Songkran rush starts early on roads

[Don Mega]

10 hours ago, ezzra said:

Sadly, as every year, 4-500 of those revelers will not be going back home

ever again... I sure hope I'm wrong....

So much like any other period on the roads then.

[Philthyphil]

2 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

I don't blame Songkran for everything at all but after seeing almost 50 of them I can give a perspective that many people cannot and I guarantee you that many foreigners and many Thais do not like the way Songkran is currently celebrated.

I can avoid it if I want, some people cannot and do not want to participate because they have other things going in their life. My issue with the current Songkran is the fact that there is no respect for those who decline to participate. You want to have some fun go ahead but if someone else is not interested- your dousing of them is not fun for them. Anything wrong with a little respect being shown?

 

I reckon a slight majority of tv posters don't like songkran.

i reckon a small minority of tourists don't like it. Many come especially for it.

 

And a tiny minority of Thais complain about it. Usually just to agree with the complaining Farang.

 

Majority rules.

 

sawadee bpee Mai tai krab

[Thaidream]

Actually majority doesn't always rule.  A minority also has to be treated with respect. During the years when few foreigners participated- Thais did not randomly assume you wanted to be doused- they asked if you wanted to 'play'.  It is the influx of foreigners who have changed the way the celebration has developed. Thais are still very polite. Many foreigners are drunk; can't hold their alcohol and are overly aggressive.

[Philthyphil]

3 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

Actually majority doesn't always rule.  A minority also has to be treated with respect. During the years when few foreigners participated- Thais did not randomly assume you wanted to be doused- they asked if you wanted to 'play'.  It is the influx of foreigners who have changed the way the celebration has developed. Thais are still very polite. Many foreigners are drunk; can't hold their alcohol and are overly aggressive.

You do realise that at the vast majority of songkran celebrations there are NO or at least very, very few foreigners.

Only the tourist hot spots have foreigners.

i think you are overrating our "importance" to the vast majority of Thais. We are not a factor.

 

i do agree with you though that where there are foreigners, you get many that don't get it.

 

Go upcountry and you will see. Hardly a foreigner in sight, but the Thais still party hard, but beware of being sexually assaulted by curious Thai women.

 

[geriatrickid]

1 hour ago, Philthyphil said:

I will grant you the sexual assaults.

In Pattaya I get assaulted quite often.

But those girls up in Issan, they take the sexual assaults on me to another level.

 

Assaults are very rare for such an alcohol,fueled day where everyone is shooting each other. You see more assaults at Engglish football games.

 

I disagree with you that there were few tourists in Pattaya 40 years ago. I was there 39 years ago, and there were plenty of us. Same year Tahitian Queen opened and from memory, the Royal Cliff.

Truly an ignorant post. Apparently, you find sexual assaults amusing. Is this because you need to justify past behaviour or you just view it as an issue to be laughed at?  No  emotionally stable, healthy woman, let alone a "girl" , pursues an elderly pensioner like you.

 

56 minutes ago, Philthyphil said:

I reckon a slight majority of tv posters don't like songkran.

i reckon a small minority of tourists don't like it. Many come especially for it.

 

And a tiny minority of Thais complain about it. Usually just to agree with the complaining Farang.

Majority rules.

sawadee bpee Mai tai krab

Your reasoning is assinine. Chucking out a statement that "Majority rules" is laughable. You are a US national and you  post that statement?  Majority does not rule.  It does not apply in Thailand and it sure as he11 doesn't apply in your own homeland. (Remember, Clinton won a majority of votes, and note that the US Constitution protects minority civil rights, so majority cannot rule.)

 

42 minutes ago, Philthyphil said:

You do realise that at the vast majority of songkran celebrations there are NO or at least very, very few foreigners.

Only the tourist hot spots have foreigners.

i think you are overrating our "importance" to the vast majority of Thais. We are not a factor.

 

i do agree with you though that where there are foreigners, you get many that don't get it.

 

Go upcountry and you will see. Hardly a foreigner in sight, but the Thais still party hard, but beware of being sexually assaulted by curious Thai women.

 

Yes, many of us have been up country. It is not crazy in the small villages where peoples' parents and grandparents are present. The stupidity of Songkran  is primarily a characteristic of large cities and especially of tourist zones, where deviants congregate. The objections people have to the impolite excesses relate to the most egregious physical assaults one sees in the big cities and tourist zones.

 

I would expect someone like you with your precarious physical condition would be more appreciative of the objections  both Thais and  Foreign guests have.

Edited April 9, 2017 by geriatrickid

[Philthyphil]

6 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Truly an ignorant post. Apparently, you find sexual assaults amusing. Is this because you need to justify past behaviour or you just view it as an issue to be laughed at?  No  emotionally stable, healthy woman, let alone a "girl" , pursues an elderly pensioner like you.

 

Your reasoning is assinine. Chucking out a statement that "Majority rules" is laughable. You are a US national and you  post that statement?  Majority does not rule.  It does not apply in Thailand and it sure as he11 doesn't apply in your own homeland. (Remember, Clinton won a majority of votes, and note that the US Constitution protects minority civil rights, so majority cannot rule.)

 

Yes, many of us have been up country. It is not crazy in the small villages where peoples' parents and grandparents are present. The stupidity of Songkran  is primarily a characteristic of large cities and especially of tourist zones, where deviants congregate. The objections people have to the impolite excesses relate to the most egregious physical assaults one sees in the big cities and tourist zones.

 

I would expect someone like you with your precarious physical condition would be more appreciative of the objections  both Thais and  Foreign guests have.

Er, I am not American.

Yes I enjoy being touched up at songkran. I don't ask for it, but dont object to it. Why would i? I realize it is all just a bit of fun. 

No, I don't assault women as you are saying.

 

i am not an old aged pensioner. I am not old enough to qualify and am anti welfare anyway, so wouldn't apply anyway.

 

I will grant you the fact that most of the times I have been sexually assaulted it was not in the village, but in the muang. But by village girls, they just don't act up like that in their home villages because of gossip. And by a small minority, but there is always one in every group.

 

i think you have me mixed up with another poster as I also don't have a precarious physical condition either, whatever that is.

[plachon]

59 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

I don't blame Songkran for everything at all but after seeing almost 50 of them I can give a perspective that many people cannot and I guarantee you that many foreigners and many Thais do not like the way Songkran is currently celebrated.

I can avoid it if I want, some people cannot and do not want to participate because they have other things going in their life. My issue with the current Songkran is the fact that there is no respect for those who decline to participate. You want to have some fun go ahead but if someone else is not interested- your dousing of them is not fun for them. Anything wrong with a little respect being shown?

My tolerance of Songkran revelry tanked over 20 years ago, less than a month after my daughter was born prematurely and we were taking her back to the maternal family home across Isaan a few days beforehand. We went fairly early to avoid the worst of the afternoon water fights and stayed mostly dry to Roi-Et, where we had to take a tuk-tuk across town between bus stations. So we are traveling in the tuk-tuk with a tiny baby wrapped up in my wife's arms, and a few people are starting to throw water at passing motorbikes. Mostly they ignore us, but then one <deleted> steps out with a bucket and douses all of us in water of uncertain origin (dirty klong water for all we know?). Result was we were all soaked, including my daughter and all our luggage, etc. He must have seen there was a small baby on-board, but just couldn't give a flying f...k, in his twisted view of what was sanuk.

As anyone knows who has suffered such boorish behaviour at Songkran, this isn't isolated behaviour, but the norm for a lot of people who lose any sense of kreng jai  towards others and make the festival my least favourite. Good reason to avoid Thailand this time of year.

[Thaidream]

My exact sentiments- I don't begrudge people having a good time but as the poster noted he was not interested at the time with a baby in hand. As the years have gone on- the utter lack of respect shown to people who are conducting business or dealing with an important issue is mind boggling. This is not a lack of education but a lack of ethics and morality and it exists in both Thais and foreigners. I truly fear the human race continues on a downward spiral towards extinction.

[Wilsonandson]

Warning - graphic images.....
 
 

Seems this was posted on the Thai Social Media yesterday with a message saying why did the PM back down and let people sit in the back of pickups?
Look at the deaths on your hands?

Or something similar to that.

According to Khaosod news

From inspection we found this news is old news. Happened on December 5, 2559, occurred at the Highway 7 Highway, around the bridge, Huaykum, Bang Phra, Sriracha, Chonburi. Car accident scene is a pickup truck model Mazda - bronze. - Gray registered. -2481 Phichit. One death and 8 injuries.

[wakeupplease]

I am one of those who does not like water being chucked over me because it makes me feel ill with that sudden gust of cold. So I stay away from it and let others enjoy doing what they do as many really have a good time doing it, so easy to stay away from the action and even watch from afar.

 

Its that time of the year again so don.t moan about it stay out of the way, so easy to do, but do not try to stop others enjoying themselves

 

Speed and Drunks Kill

 

Not quite a lack of education and stupidity kills helped by those at the top and the bib who do nothing but sit on their backsides

Edited April 9, 2017 by wakeupplease

[Thaidream]

Why should anyone have to stay off the streets and not conduct business or other personal things because people cannot control themselves due to their selfishness and rudeness. As I said- have fun but do not expect everyone wants to join in. That is arrogance- something we see everywhere in the World. 

[Wilsonandson]

Is it Songkran today?
I've never seen so many threads on songkran in the lead up to songkran.

When the holiday finally begins everyone will be already sick to the sight of it.

What a fuss!
All it is some kids splashing water and playing with talcum powder.

Thats it!
No Santa Claus
No decorations
No tree decorated
No presents
No special meal

Just kids playing with talcum powder and water.

I don't get it.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

thank god i am in a village where songkran is still celebrated in the old, traditional way. The kids come out with water pistols, and the adults do the same. We chase each other around the houses and play squirt the kid. its fun, its harmless, and no one gets angry. 10 pm its all over, and the adults have a booze to welcome new year.What a great time.

Pattaya?songkran? you can keep it.

Sawade bee mai.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Khon Kaen Dave
misspelling

[Eli1]

On Sun Apr 09 2017 at 0:26 PM, Happyman58 said:

Ready set go Thais this is your moment Put the pedal to metal and go for it Dont worry about the cops there wont get in you way Let the carnage begin

This Dumb Festival should be banned.