Songkran Comments

[Gaybutton]

Many "farang" avoid Thailand, especially Pattaya, like the plague during Songkran because they dislike being totally soaked wherever they go. Yes, it does go on for an entire week. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the big day in Pattaya and yes, you will certainly be soaked on that day. On Thursday and Friday there will still be isolated pockets of revelers shooting water at people. By Friday night it will all be over for this year.

 

Actually, there really is not problem at all about venturing out during Songkran week. While it is true that if you are on a baht bus or motocycle taxi you're going to get a soaking, the solution to that is so simple . . . when on a baht bus, sit in the cab with the driver. If he has no room in the cab, wait for a baht bus that does have room.

 

Most of the water soaking has been taking place on Beach Road and the area of Second Road between about the area of the Lek Hotel and the Dolphin Roundabout. On South Road there are a few isolated pockets of revelers, but not much of anything at all, other than maybe a five-year old with a squirt gun.

 

I have not been to the beach at all during Songkran week, so I have not personally observed what is taking place along the route to the beach, but I can guess. If this year is anything like previous years, when you get close to the beach area, that's where it all starts. If you are on a baht bus, but not in the cab, you might want to get off a little sooner and walk the rest of the way. One way to avoid it is to get off at the entrance to the Avalon Hotel and walk through to the beach that way, where there will be nothing going on at all.

 

Few people walking on the sidewalks are getting soaked. Most of the water shooting is directed toward the street, where baht bus riders and motorcyclists are the primary targets, along with the pickup trucks filled with revelers shooting their water at others, but even they are directing their water shooting only at groups that are on the sidewalks shooting back. The average pedestrian is going and coming without a drop of water hitting him at all.

 

In other words, if you are among those who don't want to tolerate the soaking, you really have little to fear. Most of the water spraying doesn't even get started until well after noon. As recently as yesterday I walked from Tuk Com to Royal Garden and wasn't hit by even one drop of water. Neither was anyone else walking along and minding his own business.

 

Even along Beach Road, you're not going to get soaked unless you want to get soaked. If you are walking along the curb area, then yes, you're going to get it. But if you are walking on the walkway, they leave you alone.

 

There is one aspect of all the goings on that I find personally as distasteful as it gets. You know who is doing most of the water shooting? "Farang!" That's right. If you're going to get soaked, it most likely that the people soaking you are going to be drunken "farang" in front of roadside bars.

 

Sure, there are plenty of Thai people going around shooting water, but this is a Thai holiday. If you take away the "farang" that are out there doing the soaking, then there would be very little indeed going on at all. If I am going to be involuntarily soaked, I really don't mind it at all if it is Thai people shooting the water. But I deeply resent it when I see people involuntarily soaked, and it's being done by none other than drunken "farang." What are these people thinking?

 

It can also get out of hand. The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS:

 

English Man Arrested after Allegedly Spraying Songkran Revelers with Harmful Chemicals Instead of Water

 

Unfortunately some individuals forget the real meaning of the Songkran Festival and simply go too far when it comes to participating in the event. Tourist Police Officers were called to the front of Soi 5 on Pattaya Beach Road over the weekend by a Norwegian Man, Mr. Irwin Scruger aged 32 after he had been attacked by an English Man carrying a tube used to expel water.

 

However, Mr. Scruger suggested that it was more than water in the tube and after sustaining burns to his face and neck, he feared that the man was expelling harmful chemicals instead. The suspect was located and arrested in possession of the tube and its harmful contents. He was taken to Pattaya Police Station where he was identified as Mr. Nicholas Masters aged 41 from London and was known to be part of a small group who had made their way along the beach.

 

A young Thai boy known as Junior aged only 10 also reported minor burns to his skin thought to have come from the tube. Mr. Masters denied all allegations of actual bodily harm and the case is now under further investigation. The fate or Mr. Masters is unknown.

[Guest catawampuscat]

Unfortunately, the same holigans and wackos who cause havoc and mayhem at English Football (Soccer) games, come to places like Pattaya

to get wasted and vent their violence against others.. One would imagine it is the young guys but you see plenty of older guys with huge bellies acting like crazed children..It really projects a bad image of farangs to the Thais but drunken straight (and some gay) farangs is nothing new and since Pattaya draws those on tighter budgets one finds mostly the lower class rowdies that go ape..I used to think the Brits were more civilized but it seems they are the majority farang group doing the violence...

[Guest hajuthai]

I think, the watersplash are too much now, and sad to say, as Catawampus say, many drunken farangs find it very funny to splash water on others and motorcyklits also. Some of my friends would yesterday visit a restaurant in soi 8. They came with bathbus and stopped there and went down the soi. They got so wet, that the restaurant would not let them in. Is that funny?

I will do the same as my neigbors next year, leave Pattaya during the Songkran.

[Guest takesall]

U guys just have too much stress; go and enjoy Sonkran and get wet. It is the only holiday many Thais get. Frive along Sukhumvit Road early on songkran day and count the thousands of Thais queuing to come into Pattaya.

 

yes there are many farang already in Pattaya having fun too. Avoid the old reactionaries like catswumpuscat. Keep staring into your tea cup muttering "not like the good old days"

[Guest Hedda]

"It is the only holiday many Thais get. "

 

What tosh ! It's the third New year celebration in only the first four months of the year ! Where on earth do you find people celebrating that many new years, the last of which, Songkran, is a week-long marathon in places like Pattaya. Take a look at the list of legal holdiays here and then tell me it's the only holiday the Thais get !

 

If there is one thing that the Thais have in adundance, it's holidays, and the propensity to enjoy them with too much liquor. It's the mix of water and alcohol at Songkran, played too often behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, that is quite alien to the original holiday and which has made the modern celebration of Songkran so freakish, in my opinion.

 

I prefer to stay away than witness the spectacle. What's especially troubling is very young children, obviously imitating a lot of very drunk adults, by gleefully venting their hostility with make-believe Rambo water cannons, designed to drench unarmed passer-bys. That's a very mixed message to give a youngster, especially with a gun that shoots something, albeit water.

 

It's the Thai version of Jeckyl and Hyde, where the gentle pouring of water as a sign of renewal has mutated into a thinly disquised display of naked aggression by the bucket. I don't find it funny or amusing, especially with all the drinking, so I stay away.

[Guest freeyourmind]

"Drive along Sukhumvit Road early on songkran day and count the thousands of Thais queuing to come into Pattaya."

 

Christ almighty, who would want to drive along Sukhumvit near Pattaya that is totally gridlocked with drunk Thais and thier pick-up trucks?

 

If I wanted Gridlock fun I would move back to Bangkok.

 

I go up country during this time of year where Songkron is actually fun and enjoyable.

 

I guess if I was a teenager with to much time on my hands, I would stand in the middle of a Soi for days and throw water on everyone that passes by.

 

Sorry, I have more enjoyable things to do.

 

For those who haven't experienced it, perhaps it is fun for a couple of hours, but after that.....Boring

 

Now if the boys were all naked and we could splash water on thier ding dongs....well that is another story.

[Gaybutton]

I agree with Hedda. The Thai people get plenty of holidays and the vast majority take full advantage of them.

 

I disagree, however, that there is really a valid reason for "farang" to be bitter about Songkran. It does go on for a week, that's true, but for the most part it is only the one day that a soaking is inevitable if you venture out. I meant what I said in my first post on this thread, that there was no reason at all for "farang" to hibernate, other than today.

 

I also agree about the drunken revelers, but it is incorrect to believe that represents the majority of people out there. Most people were out there today simply having a good time. There was almost no police presence at all, in Pattaya, and yet everyone seemed to be quite well behaved, considering the circimstances.

 

One thing that struck me as odd, however, was the lack of police presence. According to this week's Pattaya City News, there was to be an abundance of police checkpoints during Songkran week, at which suspect drivers would be checked for driving under the influence, proper papers would be checked, etc. Well, all I can say is I've been driving around Pattaya all week. Do you know how many police checkpoints I saw? None. Not one, with the exception of the one mentioned in the article about a checkpoint on Sukhumvit Road at Naklua. The checkpoint was there. Trouble is, there were no police officers at all manning the checkpoint. It was simply a booth, completely empty of police officers. So much for enforcement of driving under the influence rules.

 

I drove through the thick of the revelry today. I had intended to find a place to park and get right out into the middle of it all, but we decided not to do that. By the time we got out there, I doubt we could have found a place to park anyway and we were having a good time watching all the goings on. We decided we're going to remain dry this year. That's one big advantage to having a car. We drove down Sukhumvit Road, went down South road to Second Road, then down toward the beach. We turned on Tepprasit Road, went back to Sukhumvit Road, and returned home. On a normal day tha circuit would take about a half hour. Today it took nearly four hours. Everyone we saw was having a great time and we saw no inappropriate behavior at all.

 

Interestingly enough, there were a lot of street vendors out there, along with a lot of stores and restaurants remaining open. Nobody was spraying water into any of these establishments. People would come up to the street vendors and put that talcum powder-water mixture on their faces, but nobody was spraying their wares at all.

 

In my opinion, the people were quite well behaved and it was just good fun.

[Guest catawampuscat]

 

yes there are many farang already in Pattaya having fun too. Avoid the old reactionaries like catswumpuscat. Keep staring into your tea cup muttering "not like the good old days"

 

Old reactionary??? Take a look at the news sometimes on cable TV and you will see a lovely Brit who used a water cannon to shoot water laced with acid or lye or some caustic material on little Thai boys and farangs..He ran like a demon when police chased him and jumped from the roof but the scumbag got nabbed.. Maybe you think it is all fun and games but do you know that the water is sometimes flithy and many end up getting sick and the ice can hurt as well..I have seen motorbikes lose control when the drivers are shot in the face with water cannons and many are injured..

 

The same criminals who infest the football stadiums in the UK come here to run amok and cause havoc and they love to target fellow farangs..Most are drunk as skunks and breeders to boot...

Many expats who reside here get out of town for Songkran as it out of control and many take

advantage of it to hurt and injure others..

takesall , you can enjoy Songkran all you want but shooting dirty ice water in my face or mouth and trying to injure me or my friends riding motorbikes is criminal and it is the drunken farangs who are the worst offenders..I am sure takesall had a good time and told his fellow revelers that he was gay ...

To each his own and I assure you I am not an old reactionary but a youthful liberal minded gayman

[Gaybutton]

I agree with Catawampuscat, but only to an extent. His message makes it seem as if these sorts of incidents are the norm and occur virtually everywhere. Incidents such as these do occur, to be sure, and I despise those sorts of things too, but for the most part there were very few such problems.

 

I didn't know the person with the caustic water gun had actually tried to jump from a roof to escape the police. I hadn't heard that. If Thailand has a book, I hope they throw it at him. However, this was one isolated incident. As far as I know no other similar incidents occurred.

 

Catawampuscat is correct about the ice. I did see several people stopping at points at which huge blocks of ice were being sold and these blocks were being placed into their water barrels. Shooting ice water is illegal in Pattaya. As I said in a previous comment, there was virtually no police presence to control this sort of behavior. There were a few traffic cops trying to alleviate the traffic jams along Sukhumvit Road, but they were the only ones I saw. So, the lawbreakers who think they're funny got away with it, along with the ice vendors who had no business being out there selling it in the first place.

 

My point is that these sorts of incidents are relatively isolated and do not even come close to representing the behavior of the majority. Unfortunately, there are enough of these incidents that you just never know if you are gong to be the victim of any of them.

[Guest wowpow]

Songkran can be enormous fun but it goes on too long and in Pattaya it goes on far too long.

 

That aside, my main comment this year was that Songkran Pattaya fell on an election day. Surely this could and should have been avoided Apart from the banning of all alcohol sales from 6 p.m. the day prior to midnight on election day, many people must have been put off going to vote as it meant getting powdered and well watered on the way there and back which probably would take hours. A Thai friend went to vote late afternoon and he was the only voter there. The officials said that some people had come early morning to avoid the celebrations and yes they did not mind him coming in to vote drenched.

[Gaybutton]

Actually, they had early voting, in which people could come in and cast their votes days before the official election date. That's what most of the people who wanted to vote did, although the total voter turnout was quite low.

 

I also agree with you in that while Songkran might be fun, a full week is much too long. The problem is, I don't see a whole lot of Thai people worrying about whether the "farang" like a week of it or not. But you know something? They should take that into consideration. Other than the "farang" immaturity brigade that spent the week hurling water on people, Pattaya has become nearly deserted over the past week. The beaches, bars, restaurants, etc. have been virtually empty and they all still are.