What's Happened to Songkran in Chiang Mai?

[FolkGuitar]

In previous years, the Songkran revelers would have Heaw Kaew Road gridlocked in both directions from noon until 5pm. This year, on Saturday, the traffic going towards the Old City was at a stop all afternoon, but traffic leaving was sparse. Today (Sunday,) there is hardly any traffic even going IN towards the city on Heaw Kaew. The number of revelers in front of Kad Suan Kaew seems to be less than half this year compared with last year as well.  Are people getting tired of Songkran?

[sanemax]

Its now possible to walk around CM without getting wet

[orang37]

Thanks to Khun FolkGuitar and Khun Sanemax for the updates.

 

I've had my head lustrated, blessed, by a village elder, but so far I haven't been doused.

 

I am curious to know the demographics of this year's Songkran out-of-town visitors; anybody hear any interesting factoids about hotel bookings this year ?  Are the Chinese "taking to" the holiday ?  Less Thais from Bangkok ?

 

Sawasdee Bee Mai, ~o:37;

[cmsally]

Just from going out and about a bit and seeing some of it come past me, my conclusion would be about the same amount of tourists as usual but number of Thais way down.Last year was also way down but previous years to that traffic would be gridlock past my house each evening as Thais looked for alternative routes away from the moat. This year just the odd truck and car passing, very quiet indeed.

[ramrod711]

My wife and I went to Moon Muang soi 2 today. I never missed from 2005 t0 2015 but my wife's health concerns caused us to miss the last two years. It was a sparse turnout, even in front of Mad Dog which used to be chockablock. The sad part for me was that I didn't see anyone that I knew, other than a few employees at a couple of bars. I did notice a lot of Chinese people enjoying the festivities, good for them, they probably haven't seen anything like it before, I know I hadn't when I first got here. 

[The manic]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

Its now possible to walk around CM without getting wet

so the benighted city has one thing going for it

[New beginnings]

To be honest I love Songkran and normally go at least 2 or 3 days. Went on Friday and had a great time. On checking the poor air quality since Saturday, just looking out my window could see it was bad, only went the once, great shame.

[worgeordie]

My daughter works at a hotel and says it's quite,same

report from her friends at other hotels, maybe the bad

air reports are keeping tourists away.

regards worgeordie

[lordblackader]

There was a report in Thai media this afternoon that numbers were down today in Chiang Mai due to merit making - apparently Wats are doing big numbers.

Link is in Thai. 
http://www.komchadluek.net/news/regional/321422

[Kelsall]

No one in their right mind would venture out in this horrible air. 

[moe666]

My wife works in a hotel near old city last year full but this year out of 102 rooms only 70 booked. Either the over building is having

an affect or bookings way down

[midas]

I came up to CM from Pattaya to escape the 9 days of chaos down there which is too long.

So is that the end of it for Chiang Mai or will there be more tomorrow (Monday) with it being an extra holiday?

 

[Barley]

I know people working in 3 hotels and supposedly all 3 are booked.

And I couldn't avoid being doused.

I think the Americans particularly took to making other people wet.

Saw one US girl stand in front of a house for hours with a hose putting it on to people really bad (including me).

[Dante99]

5 hours ago, Barley said:

I know people working in 3 hotels and supposedly all 3 are booked.

And I couldn't avoid being doused.

I think the Americans particularly took to making other people wet.

Saw one US girl stand in front of a house for hours with a hose putting it on to people really bad (including me).

Of course, we did a survey all over town, interviewing 2,800 people and confirmed with 99.99% coefficient of confidence that the Americans were the worst water throwers, not just this year but for the past 4 years too.

[sammieuk1]

Maybe everyone died on the way there or it seams even hotter than usual I did two days chucking water in the old city now trigger finger arm and back failure and head like a traffic light but still alive to fight another year.    

[cmsally]

If you get chatting to a lot of the "tourists" , many are here in Thailand working or volunteering or whatever, or they have friends who are. Others are expats living in Thailand or nearby. Not necessarily a survey as such but every Songkran seems to be the same. For example from a fairly large amount I talked to , there was working in Central Thailand and holiday so travelling with boyfriend who was visiting, parents visiting from abroad and son working near BKK, teaching in Thailand and holidays (a few of those), on a longer volunteering trip and holiday for Songkran, living abroad but visiting Thai family etc etc So at this time of year fewer expats and fewer people working in Thailand would have a large effect on the Songkran numbers.

For the Thais I am guessing it is the bad economy (which is not supposed to exist).

[tigerbeer]

festivities are now held in many different places now. festival, maya etc etc etc. i would think crowd would be the same. just not at the same locations. but fewer thais maybe from other provinces. 

[cmsally]

1 minute ago, tigerbeer said:

festivities are now held in many different places now. festival, maya etc etc etc. i would think crowd would be the same. just not at the same locations. but fewer thais maybe from other provinces. 

Personally I think its rather sad when people have to go to some generic boring shopping mall to celebrate a cultural festival.

But maybe it is indicative of what has happened to the culture.

 

[tigerbeer]

14 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Personally I think its rather sad when people have to go to some generic boring shopping mall to celebrate a cultural festival.

But maybe it is indicative of what has happened to the culture.

 

its not very cultural anymore if you ask me. even in older popular places. 

[jesimps]

1 hour ago, sammieuk1 said:

Maybe everyone died on the way there or it seams even hotter than usual I did two days chucking water in the old city now trigger finger arm and back failure and head like a traffic light but still alive to fight another year.    

Didn't you get bored after 2 minutes of throwing water?

2 days? Cheese and rice!

[sammieuk1]

2 minutes ago, jesimps said:

Didn't you get bored after 2 minutes of throwing water?

2 days? Cheese and rice!

No boredom a hyper 4 year old to entertain.   

[daoyai]

37 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Personally I think its rather sad when people have to go to some generic boring shopping mall to celebrate a cultural festival.

But maybe it is indicative of what has happened to the culture.

 

the "culture" is rubbish, techno crap at absurd volume .... was at the night bazaar on Friday night and in front of the D2 was a traditional band playing cool old Thai instruments, so refreshing... wish there was more of that.

[cmsally]

I get the techno crap that floats over from Le Meridian Hotel pool party . They seem to be having a lot of pool parties lately , not just Songkran!

[holy cow cm]

People are tired of the powers that be killing it with every idiotic rule they can squeeze out or fun functions they plainly c-r-a-p on. Yesterday I saw a 50ish year old looking foreigner walking at Thapae Gate in the street when he was surrounded by 3 Thai cops and threatened with jail because he had just cracked a can of beer open. He was not in the square but in the middle island of the street walking from Starbucks. I spoke to him after and he bought the can of beer to doors from Starbucks. The no drinking zone was supposed to be in the square and sidewalk only, but why did these thug Thai cops think they were ok to threaten him? The only good cop there yesterday was the tourist police volunteer who cooled down the situation. I for one find these police pathetic how they treated the foreign guy. 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

15 hours ago, worgeordie said:

My daughter works at a hotel and says it's quite,same

report from her friends at other hotels, maybe the bad

air reports are keeping tourists away.

regards worgeordie

Not sure whether it's relevant yet or not, but the Chinese tend to do things as a national group, so come one day they will likely fall out of love with Chiang Mai - and maybe Thailand too - en masse - and move on to the next fad country. If and when that day comes, a lot of over-investment is going to be exposed for what it is.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

2 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

People are tired of the powers that be killing it with every idiotic rule they can squeeze out or fun functions they plainly c-r-a-p on. Yesterday I saw a 50ish year old looking foreigner walking at Thapae Gate in the street when he was surrounded by 3 Thai cops and threatened with jail because he had just cracked a can of beer open. He was not in the square but in the middle island of the street walking from Starbucks. I spoke to him after and he bought the can of beer to doors from Starbucks. The no drinking zone was supposed to be in the square and sidewalk only, but why did these thug Thai cops think they were ok to threaten him? The only good cop there yesterday was the tourist police volunteer who cooled down the situation. I for one find these police pathetic how they treated the foreign guy. 

I agree with you but there's a definite routine to how these things should be done; watch how Thais react when the police puff themselves up into the Epitome of Authority after a minor traffic infraction - grave faces, as if the culprit has just murdered someone with an axe. The poor perpetrator then bows and scrapes with a sickly smile on his face, all the while wai-ing and backing away. That usually defuses the situation somewhat and leads to a reduction in the on-the-spot sentence from summary execution to a hundred Baht fine.

[masuk]

14 hours ago, Kelsall said:

No one in their right mind would venture out in this horrible air. 

Yes, the air quality is totally disgusting.  Waaay above safe limits.  I've never seen a place this bad, even after bushfires in Australia.

However, still fun joining in with the merry teens throwing water for Songkran.  They seemed to be enjoying the fun, so good on 'em!!

[holy cow cm]

8 minutes ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

I agree with you but there's a definite routine to how these things should be done; watch how Thais react when the police puff themselves up into the Epitome of Authority after a minor traffic infraction - grave faces, as if the culprit has just murdered someone with an axe. The poor perpetrator then bows and scrapes with a sickly smile on his face, all the while wai-ing and backing away. That usually defuses the situation somewhat and leads to a reduction in the on-the-spot sentence from summary execution to a hundred Baht fine.

Yes and well put, and that was exactly how they were to people yesterday. Disgusting. 

[Rimbuman]

1 hour ago, masuk said:

Yes, the air quality is totally disgusting.  Waaay above safe limits.  I've never seen a place this bad, even after bushfires in Australia.

However, still fun joining in with the merry teens throwing water for Songkran.  They seemed to be enjoying the fun, so good on 'em!!

 

[connda]

"Are people getting tired of Songkran?"

We can only hope so. Nice and quiet where I live.  You wouldn't know it's Songkran.  Three kilometers away in the next village it's a drunken party. Glad I live where I live.  Went and visited old people yesterday.  That's the mellowness of Songkran that I can enjoy <well, except for the old folks over in the next village - their soi was blocked by a wall of speakers - we didn't stay long>. 

Other than that, at and around our home, it's just another day.  There is a lot to be said for living in the slow lane!