Happy Songkran Day!

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]Well, today is the last day of the Thai New Year ([URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_New_Year"]Songkran[/URL]) celebrations, which go from April 13-15 every year. So, I thought I'd post a little about it.

Around this time, the weather in Thailand is sweltering, and so appropriately, the festivities of the New Year are centered around water. Oh okay, it's a giant three day water fight. Tourists and locals alike are the "victims" of pranks, and I'm even seen photos from the Bangkok Post of elephants getting in on the water fun.

However, there are also religious and cultural aspects to the holiday. People visit temples and pay homage to elders and family. Often, the crowded streets of Bangkok (most traffic congested city in the world - a 20 minute ride takes 40 minutes in Bangkok traffic) are rather empty as people leave the city to visit family back in the countryside.

Personally, I've always wanted to go during this time, but I guess that'll have to wait a few more years, lol. So, what do you think?[/color]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]This sounds interesting. I know a lot of people who have been to Thailand (it's very popular for Australian tourists), but I have never heard of Songkran Day.

Sounds like a good time to go. :catgirl:[/font]

[Guest Reoku]

Hmm.... this one never knew that o: That's amazing.

Thanks for sharing ^_^

[Zombie_Nosh]

[COLOR="Green"]I was in Thailand last year. I left the week before this went on. The taxi driver was telling me a bit about it, they close off loads of the main streets and have a huge concert! He said it's great fun and recommended that I should stay for it. Unfortunately, I couldn't, but there you go. And, you're right, the heat was phenominal!

On a side note, I was in Vietnam for their New Year, the whole thing was quite subdued, some fireworks and a couple of parades. It was interesting to watch them go about their traditions. Dragons eating money thrown from balconies . . . and stuff like that . . . Oh, and the price for accomodation TRIPLED for the week that was in it!

New Years over here (Ireland) is usually a bit of a let down- just another excuse to head down to the pub (not that anybody's complaining). I think there's a firework display in town, but I'm not sure . . .[/COLOR]

[Pumpkin]

[COLOR=#CC6600][font=Tahoma]Someone in my class is from Thailand, but I've never heard of this holiday. Sounds pretty neat, I wish I could afford to fly over there but alas I'm a starving college student that is broke. I found some wierd holidays such as [url=http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/682095/foreign_celebrations_and_holidays.html][color=#222222]Pancake/Doughnut Day[/color][/url] in Poland and something about National Hug-An-Asian Day is on May 5th but I couldn't find any solid proof on that one. I tried to find official ones but thats all I could come up with. Ah well, maybe next time.

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[visualkei]

I've always wanted to visit Thailand. A place where elephants are your friends... =]. It's always seemed super exotic to me, but I'm always afraid of all the danger that entails "third world" countries. Wouldn't seem so scary if I knew the Thai language. Sounds like backwards Vietnamese.

Would tickets to Thailand cost more during Songkran time?

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]I'm not sure what the difference in air fare would be, visual kei. However, I can assure you that if you stay in Bangkok, you are quite safe. Chiang Mai/ Golden triangle... heh, different story, but Bangkok, as well as the touristy beaches (Phuket, etc.) are quite safe.

Zombie_Nosh - the Vietnamese new year sounds like a lot of fun!!

And thanks, everyone, for sharing your new years, as well. I actually was looking at the Google doodles, and they usually mention the Persian new year in March, so I decided to talk about Songkran. It's pretty cool how there's more than just the traditional new year in January, in some countries. I wouldn't mind another holiday. =)[/color]