Chiang Mai's Annual Flower Parade is held on the first Saturday of February.

The Flower Parade was supposed to start at 4 pm. By 2.30 pm we had found a concrete bench to sit on near the first stage (Governor's Residence). We watched floats slowly making their way to the staging area, followed by parade participants in their uniforms. With speeches by government officials, the parade didn't actually start until around 5 pm. All-in-all, there were around 43 floats.

We learned quickly that security was loose. Anyone could go anywhere, even in front of the performers. So we followed suit. Fortunately, I had a 28mm-300mm lens so I could shoot from wide to close up even from afar. By around 6 pm I was already shooting at Nawarat Bridge, the staging area for parade participants waiting for their turn to march past the VIPs. The women in the floats were truly beautiful and the other parade participants were full of zest.

We didn't even wait for the last float because by 7.30 pm we were very tired and hungry--so hungry that we just settled for a meal at MacDonalds at Thapae Gate.