Where Are You Going To Be Spending Songran?

[chiangmaikelly]

The guys that enjoy the nonsense are always the same lot - reliving a lost youth or never having grown up at all.

The guys that are the worst have no clue what the holiday is even about, have never seen the 3 day holiday in traditional form. Think its about fun, titties, beer and water guns. Then there are the losers that book flights (no lie) to actually go to Pattaya to be in the middle of it.

Show me a man who likes the holiday and I will show you a tourist who knows nothing of Thailand and doesn't care.

If you see fun in what has become senseless danger, you are truly lost.

This is not to discredit a bit of fun or the holiday as traditionally celebrated. Want a nice balance and good fun? Try Luang Prabang, used to be great with ceremonies, parades and boats across the river for a big party. Of course, Lao people so lovely anyway.

Loy Kratong was also finished in Pattaya a decade ago. What a lovely festival that was in Thailand. Now..few ladies dress for it. Done properly in only a few places.

Yeah, compare this childish idiocy to the Running of the Bulls, and it says much about the minds that "enjoy" it.

Where I lived before, Songran was celebrated one day only. Gently. A shop lady asked me if she could pour a thimble full of water on me. I consented, and we parted company with smiles.

The next wasted fat f*@k foreigner that throws a bucket of water in my face while I'm riding a motorbike in traffic, is, well, I don't want to have to defend against "premeditated, so I'll stop here.

Skinny, sober, Thais OK to throw?

[Thaddeus]

Its a bit like Marmite.

Love it or hate it.

I personally love it.

You will go off Marmite after you have had it a few times.

Especially if it is being squirted in your eyes.

[toybits]

I used to loath the Songkran festival - until I discovered that it was fun and adopted it as my own. Having lived in Thailand for many years, it is ridiculous not to become more Thai and to take on Thai culture and festivals. The OP's strong feelings against Thai festivals has nothing to do with Thais. It is his/her own problem.

[rott]

Vietnam looks good as they don't bother there. Neither do Malaysia but i find that a boring sort of country. A while a go I was told that in Laos it's worse than Pattaya but I have no experience of it in Vientiane.

[billd766]

The guys that enjoy the nonsense are always the same lot - reliving a lost youth or never having grown up at all.

The guys that are the worst have no clue what the holiday is even about, have never seen the 3 day holiday in traditional form. Think its about fun, titties, beer and water guns. Then there are the losers that book flights (no lie) to actually go to Pattaya to be in the middle of it.

Show me a man who likes the holiday and I will show you a tourist who knows nothing of Thailand and doesn't care.

If you see fun in what has become senseless danger, you are truly lost.

This is not to discredit a bit of fun or the holiday as traditionally celebrated. Want a nice balance and good fun? Try Luang Prabang, used to be great with ceremonies, parades and boats across the river for a big party. Of course, Lao people so lovely anyway.

Loy Kratong was also finished in Pattaya a decade ago. What a lovely festival that was in Thailand. Now..few ladies dress for it. Done properly in only a few places.

Far be it for me to disagree with you but I enjoy Songkran, so do my Thai family and all the kids love it. After living here for a few years I don't think I am a tourist either.

Most of the family will be coming up from Bangkok to celebrate

On the other hand I don't live in the tourist cities but out in the countryside where things are a bit different and there are less stupid farangs to deal with.

At 68 I still go out on the truck and we go slowly so the village kids can have a go at the farang who is enjoying himself. This farang also gets his own back on the kids too.

[Thaddeus]

A little story.

A few years ago our local radio station organised a traditional Songran party in its grounds. The guests of honour were all the old folks in the village.

Came the time when everyone had turned up, a long line of chairs was set out for the oldies to sit on (about 20) so that everyone else could go down the line with a small metal bowl of water to sprinkle on their hands. The chap who runs the station (ex-Police Chief and a lovely man) started his turn, he got half way down the line when a little old lady, who must have been in her 80's, grabbed the bowl from his hands and promptly drenched him.

His face was a picture, there was a hushed silence for a second, then riotous laughter, then all hell broke loose. It was one of the funniest events I've ever attended, no one was spared a drenching young or old, in fact the higher the status the higher the chance of being drowned by a toothless, grinning granny.

That was fun, it was in a safe area well away from the road..... and I would join in again with that in a heartbeat.

But, trying to negotiate your way through gangs of drunken idiots standing in the middle of a main road, whose sole intention is not to wish you a prosperous new year isn't my idea of enjoyment.

[Morakot]

On Thai Visa!

[BlackArtemis]

I love Songkran, but I sadly will be visiting the US during it. However, I think it keeps getting orse. Last year I went out 1 day and every person with a gun, regardless of nationality, aimed for my and other people's eyes. It was annoying as hell. So I went with a bunch of Friends to Mae Wang outside of Chiang mai and went camping for the night and rafting down the river. Too and from there were tons of people throwing water at cars, having you slow down first as to 1, get you and 2 make sure you didn't get hit by a 50-80kph splash.

To make up for it, I will be in Nepal celebrating Holi for the first time 2 weeks beforehand.

[forumuser10]

I will bunker up with Whisky, and a lot of food, and stay INSIDE my apartment!!