Must Read Songkran in Pattaya CANCELLED - only religious activities permitted

[Soikhaonoiken]

Beat news I have heard in a long time.... ????????????

[PatOngo]

My guess, for what it's worth, the situation is fluid, expect numerous flip flops between now and April. Do you really think they are capable of making firm decisions?

[PatOngo]

40 minutes ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

Beat news I have heard in a long time.... ????????????

Can't beat that now, can you?

[gk10002000]

I can imagine they will stop the big pickup trucks that drive around with powered water cannons, or stake bed trucks and stuff like that.  And maybe many bars will not put out water barrels.  Will have to see how much the foot traffic of the local or farang population actually does

[daveAustin]

9 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

What a nasty comment

Can't blame them. There are a lot of morose fuddy-duddy's down on the Thais enjoying their new year. I'm not one for the if-you-don't-like-it line, but folk opted to go there.

Songkran is a blast.

[impulse]

While not a personal fan of random water attacks, I generally enjoyed Songkran.  And I'm even less a fan of dictating what others can and cannot do, especially in their own country.

 

Every year, I used to cut back on my rice consumption and ordered single meat Whoppers instead of the double meaters, just to free up some precious water resources for my neighbor kids to play to their hearts' content.  With rice taking 2500 liters per kg to raise, and beef about 4x that per kg, I figured half the kids in my Asoke neighborhood were clear to throw all the water they could, just on the water I saved on a few bowls of rice and a couple of Whoppers.  Of all the reasons to hate Songkran, water conservation is pretty low on the validity scale.  That's like banning Christmas to reduce the carbon footprint of cutting down and illuminating all those Christmas trees.

 

Good news for revelers...  They outlawed riding without a helmet, riding in the back of pickups, turning down fares in front of tourist venues, driving the wrong way (and on sidewalks),  prostitution, porn and a million other popular activities.  So I suspect Songkran will be celebrated with its usual gusto this year.

 

[Don Mega]

12 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

 

Every year, I used to cut back on my rice consumption and ordered single meat Whoppers instead of the double meaters, just to free up some precious water resources for my neighbor kids to play to their hearts' content.  With rice taking 2500 liters per kg to raise, and beef about 4x that per kg, I figured half the kids in my Asoke neighborhood were clear to throw all the water they could, just on the water I saved on a few bowls of rice and a couple of Whoppers. 

 

I gave up chocolate, not that I ate much maybe 750gm a year at most but at 17,000lt of water required per KG to make I feel Iam doing my part for the drought.

[tifino]

13 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Do we now have certain "permissions" to respond to unwanted and now banned watery physical assaults? 

yeah - be great to see someones face, when they see you fire back at them, with a bumgun 

 

been visualising where the Fireys get their cannon water from?

 - FireDept FirePlug water most likely wouldn't be 'potable' mouth friendly.

If it (was) 'for human consumption' - it would be forever being pilfered, by all and sundry... 

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, tifino said:

yeah - be great to see someones face, when they see you fire back at them, with a bumgun 

 

 

Does your bum gun have a really long hose or would you invite them into your toilet to spray them in the face ?

[tifino]

1 minute ago, Don Mega said:

5 minutes ago, tifino said:

yeah - be great to see someones face, when they see you fire back at them, with a bumgun 

 

 

Does your bum gun have a really long hose or would you invite them into your toilet to spray them in the face ?

it is the spur of the moment face reaction that counts ???? 

  and what they cannot see (behind you)  cannot hurt them

[chicowoodduck]

Oh, so now you tell me after I book my get-a-way......but my bet is that it will be business as usual on Soi 7 and 8!  The drunks cannot let a good party die that easy......trust me......????????

[legend49]

14 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Sanity? Here? I welcome this news though I never thought I would be reading it. Maybe I won't have to make my annual ten day trip to anywhere, to get away from it.

Thats just Pattaya now they have to address the WHOLE country.

[Don Mega]

2 minutes ago, legend49 said:

Thats just Pattaya now they have to address the WHOLE country.

Thats certainly a possibilty given there is already a few other places also cancelling festivities.

 

Khon Kaen

Bang Saen

Phetchabun

Buriram

Phuket

[condobrit001]

This is great news, but of course totally unenforceable.

What could be enforced quite easily though is a ban on the sale of all water pistols, guns, super soakers etc.

[RichardColeman]

Considering they reversed the riding in pick-up rears, I still have some faith this will be overturned when the residence start moaning

[balo]

Wow suddenly Pattaya during Songkran week sounds tempting to me. Normally I escape it. 

[ross163103]

A side benefit; hopefully this will help the drought problem. In my 27 years here I've never seen Mabprachan reservoir as low as it is now.

[essox essox]

15 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

The Authorities made have announced that Songkran is cancelled, but all they need to do now is ACTUALLY stop the Thais doing exactly as they please, and carrying on anyway.

Easier said than done.

well said....they take no notice of any laws, so what WILL THEY DO ABOUT THIS and who is going to enforce ???

[Gudge]

20 minutes ago, essox essox said:

well said....they take no notice of any laws, so what WILL THEY DO ABOUT THIS and who is going to enforce ???

What are the poor policemen going to do without there side supply of cash Songkran supplies. Ban on high power PVC Pipes and the police are going to confiscate any they see. Ha Ha. saw this many times, confiscate water cannon off mostly Farang, drive down street or next soi and sell to someone else. Cash grab for them for at least a week. 

[Don Mega]

1 hour ago, ross163103 said:

A side benefit; hopefully this will help the drought problem. In my 27 years here I've never seen Mabprachan reservoir as low as it is now.

It gets low every year, I reckon it was lower in 2015 than it is today.

[Henryford]

There will be "religious ceremonies" on every Soi in Pattaya from the 13th to the 19th.

[AhFarangJa]

While on the one hand it is laudable that the Authorities are at least trying to be sensible, one has to think about the atavistic attitude that Thais have towards old habits and change, especially when it comes to authoritarian edicts. Who is going to enforce this ban, and what will be the penalties for ignoring it. While I can see there will likely be a down sizing of the water fights, I cannot see them being non existent. 

[Neeranam]

14 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

Not trying to be a smart ar se, but strangely the Thai word for war is sometimes roughly translated as Songkhram, in English, appropriate in a way, since it is after all, water wars.

Trying to be a smart <deleted>, kram and gran are totally unlinked and pronounced differently.

 

So throwing water at someone is banned yet buying a poor prostitute from a gogo bar is allowed? Maybe they'll tell all the sex pests to wear masks.

[Don Mega]

5 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

 yet buying a poor prostitute from a gogo bar is allowed?

Allowed as in now legal ?

 

I rent them BTW.

[British Bulldog]

Hey ... look on the bright side, it 'may' reduce the road deaths !!! .... sorry, silly me .... getting carried away there ... !

[DannyCarlton]

15 hours ago, BestB said:

As an individual I say thank god for that , as a business owner I say f%###ing hell.

 

hate this time of the year but as a business owner, was looking forward to having more customers

I've noticed that over recent years a good percentage of revellers has been the Chinese who love songkran, some of the biggest dicks too. It would have probably been a muted affair even if it had gone ahead.

 

As a business owner you will know that this virus is preventing farangs from visiting too.

[SiSePuede419]

BREAKING: Flip flop: Health Ministry now says no compulsory quarantine for visitors to Thailand; Songkran in Pattaya CANCELLED - only religious activities permitted

 

Praying that the condom doesn't break? ????????????????????

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The cancellation of the events is the latest hammer blow to Thailand’s ailing tourism industry left decimated following the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Going to be tough start to the year for many people, businesses & vendors are going to have it rough for a few months yet!

[PatOngo]

2 hours ago, car720 said:

they really do just make it up as they go along.  

Agreed......But they don't do it very well!

[DannyCarlton]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

Going to be tough start to the year for many people, businesses & vendors are going to have it rough for a few months yet!

The biggest annoyance during songkran are not the young Thais but the farangs. Farang bar owners are amongst the worst culprits.

 

3 years ago my friend was staying at Areca Lodge. The farang owner of the bar opposite the entrance spent all day every day camped outside his bar drenching everyone who came out of Areca lodge with his water cannon. Pleas by individuals for him not to soak them were ignored. A moron of the first order.

 

We were unable to take action against him as the police would undoubtedly have taken his side. This year we will have no such constraints. We will be driving past his bar and any sign of his water cannon and we will be inserting it where the sun don't shine. That's a promise.

 

For me, it's difficult to have sympathy with farang bar owners.