Northern Thailand - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 887

Loei's bus terminal ( 0 4283 3586) is about 1km south of the centre of town. There are
frequent departures to Bangkok (440B to 697B, 11 hours), and buses to Chiang Mai
(409B to 570B, 10 hours, four daily), Nakhon Ratchasima (290B, six hours, hourly),
Nong Khai (130B, seven hours, 6am) and Udon Thani (100B, three hours, half-hourly).
Nok Air ( 0 2900 9955; www.nokair.com ) connects Loei and Bangkok's Don Muang Interna-
tional Airport twice daily (from 1700B, 1¼ hours).
DON'T MISS
PARTYING WITH GHOSTS
The otherwise uninteresting town of Dan Sai has developed a local festival so colourful and outland-
ish that for three days in June (sometimes July) the town is overrun with something akin to the drunk-
en revelry of Carnival and the ghouls of Halloween.
The raucous Phi Ta Khon Festival coincides with the more subdued Buddhist holy day of Bun
Phra Wet (Phra Wet Festival, also known as Bun Luang), honouring the penultimate life of the
Buddha, Phra Wessandara (often shortened in Thai to Phra Wet). According to the story, when the
prince returned to his city the village spirits were so happy that they joined with the human inhabitants
in a parade. Most observations of Bun Phra Wet include silk-clad merit-makers intently listening to re-
citations of the Mahavessantara Jataka (past-life stories of the Buddha), which are supposed to en-
hance the listener's chances of being reborn in the lifetime of the next Buddha.
But Dan Sai's unique twist is the peculiar re-enactment of Phra Wet's return and the participation of
the spirits. Villagers don elaborate and wild 'spirit' costumes and masks for a day of lôw kǒw
(whisky)-fuelled dancing full of sexual innuendo. The revelries culminate with the launching of rock-
ets (a popular fertility ritual in Isan believed to appease the guardian spirits for bountiful rains). The
next day, the crowd proceeds to the temple to listen to sermons.
The origins of the festival are not known but some theorise that it is an offshoot of the spirit wor-
ship of the ethnic Tai Dam tribe. The dates for the festival are divined by Jao Phaw Kuan, a local spirit
medium who invites Phra Upakud (an enlightened monk who transformed himself into a block of
white marble to live eternally on the bottom of Mae Nam Mun) to come to town. Phra Upakud is be-
lieved to protect the town from evil spirits.
A couple of villages just outside of Dan Sai run a homestay ( 08 9077 2080; dm/tw/tr 150/550/
700B, meals 70B), organised by some local English teachers. Everything can be arranged at Kawin-
thip Hattakham (Th Kaew Asa; 8am-7pm), a craft shop in town that sells authentic Phi Ta Khon
masks and other festival-related souvenirs.
Buses between Loei (65B to 79B, 1½ hours) and Phitsanulok (73B to 102B, three hours) stop in
Dan Sai near the junction of Th Kaew Asa and Rte 2013 every couple of hours.
TOP OF CHAPTER