Yee Peng is the Buddhist festival of lights where lanterns are released in respect to Buddha. Buddhists believe that this washes away bad Karma and makes wishes come true. It is one of the top things you should do when backpacking Thailand.
Yee Peng festival usually corresponds with Loi Krathong, another festival in which little lotus shaped floats made out of paper are released in a river to bring good luck.
A lesser known fact about Yee Peng is that are two of celebrations.
The first one is in late October. This is the local Yi Peng and is free to attend.
The second festival, in early November, is about one week later and requires a ticket.
The celebrations are practically identical though the second one is geared towards tourists. This is the celebration that also corresponds with Loi Krathong.
Both these festivals take place at Mae Jo University near Chiang Mai.
I choose the local one for a couple reasons.
1- I always want the local experience.
2- The $100 ticket for the tourist Yee Peng wasn’t too appealing to me.
The great thing about Thailand, and especially Chiang Mai, is the friendliness of locals.
For example, even though it’s their local festival, a lot of tourists participated.
The Thai people were as friendly as ever and if any of them minded us crashing their festival, they didn’t give any indication.