Surprising Things You’d Only See in Thailand

At Ubon Ratchathani’s Candle Festival, ordinary candles become enormous moving sculptures. Craftsmen carve vast quantities of wax into dragons, deities, mythical creatures, and elaborate Buddhist scenes before mounting the finished creations on floats that roll through streets packed with spectators.

The tradition has been celebrated for more than a century and is connected with Buddhist Lent. Some floats use older carving styles while others take a more contemporary approach, but the astonishing detail remains the real attraction. What begins as candle wax ends up looking more like a traveling temple wall.