Poll: As a Pattaya expat, do you hate the week-long water-splashing Songkran?

[keith101]

11 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Really bad for the bars.

 

I personally flee the country for Songkran and am in Macau for the duration. With 2 Thai ladies.

 

Why did you feel the need to add With 2 Thai ladies

[Robert Paulson]

Everyone hates it. I don’t care what anyone says nobody likes it. 

[johng]

A couple of photos from 2003 Songkran Wun Lai (19th)  on Second road near the Tony gym intersection.

My car in the foreground broke down so we bought a bottle of vodka and got soaked and smashed.

 

 

 

[Danderman123]

17 minutes ago, keith101 said:

Why did you feel the need to add With 2 Thai ladies

They insisted.

[JimTripper]

It's interesting to read here the negativity surrounding this holiday. I think it's a "too much" scenario.

 

The country already has a fair bit of immaturity and giddyness in popular areas. When a fun holiday is added onto that, it's overkill. Many people will avoid those areas and not participate and look for quiet time, or sit on their balcony with a beer type thing.

[sandyf]

13 minutes ago, Robert Paulson said:

Everyone hates it. I don’t care what anyone says nobody likes it. 

It is an age thing, if you look at the Thais majority are relatively young. Foreigners tend to be a bit older but there are those that have never really grown up.

[quake]

19 minutes ago, Robert Paulson said:

Everyone hates it. I don’t care what anyone says nobody likes it. 

 

Best Victor , so far. 

 

 

[SAFETY FIRST]

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

It's a good time of year to socialise with the Thai women, they're always drunk 

 

 

 

 

[TroubleandGrumpy]

When we saw Thais drawing water from the moat in Chaing Mai one year, we realised that not all the water being sprayed or splashed around was clean water.  At the best it will be tap water - which even the Thais dont drink (only the poor ones) - and I definitely dont want that in my face. We have always avoided being out on the streets in Songkran ever since - only travel in car and directly into Mall carpark etc. 

[BangkokReady]

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

I'd say those foreigners got a surprise dousing, they don't look happy, I reckon it's their first Songkran 😁

 

Nobody likes wet jeans.  No matter the weather.

[JackGats]

The problem is that the water-throwing synergises with the worst aspects of Thai Society, like willingness to accept any degree of road carnage. Make no mistake about it, when they throw water at scooters, they don't mind at all, indeed hope, to throw the driver off balance.

[herfiehandbag]

I've been attending my local hospital for quite some time to have dressings changed on a slow healing surgical wound on my foot. I have got to know and chat with, most of the nurses and EMTs who work in the ER/treatment centre.

 

They hate it, clearing up injuries from stupid behaviour.

 

Takes forever to ride the 9km to the hospital - have to keep stopping, showing my bandaged leg, and asking "no water please".

 

Yesterday a group of adults listened to my request, waved me past, and then one gave me a bucket full in the face. He must have been over forty! I was going slowly so managed to stay on the motorbike. I explained, forcefully that"Solly" didn't cut it. I rapidly ran out of Thai, but it is amazing how much Anglo Saxon they understood!

 

I don't hate Songkran. Water fights in "designated areas" are fine. Children with water pistols are fine. Buckets hurled at motorcyclists on main roads, from adults, are stupid. Doing so when they know you are on your way to hospital for treatment, with an obvious bandaged leg, is just <deleted> stupid.

[Walker88]

Having experienced many Songkrans and Maha Thingyans (Myanmar), I can say that neither Thailand in general, nor Pattaya in particular, can hold a candle to Yangon.

 

Despite being limited to 3 days, Yangon is absolute madness. The city sets up pandals (grandstands) near lakes or in major shopping districts. A thousand water-pump driven hoses are available for those on the grandstands. Every truck within 100 miles of the city is rented out, and folks jump on board and ride around the city, slowing down in front of each pandal they encounter, getting soaked or even blown off the truck by the force. Many cars have their doors and trunks taken off, so as to hold more passengers, and these follow the same pattern as the trucks. People sit on the roofs and the front hood. It isn't uncommon for some to fall off while the car corners, and accidents also happen because the (drunk) driver has his view blocked by people on the hood.

 

To quote from the boy in the movie The Sixth Sense, "You see dead people". One year I was in Yangon someone put a bomb under one of the pandals and killed several people. Others die in fights, or else get run over after falling off a car.

 

And on the 4th day.....the lines to enter a major pagoda for prayer are a mile long, all of the previous days' madness seemingly forgotten.

 

Back in Thailand, what I have noticed is that most Thais, while having fun, are polite in how they douse people, and most seem to put the guns down at sunset. It's the foreigners, drunk from a day swilling beers, who keep it going until the wee hours.

[SAFETY FIRST]

25 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Nobody likes wet jeans.  No matter the weather.

Where are you getting your information from, provide a link. 

 

 I like wet jeans and so do most of my friends. 

 

[Photoguy21]

A small amount of water is no problem but when buckets are used that is a problem.

[BangkokReady]

13 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Where are you getting your information from, provide a link. 

 

https://www.google.com

[SAFETY FIRST]

4 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

 

https://www.google.com

Just as I thought, your comment is not substantial, it's having no foundation in fact. 

 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, keith101 said:

Why did you feel the need to add With 2 Thai ladies

He should be embarrassed he was forced to let her mother come too!

[cdemundo]

5 hours ago, Tiber said:

Thais?OK,...its the brainless ex pats that are the problem

 

 

 

Agreed.

Not done in a spirit of fun but in a mean-spirited bullying way.

Thai people having fun are OK, but some tourists and expats don't know how to do that.

[quake]

50 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

I've been attending my local hospital for quite some time to have dressings changed on a slow healing surgical wound on my foot. I have got to know and chat with, most of the nurses and EMTs who work in the ER/treatment centre.

 

They hate it, clearing up injuries from stupid behaviour.

 

Takes forever to ride the 9km to the hospital - have to keep stopping, showing my bandaged leg, and asking "no water please".

 

Yesterday a group of adults listened to my request, waved me past, and then one gave me a bucket full in the face. He must have been over forty! I was going slowly so managed to stay on the motorbike. I explained, forcefully that"Solly" didn't cut it. I rapidly ran out of Thai, but it is amazing how much Anglo Saxon they understood!

 

I don't hate Songkran. Water fights in "designated areas" are fine. Children with water pistols are fine. Buckets hurled at motorcyclists on main roads, from adults, are stupid. Doing so when they know you are on your way to hospital for treatment, with an obvious bandaged leg, is just <deleted> stupid.

 

Yet you still rode a motor bike with a damaged foot. 

Come on, cover your foot up with a plastic bag same as if in the shower.

or get a taxi, over the Songkran period.

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, cdemundo said:

Agreed.

Not done in a spirit of fun but in a mean-spirited bullying way.

Thai people having fun are OK, but some tourists and expats don't know how to do that.

I can see your point.....

But some of the Thais too seem to go well over the top and into some sort of frenzy.

[newnative]

5 hours ago, AlexRich said:

The problem with the Pattaya Songkran is that it goes on too long and it attracts the worse kind of foreigners who try to knock people off of their scooters, and other bad behaviour disguised as "fun".

Totally agree.  It drags on way too long.  In my opinion, it should be confined to designated streets, for designated times of the day.  Those who aren't interested have the option of avoiding those streets during those hours.  

[herfiehandbag]

40 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

Back in Thailand, what I have noticed is that most Thais, while having fun, are polite in how they douse people, and most seem to put the guns down at sunset. It's the foreigners, drunk from a day swilling beers, who keep it going until the wee hours.

There was a clip (from twitter or whatever it is called now) of the ubiquitous, fat, drunk, old falang flailing away waving his water pistol and making a complete fool of himself in the middle of the road. About the only thing that can be said about him is that he didn't take a dump in the fountains at a nearby shrine. Do these people realise how entirely gross, stupid and disgraceful they are? If only there was some way that we could get the message to these appalling creatures how ridiculous and pitiful they are!

[BangkokReady]

21 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Just as I thought, your comment is not substantial, it's having no foundation in fact. 

 

Thought what?  A world of research is at your finger tips!

[herfiehandbag]

6 minutes ago, quake said:

 

Yet you still rode a motor bike with a damaged foot. 

Come on, cover your foot up with a plastic bag same as if in the shower.

or get a taxi, over the Songkran period.

 

 

 

I live in the countryside. No taxis, no grab, very occasional songthaws (none on holidays).

 

Plastic bag or no plastic bag is immaterial given the sequence of events I described. It doesn't change my point about the stupidity of their actions.

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

If only there was some way that we could get the message to these appalling creatures how ridiculous and pitiful they are!

I suspect you would simply get a face full of dirty cold water!

[herfiehandbag]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

I suspect you would simply get a face full of dirty cold water!

Yes probably.

[quake]

4 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

I live in the countryside. No taxis, no grab, very occasional songthaws (none on holidays).

 

Plastic bag or no plastic bag is immaterial given the sequence of events I described. It doesn't change my point about the stupidity of their actions.

 

Well if you live in the countryside,  get a car or pick up,  like all the other people do where you live. 

plastic bags do work,  your local clinic could change any dressing.

your just belly aching.

have a victor.

 

 

 

 

 

[scubascuba3]

13 minutes ago, Goat said:

 

If they dont like it they should go back to where they came from.

I hoped the "go back home" farang had all left as that cheesey phrase had died out

[Goat]

2 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I hoped the "go back home" farang had all left as that cheesey phrase had died out

Well imagine if a whole bunch of old thai men showed up to England and wanted your New years fireworks banned. Or Xmas

You would tell them the same.