Bun Bang Fai/Rocket Festival 2557

Bun Bang Fai is a Rocket Festival that takes place in the North Eastern (Isaan) region of Thailand. The festival takes place over the course of three days, the first day being a parade followed by two days filled with fun, food, music, blast-offs, and much like most competitive sports (think car or horse racing) gambling. Bun Bang Fai is celebrated in my community once every two years. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to participate in this year's events. I think the pictures below tell the whole story. Enjoy!  

  



We decorated floats the night before the parade.

 

Day 1: The floats varied in style and extravagance.



The King is honored in all that is done

With some of my crew :-)

 



 Characters Welcome:



(It is what you think it is lol)



 The Troupes

 

And then we got rained out. The most rain I've seen since I've been in this country.
We got completely drenched, but it was fun..

 

Days 2 & 3 The Rockets

Preparing the rockets for flight

3,2,1 - Blastoff!!

Or not.

Sometimes just a blast.

I didn't get many good shots, but I did manage to capture the difference between a successful and unsuccessful launch



I also enjoyed:

Band Performances



Making new friends

Conversations with cool people

Beautiful Sunsets

Maw-Lam-Sing

 

Overall, I really enjoyed my Bun Bang Fai experience. Twas a great weekend :-)