Naturally I started the evening with a nap. I knew if I was staying up till midnight, I would need some extra rest. However, the Thai's don't really understand the concept of waiting until midnight to set off fireworks so around 7:30, so after the 84th firework being set off in my street, I finally gave up and rolled out of bed. Grabbed some dinner with Julia, which turned out to be a big mistake. Unbeknown to us, they had closed off a bunch of the streets and had dozens of food vendors set up. Though it was a long night, so I did manage to sample a few things. 
We had heard there was a big public celebration at one of the gates, so after dinner we headed back into the central part of town to check it out. Now the coolest part of New Year's in Thailand are the multitude of lanterns being set a flight throughout the city. Basically its a small disc held in the center of a circular crosshair of metal attached to a cylindrical covering made of some sort of tissue paper. The whole thing is probably about a foot and half wide and maybe 4 feet tall. You light the disc on fire, let the lantern fill with CO2 for a while, and then let it go and watch it fly off into the night. So you look up into the sky and you would just see hundreds of these glowing lights floating into space. One of the hotels near us was giving them out, so Julia and I actually got to set one off for free, as opposed to buying on from one of the street vendors. It was very symbolic of new beginnings and putting the past behind you, lighting something on fire and letting it float off into space to start a new year. Or something like that. Regardless, the sky looked awesome filled with lights all night as people were continuously letting them go. We were talking and we had a conservative estimate of 20,000 lanterns being let go throughout the night. Pretty awesome.
After releasing our ball of burning gas ('Pumba, to you everything is gas') into the night, we spent a few hours walking up and down the street people watching and checking out the food offerings. Squid on a stick, whole fried fish, 10 feet long coils of sausage (they look disgusting), sushi, pad thai, kebabs, all kids of salads, rices, and meats on a stick. Gelato, baked goods, ice cream, rock hard ice cream served on a stick, fried doughs, and our all time favorite, banana rotee (more on those later). After trying a few things (pretty much all in the dessert category), we were tired of walking, so we started looking for a bar to hang out in for while till midnight.
There was this veggie restaurant right across from the square with the main stage on it, and although it was empty and the walls were covered in hemp clothing for sale, there was a sign for a rooftop bar that we figured we might as well check out. Our first sign this place was a little different was when we were required to take off our shoes before climbing the final staircase into the bar (not a huge deal, there are plenty of places in SE Asia where its polite to take off your shoes before you enter, but I've never seen it in a bar before). We climbed into what can only be described as part hippie co-op/part techno club/part hash bash. There were no chairs, everyone reclined on rugs laid down on what felt like a chainlink floor. There were blacklights hung up, illuminating the neon writing on the walls, including the huge 'THC' above the bar. Techno music blared in the background, and half the bar had no roof so we could look out at the crowd and the lanterns being let go. Bottom line, it was awesome, and I'm def going back there for another Sprite or two.
Around 11:45 we headed down and out to ring in the New Year. They had big screens set up with a countdown, and we stood outside with thousands of other Thai's and welcomed into 2010. There were some fireworks set off and lots of people waited until midnight to let their lanterns go, which was very cool. It was my second New Year in a foreign country, and my first, I realized, that I celebrated outside. Granted it was 65 out, which is about 70 degrees warmer than it was last year in Champaign, but still it was cool being outside with a ton of people, and I can definitely understand the appeal of Times Square. Maybe someday. Overall it was a great night. Lots of good food and cool experiences. No kisses, but you can't win em all. :) Hope everyone had a great night, and Happy New Year's to everyone!
TPWWLT - Shu Zula Za - Poi Dog Pondering
Happy New Year to you and Julia!
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