And the lanterns continue to rise

This is the moat that goes in a square around the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. The moat and a defensive wall were built to ward off nearby Burmese armies long long ago. Now, the moat and remains of the walls are classic symbols of an important city in Thai history.

Everywhere we turned after nightfall on New Year's Day, we saw people lighting floating lanterns. While they made for beautiful pictures as they went up, they also made a lot of trash as they came down. Every block we walked had a pile of trash that included at least one toasted, deflated lantern. It was a bit sad to see the other side of the famous floating nighttime beauty.