realthaideal Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 In anticipation of all the fun to be had next week I thought I'd start a thread on what's going on around the city. Particularly I want to mention that whereas in the past I saw active preparation of the water in the moats - addition of some sort of probiotic agents to help 'clean' the water, and turn it a sort of green - this year I don't really see any difference in the shade of the water. I'm hoping it's just as 'safe' and nutritious as it has been in years past. I noticed somewhere that 'Baht X Million' was being spent on the festivities this year. Does anyone have a link to what will be going on (ie a schedule) as they spend this money. I figure KSK will have the usual stage and party atmosphere. But what else ? It also appears at first that this year's festivities will have a larger than usual police presence or enforcement of no-drinking around almost the whole moat (ทั้งหมด if I can make a pun). Anybody seen an official statement on that ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huli Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 chiangmai-mail.com has a detailed schedule of events Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapout Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Have not noticed any attempt to clean, refresh, or flush the moat this year to date. The rat population, at least on the east side of the old city (along the moat bank) appears to have grown substantially, (even see them darting around during daylight hours), so the potential for health concerns from moat water is as real, if not more so, this year. Just something to think about when you get splashed in the face with a bucket of moat water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mestizo Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Eh. Nothing a good course of antibiotics and a few bottles of Sangsom can't cure/ prevent. I'll hit the Pharmacy and Liquor store accordingly this weekend to ensure my defenses are in full gear by Songkran. -Mestizo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickeem Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Eh. Nothing a good course of antibiotics and a few bottles of Sangsom can't cure/ prevent. I'll hit the Pharmacy and Liquor store accordingly this weekend to ensure my defenses are in full gear by Songkran. -Mestizo Yes indeed it would have to be a 'good course' of antibiotics Leptospirosis treatments quote from Wikipedia... 'Leptospirosis treatment is a relatively complicated process comprising two main components: suppressing the causative agent and fighting possible complications. Aetiotropic drugs are antibiotics, such as cefotaxime, doxycycline, penicillin, ampicillin, and amoxicillin (doxycycline can also be used as a prophylaxis). There are no human vaccines; animal vaccines are only for a few strains, and are only effective for a few months. Human therapeutic dosage of drugs is as follows: doxycycline 100 mg orally every 12 hours for 1 week or penicillin 1–1.5 MU every 4 hours for 1 week. Doxycycline 200–250 mg once a week is administered as a prophylaxis" I think I would prefer the prophylaxis route.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheshiregent Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 o god here we go again when will the madness end lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadish_sweetball Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Driving into town from Saraphi, I just noticed a huge banner across the road announcing an "alcohol free zone" within the city. Will be interesting to see how that pans out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapout Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 It looks like they may have topped the moat up with water and turned on the water geysers to aerate somewhat. Had the net men out cleaning leaves. Hope they clean and unplug the curbside drains,so water can drain off the streets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naboo Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Driving into town from Saraphi, I just noticed a huge banner across the road announcing an "alcohol free zone" within the city. Will be interesting to see how that pans out. According to another thread somewhere on here, there'll be a few thousand people out taking photographs of drunk people and posting them on the internet. If the police stop you and you're drunk, they've been told to find out where you bought the alcohol. I can't see all the moat side bars being shut down for 3 days..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunphil Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 (edited) Hi They were cleaning, at least this morning... I saw fireman dropping water from fire-trucks... not sure if this contained any insecticide or disinfectant inside (i would hope so)... but this year, no fancy color in the water ... By the way, I understand that no-one wants to get some moat water splashed in their face ... but have you noticed how many kids playing in the moat water for hours and hours, swimming inside ? Are they more resistant than us ? I would not dare put a finger inside ... but I never succeed in discouraging kids of Thai friends to get out from the moat for Songkran ... mai pen rai seems to be the rule ! :-) Edited April 8, 2011 by khunphil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieTheKhwai Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 (edited) Driving into town from Saraphi, I just noticed a huge banner across the road announcing an "alcohol free zone" within the city. Will be interesting to see how that pans out. According to another thread somewhere on here, there'll be a few thousand people out taking photographs of drunk people and posting them on the internet. If the police stop you and you're drunk, they've been told to find out where you bought the alcohol. I can't see all the moat side bars being shut down for 3 days..... Meanwhile in the real world, alcohol can be sold just fine inside official hours (noon and after 5pm). I would LOVE to get my mug on a police social networking site, I'd even fake being drunk to get on it. ( I can't drink too much of course as I will still have to drive home.) But that site should be epic, in the style of the "FAIL" party pics sites. Does anyone know the URL / Facebook page? Police - "Sir, where did you buy that 2 cases of Sang Som in the back of your car?" Me - "I bought it 4 days ago at Tesco. It's called planning. In a couple years time when the next Generation of Thais have eleveated Thailand to the very forefront of planning and project management skills, this evolution can likely be traced back to the introduction of the drinking policy that for the first time in a thousand years forced Thais to plan ahead." Police - "..." <"These are not the drunks we're looking for"-wave> Edited April 8, 2011 by WinnieTheKhwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julesdick Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Meanwhile in the real world, alcohol can be sold just fine inside official hours (noon and after 5pm). I would LOVE to get my mug on a police social networking site, I'd even fake being drunk to get on it. ( I can't drink too much of course as I will still have to drive home.) But that site should be epic, in the style of the "FAIL" party pics sites. Does anyone know the URL / Facebook page? Police - "Sir, where did you buy that 2 cases of Sang Som in the back of your car?" Me - "I bought it 4 days ago at Tesco. It's called planning. In a couple years time when the next Generation of Thais have eleveated Thailand to the very forefront of planning and project management skills, this evolution can likely be traced back to the introduction of the drinking policy that for the first time in a thousand years forced Thais to plan ahead." Police - "..." <"These are not the drunks we're looking for"-wave> lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckamuck Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 We are busy next week so we did Songkran today at the moat. Big barrels of ice water and super soakers. It was great fun, I was amazed that no one else seemed to enjoy it. Gee what happened to the Thai sense of sanook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 The early bird gives the farang a conniption fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglechef Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Interesting article in BKK Post about using unsafe powder on the body (which I've noticed they throw on others as well) "white powder contaminated with bacteria and deadly chemicals is considered to be a major threat to people's lives." It said "The white clay filler is normally used in the furniture making industry and it contains several substances unsafe for the human body such as propylene, trichloroethylene, carbon black, mercury, lead and zinc oxide." And "These chemical could lead to acute and chronic poisoning in the body if they get through the skin or eyes" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieTheKhwai Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Good. Happy that chalk is not used too much in chiang Mai, and quickly washes off. Bangkok and the South is rife with the stuff. nasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mapguy Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 No drinking around the moat? Right! Not bloody likely! I'll stick to home in any case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunanta Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hi They were cleaning, at least this morning... I saw fireman dropping water from fire-trucks... not sure if this contained any insecticide or disinfectant inside (i would hope so)... but this year, no fancy color in the water ... By the way, I understand that no-one wants to get some moat water splashed in their face ... but have you noticed how many kids playing in the moat water for hours and hours, swimming inside ? Are they more resistant than us ? I would not dare put a finger inside ... but I never succeed in discouraging kids of Thai friends to get out from the moat for Songkran ... mai pen rai seems to be the rule ! :-) you will only see little boy's in that moat.....nobody wanted them...its the girls that produce income here, thus they will not be playing in there own swill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieTheKhwai Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Just got back from my booze shopping. Planned ahead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elektrified Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Have not noticed any attempt to clean, refresh, or flush the moat this year to date. The rat population, at least on the east side of the old city (along the moat bank) appears to have grown substantially, (even see them darting around during daylight hours), so the potential for health concerns from moat water is as real, if not more so, this year. Just something to think about when you get splashed in the face with a bucket of moat water. I happened to be right by the moat near Pratu Thapae last night. You are right, the water is absolutely filthy. It is a dark green color with food wrappers and all kinds of other junk floating in there as well as millions of insects. As I walked up Thannon Moon Muang I could see the rats by the dozens scurrying from the trash left along the sidewalk down to the moat as I walked in their direction. There were a lot of them! On the other side, across from Darets Place is just as bad. There is a trailer parked there with a large cage filled with all kinds of machinery and pumps. At first I thought it was some kind of filtering device but as I studied it more, I believe it is nothing more than what will be used to pump water out of the moat for the revelers. This looks like a dangerous situation to me. I don't want that contaminated water on me or especially on my young child or in his eyes. I think I'll avoid the moat area completely this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieTheKhwai Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 I agree. also the moat is just fairly dangerous for kids, both the traffic nearby and the risk of falling in. PM me for ideas that are relatively safe for kids. (Age 3-10 or so) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weary Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 The cynic in me wonders if the failure to clean up the moat water, at least to some extent, is a calculated part of the campaign to turn Songkran in Chiang Mai into a Disneyland for the mythical quality tourist, i.e. the teetotaler millionaire who is impeccably and modestly dressed, culturally sensitive and whose idea of fun is to fly half way around the world to build sand castles and play golf, by making sure that all the tourists, expats and Thais who gather in Chiang Mai for Songkran because it is the world's largest beer-fuelled public water fight, will catch some nasty bugs from the moat water and die off. Perhaps the mysterious deaths earlier this year were actually due to the secret virus they have deployed in the moat to ensure that the plan works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieH Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 No drinking around the moat? Right! Not bloody likely! I'll stick to home in any case! is this actually true? and if so, how on earth is it being enforced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SadieMBeagle Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 No drinking around the moat? Right! Not bloody likely! I'll stick to home in any case! is this actually true? and if so, how on earth is it being enforced? Oh you'll love this, StevieH...apparently there are going to be "several hundred volunteers" around the moat, taking pictures of people acting drunk, then posting them to as-yet-unnamed "social media websites" (we can imagine that'll be FB/twitter/etc.). After that...well, I don't think they mentioned what they'll do. So...public humiliation, then, is the goal? I dunno. I say, let's TRY to get on that social media website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieH Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 No drinking around the moat? Right! Not bloody likely! I'll stick to home in any case! is this actually true? and if so, how on earth is it being enforced? Oh you'll love this, StevieH...apparently there are going to be "several hundred volunteers" around the moat, taking pictures of people acting drunk, then posting them to as-yet-unnamed "social media websites" (we can imagine that'll be FB/twitter/etc.). After that...well, I don't think they mentioned what they'll do. So...public humiliation, then, is the goal? I dunno. I say, let's TRY to get on that social media website several hundred sober volunteers? with waterproof cameras presumably? and how do you take a photo of someone 'acting' drunk? they could just be sleepy, clumsy or simply non-photogenic. . . .what a truly bizarre notion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapout Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 No drinking around the moat? Right! Not bloody likely! I'll stick to home in any case! is this actually true? and if so, how on earth is it being enforced? One of the bar/restaurant owners on the moat, told me this morning,the police stopped by yesterday and told them No smoking in open air part of the place (thats been their designated smoking), and no selling booze/beer as per the times followed by the super markets. That should stir up a few of the revelers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SadieMBeagle Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 (edited) Here is the original article: Booze-Free 'Safety Areas' Set for Songkran To discourage drunken celebrations, a group of 2,000 volunteers will be stationed at the 60 locations to take pictures of drunk people before posting them on online social media services, for police to monitor and make arrests in case they commit crimes. Ooh, loophole!! Being drunk in public is okay, AS LONG AS you don't commit a crime later! So, where are the "Khaos" in Chiang Mai? The idea, which will be rolled out at 16 tourist attractions with names beginning with Khao, in imitation of Bangkok's Khao San Road, is also aimed at curbing sexual assaults on women by wayward celebrants while reducing accidents and deaths associated with drinking, she added. Seriously, is this a holdover from April Fool's Day? Edited April 12, 2011 by SadieMBeagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uptheos Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 several hundred sober volunteers? with waterproof cameras presumably? and how do you take a photo of someone 'acting' drunk? they could just be sleepy, clumsy or simply non-photogenic. . . .what a truly bizarre notion. Absolutely, doesn't make sense at all. Maybe a video of sufficient length could make a case, but who hasn't had their picture taken just at that moment when time freezes and catches them in a strange position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf5370 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I think the no drinking zone last year was pretty good and worked OK - i.e. bars around the moat were open and selling, but no drinking on the moat bank or at TP Gate paved area / CM Gate market area etc. Only saw a few breaking this (one was a wiered Thai family having a picnic on the grass and had a bottle of beer - while chaos was all around - the other was a farrang drinking beer from a can). This reminds me of the British football thing of closing all bars around clubs before matches - all it means is you end up with drunks on buses and trains drinking carry-outs on the way to the match instead. People will still wander off to Loi Kroh and other side roads off the moat ,full of bars, and stagger back later. Only means moat side bars loose business, nothing else - and I guess a whole lot less free water barrels of clean water that the bars usually proivide, so even more dirty moat water - great idea (not!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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