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

[transam]

1 minute ago, Goat said:

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.

What if they showed up in your Australia...........?    🤭

Strange you never mention your birthplace, why is that.......?   🤭

[Felton Jarvis]

It's much more restricted in Cambodia.  

[herfiehandbag]

1 hour ago, quake said:

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

My local clinic is the local hospital.

 

The original injury and subsequent surgery meant that my car license was suspended on medical grounds ( I don't know why they chose to leave me with a motorbike license but they did) so car/pick up is not an option.

 

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill - you're just trying to pick a fight.

[johng]

7 hours ago, JoseThailand said:

 

There was no water splashing in 2020, 2021 and 2022. What a happy time!

 

Those 3 years where the height of Covidicy whilst there was (thankfully) no water throwing  they where hardly happy times IMHO

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, Goat said:

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.

A lot of Thais go home to get away from Songkran in Pattaya

[quake]

19 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

My local clinic is the local hospital.

 

The original injury and subsequent surgery meant that my car license was suspended on medical grounds ( I don't know why they chose to leave me with a motorbike license but they did) so car/pick up is not an option.

 

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill - you're just trying to pick a fight.

 

Come on,  your just making excuses for bagging Songkran.

 

Get on your bike with some plastic bags, micro pore tape and elastic bands.

covering the foot,  and go to your clinic or hospital.

your making it a big deal of it, it's not. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BangkokReady]

9 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

A lot of Thais go home to get away from Songkran in Pattaya

 

A lot of people think, "I like this, I see some other people like this, therefore everyone likes it and anyone who doesn't is bad".

 

If everyone was on the street at the same time, it would be insane.

[freeworld]

Let the Thais have fun and enjoy their songkran.

 

It was around long before any foreigners arrived and many come especially for the event.

[BangkokReady]

9 minutes ago, quake said:

Come on,  your just making excuses for bagging Songkran.

 

Get on your bike with some plastic bags, micro pore tape and elastic bands.

covering the foot,  and go to your clinic or hospital.

your making it a big deal of it, it's not. 

 

It's amazing the lengths some people go to complain about complaining, yet they don't realise how negative they are.  🤔

 

Grumpy old men, complaining grumpily about people they think are grumpy old men!  

 

[BangkokReady]

2 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Let the Thais have fun and enjoy their songkran.

 

It was around long before any foreigners arrived and many come especially for the event.

 

Let the foreigners complain about the thing they want to complain about.

 

They were complaining long before any foreigners arrived and many come especially for the society that it creates.

[transam]

42 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

My local clinic is the local hospital.

 

The original injury and subsequent surgery meant that my car license was suspended on medical grounds ( I don't know why they chose to leave me with a motorbike license but they did) so car/pick up is not an option.

 

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill - you're just trying to pick a fight.

Well, just look at his avatar.............😂

[quake]

4 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

 

It's amazing the lengths some people go to complain about complaining, yet they don't realise how negative they are.  🤔

 

Grumpy old men, complaining grumpily about people they think are grumpy old men!  

 

 

Yes, ok Pops. 

[transam]

9 minutes ago, quake said:

 

Yes, ok Pops. 

Says Nige.................🤭

[quake]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Says Nige.................🤭

 

Following me around again Transman. nice. 

[PJ71]

4 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

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

 

The fireman enjoy it to. 

He is so excited, he is blowing his load. 

 

 

 

 

They look like total idiots to me.....

[transam]

3 minutes ago, quake said:

 

Following me around again Transman. nice. 

You will be surprised at the number of people that say that, and I really don't know why, Nige...

[shackleton]

When I was younger I enjoyed it

Now older not so keen it's the Farangs  at the bars 🙄 who usually go over the top.

Usually drinking alcohol Spraying everyone in sight with water powder ect 

[jaideedave]

In the past I would book a flight to either PP or Siem Reap for a week to avoid Songkran. These days I just stay close to home and only venture outside for necessities in the AM.

[BangkokReady]

34 minutes ago, quake said:

 

Yes, ok Pops. 

 

Lol. Sure thing, Grandpa.

 

I guess all us whippersnappers should quit complaining and get off your lawn, huh? 

 

[Jingthing]

52 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Let the Thais have fun and enjoy their songkran.

 

It was around long before any foreigners arrived and many come especially for the event.

Is there a choice?

Water throwing going on over a full week is some kind of ancient tradition?"
NO!!!!!

[simon43]

Very much off-topic, but I found a method to avoid getting soaked when riding my motorcycle.

 

When riding back from the supermarket this morning in Luang Prabang, I saw a boy with a large bucket of ice-cold water, ready to soak me (the only traffic in the road).

 

As I got closer and made eye-contact with him, I shouted in Lao "Look out! Elephant!!", whilst pointing behind him furiously.

 

He spun round, completely missed the opportunity to soak me and I arrived home dry and happy 🙂

[JoseThailand]

1 hour ago, johng said:

Those 3 years where the height of Covidicy whilst there was (thankfully) no water throwing  they where hardly happy times IMHO

 

It was a really happy time for those of us who were lucky enough to be in Thailand! 

[Aatsi]

Songkran doesn't disturb otherwise, but there should be clear times when water is not thrown on and that you dare to even go to the grocery store and go jogging, but no, many people have to stay in their room like a prisoner for 7-10 days. When people go to the store on the way, they get drenched and then spend time shopping in the store and catch a cold and get flu, covid or bronchitis etc. does that make any sense? In Pattaya and it's insane. Also when you ask not to throw water when you come from the store with shopping bags in your hands, they get annoying and slowly pour a bucket of ice cold water on the heads of the elderly while the guys join in the bullying by splashing even more water with their guns. It's like human rights are taken away during Songkran.

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

A lot of Thais go home to get away from Songkran in Pattaya

Many Thais go home, not just from Pattaya. Making merit is a significant part of the festival, when the nieces were younger the family used to go to the market to buy crabs and put them back in the sea. Both are working these days, usually over Songkran, so parents just go to the temple.

https://www.richardbarrow.com/2014/04/there-is-more-to-songkran-than-the-waterfights/

[udontomi]

As an expat, I consider myself as a guest in LOS and one reason I love it here is because of the Thai culture!  I respectfully submit that those expats who don't like the water splashing tradition during Songkran try to learn its meaning and if you still don't like it, just stay home.

[Kerryd]

It is NOT "Thai culture".

If you think it is then you have NO idea what "Thai culture" really is.

The endless water fights have evolved from the traditional Thai Songkran celebration. Originally, it was a celebration of the end of the "dry season" and a time when wandering Buddhist monks would find a temple to settle down at during the coming rainy season (from back in the times before paved roads and trains and cars and such. When cart paths would turned into muddy quagmires for months at a time) In the old days, monks would often leave their temple at the start of the dry season and walk to - somewhere else. You still see that to this day. I often pass lone monks or small groups of them walking along a road somewhere in the middle of nowhere, on their way to a new temple or somewhere that needed more monks.

Thais would celebrate by washing the feet of their parents/grandparents/elders and thanking them for all they've done.
It is also a time when people would wash/clean Buddha statues in temples. (Basically like a big "spring cleaning".)
People would dab a bit of powder on other people's faces and use their fingers to sprinkle a little bit of water on the heads of others (symbolically "washing" them).

It was never a "endless water fight from dusk 'till dawn".

It was also a ONE day event, which would start in the Northwest (Mae Hong Son/Chiang Mai area), then the next day would move to provinces a bit South and East and the next day it would be in other provinces further South and further East and so on.
(Songkran dates back to the days when most people had to walk or ride in carts pulled by water buffalo. And of course, no phones or mail or even telegraph back then. Hence why it would start in one place and slowly work it's way across the country.)

Took about a week. 1 day each in different areas of the country. It's still like that in some places though now they too have "water fights". Couple years ago I was in a small village in Sa Kaeo during Songkran and basically the entire "festival" was held at a local temple. People did the feet washing and thanking their elders in their homes before going to the temple to wash the statues and clean their family "chedis". In the afternoon there was party and "water fight" in a grassy area that quickly turned into a mud pit. The kids and young adults played and the older folks sat at tables around the "fight" eating and drinking while music blared from huge speakers.

And that was it. No one was throwing water outside the temple grounds or in the village. And the next day, things were back to normal.

And then the tourists came along and basically ruined it because they thought it would be more fun to throw water at other people than to "lightly sprinkle" some on people's heads (as was the custom before).

And that led to Songkran turning into a massive water fight, mainly in touristy areas (which tells you it is NOT about "Thai culture").

And then it expanded to being 3 days in some places. I remember that in Pattaya when they started "playing water" the day before the "official" day up to the day after. (And that made people a bit "salty" even then !)

Then it expanded to starting the same day in Pattaya as it traditionally started in the Northwest. And it went for a week. 

Now it's nearly 10 days ! People started throwing water on Soi 7 a few days ago and the "official" day is the 19th.

3 days - OK.
10 days - no thanks.
(Many of my Thai friends went back to their home villages for a week to celebrate in the Traditional way and get away from the city.)

 

[jesimps]

Not so much the mindless water throwing because I tend to stay in over the period, but the loud bass-heavy music every evening jars me off. 

[johng]

3 minutes ago, jesimps said:

but the loud bass-heavy music every evening jars me off. 

Agreed the extremely loud and bassy musak  is impossible to escape 🤮

 

[SAFETY FIRST]

10 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

The fireman enjoy it to. 

He is so excited, he is blowing his load. 

 

 

 

 

Mr Chang, blowing his load. 

 

I'm having difficulty understanding this one. 🤔

 

[Tiber]

10 hours 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.

I punched one ex pat few years ago, after I asked  him not to throw, he did...and I did!!