It is a given fact that 13th April is the wettest day in Thailand. This happens every year. Not because of the amount of rainfall (it is summer that month) but for an entirely different reason. The whole of Thailand goes to the streets, armed with waterguns and buckets of water to celebrate Songkran Festival. Also referred to as the Water Festival, this is jovial event is the Thai way to ring in the start of a New Year.
Fun Fact: Did you know that the Gregorian Calendar is not mainly used in Thailand? It is common to see the Buddhist Calendar year in official documents, being formatted as DD/MM/YYYY. This calendar counts years based on the Buddhist Era, which is 543 years older than the Gregorian Calendar . Here, we use 2561 instead of 2018, writing the date today as 26/01/2561.
When most of the world would celebrate New Year on the 1st of January, Thailand would be relatively quiet that night but goes all out on the 13th of April. Although, in some tourist areas like Patong, NYE on the 31st of December is still a blast and fireworks do light up the night sky. I wrote about it in my previous blog, please check it out. :)
Songkran is an experience to behold! The morning would start out with a solemn merit-making at temples and offering of alms to the monks. Despite the craziness that takes place later on the day, this celebration is deeply rooted to Thai traditions. This water festival is a significant holiday, and as observance, most Thais travel back to their hometowns to celebrate it with family. The water splashing represents purification and cleansing from one's iniquities.
Speaking of splashing, in bigger cities like Bangkok, there are actually designated battlegrounds for water fights. I learned this the hard way when I was on my way to Siam Paragon. Man! It's really cold to wear wet clothes inside the mall. I had to buy a new shirt!
Now, to the craziness that I was talking about. So picture this, streets lined up with people splashing motorists non-stop(so close your car window!) and pick up trucks driving around soaking all pedestrians they pass. There is no escape. The fun chaos is everywhere!
Here are some self-learned tips I gathered for this festival:
- Do not be a party pooper. People will be splashing you with water. Do not get mad if you get wet.
- Buy yourself a water gun and get revenge!
- Prepare to get wet, wetter, and wettest as all the streets will be lined up with buckets of water. There will be a 100% probability of getting soaked.
- Keep your valuables and mobile phones in a ziplock bag. People will not care whether it gets damage.
- Stay indoor if you cannot take cold water. To add more fun, people will actually add ice to their water buckets! There are also some who would add powder to the water to make sure you will look like shit after. LOL
I took all these photos in Old Phuket Town. In some cities, water fights continue for 3 days (13-15 April). However, in Phuket, it is only on the 13th of April.
It is a wild day. So gather your gears and prepare for the water fight! I can't wait for Songkran this April. :)
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That's a vibrant neighborhood :O .Awesome .
Thanks :) it’s really fun
I've always wanted to be there for that.. Nice photos!
You should try to visit.. thanks
@originalworks
Let's join the Songkran Festival this year please! I wanna experience the water fight again! :)
YES!!!! Let’s do it. Patong?
Yes, in Patong! I think I still have my water gun from 2 years ago. LOL
I'm not sure if that still works.. maybe you need to buy a new one.. LOL
Fun festival! In Russia this is happening on 7 July, the day of Ivan Kupala.
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Do you also splash water? I imagine Russia to be cold! That must be really fun!
In July we have the heat and spraying with water is really fun :)
now that sounds better... i bet people will be pissed off when you splash water during the cold season. :)
That's right :)
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Wow thailand
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love the photos, the expressions are really genuine. ")
bibo kaau ni ba. hahaha
naa pd ta in.ani San juan. haha
lage mura jud cya ug san juan sa atoa:)
its been a while @memebibiboboo hahaha
na busy pd ko ba. wala q nake open mga 4 days ata sugod weekends.
wala may san juan sa pagadian. ipa brgy tag mang sablig tag tubig. haha
lage.. dugay na kaayo ako last post.. maabtan man kog bandwidth issue inig gabii then ig buntag kay work. moapas kog post and moapas kog basa sa mga blog hehe
mao lage sab. dapat morning mag blog kay wala au tao pagka gabie man gd kay mo busy ang domain mao ng kita na mga gamay pag sp mo exceed dyud daun sa bandwidth. T_T
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Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable mentions list in today's Travel Digest!
hi! wow that is awesome! thanks for letting me know... I'll check it out :)