There’s so much I want to tell you about Krabi, Thailand — the beaches, the islands, the longtail boats, the thousands of carved wooden penises at Phranang Beach (don’t worry, my perverted little friends, I’ll come back to this later). But today, I want to tell you about the time we wished upon a sky lantern at Aonang Beach.

I actually didn’t even know these things existed until I saw them in a couple of recent movies (“Tangled” and “Hangover 2,” I’m ashamed to admit). And then I saw them for realz in Thailand! I’m usually not the one to fall for these kinds of cheesy tourist activities — especially when they’re obviously so bad for the environment — but there was something so romantic and magical about these lanterns that I couldn’t resist. I’m sorry, Mother Earth! Just this one time, ok???

Anyway, this is how my first (and last) sky lantern experience went:

I was lured in by this little sign: “Make a wish on Aonang Beach. Release your emotions. Express what you feel and let the lantern carry your dreams away.”

The husband negotiated and we ended up paying about $1USD for one lantern. The lantern was folded into a flat circle like this, and we wrote down our wish with a marker.

“E & E: Job, City, Paycheck Please. Love for us & family & friends. go Team Krabi!”
What we meant was that we want fabulous jobs in a fabulous city with a fabulous paycheck. This may be why it’s taking so long for our dream to come true.

They lit the tiny donut-shaped wick inside, and we waited as the lantern filled up with warm air.

Take off!

Fly, fly, little lantern! Go and make our dreams come true!