I Hate Songkran!

[Jingthing]

There, I have said it.

Does that make me a cranky old fart?

I don't care.

[Kerryd]

There, I have said it.

Does that make me a cranky old fart?

I don't care.

Only a few more hours until (most of) the Thais stop celebrating. Probably late Sunday night before the rest stop though.

[Jimmyd]

Just ventured out from the safety of the car. It's not that bad, some pretty men out there.

[garro]

Well Jinghthing, perhaps you should move to Lopburi. We stopped here three days ago.

[hanibal7]

Didn see that geezer but a few about.I actualy enjoyed today,ainly because i walked down pattaya klang and didnt see one <deleted> farang with a power gun.enjoyed beach rd without cars and no <deleted> farang wanting to have the biggest gun to show off.walked to second road and that started the tatooed,baldheaded shitfor brains farangs,who wanted to knock your head off with a spray or shoot some ladies breasts off.i had to gently tell one mongul to lower his power machine or get it rammed up his arse.

why oh why dont these cretins ever learn and stopping the enjoyment for 99% of the people.the thais generaly were very kind and genuine,but you know who you are farangs,go home you are not wanted here.

One brain cell,and i got one gigger than you attitude, and they could spoil anything.

[awayfoe]

Didn see that geezer but a few about.I actualy enjoyed today,ainly because i walked down pattaya klang and didnt see one <deleted> farang with a power gun.enjoyed beach rd without cars and no <deleted> farang wanting to have the biggest gun to show off.walked to second road and that started the tatooed,baldheaded shitfor brains farangs,who wanted to knock your head off with a spray or shoot some ladies breasts off.i had to gently tell one mongul to lower his power machine or get it rammed up his arse.

why oh why dont these cretins ever learn and stopping the enjoyment for 99% of the people.the thais generaly were very kind and genuine,but you know who you are farangs,go home you are not wanted here.

One brain cell,and i got one gigger than you attitude, and they could spoil anything.

mai pen rai soon thailand immigration make a good selection but take a few years to clean the country !!!!!!

[jonniebkk]

It's not that bad, some pretty men out there.

Why are they always so much sexier than the real ones

Yes it does Jing...sorry to say. I have not had an ounce of water on me all week. Of course, I live on the Farside and have a car

[popshirt]

Well I hateSongkran in Pattaya/Jomtien also. But it is not so bad and can even be enjoyable in other parts of Thailand. I spent the "official" Songkran in Isaan, but have also stayed in Bangkok during Songkran with no ill effects, just a few more smiles than usual. I guess Chiang Mai can be pretty rowdy from what I hear. I will return to Jomtien next Monday when it is all over for another year.

[nonameidentified]

I was in bangkok during the 14 to 16th. It wasn't so bad there. quite fun though. Songkran at Chonburi Sukumvit road was quite interesting but today when we thought of going to Pattaya, sukumvit was blocked even before we arrive Banglamung!! Pickups everywhere and everyone heading to pattaya. so we did a u-turn and return back to Sriracha where it's more peaceful.

It's fun for a day or 2 but for the whole week, it's too much! Pattaya never stops yeah? they must always be the first to start and the last to end!

[lemel]

I hate it also but only in Pattaya, love it in different places around Thailand, this year we were in Udon and it was great for the day, then Chiang Mai, return Monday when all the sh** finished in Pattaya!!!!! nightmare all round.

[mikethevigoman]

There, I have said it.

Does that make me a cranky old fart?

I don't care.

Well i love it,6 of us in the back of my pick up and did 6 hours yesterday and 6 today,.brilliant fun, the only problems were 2 brits that took offence, one was sat near a bar and pointed to his cigarete and statred shouting, and another one covered in tattoos, died blond hair, landaner ! ( london )was screaming " ill cut your throat " to a guy that sprayed him ,makes me ashamed to be British,..tw@ts,.Ill bet both of them are "residents" and know whats going to happen yet they still spit the dummy.,.

[moo9]

Come on, this is max. 1 week per year and I enjoyed it yesterday and today. People were happy, I did not notice any violence, just sabai sabai.

However I did not go Soi 7 or 8 where the farangs spoil the party!

[Westerner]

It's not that bad, some pretty men out there.

Why are they always so much sexier than the real ones

Yes it does Jing...sorry to say. I have not had an ounce of water on me all week. Of course, I live on the Farside and have a car

I live on the Farside too . I wish people would stop calling it the Darkside .

[dsfbrit]

Come on, this is max. 1 week per year and I enjoyed it yesterday and today. People were happy, I did not notice any violence, just sabai sabai.

However I did not go Soi 7 or 8 where the farangs spoil the party!

No offence to you Moo9, I am sure you are a decent person who has a good time and causes no offence.

If I may offer up an analogy, sadly its a football analogy.

I and many other decent people go and watch Premier league football in the UK (when we get the chance).

I have been at games that have crowds of 25000 and others that have crowds of 60000 plus, true football supporters there watching and enjoying a game of football.

It takes just a few drunken thugs sitting in the stands hurling abuse at rival supporters to turn a fun family day out into a quite frightening event. Certainly it makes me feel uneasy and I am a 6 foot farang. I feel particularly sorry for the dads who have brought their kids to the game.

Over the past few years the cameras and extra security guards have reduced this to a minimum, but it still goes on.

This tiny minority of drunken thugs are no more supporters of football, than the drunken bullying minority of farangs in Pattaya are supporters of any Thai culture - including Songgran.

They are drunken bullying thugs pure and simple and just take their habits wherever they go and simply ruin it for the decent majority who want to have fun.

Oh and I did get involved with Soggran a couple of years ago and it was good fun until one of the UK's 'finest' decided to fire one of those high powered water jets into my wife's face. It blew off her glasses - god knows where they went - and damaged her eye.

'Fortunately', it was in the eye she is already blind in - otherwise the damage would have been a lot worse.

So I for one am glad that today in Pattaya - it should all be over - but I hope you had fun anywway

Edited April 20, 2008 by dsfbrit

[Jamie]

I don't mind Songkran for the most part. It's when you get the idiotic drunk farangs mixed in.

[sweetchariot]

OK there are some 'drunk farangs' behaving like tw@ts, but the majority of the bad behaviour I witnessed yesterday was from drunk/ drugged Thais. One of them nearly took my eye out with one of the 'banned' water pipes, 2 others thought it was really funny to put powder in my mouth.

I resisted temptation, kept saying to myself jai yen yen, until one of them thought it funny to snap the end off my water gun because I refused to give it to him. A swift headbutt did the trick, and whilst his mates were picking him up I was being congratulated by many Thais who had also had enough of him.

We had a great day all in all, avoided sois 7&8 as that is where the idiot farangs hang out. Went home around 8 pm to avoid the trouble.

I have been labelled a 'Thai apologiser' in the past, but I am neither pro nor anti Thai. These guys were out of control yesterday, and to blame 'drunk farangs' is ill informed from my experience.

Edited April 20, 2008 by sweetchariot

[jonniebkk]

I live on the Farside too . I wish people would stop calling it the Darkside .

Haven't you heard...I officially applied to tambon head of Nongprue, who referred me to the chief of Banglamung, who sent me to the governor of Chonburi, to change the name to the name of East Pattaya to the "Farside," and for a couple bottles of Chivas, my wish was granted!

As to all the complaining folks get a life...it's not so bad. It's the 2-3 days of the year that ordinary Thai folks have to really blow-off some steam. All the repressed emotions they bottle-up all year long they can let go of and have some fun too. Would you not enjoy a holiday back home wherein you basically had a week long wet t-shirt contest for the ladies and every police officer you saw you could dump a bucket of water on and smudge his/her face with talcum powder!

I do agree, however, if you don't have a car, you're screwed!

[Kerryd]

I spent most of the day hanging out with Thai friends on my soi. Along the sections of road I could see, I was the only farang, other than an occasional truck that would pass by with a lone farang in the back (amidst a group of Thais).

Most of the locals were having a great time. Thai music cranked up, splashing each other as often (or more so) than any passerbys. When motos would go by, they would either splash a little water at their backs/waists, or stop them and pour some down their backs. No buckets of water to the faces of the drivers/riders.

A couple people were getting carried away with large bottles of (baby powder ?), dumping cupfulls of powder on people, but it didn't last long. Some tried to venture out in a truck with a large pail of water and were back in about 10 minutes as South Pattaya Road was apparently jammed with traffic.

Looking out this morning, everything appears to be back to normal in the neighbourhood. Pretty quiet actually, as many people are (probably) still back in their home provinces, or still in their homes (hung-over).

I expect certain areas will still be active, as some people will try to continue the "fun" past the usual end date (just as they seem to start it earlier and earlier every year).

[cali4995]

Last night(evening of the 19th) I felt like I was entering a riot zone when I went outside. They created this

monster with this marathon festival that rears out of control every year. All the prohibited equipment was

out in full, young drunken teens were fighting in Naklua, it's just a negative image all around.

[chuckd]

Somebody please fill us in on how Beach Road and the traffic chaos was.

I spent Songkran at the Thai Embassy in Riyadh and still managed to get a little damp.

Thanks for any updates you can provide.

[cali4995]

On the day of the 19th, they had actually closed beach road to traffic. They had set up some stages

on the beach and I heard were going to have some grammy stars doing acts there. It looked like a

war area with the splattered talcum paste everywhere and the water assault rifles protruding from

everyones hip. Earlier in the day some crazed bar-girl was flailing away at me with a pail and

managed to slice open the end of my thumb so, there were casualties. Today Sunday the 20th it

seems strangely calm. As if the fever has passed and everyone has now come to their senses.

[Jingthing]

It is OVER!

[Bagwain]

Why don't U old winging cockheads just go away for a week end or a couple of days?

Say-

The bull chase

Tomatoes throw weekend

Cheese rolling

Indy car weeke end at the Gold Coast (Oz)

or just DIE

Sawadee KRAP

[NanLaew]

Why don't U old winging cockheads just go away for a week end or a couple of days?

Say-

The bull chase

Tomatoes throw weekend

Cheese rolling

Indy car weeke end at the Gold Coast (Oz)

or just DIE

Sawadee KRAP

Hey! Cockhead! IT'S OVER! Go home. Don't let the bulls give you the horn up the arse when you get bored rolling cheeses, tossing toms and watching cars going round and round.

[tropo]

Why don't U old winging cockheads just go away for a week end or a couple of days?

Say-

The bull chase

Tomatoes throw weekend

Cheese rolling

Indy car weeke end at the Gold Coast (Oz)

or just DIE

Sawadee KRAP

Hey Cockhead! The Gold Coast Indy car weekend is October 23 - 26 this year.

Let me know where you're going to be and I'll throw some tomatoes your way.

[tropo]

It is OVER!

Hurrah!

[thaihome]

I love Songkran in Pattaya, but it would be nice if they would enforce the ban on the PVC pipe guns. These have pretty much disappeared in Bangkok over the last few years and I think it makes it much better without the really high powered water streams.

TH

[Jefferson]

Sorry, PVC pipes are essential in certain scenarios, like when you don't move around a lot.

Too bad it's over, already looking forward to next year.. I never liked Songkran in Pattaya much, but now that I've heard from others on where it *IS* fun in the Pattaya area, I'm going to give it another try.. (Naklua (Road) area, etc.) So for next year it's first a couple of days in the North or North East, then a two day 'encore' in Patters...

I already checked the dates for next year and it's BRILLIANT.. 18 and 19 are on a weekend, so.... will be there for the party!!

Probably won't bring the pipe guns though as they limit you too much to a single place that has a water supply, or a pick-up of course, which won't bring. But some of the better (read: banned) soakers work quite well as well. I hope the one I bought this year will survive to next year.. made sure to rinse it and run clean water trhough it, then added a bit of oil, now will keep it dust free.. Hopefully it'll still work properly next year.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Jefferson

[MsFigure]

<br />Just ventured out from the safety of the car. It's not that bad, some pretty men out there.<br />

Dammn - that is one pretty boy

Well Songkran is over for the year and got to admit that it wasn't as bad as I expected. Even my trip to gym on Naklua's wet day wasn't as bad as I thought and my trip both to and from the FARSIDE into town was pleasantly uneventful

[naka]

Why don't U old winging cockheads just go away for a week end or a couple of days?

Say-

The bull chase

Tomatoes throw weekend

Cheese rolling

Indy car weeke end at the Gold Coast (Oz)

or just DIE

Sawadee KRAP

Hey Cockhead! The Gold Coast Indy car weekend is October 23 - 26 this year.

Let me know where you're going to be and I'll throw some tomatoes your way.

Where's Oz ?

Naka.