the flower festival starts in buak hard park tomorrow

[dave2]

its advertised as from the 3rd to the 5th this year

 

but for the last few years

the floats parked outside the park have been taken away in the morning

of the third day and a lot of the flower displays are usually gone as well

 

dave2

[mamborobert]

Parade kicks of from Nawarat at 8.00am this Saturday

 

 

[Maybole]

This festival is very good. I took my 9 year old granddaughter to it a few years ago and she loved it. I  recomend it for prepubescent children. Older ones might be bored.

[opalred]

my wife dances there in parade every year 

but i stopped going as they have to many breaks in the parade 

my will be in black and white dress  can you pick her out?

 

[dave2]

6 hours ago, Maybole said:

This festival is very good.

 

hes right :)

 

the park is shut off this morning until the opening ceremony

but heres a few pics of whats outside at the mo

 

enjoy .. dave2

[mamborobert]

29 minutes ago, opalred said:

my wife dances there in parade every year 

but i stopped going as they have to many breaks in the parade 

my will be in black and white dress  can you pick her out?

 

Does your wife have brown eyes, black hair, is about 5ft3" and 114 Lbs......with and Android phone with the LINE messenger and phone app in handy reach?

 

If so am pretty sure I have seen her.

 

 

[mamborobert]

Just came from there, as in inside the park.  They had constant PA announcements asking everyone to leave and saying they had to set it up and would be open again at 1.00pm.

 

Not a great success, people laid out on lawns, finishing meals, small school groups etc largely ignored or did not hear announcement.  Traffic was bedlam and no doubt will get worse.  As people finished the circuit they were being encouraged to leave and no more let in.

 

Elephants on Parade displays all over...and oodles of Tulips inside park and Orchids outside, flower covered hallways and and array of umbrellas hanging over some displays.  On the inside west road of moat there were already a number of garden shops set up selling plants doing a roaring trade.

 

I really like going to this but always try to get in a bit early....at night it is beautiful but chockers and finding parking (as well as getting in and out) can be problematic.  .

 

[mesquite]

19 hours ago, mamborobert said:

Just came from there, as in inside the park.  They had constant PA announcements asking everyone to leave and saying they had to set it up and would be open again at 1.00pm.

 

Not a great success, people laid out on lawns, finishing meals, small school groups etc largely ignored or did not hear announcement.  Traffic was bedlam and no doubt will get worse.  As people finished the circuit they were being encouraged to leave and no more let in.

 

Elephants on Parade displays all over...and oodles of Tulips inside park and Orchids outside, flower covered hallways and and array of umbrellas hanging over some displays.  On the inside west road of moat there were already a number of garden shops set up selling plants doing a roaring trade.

 

I really like going to this but always try to get in a bit early....at night it is beautiful but chockers and finding parking (as well as getting in and out) can be problematic.  .

 

"chockers?"

[roo860]

"chockers?"

Full.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[dave2]

a few pics of this mornings parade :)

 

dave2

[Trujillo]

Had to go downtown near the moat to pick up a repaired rattan chair. Utter, total traffic cluster fluk. Gridlock and then, trying to get out of there was insane. The street running off the Chaeng Sri Poom old city wall corner (the road that runs past Khamtieng plant market) was cordoned off quite far from the moat, directed past and ended up using a compass to figure out where I was -- traffic still gridlocked. 

Having a parade downtown like that is a totally moronic idea. Who could possibly view it other than tourists who are already staying in hotels there and people who motorbike there at the crack of dawn and wait around? No where to park, unless you consider the jam-packed streets a big slightly moving parking lot. 

What a magnificently ill-conceived idea this was. 

 

[mamborobert]

2 hours ago, Trujillo said:

Had to go downtown near the moat to pick up a repaired rattan chair. Utter, total traffic cluster fluk. Gridlock and then, trying to get out of there was insane. The street running off the Chaeng Sri Poom old city wall corner (the road that runs past Khamtieng plant market) was cordoned off quite far from the moat, directed past and ended up using a compass to figure out where I was -- traffic still gridlocked. 

Having a parade downtown like that is a totally moronic idea. Who could possibly view it other than tourists who are already staying in hotels there and people who motorbike there at the crack of dawn and wait around? No where to park, unless you consider the jam-packed streets a big slightly moving parking lot. 

What a magnificently ill-conceived idea this was. 

 

This "ill conceived idea" has been going one in one form or another for decades.  The parade to the park has been going on for years and years.

 

I was at Nawarat bridge and floats were backed up beyond the train station.  By far the majority of spectators were Thai....on the footpaths, on the roads. walking along taking selfies with the floats and/or marchh particpants.  This did mean that it was very much stop and start.  It was supposed to kick off at 8.00am I believe, eventually got under way around 8.45am.....and when I left past 11.00am there were still quite  afew floats left to pass.

 

It has, to my mind,  always been popular with local Thais.  This would be my 8th year going to it with the same set of a dozen or so Thais.There were groups and families all along the road walking from float to float rather than wait for the parade to pass....this too probably added to the delay.  All in all it is the  popularity of the event that draws crowds of locals and tourists to take photos and unfortunately that does slow it down.  Certainly a lot of corporate floats this year, and if that attracts tourists, that keeps people gainfully employed, that is not a bad thing in these times in Thailand.

 

The Parade/Festival is heavily marketed in Thai and a little less so in English.  The park tonight will be packed...again mostly with Thais.

 

In the competition for crowd attention, priority, and popularity, your repaired rattan chair comes a very distant second today.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by mamborobert

[Trujillo]

Sorry, I should have written, "A decades' old ill-conceived idea." 

[NancyL]

Surely, picking up a repaired chair could have waited until another day.  This parade and its route is a long-standing tradition.  If you want to go see the parade, do what Thai people do.  Park at the home of someone you know in town and WALK to the parade.  Or at one of the old-fashioned malls in the city and take a tuk-tuk.  

 

This parade is fantastic, the route is great and there is sufficient publicity in English-language publications aimed at tourists.  Yes, English-language publicity could be a little better, but this parade is one of the jewels of Chiang Mai.  Sorry if it means you can't drive around the Old City for one day a year.  Get over it.