This is a view of the Wat Jong Kam temple across Jong Kam lake in a small mountainous town Mae Hong Son in northern Thailand. It is an old Asian tradition to release "sky lanterns" (big rice paper bags with burning something attached underneath, a huge fire hazard if you ask me :)) in various celebrations. We were told that Thai people celebrate all kinds of holidays, Christmas and Western New Year included. So I was lucky to witness the beautiful sight of hundreds of these lanterns launched on the New Year night in Chiang Mai. This mass release on January 3rd in Mae Hong Son was however somewhat unexpected, since there are no significant holidays on that day I am aware of... Perhaps it was to dispose of some leftover lanterns :)