Where's Your Favourite Chiang Mai Songkran-soaking Destination

[Chiangmai Foxy]

After spending my first songkran in cm last year,i was amazed at the mass of people,and the happiness of the whole new year occasion.trying to explain to friends back in england what goes on is hard to put into words.i cant wait to be back in a week or so.

anyway on to my question.i spent songkran in a few different places-Thapae gate,Kotchasarn Road,Loh Kroh,Chang klan etc.

my favourite "squirting" point had to be,either outside lucky bar or spotlight,mainly for the mass of people and the loud music.is there any other points i could try or have i covered the best ones?

happy songkran to you all in advance.

[sleepyjohn]

Where's your favourite Songkran-soaking location?

Choose your answer

1) There isn't one.

2) As far away as possible.

The Thais doing Songkran for a week is a bit like the American TV channels putting on Benny Hill day after day after day. More than once in a while ruins it.

Edited March 26, 2006 by sleepyjohn

[chuchok]

Where's your favourite Songkran-soaking location?

Choose your answer

1) There isn't one.

2) As far away as possible.

The Thais doing Songkran for a week is a bit like the American TV channels putting on Benny Hill day after day after day. More than once in a while ruins it.

Benny Hill would be ok once a year.

[groo]

my favourite "squirting" point had to be,either outside lucky bar or spotlight,mainly for the mass of people and the loud music.

He he... .. errrr let me know what time...

[Tywais]

My house.

The first time was fantastic. The 2nd time was great, the 3rd time OK, the 4th time <deleted> this. It does get to you after a while. It was the ice water hits that closed it for me, plus getting an infection in the gonads from the moat water.

[chuchok]

My house.

The first time was fantastic. The 2nd time was great, the 3rd time OK, the 4th time <deleted> this. It does get to you after a while. It was the ice water hits that closed it for me, plus getting an infection in the gonads from the moat water.

I think that would damper the spirits of anybody!

[chanchao]

There's no single best place that'd be fun for the whole day or several days. There are however a number fo places that have their merits:

- The easy answer is of course anywhere around the ourtside of the moat. Best water supply, most people. Beats being stuck in traffic on Thapae or Huay Kaew or something.

- Around that moat area, I mostly do sometimes visit the tourist bar area for a bit, though if there's any obnoxious drunk foreigners around, that's where they'll be, too. Still.. lots of people, so worth a stint.

- Daret Guesthouse. This place is brilliant because you can sit on their outside terrace restaurant and get a breather and a fruit shake while still watching the goings on.

- The old Lamphun road: This is a preference of many local girls because the high trees provide shade during the day, so they can play without runining their white skin.

- Finally, you just HAVE to join any truck or pickup truck or drive around a bit. Not sure how many friends of mine will be around, but if enough then I might be tempted again to do some driving, even though its obviously a lot funner in the back of the truck.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[too true]

I'm with Chanchao - I'm counting the days until it all starts. Don't usually stop to play around ThaPhae anymore, mostly because too many of the tourists get out of control, but also because I'm married now so can't go flirt with all the cute Thai boys. But have had great fun the past few years playing around Gad Gom and near Wualai Road. I think you either love it or hate it, and if you love it then it's fun wherever you play.

Cheers

TT

[Chiangmai Foxy]

nice to see at least a few of you looking forward to it.i was expecting alot to say,stay at home,hate songkran etc etc.and they did.as for drunken foreigners ruining it,i never saw any trouble,maybe a few cross words nothing bad.only trouble i witnessed was a very drunk thai guy smashing bottles aroung outside spotlight.he was soon threatened and staggered on

[Ajarn]

I'm looking forward to one day of play, the rest at home, by the pool.

I think these 'hooligans' are overrated. Every year for the last few years, I've spent hours and hours driving around the moat,loi kroh, suriwong... I rarely see anything over the top, in fact, among Thais, they immediately freeze-out anyone making problems, in most cases, which takes the wind out of their sales, it seems to me...

The worst offenders are always, it seems, farangs. Last year, I ran across this guy, running up to people and shooting them point-blank with a pump gun. Unusual enough for me to take a photo

Edited March 26, 2006 by Ajarn

[Ulysses G.]

I'm looking forward to one day of play, the rest at home, by the pool.

I think these 'hooligans' are overrated.

Most of the people who whine about "hooligans" are the type that walk down Thapae Road in their dress clothing during the middle of the water fight at noon and expect everyone to stop and let them pass. Not very realistic I'm afraid.

[Tywais]

I'm looking forward to one day of play, the rest at home, by the pool.

I think these 'hooligans' are overrated.

Most of the people who whine about "hooligans" are the type that walk down Thapae Road in their dress clothing during the middle of the water fight at noon and expect everyone to stop and let them pass. Not very realistic I'm afraid.

Not realistic at all and is like having a bulls eye painted on them, not so much from the Thais but the other farangs. I've seen Thais pass up dumping someone with water who was dressed up if it was clear they had to go to work and would just approach them and spash them with a little water on the neck. I always wore mahom (sp? the blue farmers outfits) shirt and pants and seemed to attract a little less attention. They are also very comfortable and dry fairly fast.

Edited March 26, 2006 by tywais

[SamSipEt]

my favourite "squirting" point had to be,either outside lucky bar or spotlight,mainly for the mass of people and the loud music.

Or maybe over the moat at Mad Dogs – good location and when you need to grab a bite to eat it has the best pizza in town.

[cm das]

My house.

The first time was fantastic. The 2nd time was great, the 3rd time OK, the 4th time <deleted> this. It does get to you after a while. It was the ice water hits that closed it for me, plus getting an infection in the gonads from the moat water.

Wait a minute, I got an ear infection from the moat water, but an infection in the gonads? What were you doing with the moat water? Or maybe I don't want to know.

As for the over-the-top bit, I think this always gets over-simplified. I've seen Thais & foreigners both who seem to overdo it. OK, I probably saw probably more foreigners getting a bit aggressive with the water-play, but then I had friends pushed into the moat by Thais (my friends were playing with lots of energy but not too aggressively) & I saw a big brawl among Thai teenagers along the moat too. Basically, I think it's the people who drink too much who take things too far, regardless of their nationality.

[chanchao]

> Or maybe over the moat at Mad Dogs – good location and when you need

> to grab a bite to eat it has the best pizza in town.

Extra moat-sauce please. :-)

Only problem with that location is that it's on the inside of the moat, where the main battle is raging on the outside. Still, good advice for a breather and some food, indeed.

[Ulysses G.]

> Or maybe over the moat at Mad Dogs – good location and when you need

> to grab a bite to eat it has the best pizza in town.

Extra moat-sauce please. :-)

Only problem with that location is that it's on the inside of the moat, where the main battle is raging on the outside. Still, good advice for a breather and some food, indeed.

There is PLENTY of action at Mad Dogs.

More there than at DK Books right across the canal outside the moat and cold beer as well.

[groo]

> Or maybe over the moat at Mad Dogs – good location and when you need

> to grab a bite to eat it has the best pizza in town.

Extra moat-sauce please. :-)

Only problem with that location is that it's on the inside of the moat, where the main battle is raging on the outside. Still, good advice for a breather and some food, indeed.

There is PLENTY of action at Mad Dogs.

More there than at DK Books right across the canal outside the moat and cold beer as well.

a very good suggestion actually. nick might be swarmed with extra number of farangs this year. have to ask chanchao about parking the car on songkran day though. any suggestions chanchao?

[SamSipEt]

Why not dump the car somewhere near the Red Lion and walk along Loy Kroh to Mad Dogs. You’ll have so much fun on the way you may never even make it to the moat.

[chanchao]

> have to ask chanchao about parking the car on songkran day though.

> any suggestions chanchao?

Of course! You're talking to someone who not only managed to get into town, to Thapae Gate without getting stuck in trafficv, park his car AND make it to Daret's guesthouse outside terrace, on Songkran day, but managed to make it there with *DRY* clothes. Yes I'm proud of that.

The main thing to avoid before you even get to a place where you would want to park is that you should avoid getting stuck on one of the roads going towards the moat. This means avoiding Huay Kaew, Chang Phuak, quite probably Sridonchai and most definitely Thapae Roads especially. However from the South-West along Mahidol road (from AIrport Plaza towards the moat), the road is wide AND there's no shops or anything really next to the outside moat there, AND the road is quite a bit higher than the water level meaning that water-refuelling stops aren't very convenient, which reduces congestion. So you approach from there. Note that the Wing 41 airport road is open to all on Songkran day, so that's an excellent way to make it to the Airport Plaza area.

Then, as soon as possible, so the first U-turn, go inside the moat area. There's a lot less people/traffic/congestion there. On the inside, you can get anywhere! it's the 'Eye of the Storm'. So from there you can get close to Mad Dog. Chances are you can actually park right along Moon Muang there, worst case is you end up close to the corner at the start of Moon Muang.

Another option is Ratchapakinai road, close to where the tiny tiny soi connects with Moon Muang Soi 1 that turns into Soi 2. That soi is not wide enough for cars, so you'd park on or around Ratchapakinai, walk down the soi, then turn left walking towards the Soi 2 ending where you reach Moon Muang. ***HOWEVER*** right on that soi corner is HHH bar, some bar on the right side of the soi, and worst of all Midnight Bar which will be going strong.. There's no way you can walk past there without getting completely soaked. So instead of going all the way to the Soi 2 ending, you CUT THROUGH that restaurant that has a back entrance on the soi, the one called Jai-yen-something? Anyway you emerge from that restaurant, take a swift right into Mad Dog.

Alternatively, ther's a small soi from Ratchamankha road that connects with Moon Muang Soi 1->2.

No guarantees you'll make it there completely dry, but using this plan you can turn sure death into a fighting chance to survive.

[Rinrada]

Just been talking to a couple of the TIT lads that are cleaning out the moat at the moment (getting around..eh) so hopefully shouldnt be 2 many poos in TIT sewage to get chucked over everyone on the big day....

Believe hospitals however will still be on FULL alert

[chuchok]

Just been talking to a couple of the TIT lads that are cleaning out the moat at the moment (getting around..eh) so hopefully shouldnt be 2 many poos in TIT sewage to get chucked over everyone on the big day....

Believe hospitals however will still be on FULL alert

Nice

[groo]

> have to ask chanchao about parking the car on songkran day though.

> any suggestions chanchao?

Of course! You're talking to someone who not only managed to get into town, to Thapae Gate without getting stuck in trafficv, park his car AND make it to Daret's guesthouse outside terrace, on Songkran day, but managed to make it there with *DRY* clothes. Yes I'm proud of that.

The main thing to avoid before you even get to a place where you would want to park is that you should avoid getting stuck on one of the roads going towards the moat. This means avoiding Huay Kaew, Chang Phuak, quite probably Sridonchai and most definitely Thapae Roads especially. However from the South-West along Mahidol road (from AIrport Plaza towards the moat), the road is wide AND there's no shops or anything really next to the outside moat there, AND the road is quite a bit higher than the water level meaning that water-refuelling stops aren't very convenient, which reduces congestion. So you approach from there. Note that the Wing 41 airport road is open to all on Songkran day, so that's an excellent way to make it to the Airport Plaza area.

Then, as soon as possible, so the first U-turn, go inside the moat area. There's a lot less people/traffic/congestion there. On the inside, you can get anywhere! it's the 'Eye of the Storm'. So from there you can get close to Mad Dog. Chances are you can actually park right along Moon Muang there, worst case is you end up close to the corner at the start of Moon Muang.

Another option is Ratchapakinai road, close to where the tiny tiny soi connects with Moon Muang Soi 1 that turns into Soi 2. That soi is not wide enough for cars, so you'd park on or around Ratchapakinai, walk down the soi, then turn left walking towards the Soi 2 ending where you reach Moon Muang. ***HOWEVER*** right on that soi corner is HHH bar, some bar on the right side of the soi, and worst of all Midnight Bar which will be going strong.. There's no way you can walk past there without getting completely soaked. So instead of going all the way to the Soi 2 ending, you CUT THROUGH that restaurant that has a back entrance on the soi, the one called Hemp-something? Anyway you emerge from that restaurant, take a swift right into Mad Dog.

Alternatively, ther's a small soi from Ratchamankha road that connects with Moon Muang Soi 1->2.

No guarantees you'll make it there completely dry, but using this plan you can turn sure death into a fighting chance to survive.

chanchao,

very very good work. I normally do that. from airport plaza if i wanna see a little bit of the show. of course with the windows up!. but yes guys, this is the best way to get as close to mad dog's area as possible. guys this is definately the best solution to your parking and driving for songkrang in the city!.

[Rinrada]

If I was here at the time I recon that I would go for a microlite...assuming it dont start pizzing down....mai chorp..

[chanchao]

Now there's a challenge... shooting a microlite out of the air with a decent water gun..

By the way, that place next to Mad Dog's with access from the back soi is called Jai Yen Cafe I think, not Hemp-something as I stated earlier.

[Rinrada]

Was thinking more along the lines of bhai Passa Wat.....

[chuchok]

Do Mad Dogs have a good supply of water?