And? Did you get wet the past few days?
Songkran in Pattaya (Editorial credit: Andreas Marquardt / Shutterstock.com)
Songkran is all but over and many will breathe a sigh of relief. If you live in Pattaya then you are out of luck because it will continue there for a while. On April 19, there is the big Songkran party on Beachroad and then the water fun is over.
I myself had to be in Pattaya a number of times in the past few days. And that was not easy. I live halfway between Pattaya and Jomtien on Thappraya Road and normally it's not difficult to catch the Bahtbus but now it is. The drivers themselves also had holidays or other jobs that yielded more money. The few Baht buses that passed by were packed and slanted backwards with sometimes four people on the running boards (not really safe, but that aside). So in the end we just caught a taxi and paid the main price, you have to do something….
Although I was prepared for the worst, the reveler's behavior was not too bad. It was quite easy to return home without a wet suit. Of course there was throwing water and shooting with water pistols, but that was mainly limited to throwing water at each other. If you looked 'normal' you were left alone. So a compliment to the water party celebrations and that may also be said.
Khao San Road (Editorial credit: GOLFX / Shutterstock.com)
Prayut gets wet
Elsewhere in the country, and especially in Bangkok, things were also pretty intense. In fact, Khao San Road was so busy that it became dangerous. I myself am not a big fan of crowds, but for the young people it is of course great!
What was special was that Prime Minister Prayut came to take a look at Koh San Road last Friday. Of course he wouldn't normally do that, but yes, the elections are coming up….
The prime ministerial candidate of the United Thai Nation Party arrived Friday afternoon together with some party bosses. Upon arriving at the popular venue for Songkran celebrations, he first discussed security measures with officials. Then partygoers began to bombard him with water. The prime minister then had a follower buy him a large water gun. His supporters tried to ask people not to spray water on Prayut's face, but to no avail. He got the full load.
According to Prayut, this was his first visit to Khao San Road in 15 years. But he did not fail to emphasize that the influx of visitors and tourists was a result of his efforts to speed up the country's reopening and revitalize tourism following the Covid-19 outbreak. Still some election rhetoric from the great wet leader….
Below is the rather nice video of Prayut's visit to Khao San Road:
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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Celebrated Songkhram outside bkk for the first time this year in Udon Thani. It was also very pleasant here, without any incident. Here, too, the 'grumpy' farang were left alone. To be repeated.
This year I stayed home. Not that I have anything against it, on the contrary, it's a nice party. But my wife just opened a shop and couldn't leave. And without her I don't feel like it.
But don't worry…. as some may know, I have a swimming pond and I spent wonderful hours in the pond throwing myself wet…
Yesterday with a friend to a swimming pool at Tanarath Armee in Pranburi… a large 50 meter pool that we had to ourselves… was also nice and wet.
I will leave that whole jolly thing to young people….
Yesterday and today we celebrated again, every year another experience, last week we also celebrated in Chiang Rai.
I normally avoid Songkran when in Pattaya.
But this year I couldn't escape it.
But I have to say that overall I liked it quite a bit. The ladies and gentlemen of the motobike taxis also like to avoid too much wetness, and drove an alternative route to the south.
The 'madness' was confined to the typical busy streets. Soi 6, the street side of Beach Road (the beach side was much quieter), Soi 7/8 and of course Walking Street! Walked through Soi 6 with a GoPro and a friend who also wanted to experience the festival.. Especially that ice and icy water is a trigger, hahaha! But beautiful images shot for YouTube!
Soi Bua Khao calmed down after 2200 hours.
What was not easy was the total chaos on the roads. Everything from Beach Road or Soi Bua Khao to the south was deadlocked. The fact that there were countless coaches from Bangkok also queuing didn't help!
It was fun, but a full week of 'water fun' is a bit too much of the wet for me!