When Will All The Water Throwing Stop?

[OldeBellPedr]

I normally watch the Songkran goings on from behind my bar and had no strong views about it until this year - my family and staff love it and its the last call for the high season for us. But this year about 9pm I took my 3 and a 1/2 year old just across the road for a half hour foot massage, which we both enjoy. After about 10 minutes a Farang - probably Portuguese or Brazilian by his appearance and accent and clearly pissed or under the influence of something stronger, squited water at us and hit my lad in the face. Well I gave him a verbal tirade and settled back to enjoy the rest of the massage and blow me if this same geezer doesnt come back 15 minutes later for another go! Well this time I, wife, staff and others went after him and gave him more than just a verbal tirade. Drunken, drug crazed Farangs (and some irresponsible Thais who follow their lead) are ruining what remains of the traditional Songkran.

As to Nancy's point, there shouldn't be any water thrown today - there never has been, most Thais are bored with it by now, but then TIT nothing is certain!

[ollylama]

i find it odd that all these supposedly open minded, culturally sensitive people can't give a poor farang a break for soberly voicing his or her opinion that songkran is an annoyance. it's almost as if they have something to prove - some kind of holier than thou (or more tolerant than thou) mentality.

one could make the exact same argument about thaivisa as about thailand - hey, thaivisa is full of people who like to complain one in a while (surely more than once a year for a week). if you're not tolerant of that they you should get the hell out of the thai visa forum! don't be bringing your foreign sensibilities here!

certainly thai visa has been criticized for being full of whiners and bitchers and moaners. but that's a part of its "culture". if you don't like it, then go back to your own forum where you came from!!! you imperialist swine!

in other words, stop picking fights. learn to enjoy the heated discussions without making this personal, passing judgement or blowing things out of proportion. the ancient art of Argue-Jitsu.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Not much else to add to that, though perhaps I should also mention once more that the notion that it used to be 'a gentle and respectful celebration' in the 'good old days' is a complete fallacy. The pictures have been posted on this forum, old black-and-whites from the 1950's and 1960's that show a huge water fight, same same today. (Well, there were less people in town, but other than that I would have thoroughly enjoyed Songkran in 1960!).

Some Thai people even seem to believe this. Their memories may be one-sided because while they were kids they weren't allowed into town, so all they saw was their granparents house and the temple.

I'm making sure my children get a proper Songkran education so they won't claim in 2055 that it was a gentle and meek celebration in 2011!

So, once more, behold, and smell the moat water:

Winnie, I too am wondering about the tradition of Songkran. Surely it goes far further back than the 20th century; living memory is not the only way to discover religious beginnings. Could it be not be that Siam, an agricultural country before WWII (and after it for a while), washed figures of Buddha and then used the water as a kind of benediction? For many centuries?

Well, I stuck to living memory only because some people claim that it was more respectful before.

But if we want to explore beginnings then what you're seeing is clearly an animist fertility rite. As such it predates Buddhism. (Like Christianity put a religious meaning on the much older celebrations around Christmas/New Year. ) There are major festivals in India at the time of Songkran as well.

(Maybe that's why so many old grumpy Farang dont like it; they fail to connect with the fertility aspect of if all. That's all the ppl talking about staying home with books and yelling at the world and life in general that's passing them by. )

Edited April 16, 2011 by WinnieTheKhwai

[ChiangMaiFun]

Not much else to add to that, though perhaps I should also mention once more that the notion that it used to be 'a gentle and respectful celebration' in the 'good old days' is a complete fallacy. The pictures have been posted on this forum, old black-and-whites from the 1950's and 1960's that show a huge water fight, same same today. (Well, there were less people in town, but other than that I would have thoroughly enjoyed Songkran in 1960!).

Some Thai people even seem to believe this. Their memories may be one-sided because while they were kids they weren't allowed into town, so all they saw was their granparents house and the temple.

I'm making sure my children get a proper Songkran education so they won't claim in 2055 that it was a gentle and meek celebration in 2011!

So, once more, behold, and smell the moat water:

Winnie, I too am wondering about the tradition of Songkran. Surely it goes far further back than the 20th century; living memory is not the only way to discover religious beginnings. Could it be not be that Siam, an agricultural country before WWII (and after it for a while), washed figures of Buddha and then used the water as a kind of benediction? For many centuries?

Well, I stuck to living memory only because some people claim that it was more respectful before.

But if we want to explore beginnings then what you're seeing is clearly an animist fertility rite. As such it predates Buddhism. (Like Christianity put a religious meaning on the much older celebrations around Christmas/New Year. ) There are major festivals in India at the time of Songkran as well.

(Maybe that's why so many old grumpy Farang dont like it; they fail to connect with the fertility aspect of if all. That's all the ppl talking about staying home with books and yelling at the world and life in general that's passing them by. )

it's not that Winnie - it's the ice in the face and deliberate knocking people off bikes etc. that some don't like. And the road deaths? how many deaths so far? I'd like to see the Stats for years ago... not many died back then I'm sure so there has to have been a change. It's not a killjoy thing but, as the Old Belle guy reported it's got more thuggish in some parts of town (a small area I grant you)

[daoyai]

imagine what kind of arguments the Rio de Janeiro expats get into once a year.

i'm no fan of songkran, but it could be worse. we're not the only group of cold blooded imperialists who wish we could have our cake and strictly administer its aspects too.

The Rio carnival has much better music..... btw

[realthaideal]

So are things all dry and safe downtown then, I assume ? Still a few 'funmakers' about ?

[Ulysses G.]

As far as I can tell, the coast is clear.

[NancyL]

Thank you gentlemen, for all your assistance in answering my question about whether the water throwing would continue past the "official" dates of April 13-15. Today Hubby and I enjoyed a traditional Thai holiday celebration. We went to Central Airport Plaza, walked around, ate lunch and saw a movie. Oh, what do you mean this isn't the traditional way to celebrate the holiday? I didn't see too many westerners there and the place was packed. I'm not complaining. I rather enjoyed all the energy in the place.

Oh, we didn't see any water throwing as our songthaews navigated around the city.

[ChiangMaiFun]

As far as I can tell, the coast is clear.

'coast' that's an unfortunate metaphor when discussing 'water'

[el jefe]

I'm glad many of you enjoyed a dry day. But if you were looking for a continuation of Songkran it was easy to find.

A bunch of us were disappointed by the cold weather for the first two days so we rode up to Phrao and Chiang Dao on Saturday. Songkran was still going on full blast there and in all the nearby villages. Fortunately, it was the respectful Thai version. Sure there was plenty of Thai on Thai water fights but as farangs, it was much calmer. Plenty of kids were out and I'm sure they got bonus points for soaking farangs on bicycles.

Almost everyone aimed for our waist or below. But it was blazing hot in the afternoon and a few times I requested that they dump the water on my head. Of course, that's disrespectful and no one complied. I actually had to use my own drinking water on my head to stay cool. Eventually I put a foot down and a couple of kids poured the water gingerly on my head.

Once we got to Chiang Dao the water fights between pickup trucks going in opposite directions were no less fun than the prior 3 days. We only saw one other farang all day. It looked like he was enjoying a family party but he still managed to throw a cup of water at us. I'm glad I got to participate in a wonderful Thai tradition for an extra day.

Today, none of us had the energy to go that far from CM. It was pretty quiet in the nearby villages. But yesterday was good clean fun. I'm already looking forward to next year away from CM.

[Konini]

Is it just me, or was Songkran restrained this year? This is our 3rd Songkran in CM, and I vowed not to leave the building until Monday, but it seemed so much quieter, especially around the Chiang Mai Gate area. Not so many backpackers? Not so much alcohol? I don't know, but if this year was anything to go by, I won't be confining myself to barracks next year.

[curtklay]

Count me out next year too. It's gotten totally out of control and dangerous.

Yeah it's another 'happy new years'.....that makes three this year....ours, Chinese and then Thai new years, which is way over the top. I enjoyed my first one 12 yrs ago and then from then on it became an 'inconvenient nusance'.

And yeah, let the natives have fun at the expense of safety for their kids and themselves.....not to mention others harmed by their stupid over the top drinking habits.

I say the above after just having participating in a local village 3 day party that I had to attend to save face for the wife.....make my apearance throw some water, fake drink some lousy beer chiang and exit quietly. What I witnessed out in our small moobaan in the ricefields was total insanity......parents drunk while their kids ran into traffic, throwing full 5 gallon buckets of water on older folks that were just trying to get home dry, teenagers [age 12 and 13 drunk like their parents] then weaving off drunk on their motocycs. And to answer the OP's question.....it will last until Monday [and then some more].

Thais are wonderful people, but they just take 'sanook' way over the top. I love them when they are sober.

Next year, I'm out of the country for songkran!!

me too but I couldn't get a flight this year enjoyment is one thing but it's just an orgy without the sex - a million miles from the respectful mild splashing of water

[wolf5370]

Did the first two days - so wet on the first day didn't notice it was raining! Had a great time as usual. My first Songkran was 14 years ago in BKK - and it was at least as mad as CM this year. Though back then I was on the back of a pick up with a gun in each hand - much more powder down there though.

For 2 days, I love it - my kids had much for fun this years too (I think it was just a bit too crazy last year - too many people and with the bars open on the moat, everyone packed into the bars and used their water (and guns sometimes) and fought with the bar nextdoor. This yea we did the moat in the morning and then moved to the Olde Bell in the afternoon (and for lunch) - for a slightly carmer but stil very active afternoon.

Last day I was ill - recovered today - guess I drank too much moat water (same as last year then!). No worries, immune system's got another waterbourne baterium nailed - what doesn't kill us and all that...

Looking forward to next year - decided I'm going to convery one of those water cooler tanks to a backpack and fit a pond pump and go stormtrooper - watchout!

[Semper]

Did the first two days - so wet on the first day didn't notice it was raining! Had a great time as usual. My first Songkran was 14 years ago in BKK - and it was at least as mad as CM this year. Though back then I was on the back of a pick up with a gun in each hand - much more powder down there though.

For 2 days, I love it - my kids had much for fun this years too (I think it was just a bit too crazy last year - too many people and with the bars open on the moat, everyone packed into the bars and used their water (and guns sometimes) and fought with the bar nextdoor. This yea we did the moat in the morning and then moved to the Olde Bell in the afternoon (and for lunch) - for a slightly carmer but stil very active afternoon.

Last day I was ill - recovered today - guess I drank too much moat water (same as last year then!). No worries, immune system's got another waterbourne baterium nailed - what doesn't kill us and all that...

Looking forward to next year - decided I'm going to convery one of those water cooler tanks to a backpack and fit a pond pump and go stormtrooper - watchout!

How old are you? If under 30 don't answere

[KhunFred]

Hopefully not! Another day or two of this wonderfully fantastic celebration would be awesome!

-Mestizo

a

I just find this stuff horrible. There is no other word for it. Over the top nonsense which stops people going about their daily lives. The glee on the faces of the drunk farangs as they chucked water (and more) over people tells me everything about these scummy people. Yep, Hate it.

This is the biggest Thai holiday of year. The day I stop enjoying Songkran and find myself bad mouthing the culture of the country I live in, is the day they can put me in the ground. If I find myself to be as miserable as some of you are, I will pay somebody to take me out to the pasture like damaged livestock and shoot me in the head to put me out of my misery.

Happy Songkran!

-Mestizo

I concur...if you don't like the culture, perhaps your own country can provide something more to your liking. I enjoy Songkran because it is precisely what I would NOT find at home. Cheers.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Did the first two days - so wet on the first day didn't notice it was raining! Had a great time as usual. My first Songkran was 14 years ago in BKK - and it was at least as mad as CM this year. Though back then I was on the back of a pick up with a gun in each hand - much more powder down there though.

For 2 days, I love it - my kids had much for fun this years too (I think it was just a bit too crazy last year - too many people and with the bars open on the moat, everyone packed into the bars and used their water (and guns sometimes) and fought with the bar nextdoor. This yea we did the moat in the morning and then moved to the Olde Bell in the afternoon (and for lunch) - for a slightly carmer but stil very active afternoon.

Last day I was ill - recovered today - guess I drank too much moat water (same as last year then!). No worries, immune system's got another waterbourne baterium nailed - what doesn't kill us and all that...

Looking forward to next year - decided I'm going to convery one of those water cooler tanks to a backpack and fit a pond pump and go stormtrooper - watchout!

How old are you? If under 30 don't answere

Trust me, ageism won't work. I see plenty older guys (and girls) enjoying themselves, and plenty younger ones too. Me, I'm in the middle. It's all in the mind; ability to enjoy Thailand and all it has to offer.