OK, so many expat residents pay a lot of money to LEAVE Thailand (or go to a more rural place in Thailand) during Songkran to avoid the madness.

So those people are already PAYING to make Songkran go away by making themselves go away.

Some people suggest just BUY A CAR to avoid Songran water attacks ... well last time I checked buying a car just to avoid some days of pain isn't FREE either.

Then there are those who "go to ground" doing all they can to avoid Songkran by becoming a Songkran Agoraphobic. That isn't free (stocking up on food, delivery services, etc.), but it's the cheapest opting OUT tactic. However, it's generally not super big fun either.

So this poll really is for people who do NOT LIKE the current state of modern Thai Songkran.

For those that like it there is a voting option for you so you won't whine too much ... but this poll still really isn't about you.

I like modern Thai Songkran, so wouldn't pay anything.

The FANTASY concept here is if you could just pay money ... not travel away ... not buy a car ... not have to stay indoors for days (in Pattaya OVER A WEEK!} ... how much would you pay in CASH MONEY for there just to be NO Songkran?

You could replace NO Songkran with a traditional fantasy Songkran of 200 years ago as well ... as such traditions clearly have nothing to do with MODERN Thai Songkran in places like Pattaya.

So here's your chance to fantasize. How much to make it just go away?

I paid 1,000 baht, no not having a laugh.

1k cost of filling the car with up with gas and driving from Bkk to Chan and back.

Here in Tha Mai its a non farang chav/bogan/lager lout (insert whatever adjective you wish) haven.

I paid 1,000 baht, no not having a laugh.

1k cost of filling the car with up with gas and driving from Bkk to Chan and back.

Here in Tha Mai its a non farang chav/bogan/lager lout (insert whatever adjective you wish) haven.

You made you go away you didn't make Songkran go away. This is a FANTASY where it just doesn't happen at all ...

If you can't accept any Thai custom or it's culture, why are you even here? For that matter any other place in the world? Let's not feed the trolls.

If you can't accept any Thai custom or it's culture, why are you even here? For that matter any other place in the world? Let's not feed the trolls.

So predictable.

Can't you just take the poll for what it is?

How about making this thread a NO if you don't love everything about Thailand just move away ZONE!

Personally I'm pretty sure I would have loved old timey traditional GENTLE Songkran. Water wars dominated by psychotic SADISTS, no thank you!

There...Happy?

If you can't accept any Thai custom or it's culture, why are you even here? For that matter any other place in the world? Let's not feed the trolls.

Why dont you ask the Thais that hate what it has evolved into.

Where do you suggest they go?

My mrs is Mon, do you want to continue, do you know what being Mon is?

I made a mistake.

This poll should have been in the Pattaya forum.

Pattaya Songkran is a special kind of hell because it lasts MUCH LONGER than any other place in Thailand by far.

It's about as traditionally Thai as a Bowler Hat!

How about you have a poll Jing and ask Afgani's would they rather the Americans and British bomb them or leave them alone...

At the end of the day Songkran is about Thai culture and not for us to demand or decide how it should be, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen......Time to get a food thread going Jingy....,

Edit,,,,

Move this thread/topic to pub, it's all it's worth IMO...l

Thai culture, huh.

Is it Thai culture for Songkran to run EIGHT entire days and psychotic foreigners throwing cold dirty water on decently dressed people just going about their business late into the cool evening? Is it Thai culture to spray high velocity dirty water directly into people's faces and eyes? Where is that written in the Thai culture book?

I started it in the Pub already. But I think it should have been a Pattaya topic. People in Pattaya would understand, it seems most expats have LEFT TOWN. So they have already paid a lot to fulfill their fantasy of no "Songkran" in Pataya.

MB1, on 14 Apr 2014 - 20:46, said:

How about you have a poll Jing and ask Afgani's would they rather the Americans and British bomb them or leave them alone...

At the end of the day Songkran is about Thai culture and not for us to demand or decide how it should be, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen......Time to get a food thread going Jingy....,

Edit,,,,

Move this thread/topic to pub, it's all it's worth IMO...l

How very dare thee. I visit here each evening to peruse JT's inane ramblings. His posts are a natural sedative and I sleep like a bear.

Please don't insist that JT anything involves himself in anything cultural or mildly interesting.

He'll revert to baht bus issues by the end of the week, with any luck.

Thai culture, huh.

Is it Thai culture for Songkran to run EIGHT entire days and psychotic foreigners throwing cold dirty water on decently dressed people just going about their business late into the cool evening? Is it Thai culture to spray high velocity dirty water directly into people's faces and eyes? Where is that written in the Thai culture book?

I started it in the Pub already. But I think it should have been a Pattaya topic. People in Pattaya would understand, it seems most expats have LEFT TOWN. So they have already paid a lot to fulfill their fantasy of no "Songkran" in Pataya.

Pattaya is still Thai Jing, regardless of what you or other expats think....If Thai authorities didn't like what went on over Songkran in Pattaya they would put a stop to it....Maybe some of the old hand expat experts of Songkran and Thai alllowances should remember a few years ago, you could throw water over BIB AND SOAK THEM.. Try doing it now.... Things change Jing, but the fact is that only Thai's will change things and not JING THING,,,,

It was like it is today in 1969! Just fewer people then. But walking down the street you didn't worry so much from the the people on the street as much as getting hit from people hanging over balconies waiting for you. They showed no mercy then. So no real change, the method in how they deliver the goods!

...

He'll revert to baht bus issues by the end of the week, with any luck.

Eight days. Day and night. Does that sounds like fun? Really?

It was like it is today in 1969! Just fewer people then. But walking down the street you didn't worry so much from the the people on the street as much as getting hit from people hanging over balconies waiting for you. They showed no mercy then. So no real change, the method in how they deliver the goods!

Where do you live? Do you have a car? Most people preaching about how great this is are not actually in a position of no way out except to leave town.

It was like it is today in 1969! Just fewer people then. But walking down the street you didn't worry so much from the the people on the street as much as getting hit from people hanging over balconies waiting for you. They showed no mercy then. So no real change, the method in how they deliver the goods!

Where do you live? Do you have a car? Most people preaching about how great this is are not actually in a position of no way out except to leave town.

Naklua near the temple, yes a big car, happy now, but guess what Jing, I'm not there now...Did Songkran years ago and decided once is enough and went to pastures new during it....I decided that getting out of it suited me, so feel no need to start a topic on TV telling all about how bad it is. but thanks Jing and keep up the good work telling all about how bad it is for expats...Oh and short term visitors who actually love it....

What would Pattaya do without certain people....

The only time i really participated was in 1995 in Patong. Apart from the birth of my children, it was the most entertaining day i have had in Thailand. After that i was not in thailand at songkran until 2005. Did not feel the urge to participate anymore.

I would like to pay money to participate in the waterfestivities now to be be together with my kids.

One day. Fine. Eight days. TORTURE.

It was like it is today in 1969! Just fewer people then. But walking down the street you didn't worry so much from the the people on the street as much as getting hit from people hanging over balconies waiting for you. They showed no mercy then. So no real change, the method in how they deliver the goods!

Where do you live? Do you have a car? Most people preaching about how great this is are not actually in a position of no way out except to leave town.

Naklua near the temple, yes a big car, happy now, but guess what Jing, I'm not there now...Did Songkran years ago and decided once is enough and went to pastures new during it....I decided that getting out of it suited me, so feel no need to start a topic on TV telling all about how bad it is. but thanks Jing and keep up the good work telling all about how bad it is for expats...Oh and short term visitors who actually love it....

What would Pattaya do without certain people....

As I suspected, you PAID big to avoid the torture. So that's what this poll is about. You're on board with it but were hiding before. Now the truth is OUT.

Last year was my first Songkran in Bangkok. For a few moments it was enjoyable. I remember going to see a movie over at Terminal and after going to meet some friends in that open area around soi 12 by Times Square / Sunrise Tacos. I was walking down suk on the opposite side towards the overpass when I came up behind another Westerner with his kid (kid looked to be about 11 or 12). Both had super soaker guns and were having waterfights with other folks... no big deal. I chuckled.

But then, they spotted an older couple (looked like 70s+ to me) walking ahead of them and and crept up sneakily behind them and ....BLAST, my god the kid really unloaded on this old woman. The couple was dressed nice and it was bad. I mean my stomach was about to turn because I could see the alarm on her face and then she started talking to (what I assume was) her husband in Japanese, in a panic.

The only time I ever got verbally confrontational with another westerner was that moment, just a generic knee jerk response - "hey, what are you doing!!??? They're OLD!...."

At this point the kid turned and started squirting me, then the old man joined in. Then some other Westerners started squirting them and I just walked away. Not so much angry but repulsed.

The Thais I know don't like Songkran and stay in except for kids. According to them it is most definitely NOT like it was in the past, but I don't know and can't speak from experience.

Some of it looks fun but way too much dumb and death for my taste. And no I'm not going to abandon Thailand over it. The money I remove from circulation by not going out if possible during that time is probably a few thousand baht, so that's my vote.

It was like it is today in 1969! Just fewer people then. But walking down the street you didn't worry so much from the the people on the street as much as getting hit from people hanging over balconies waiting for you. They showed no mercy then. So no real change, the method in how they deliver the goods!

Where do you live? Do you have a car? Most people preaching about how great this is are not actually in a position of no way out except to leave town.

Naklua near the temple, yes a big car, happy now, but guess what Jing, I'm not there now...Did Songkran years ago and decided once is enough and went to pastures new during it....I decided that getting out of it suited me, so feel no need to start a topic on TV telling all about how bad it is. but thanks Jing and keep up the good work telling all about how bad it is for expats...Oh and short term visitors who actually love it....

What would Pattaya do without certain people....

As I suspected, you PAID big to avoid the torture. So that's what this poll is about. You're on board with it but were hiding before. Now the truth is OUT.

And as I suspected, some girls will, some girls won't, some girls need a lot of loving , some girls don't.....

Can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen Jing or stay in Pattaya for Songkran and feel the ice on your body through the big loving water cannon...

Enjoy.

Moderatis:

Any chance this topic can be moved to the PATTAYA forum where I should have put it in the first place?

I don't think people outside of the EIGHT FULL DAY Pattaya Songkran can fully appreciate this issue.

Thanks.

I think the 10,000 baht figure is about right (to be paid ANNUALLY).

That's less than it would typically cost to leave town for the Pattaya Songkran time period so a good value for people that don't feel like FORCED travel.

If you're only willing to pay 1000 or 5000 baht for this fantasy, you really don't hate staying all that much.

Paying 100,000 would be silly ... you can take a FAB trip for that.

It should be a one day event only in an open field outside the city. Bring in a couple tanker trucks of water and have at it. Seeing as how this is a 5 day event this year I wonder how much Thai household money that should have gone towards food, clothing for children and other necessities of life has been wasted on boozing it up on Songkran. As much as human life is precious I wonder if 200 or 300 hundred lives could have been spared because of drunken road accidents and what of the broken families left behind to pick up the pieces. Innocent people killed on the road by drunken Songkran drivers are also part of the equation. Its a loose loose situation all for the sake of the coffers of tourism and also the 7% VAT tax collected.

Many of us dream of escaping from Songkran...and some really do.

Why not giving any suggestions where to escape to? Vietnam? Filipines? etc....And mentioning good places to stay.

If you can't accept any Thai custom or it's culture, why are you even here? For that matter any other place in the world? Let's not feed the trolls.

The fact that (the modern day farang-asized version of) Songkran annoys so many of the perpetually annoyed & chronic moaners makes it all worthwhile.

The actual event doesn't bother me that much. The hysterical reaction to the event by all the drama queens on TV is almost as amusing as the reaction of the brain dead to the annual April Fool's Day faux news thread.

I'm pretty sure the main cause for all the hysteria is that Songkran puts many farang in situations where their fragile egos are threatened ... i.e. they obsess about losing face.

Possibly some worthwhile solutions here at the hub of the obsessively compulsive ... or is it compulsively obsessive.

I love Songkran and had massive fun experiencing so much joy and getting exceptionally wet on a very hot day!

This is unquestionably the most fun I have here and I have tons of fun everyday.

I have a better idea:

How many baht to make people like you who are unwilling to graciously accept other peoples cultural experiences go away...I will offer 100 Baht for starters!

Just move to Ukraine or somewhere!

How about you have a poll Jing and ask Afgani's would they rather the Americans and British bomb them or leave them alone...

At the end of the day Songkran is about Thai culture and not for us to demand or decide how it should be, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen......Time to get a food thread going Jingy....,

Edit,,,,

Move this thread/topic to pub, it's all it's worth IMO...l

Many traditional and cultural holidays have been adopted, absorbed or modified by other cultures. Christmas is not just observed by Christians any longer, although the main theme that has been adopted is retail and the decoration aspect. Halloween is another example of the intermingling of cultures and holidays.

Songkran, at least in Pattaya, seems to have been adopted and modified by the foreigner and Thai alike. I doubt the foreigner knows the meaning of the holiday, as do some Thais not know the meaning of Christmas.

The kitchen is for cooking. This forum is for discussion. I prefer the path of letting others have their say and not directing them to cook elsewhere.

How about you have a poll Jing and ask Afgani's would they rather the Americans and British bomb them or leave them alone...

At the end of the day Songkran is about Thai culture and not for us to demand or decide how it should be, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen......Time to get a food thread going Jingy....,

Edit,,,,

Move this thread/topic to pub, it's all it's worth IMO...l

The current street version of throwing dirty ice cold water over everybody is NOT traditional Thai Songkran and it's gone WAY WAY over the top.

If you can't accept any Thai custom or it's culture, why are you even here? For that matter any other place in the world? Let's not feed the trolls.

Agree...I have been several times now in the thick of it. To see the thousands of happy smiling faces, especialy of the children is a delight I have rarely seen in the west. If you don't like it stay at home and watch ancient aliens or some other mind numbing nonsense. How can any guest in this country have the front to complain about one of their hosts happiest time of the year.

I don't like Songkran but don't see the big deal. I stock up on food etc beforehand and just lay low at home for the duration. good chance to catch up on home repairs/other projects.

Would be glad if it went away but wouldn't pay more than 100 baht for that as it is just not a big enough issue.

Didn't vote as no 100 baht option