We were, however, delighted to discover a bright sunny day by the time we arrived back in the Panwa Bali anchorage around noon.
Once we were settled and had lunch, it was time for Dr Roy to get to work; removing the stitches from Elaine’s back. This, because she’d decided to limit her exposure to the hospital as much as possible after her experiences of the past few months with her new treatment plan, which nearly killed her off. It was a case of “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”. As expected, Dr Roy did a marvellous job!
Afterwards, while Roy cooked up a storm in the galley using the enormous prawns we’d purchased from a local fisherman, Elaine created our fully biodegradable, eco-friendly “Krathong” to celebrate “Loy Krathong”, the Festival of Lights, a significant event celebrated on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, which for this year, was last night.
The history behind “Loy Krathong” is complex and Thais celebrate it for many reasons, the most important of which is to thank the Water Goddess, as the rice season ends, for using her water to grow the crops and for supporting all life year-round, as well as to apologise to her for polluting the water.
As a token of gratitude and apology, a small decorated round raft, the “Krathong”, usually made of a banana tree trunk slice or a slice of bread, decorated with flowers, nicely folded banana leaves, a candle and three sticks of incense on top, is released into the water to be taken away by the stream or current. As a result, people flock to the closest river, lake, beach or even swimming pool to release their floating offering, hoping for good luck in the year to come. It is also believed that this is the time to symbolically “float away” any anger and grudges you may have been holding onto and, if you add a lock of your hair or some of your trimmed nails to the “Krathong”, it is seen as a way of letting go of the dark side of yourself, to start anew, free of negative feelings and to carry away bad luck and illness. Needless to say, we added both! Additionally, if your candle stays lit until your “Krathong” disappears out of sight, it means a year of good luck.
Elaine, of course, had to improvise in making our “Krathong”. Her base was a piece of light wood she salvaged from the packaging of some goat cheese she had finished at lunchtime, thanks to Roy’s quick thinking before she nearly threw it in the dustbin, and the cardboard inners of a roll of paper towel and two toilet rolls that were about to be disposed of too. Then scrounging through her “party bag” she found coloured tissue paper, used to make the folded leaves, as well as some ribbon to add to the decorations. The final touch were the flowers made from tissues and a birthday candle secured inside a paper cup, the latter Roy’s idea, to prevent the wind from blowing it out and, voila, we had a “Krathong”.
After sunset and after enjoying our delicious dinner in the cockpit, we released our “Krathong”, then sat and watched it float away. The candle burned for ages before we realised the wax had probably pooled at the bottom of cup, which allowed it to continue to burn. It was way off in the distance when we saw the last flicker. It was a lovely event, accompanied by others releasing their floats from the beach, as well as fireworks and a lights show on the far shore of Chalong Bay. A very memorable celebration!
After more rain overnight, we woke to a beautiful sunny morning today and numerous “Krathongs” floating passed Paw Paw. Around mid-morning, after Roy had cleaned Paw Paw’s bottom, we dinghied ashore to enjoy a coffee and a slice of scrumptious chocolate cake at My Beach Resort, then enjoyed a long walk on the beach to burn off some of the calories, before returning to Paw Paw to complete the rest of our tasks for the day.
While Elaine got stuck into her paperwork again, which included completing our provisioning list for our passages, then continued on our general provisioning list for our time on the Maldives Rally to tide us over until we have access to the larger grocery stores in Malé and Gan. That was followed by completing the paperwork required to replenish the expired or consumed medications in our offshore medical kit and to obtain a months supply of Elaine’s medications instead of getting these at the hospital at an exorbitant price, as well as finalising the quantities of medications we’ll require for our Indian Ocean crossing.
Roy spent his time sorting out the opto-isolator relay for the lithium batteries solution, which had eventually been delivered, before dinghing across the bay to book the hired car and collect the keys in preparation for our early morning start tomorrow. His efforts were rewarded when he stumbled across the “swim wear” event of the “Miss Grand International Beauty Pageant” taking place on the docks of the Chalong marina. Definitely the highlight of his day, if not his year!
