The Way We See the World

When we refer to the beaten path it is in our best interest that the readers do not take us for some pompous pair of want-to-be-rebels-from-any-majority-movements.  BUT we do in fact delight in humor.  As Websters itself once long long ago in an 80s edition defined humor as: laughing at the absurdities of human nature.  And THAT is precisely our aim when referring to any sort of crowd-mentality or beaten path that we see as clearly absurd and refreshingly human nature.

In that, we experienced Loy Krathong. Perhaps one of the most stunning and beautiful celebrations in the world.  A night where fireworks run free into any buyer's hands and up into the sky...down to the black sky becoming a dome of hundreds of thousands of jellyfish-like lanterns floating their way to the heavens. But before that part of the night, in all its magical fairy-tale splendor....we'd first like to take you on a journey through our eyes of the way we experienced the festivities of the night:

Get the picture? ;) There are plenty more, but I'm sure you've seen enough.  What we saw in every direction, was an aggression, a desperation, a hunger to grab these still frames of what otherwise was simply a well decorated parade of festive floats and dancers in the streets.  In a word: absurd.  As if the old-fashioned form of festive enjoyment through living in the moment has long passed as too boring, and now the best way to really enjoy the events is through a screen.  The first being that of the camera, second on the computer...trying to grasp the events of the night they were once too busy trying to capture.  As IF the human brain isn't adequate for enjoying it's own memories anymore!   We found it extremely appropriate in this situation to instead, do our own fair share of elbow-pushing through the crowds having equally no shame in taking pictures of people taking pictures of people.  

We proceeded into the festivities of the night, realizing that we were the only people on bicycles.  While people pounded their horns in busy traffic or walked shoulder-to-shoulder brushing past infinite streams of people...we navigated and negotiated our way through both.  Even biking through the market night life.....through tables of vendors...eating areas....bumper-to-bumper traffic....it was wild in the most controlled and like-us way.  It brought back fond memories of our long-ago early friendship days zipping through the hills of Marquette all year round exploring nooks and crannies...always attached to our beloved sets of wheels. 

Soon enough the sky was a dome of rising paper lanterns.  Gentle and beautiful.  Fireworks filled the spaces between.  Some of the lanterns attached streams of fireworks...giving the impression of shooting stars.  In every direction lanterns were lit and pulled into the sky.  The river nearby was a floating haven of candles an insence.  Although the irony was extreme...as their way of thanking the "gods" for rain and water through the year was an event sending all kinds and forms of debris into both...it was stunning.  

After our lanterns lifted into the sky, we stood there like a real newly-wed couple in a full embrace, eyes to the sky and smiles bright.  As the rest of the world of chaos and picture taking around us became an irrelevant blur, the moment suspended itself into a timeless beauty. 

M