Phi Ta Khon (ผีตาโขน) or Ghost Festival

The main reason for this trip was attending the Ghost Festival or Phi Ta Khon (ผีตาโขน). I had been through Dan Sai last year and blogged a bit about it in the post Riding by the Mekong River and was able to stay in Dan Sai Loei where the festival takes place but all the hotels were full for the festival. I stayed about 60 kilometers or 40 miles south in Lom Sak Petchabun.

I didn't enjoy the ride to and from the festival. It is a twisty and turny mountain road that I would normally enjoy but the road was very busy with other motorcycles and cars. Throw in the rain and I found this ride very stressful. When getting to the town I found a rode that was more like a parking lot.

Following is the short I uploaded of the first day of the festival.





I had a list of the activities that were taking place at the festival but had not been able to find any time for these activities. I had read on a website that the parade took place in the afternoon but seemed to be over by the time I reached the viewing stands.

I sat in the stands and did some googling and then went on Facebook and did a search in Thai and found the schedule below.

I had in fact missed the parade. I think I was stuck in the traffic jam at the edge of town when it took place. Oh well I still got to see a bit of the festivities and there is another parade tomorrow.

I took the stressful ride back to my hotel and the following morning did another stressful ride to Dan Sai and the parking lot of a road. I weaved my way through the parked cars until I found a place to park off the road and walked to the temple in the center of town. The main road from the temple to viewing stands was a lot like the road into town but the traffic jam was people and not cars.

I worked my way through the crowd and made it to the viewing stands just as the parade was trying to start. I say trying because it seems the parade had more problems going down this street than I had come up it.

I am happy with the video that I made while watching the parade. I also started drinking beer while fighting through the crowd and this helped a lot with my stress level and my enjoyment of the festival.



It was a really interesting festival to see but not sure it was worth dealing with all the crowd. I think this festival will be one that I can check off as been there done that and not repeat it in the future.

I uploaded another video after getting home and it is below.