Loy gratong festival – How to make your own gratong

How to make your own gratong

It will soon be loy gratong day again. Why not make your own gratong this year instead of buying one? It’s not too difficult if you can get the materials.

You will need:
– A slice of banana trunk or foam about 13cm diameter and 3cm thick
– Banana leaves to cover and decorate the base
– Small flowers for decoration
– Three incense sticks
– A small candle
– Scissors
– Pins, toothpicks and a stapler to hold things in place

How to put it together
1. First, check your slice of  banana trunk floats. If it is too thick, it will sink.
2. Cut a banana leaf into strips slightly thicker than the thickness of your base.
3. Pin the strips of banana leaf to cover the edge of the base. Trim as necessary.
4. Place the base on a banana leaf and use a pen to draw around the base. Cut to shape.
5. Pin the round banana leaf cut-out to one end of the stem or foam base. Trim.
6. Make decorative shapes with banana leaf strips and pin them to the base.
7. Decorate the base with flowers. Use pins or toothpicks to stick the flowers to the base. For small flowers, use pins. For bigger flowers use toothpicks.
8. Push three incense sticks into the top of the base.
9. Push in a candle near the incense sticks. You might need to make a hole first using scissors.

Just before you launch your gratong into the water, light the candle, making sure the incense sticks start to burn.

In 2015, Loy Gratong takes place on 25 November.

Phimai festival 2015

The annual Phimai festival takes place this year from the 11th to 15th November 2015.

Events include long boat racing, a Korat cat contest, music concerts and a musical show each evening at the Phimai historical park. Other events will take place and in the centre of the town stalls have been set up that will sell food, drinks and various other items.

The long boat racing this year is scheduled for Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November in the usual location in the town, Lam Jakaraat. Good views of the racing can be had along the sides of the river and from the bridge on Anantachinda Road.

There will be a series of music concerts for five days of the festival – from 11 to 15th November. The Mahahing band kicks off this years concerts on 11 November, Pongsit Kampee will perform on 12th November, Ja Gan Hoo on the 13th November, Labanoon will play on 14th November, and Wong Gang-geng play the final concert on 15th November.  Come to Phimai and enjoy the festival.

The Phimai circuit 2015

The second race in this year’s series of 5km road running races in Phimai town took place this morning starting from in front of the Phimai Hospital.

The full race calendar for the 2015 Phimai circuit is:

1. Saturday 23 May

2. Saturday 25 July

3. Saturday 26 September

Racing is scheduled to start at 06.00.

Registration takes place in the hospital car park on the morning of the race.

There are various age groups for male and female runners. There is a junior age group for boys or girls under 16, then 16-29 years old, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64 for men, 60 and over for women, 65 and over for men.

Join in the fun at the next 5km race in Phimai on Saturday 26 September 2015.

Kubota plough racing in Phimai

This weekend sees an unusual form of motor racing in Phimai – racing with ploughs.

The event is the Kubota Thailand championships, competing for the Princess Sirindhorn Trophy. Kubota is a well-known agricultural machinery manufacturer in Thailand.

Today’s racing consisted of just over two laps of a circuit in a very wet and muddy field. Each race saw two teams of two men set off and race their machines around the course.

The competition is being held over two days (Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th March 2015) at the Phimai Rice Research Centre, which is located on the outskirts of Phimai town at the bypass junction. Events are scheduled to start at 9am. Today’s racing finished at 4.20pm.

Entrance is free and there is free parking available in the grounds.

Loy gratong in Phimai

The loy gratong festival takes place in Thailand in November when there is a full moon. Loy Gratong literally means “float gratong”. A gratong is typically a small decorated receptacle made from banana leaves and a piece of banana tree trunk, although sometimes they are made of other materials (foam, for example) and sometimes they are very large. The gratongs are floated in rivers, canals, ponds and anywhere else there is water.

You can make your own gratong or you can buy one. You will find many people selling them. Prices vary depending on size. 20-30 baht is common but bigger ones can cost more.

A candle on the gratong is lit and often a small coin is also placed on the gratong. Traditionally Thais floated a gratong as an apology for any harm they have done to water in the last year but nowadays people usually make a wish as they launch their gratong.

The scene can be a beautiful sight for a few hours but in the morning the water is in a  worse state than 24 hours before.

The loy gratong festival usually includes food, markets, music, singing, dancing and games.

Fireworks are also let off and so are floating lanterns.

Enjoy the loy gratong festival in Phimai today,  the 6th of November 2014.

Phimai festival 2014

The annual Phimai festival will be held this year from the 5th to 9th November 2014.

Events include long boat racing, a Korat cat contest, a bird contest, singing, Thai dancing and a show at the Phimai historical park. Other events will take place and in the centre of the town stalls have been set up that will sell food, drinks, clothing and various other items.

Tomorrow, 5th November, there will be a Thai puppet show in the historical park. It is scheduled to start at 6pm.

The long boat racing this year is scheduled for 6-9 November in the usual location, Lam Jakarat. Good views of the racing can be had from the bridge on Anantachinda Road.

There will be a series of music concerts on each day of the festival. Bank from Clash will appear on 5th November, Family Valentine on 6th November, Labanoon on 7th November, Malihuanna on 8th November and Wong Gang-geng on 9th November.

The Korat Cat contest takes place in the afternoon of Saturday 8th November in the local government building (amper). The bird show takes place on Sunday 9th November.

 

Concerts in Phimai this week

This week there are some music concerts being played in Phimai town.

Who’s playing?

10 August: Kotiam-Gwian

11 August: Cocktail

12 August: Wong Gang-geng

13 August: Pai Pongsatorn

14 August: Family Valentine

15 August: Pongsit Kampee

16 August: Turbo Dance

The concerts are being held on the land that holds the “eight market”, not far from the Vocational college.

See the location of the “8 market” here: https://phimai.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/markets-in-phimai-town/

Phimai candle procession 2014

In Phimai, as in some other towns and cities in Thailand, a parade or procession is held which is commonly called a candle festival or candle procession. It is a procession or parade of wax decorated floats which have a large candle making up part of the decoration.

Local temples and people in the local community decorate floats with figures that mostly show Buddhist related themes.

The decorated floats are judged and prizes are given to the winners of each category. One of this year’s winners was the float from wat burapa-pimon – shown above and below.

There are also prizes for groups of people from local communities who dress up and enter the parade either walking or with a float. In the morning, the procession goes around the old part of the town starting and finishing at the Town Clock. Prize winners are announced in the area near the Town Clock, marked in dark red on the map below.

Candle processions in Thailand take place around the start of Buddhist Lent (kao pansa – เข้าพรรษา). The start of Buddhist Lent in 2014 is 12 July. The candle procession in Phimai takes place the day before Buddhist Lent, which is today, 11 July 2014,

In Korat, the candle procession will take place tomorrow,  12 July in 2014, the start of Buddhist Lent in Thailand. Buddhist Lent in Thailand continues for three months. The end of Buddhist Lent (ork pansa – ออกพรรษา) in Thailand in 2014 will be on 8 October.

Phimai cinema

There is a small cinema in Phimai town. It is located at the junction of Haruethairom Road and Suriya-atsadong Road. The entrance is on Suriya-atsadong Road.

The cinema is clean, modern and air conditioned.  There is no food for sale inside the cinema but there is a small shop next to the cinema that sells snacks and soft drinks.

The cost of entrance is 50 baht per person. It is the same price for everyone. There are no concessions – not even for children.

Pay your money to the attendant at the door (no tickets will be issued), enter the building and immediately turn right and walk up the short flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs is a door. Enter the door and find a seat.  The cinema has seats for approximately 150 people.

Movies are shown twice a day with programmes starting at 12.30pm and 7.30pm.  As far as I know, the movies shown are all dubbed in Thai. When I went, there were no subtitles.

Map showing the location of the cinema in Phimai town, Nakhonratchasima province.

UPDATE

Phimai town now has two cinemas. The new cinema, EGV, is located inside the Tesco Lotus supermarket building. It opened on 20th October 2016.

Below is a map showing the location of the new EGV cinema.

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The Phimai circuit 2014

Local runners and sports enthusiasts organise a series of 5km road running races in Phimai town. There are 3 races held two months apart. The series is called the Phimai Circuit.

Points are awarded to runners based on their finishing position in the race and small cash prizes are awarded for age group winners at the end of the year.  These races are popular with young people and hundreds of school children run or walk around the course.

The Phimai circuit for 2014 is:

1. Saturday 24 May

2. Saturday 26 July

3. Saturday 27 September

The races are organised by the Phimai Hospital and start and finish in front of it at 6am. Registration takes place in the hospital car park.

View of the start and finish line in front of Phimai Hospital.