Participating in Rural Yi Peng

Loi Krathong coincides with a Lanna (Northern Thai) festival known as Yi Peng which refers to the full moon of the second month, according to the Lanna lunar calendar. Swarms of Lanna-style rice-paper sky lanterns are launched into the full-moon night sky. Prior to the big spectacle, the setting is joyful and serene as Buddhist monks perform chants during an on-stage ceremony. The festival is meant as a time for making merit (Thai: tham bun). During Yi Peng, many events are being held all over Chiang Mai Province: traditional Thai dance, colourful Yi Peng street parades, beauty pageants (for children, transgenders, women), muay thai and dance competitions, fireworks…

Portrait photographs of Lanna Thai beauties in Matt Hahnewald's

Flickr Album 2015-12b Participating in Rural Yi Peng

Flickr Album 2015-11j Watching a Lanna Thai Street Parade

Flickr Album 2015-11b Cheering Northern Thai Dancers

Slurping Oodles of Noodles

Noodles are an essential ingredient and staple in the Chinese cuisine. There is a great variety of Chinese noodles, which vary according to their region of production, ingredients, shape or width, and manner of preparation. They are an important part of most regional cuisines within China, as well as in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and many other Southeast Asian nations with sizable overseas Chinese populations.

Chinese-style noodles have also entered the cuisines of neighbouring East Asian countries such as Korea (jajangmyeon) and Japan (ramen), as well as Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam (e.g. phở, bún bò Huế), the Philippines, Thailand (e.g. phad Thai), Malaysia (e.g. char kway teow, laksa, Maggi goreng) Indonesia (e.g. kwetiau goreng, mie Aceh) and Cambodia (e.g. kuy teav).

Noodles may be cooked from either their fresh or dry forms. They are generally boiled, although they may also be deep-fried in oil until crispy. Boiled noodles may then be stir fried, served with sauce or other accompaniments, or served in soup.
Unlike many Western noodles and pastas, Chinese noodles made from wheat flour are usually made from salted dough and therefore do not require the addition of salt to the liquid in which they are boiled. Chinese noodles also cook very quickly, generally requiring less than five minutes to become al dente...

High-res portrait photographs with full exif data, precise geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's

Flickr Album 2015-12a Slurping Ooodles of Noodles

Flickr Album 2012-07a Munching at Donghuamen Night Market

Watching a Lanna Street Parade

The Lanna Kingdom ("kingdom of one million rice fields") was a medieval state centred in present-day North-eastern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries CE. The resulting Lanna culture is a colourful combination of various elements brought together from both historic and multi-ethnic contexts. With the Chiang Mai Province being a place of trade along the historic first Silk Road, it has been a crossroads for centuries of various cultures that make up the Lanna blend that is found here today. Many northern Thai and hilltribes people still proudly retain their unique languages, traditional dress, and customs in this varied community…

“It’s not the photographer
who makes the picture,

but the person being photographed.”

(Sebastiao Salgado)

More portraits of Lanna Thai beauties in Matt Hahnewald's

Flickr Album 2015-11j Lanna Thai Street Parade

Flickr Album 2015-11b Facing Northern Thai Dancers