Fun drought: Songkran water festivities scaled back, says tourism minister

[herfiehandbag]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Last week, a disappointed Chinese visitor arrived at the Asoke intersection in downtown Bangkok, equipped with a water gun and goggles,

I'm sure that if he had waited a few hours he would have met some young ladies in a nearby soi who would have been able to dream up some really good games with these props!

[herfiehandbag]

12 hours ago, bob smith said:

if a Thai squirts me this year they are getting a mouthful of the verbals back in return!

Cueing up a Bob Smith thread about Thais are racist and don't tolerate foreigners...

[bob smith]

4 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

Cueing up a Bob Smith thread about Thais are racist and don't tolerate foreigners...

what the hell are you on about now.

 

bob.

[kamma]

13 hours ago, bob smith said:

then don’t complain that all the reservoirs are dry at the end of April (as they do every year).

 

we are currently in the middle of a drought and you think that wasting millions upon millions of gallons of water is a good idea?

 

if a Thai squirts me this year they are getting a mouthful of the verbals back in return!

 

bob.

Yeah sure tough guy!

 

How about taking a hike back home instead of coming to someone else's country and bitching about their customs and traditions?!

[bob smith]

2 minutes ago, kamma said:

Yeah sure tough guy!

 

How about taking a hike back home instead of coming to someone else's country and bitching about their customs and traditions?!

…if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that tripe!

 

bob.

[kamma]

4 minutes ago, bob smith said:

…if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that tripe!

 

bob.

Kick rocks fool!

[Dante99]

13 hours ago, bob smith said:

if a Thai squirts me this year they are getting a mouthful of the verbals back in return!

such a macho macho man, wow

[bob smith]

Just now, Dante99 said:

such a macho macho man, wow

at least i’m not wasting water.

 

bob.

[rumeaug]

I understand traditions. But drought in Thailand is really severe, so are water restrictions in many areas.  Sometimes it's necessary to adapt to extreme circumstances and sorry but yes,  prohibit the waste of water in such cases. Or, why not, move the water play during the rainy season (?).

Songkran can also be fun without water spills and just dancing the night away in the streets 🙂

[bob smith]

5 minutes ago, rumeaug said:

I understand traditions. But drought in Thailand is really severe, so are water restrictions in many areas.  Sometimes it's necessary to adapt to extreme circumstances and sorry but yes,  prohibit the waste of water in such cases. Or, why not, move the water play during the rainy season (?).

Songkran can also be fun without water spills and just dancing the night away in the streets 🙂

I second this.

 

Have water fights (if you must have them) during the wet season!

 

having them when water levels around the country are already low is moronic imo.

 

bob.

Edited April 10 by bob smith

[herfiehandbag]

2 hours ago, bob smith said:

at least i’m not wasting water.

 

bob.

Oxygen?

[Aussie999]

17 hours ago, bob smith said:

hopefully all of them.

 

bob.

Mate, you have your personal issues, using your logic, are you heading back home, to reduce the number of visitors, or do you classify yourself as special. 

[Jumbo1968]

I would like to know when Songkran developed into a water throwing event with water pistols etc instead of the cleansing of hands ?

[Doc Undies]

16 hours ago, 0ffshore360 said:

The wet season is impending . Resevoirs are reasonably  full this  year unlike a few in recent previous past.

The Songkran festivities are as much a part of Thai culture as many other cultures celebrate such as  Christmas.

That Songkran has devolved into the Equivalent of Xmas is probably as much the fault of  foreign business interests as is in Xmas.

Perhaps the vaporization of water into the atmosphere actually encourages rainfall ?

Objecting and sweating  much in a state of fury also?

It's too hot to seriously be critical of a culture that we have invited ourselves into. A bucket of (clean) water might be welcome even at an inappropriate moment  !

 

"Previous past" is tautological...you can omit either word and still make sense.

Edited April 10 by Doc Undies

[billd766]

17 hours ago, dinsdale said:

I'm from the 2nd driest place on Earth. I well know about water conservation and water wastage. 20 years here and I've seen plenty of wastage on an almost daily basis nevermind just Songkran.  Yep the reservoirs do get low BUT they do tend to fill up again. This isn't to say that some regions will experience drought conditions. I very much doubt that Sonkran alone will have such a devistating impact you seem to imply.

I have done a search for water levels in the large dams in Central and Northern Thailand and I came across this item.

 

https://water.rid.go.th/flood/flood/weekreportnew_e.pdf

 

Page 6 of 10 gives some interesting information, and this is before Songkran and the expected rains.

[billd766]

5 hours ago, kamma said:

Yeah sure tough guy!

 

How about taking a hike back home instead of coming to someone else's country and bitching about their customs and traditions?!

How about listening to some common sense for a change?

 

BTW do you know what Songkran is really all about.

 

One clue is that it is NOT about water splashing.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I would like to know when Songkran developed into a water throwing event with water pistols etc instead of the cleansing of hands ?

It must have been before 1994 when I came here to work, so more than 30 years ago.

[dinsdale]

5 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I have done a search for water levels in the large dams in Central and Northern Thailand and I came across this item.

 

https://water.rid.go.th/flood/flood/weekreportnew_e.pdf

 

Page 6 of 10 gives some interesting information, and this is before Songkran and the expected rains.

Lowest 29% and highest 56% according to the PDF naming 4 reservoirs. 29% is low but 45% -50% for this time of year isn't that bad. It's been worse with several reservoirs being below 30% at the same time. If I remember correctly Nakhom Ratchasima was hit hard by this drought. >than 10 yrs ago I think.

[KanchanaburiGuy]

17 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

I can read very well and the extended period would be filled with other activities than water splashing.. But there are no other activities whatsoever at least in my amphur or province...So why proclaim a extended version of nothing?

.

Because elevating oneself to a state of nothingness is revered in Buddhism?

[dinsdale]

13 minutes ago, billd766 said:

How about listening to some common sense for a change?

 

BTW do you know what Songkran is really all about.

 

One clue is that it is NOT about water splashing.

Water splashing is of course part of the cultural tradition of Songkran. It is historical. It's about washing away the last year's bad luck. Catching up with family, showing reverance to elders, going to the temple, eating, drinking, gambling, etc, etc. and chucking water is a massive part of Songkran. The traditional bit about showing reverence to elders by washing head and feet is part of the superstitious belief but the party always outways  religion during Songkran big time.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Lowest 29% and highest 56% according to the PDF naming 4 reservoirs. 29% is low but 45% -50% for this time of year isn't that bad. It's been worse with several reservoirs being below 30% at the same time. If I remember correctly Nakhom Ratchasima was hit hard by this drought. >than 10 yrs ago I think.

That is true enough.

 

Unfortunate my records crashed along with my pc back in 2016 so all the syuff I had before was lost.

 

I used to have the url for Most of the dams but that disappeared a while ago as well.

 

 

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Water splashing is of course part of the cultural tradition of Songkran. It is historical. It's about washing away the last year's bad luck. Catching up with family, showing reverance to elders, going to the temple, eating, drinking, gambling, etc, etc. and chucking water is a massive part of Songkran. The traditional bit about showing reverence to elders by washing head and feet is part of the superstitious belief but the party always outways  religion during Songkran big time.

But that is all about the old Songkran which is the one I was talking about.

 

The current all singing, all dancing, water splashing, water wasting is all about making money and has nothing to do with the old traditions at all.

 

In many rural areas the old traditions are kept alive but sadly, are slowly dying out, and the modern Songkran is really about making money and nothing else.

Edited April 10 by billd766

[dinsdale]

20 minutes ago, billd766 said:

The current all singing, all dancing, water splashing, water wasting is all about making money and has nothing to do with the old traditions at all.

Bit like Christmas then as I posted above. As for being the current attitude towards Songkran it's been the same (barring the loackdown fiasco) pretty much every year for the last 20 I've been here.

Edited April 10 by dinsdale

[billd766]

38 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Bit like Christmas then as I posted above. As for being the current attitude towards Songkran it's been the same (barring the lockdown fiasco) pretty much every year for the last 20 I've been here.

It was similar to this when I came here  in 1994, but there was much more water and less people then.

[thailand49]

Another will plan idea from brain dead leaders top to bottom. Oh Im sorry did I really mean everyday!