2014 International Kite Festival in Cha-Am

[Jonathan Fairfield]

2014 International Kite Festival in Cha-Am

Cha Am:-- The Cha-Am beachfront is always a colourful scene. On the weekend of 8th – 9th March it reached new heights in more ways than one. Apart from the clear blue skies and beachgoers, the weekend of the 2014 Thailand International Kite Festival provided the most colourful skies the beach has ever seen.

Kites gracing the skies came in all shapes and sizes. Some huge and designed as a mythical and real animal (dragons, horses, cats fish), cartoon characters and even Father Christmas. Some whirling in the brisk south easterly breeze or ‘fleets’ of highly maneuverable stunt kites in choreographed displays to a musical accompaniment.

The International aspect of the Festival was in evidence with Kite Teams from Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore, France, Malaysia, China, Indonesia as well as three Thai Teams.

One of the features of the Cha-Am beach is the ‘kites’ on sale every day. The local version is a polystyrene aeroplane, which is not very durable (hard to get it home in one piece) but very popular with the kids. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the local vendors during the Festival; very hard to compete with either the spectacle provided by the ‘visiting kites’ or the new varieties of kites on sale to beach goers!

Previous Kite Festivals directed the Tourism Authority of Thailand have been held on at the Army Camp midway between Cha-Am and Hua Hin. Moving the 2014 Festival to the wide expanses of the beach at the northern end of the main Cha-Am beach proved to be a great success with easy access, high visibility (easy to find by accident) and the background of the Cha-Am beach scene.

Same again next year please!

-- Hua Hin Today 2014-04-04