, Beung Kaen Nakorn, in the middle of the city or the pond near the front gate of Khon Kaen University.  I am guessing that they were many times worse.

Multiply this by the tens of thousands of other locations throughout Thailand celebrating Loy Krathong and you can imagine how much trash is strewn around the country in just one night.

Really sad because the krathongs are so beautiful and painstakingly made by hand that there has to be so much trash to mar the occasion.

Krathongs at Beung Nong Khot Park

I know that this rant won’t accomplish anything.  The next holiday, His Majesty, The King of Thailand, will celebrate his birthday (Father’s Day) on December 5th and I am sure that there will be as much trash, if not more, than there was following the Loy Krathong festival.

Anyhow, please use the trash bins and if they are full, take your trash home with you and dispose of it properly. Don’t use Thailand as your personal trash bin.  Keep Thailand clean and not just during Loy Krathong.

Tags: festival loy krathong thailand.holiday.khon kaen