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We arrived in Ayutthaya, about 60 km north of Bangkok in Thailand at the start of the festival Loi Krathong. Celebrated on the full moon day of the twelfth lunar month the event involves, at its simplest and most benign, the floating of little plate sized islands of flowers and candles down the river. At the other extreme it degenerates into the utterly uncontrolled release of fireworks in the street by adults and children alike. For a few pence you can buy a handful of fireworks and contribute to the mayhem. Or, you can buy a large sausage shaped bin bag with fuel source. This, held inverted with the fuel lit, becomes a little hot air balloon. After several moments of anxiety that the whole thing is about to catch fire, it soars up into the warm night air. After a while it winks out of existence—either too far away to see, or burning out, to be …