Yi peng without the price tag

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Visiting Chiang Mai in November is definitely one for the bucket list, one that we ticked off this year. We did a crazy amount of research and picked our jaws up off the floor when we saw the ticket price to the organised Yi Peng Lantern release. Spending £200 on tickets is not the tight travellers way – and so the research continued.

We made sure to book our accommodation in advance as they sell out fast and the price sky rockets. We chose a budget room in the rice fields of Srida Resort: £11 per person per night isn’t too bad. This included breakfast and they also had a pool. Just outside of Chiang Mai town, so we had to get a songthaew (the red, two bench seats in the back of the converted pickup truck) but this was cheap as chips.

Check out our blog for more information: Reyt or Shyte: Srida Resort Lanna & Café, Chiang Mai

Only issue, it still left us with a 30 minute walk, not too bad unless you’re double backpacking in 30 degree heat. Lucky for us, a local took pity and gave us a lift in his van. And yes, everyone gets told not to get in the car with a stranger, but we were desperate. This was also the perfect opportunity to quiz him about the upcoming local festivities for Yi Peng and Loy Krathong. He safely dropped us at our hotel where we got a Thai Tea and waited for our room to be ready, we were also scrambling to get the bug spray out of the bag- the mosquitos around there were huge!

Later that day, we headed down to the local shop of the man that gave us a lift and explored the area. We were invited to join him at his local temple at 8pm that night to join in with festivities. On our way to said temple, he pulled up next to us in his truck again. We know not to get in the car with strangers, and yet here we were again. The festivities had been cancelled due to a death in the village, but that was not stopping him. He was so apologetic and invited us to the next village over. He introduced us and then proceeded to leave, so not only had we gatecrashed a local villages festivities, the man that introduced us was not even attending … ok then.

The night was great, very authentic and not at all what we could have pictured. It started off with prayers from a monk who we then followed through a maze with a plate of flowers and 1 baht coins. Not what we had on our bingo card, but it was a blast. The night ended with a raffle. Some of the prizes were questionable, and our fingers were crossed that we were not the winner – what were we going to do with a bucket ? But Will’s lucky 13 won us Soya milk. After saying our goodbyes and thanks, we walked back to our hotel questioning the evening we had just had.

The next day we continued asking locals about the upcoming festivities. We are very much believers that you have to ask 3 different people to get a true understanding; the first tells you what you think you want to know, the next share more.

With that, we set off into Chiang Mai town which was decorated with lanterns, and in the evening lights. There were parades and even a night cultural walk and free prizes for scanning QR codes around the Old Town, (can’t say no to free souvenirs). We were running all over the city, stopping at numerous temples and points of interest. Sweaty work, but worth it. We finished the night making our own Krathongs (there are a lot of places to do this in town, we just stumbled across a hostel that were offering this). We floated our Krathongs on the Ping river and then jumped in a Grab back to our hotel.

Day 3 of the festivities also brought many steps. We spent the morning relaxing at the pool and then in late afternoon, we set off walking to Doisaket lake to take part in a free lantern release. We were optimistic after speaking to many locals, but research online informed us that this year (2025) and next year (2026) it would be cancelled due to construction. When we arrived, there were a few stalls set up selling Krathongs and food, but you could see that it was indeed under construction and needed some TLC. We sat, and we waited. It was worth the wait. If you’re going and expect to be surrounded like you see online, then you will be disappointed. What we saw was a steady stream of lanterns being released by the lake, as well as the mass organised release in the distance. There were fireworks going in all different directions, and generous locals who gave us not one but two lanterns as we had come empty handed. As we later walked around the lake, there were now people selling them but keep in mind you may not want to turn up empty handed just in case.