The Ping Fai Festival happens December 20th through the 29th in Chiang Mai in One Nimman Think Park. It is sponsored by the Weave Artisan Society, and runs from 4pm until midnight.
“The festival has a theme ‘The Barn’ and is on every day, 4pm until midnight. There is a ‘Fin Market’ with over 100 stalls showcasing food, clothes, souvenirs, arts and crafts. Live music every night at One Nimman and on the 24th of December there is a special concert with ‘Pause’ starting at 10pm. “ ~ City Now – What’s On in Chiang Mai.
Brian and I may see a small part of this amazing celebration. We are both averse to large crowds, events at night, and loud music – plus this time of the year is the heaviest tourist season. It will also be getting uncomfortably cold starting right when the even starts each day. We may see what is happening right at opening one day while it is still light.
These photos of fall and winter make me a bit sad because I realize that I will never enjoy these sights in person again here in Thailand.
(1) Spring and Fall were my favorite seasons. I loved planting flowers and veggies every year in the spring. Fall in Arkansas wasn’t like the absolutely glorious images in Maine or surroundings, but I enjoyed the color we had, always trying to preserve leaves to use in art projects, my heart bursting from all the beautiful colors!
(2) Arkansas doesn’t ‘do’ winter well. We tended to have ice and then some snow. My favorite snows were ones with huge pretty flakes – that made you feel you were living in a snow globe someone had just shaken – that covered everything in fantasy, and then the sun came out and took it all away before I had to drive in it. We had a 650+ foot STEEP driveway on our 8 acres. Each year, no matter what we did, the trees on either side of our driveway would fall INTO the driveway, requiring us to use chainsaws to cut and haul our way down to the road. We had definitely gotten too old for this, but couldn’t afford (or find) someone to come do it for us.
In Thailand, depending on who you ask, we either have 3 or 4 summers that make up our year. We just finished “The Rainy Season”– June through October where it’s hot and rains almost every day, with huge hard rains and then remnants of typhoons coming our way from Vietnam – all of which caused my windows to leak.
“The Cool Season,” – from November until mid-February – it’s mid 80s for highs, 50 for a low, lots of sunshine and little rain. (Hooray!) “The Hot Season” is from March through May. Temperatures are above 95 degrees with scorching sunshine requiring umbrellas. Brian also adds “The Smoky Season” as a separate season, where it’s still really hot and farmers are burning off the residue in their fields making air purifiers mandatory. (Officially, this season is lumped in with “The Hot Season” for everyone except Brian).
No “Spring,” “Fall,” or “Winter” anymore. That makes me nostalgic.
What I’ve given up in seasons, though, I have more than gained in the delight of a new life here in Chiang Mai. I’m looking forward to buying some new clothes when I finally hit my weight goal (I’m about 9 pounds away now). I’m going to study up on the best clothes for a “mature woman” – who looks a bit like a Shar Pei now –
should wear in the year of summers I will learn to embrace now. My place is comfortable with lots of windows (some openable), a/c, fans, shades, air purifiers, and lots of water to drink. I carry an umbrella (for rain still now, but also for sun shade especially in the “Hot Season.”
I titled this post “A Bit Nostalgic – 2 and 1” because I’m nostalgic about the loss of fall and winter, but I just received something ELSE to remind me how very lucky I am to be here. My son just went to donate some clothes and texted me to unlock my door. He fought it open to bring me a doughnut! The first I have had in over 3 years. It was absolutely wonderful, but the best part was that he thought of me while doing other chores and brought me something he thought might ‘make me happy.’
Brian is researching to see if we can go somewhere this evening where I can see some lanterns without getting in the middle of the huge crowd in the dark at the river. I would love to get the flavor of the celebration, but from a distance.
This is practiced at the river in Chiang Mai, as well as all over Thailand. I thought this clip showed the beautiful Krathongs people made and show them putting them in the water for the celebration.
I love the idea of letting go of bad things that happened this year, letting go of bad feelings you might have for any reason, shedding regret over things you did – or didn’t – do, and more, replacing all with embracing a clean slate, a brand new year with the promise of a better year to come. The beautiful ceremonies unite the people in their strong belief. Really wonderful!
“The Chiang Mai CAD Lantern Festival 2025, to be held on November 5–6, 2025, will be organized under the theme: “In Remembrance of the Boundless Grace and Eternal Gratitude to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, The Queen Mother.” This year’s event will be conducted with due respect and in reflection of Her Majesty’s immeasurable benevolence, who passed away on October 24, 2025.
The two-day festival aims to promote and preserve Thai traditions and cultural heritage. Activities such as lantern releases, cultural performances, and fireworks will proceed as usual,with opportunities provided for all participants to express their remembrance and pay their respects appropriately during this national mourning period.”
Loy Krathong Festival – Khao Lak Center
The Thai government has confirmed that the Loy Krathong festival will proceed nationwide as scheduled.
Celebrations are required to maintain a solemn and respectful tone to honor Her Majesty Queen Sirikit The Queen Mother.
Organizers have been asked to scale back festive elements such as live music and elaborate light-and-sound shows.
Some events will replace traditional fireworks with drone shows and use more subdued lighting to create a dignified atmosphere.
The purpose of the Loy Krathong and Yi Peng festivals is to “express gratitude, seek forgiveness, make wishes for the future, and show reverence to the water goddess (Loy Krathong) and the heavens/Buddha (Yi Peng). Both festivals, celebrated simultaneously, involve releasing lights—krathongs (baskets) on water and khom loy (sky lanterns) into the air—to symbolize letting go of misfortunes and ushering in good luck and renewal.”
Since there is usually a huge crowd at the river, and I’m not good in big crowds in the dark, Brian and I will honor the festivities more quietly. I look forward to seeing the lanterns, and I’ll try to find videos of people releasing krathongs into the water.
What a beautiful way to celebrate a ‘new year’ – letting go of the past year and embracing the promise of a new one!
THERAINY SEASON – (June – October) – especially heavy June through August – heaviest in July.
We are finally getting to the end of “The Rainy Season” here in Chiang Mai. This has been a real adjustment for me.
I have a condo I love with large picture windows letting lots of light in and providing a spectacular view. Unfortunately, they also leak. The hard rains have moved me to form my ‘bucket and towel brigade’ with a membership of one, to be ready at a moment’s notice, day or night, to put rolled up towels on all the window sills, watching them carefully and wringing them out into a bucket at intervals until the rain has passed, and then trying to get the towels dry to be armed for the next rain..
I have also learned to always carry an umbrella and a “rain suit” that is an ingenious invention made from a plastic bag, with sleeves and a hood with a drawstring. Just the thing when it’s really blowing and pouring.
Happily, our condo building will be doing exterior repairs and repainting once the rainy season is completely over. One of the things on the list is doing outside resealing of windows – hopefully making it so the bucket brigade won’t be necessary next time.
The rain here is very different from what I was used to in the States. In Arkansas, if it rained, it rained most of the day. We postponed activities until it dried out. Here, it can absolutely POUR for several minutes and then stop, as if a faucet was turned off, the sun coming out and the rest of the day beautiful – or pour again, just as soon as you get your rain suit or umbrella put away. As long as you learn to be prepared to pull out your umbrella or don your rain suit, you get used to dealing with it, not postponing any activities. (I also carry a trash bag to put my wet umbrella in until I can open it up and dry it at home.)
My rain suit is actually purple, though it shows pink here.
Trying to get laundry done during the rainy season is quite laborious. I try to get my laundry out on my little balcony early in the morning to catch the good sun. Many times a sudden rain storm will drench your clothes, so you have to keep an alert eye on the skies, rather than depending on the weather app, ready to drag your drying rack inside very quickly to rescue your clothes. Then the sun will come out, and you reverse the process – sometimes several times – until the task is done.
Typhoons come from the direction of Vietnam. It’s a bit scary with weather alerts on your phone. (The alerts are in Thai – pretty useless to a non-Thai speaker like me)- but I’ve learned what it is and look for the dates that it will hit Chiang Mai. We’re up high, so we don’t have to worry about flooding, but we DO have to get serious about the bucket brigade at times like this…
The Rainy Season is coming to an end here. My son Brian says Thai ‘winter’ is next with a bit cooler temperatures (only 85 or so in the afternoons) and a LOT less rain! I’m ready!!!!!
I got curious about whether Thai people celebrated Halloween or not; especially if the kids did the equivalent of “trick-or-treating.”
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“Phi Ta Khon Festival (Ghost Festival) 2025. The Phi Ta Khon Festival, more commonly known as the Ghost Festival of Thailand, is a colorful part in Thailand’s rich tradition of ghost and spirit folklore and bears a passing resemblance to Mexico’s Día de los Muertos or “Day of the Dead.”
Rooted in Asian culture, it is an annual event held to honor and appease restless spirits. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Buddhist and Taoist beliefs. According to ghost festival history, the gates of the underworld open during the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
The Ghost Festival, or Phi Ta Khon, is not held in Chiang Mai but in Dan Sai district, Loei province, during the rainy season, typically late June to early July. It is a colorful festival featuring participants in elaborate ghost masks and costumes, parades, and religious ceremonies to honor spirits.
Activities:
Parade: A major highlight is the main parade on the first day, featuring participants in elaborate ghost masks and costumes.
Religious ceremonies: The event includes prayers and ceremonies at local temples, such as Wat Phon Chai.
Rocket festival: The second day often incorporates elements of a rocket festival (Bun Bang Fai) to ask for rain.
Symbolic rituals: A tradition involves a symbolic discarding of costumes into the river to let go of suffering. “
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This is a much more serious celebration than our Halloween, and though children are included, the masks and costumes of the adults are what have the concentration.
About an hour ago, the sky turned really dark and the rain came down HARD. It pelted my windows so hard I thought it must be hail, but I couldn’t see any when I looked out. I DID see completely flooded streets – water rushing by like a river – with cars and motorcyclists (poor people!) at a standstill.
Since then, I’ve been mopping up water in my place. It filled up the window sills on the inside and spilled over and down the walls. The floor had some standing water and the bottom side of the rug was soaked.
I think most of it is under control now. I got towels and sopped up water on the window sills, wiped down the walls as best I could, soaked up the water on the floor, and now have two portable fans on high aimed at the floor and the rug bottom.
I can only imagine what kind of flooding people at street level had. I feel sorry for the shopkeepers and people who live at street level who must be trying to do what they can to contain the damage.
This IS the ‘rainy season’ in Thailand. It’s supposed to continue until around the first of November…
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