Luck flies high

While eating dinner at a sidewalk cafe in Patong, we watched a bright light go up over the bay. Another flair? No - turned out to be a lucky lantern! After dinner we crossed the street to check it out. "You light lucky lantern?!" How much? 200 baht. Hesitating... is it really worth $6? Ok - we don't know how to bargain, so our hesitation does it for us. 150 baht. Sold!

The man brought the paper lantern down to the beach and started to light the paper fuel in the middle. Then he told us to hold it for two minutes while the lantern filled with hot air. When we let it go, it went up quickly; we could see the fire burning inside as it rose, and then it was just a bright dot. Straining our necks we watched it through its whole journey; it caught the wind higher up and drifted far away, then finally the little light flickered and winked out leaving us to wonder where the paper remains would land.