Thailand blog tip: Visit a Temple Fair
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A Temple Fair is a kind of Thai street fair complete with fun fair, performances by artists and of course food, lots and lots of food.
This spectacle is held on the grounds of the local Wat (temple). You can also get blessed by monks there and earn some merit by donating money to the temple. Good for your karma and your next life in the afterlife.
The nice thing about a Temple Fair is that you really walk among the locals and there is a lot to see. You will encounter few tourists, usually only a lost expat who has been carried away by his Thai sweetheart.
During my winter stay in Hua Hin I had the pleasure of attending a Temple Fair every year. I always go there to take a look. You can buy stuff there for dirt cheap and we usually do that too. From household items to cheap T-shirts and toys, everything is for sale at the countless market stalls.
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The same goes for food. There is so much goodness that your stomach soon starts to growl. You can enjoy a snack here, such as squid, eggs, grasshoppers, roasted chestnuts, poffertjes and sausages on a stick. There are also many full meals to choose from.
And just like at a party, there is a stage with a sound system that you speak to, so that the sound almost blows you off your seat. A number of sexy dressed Thai girls are jumping and skipping around while the artist sings his song. Popular entertainment of the highest order.
You don't have to get bored because you can play all kinds of games such as bingo and darts and if you win, you can pick out a nice prize. Thais love it when a farang participates in this entertainment and crowd around you in large numbers. If you win something, there will be a loud cheer! It's funny, so much enthusiasm.
What a fun and very relatable story.
I get homesick again when I think about such a fair. Always nice to look around and enjoy delicious food in a blissful warmth.
Phuket also has many of these types of markets. The very large market at Wat Chalong near Patong is very famous and pleasant.
The best place to look is on the internet.
You then fill in: Temple fair and the place or temple.
A temple is a “Wat” in Thai.
For example: Temple Fair Wat Chalong.
Thai carnivals are a must. I am also a big fan of it and have already visited many. Especially the bands from Isaan are always great. Sometimes you also see the strangest attractions such as Thai-style ball throwing where Thai girls sit on a chair above a barrel of water. You then have to hit a kind of clapper so that the chair falls over and the girls end up in that barrel with water. Or climb on an unstable rope ladder to grab a 500 baht note. It's really impossible to do, but it's fun. Those kinds of things are really great.
Moodaeng
It is indeed very nice, we did it in Bangkok, the entire neighborhood around the temple is present.
Really worth to visit.
Always keep an eye on the phase of the moon, because at “full moon” there is usually, and also according to Buddhist custom, a fair at the temples.
Google "full moon" and you will see that every 28 days, and every 3 months: 29 days, the moon phase has returned.
From July 1 Fair in Nang Rong, eat free ice cream, come on, it's worth it
been to pattaya a few times which was very nice.
You could shoot and dart on balloons.
I can do both pretty well and have made many children happy with a shot bear 😀
Is there a Temple fair in/around Pattaya in January/February. Where?
As a Westerner you attract a lot of attention in the Isaan at such a "fair" of mainly small children who point at you, etc. it seems as if you come from the moon. Give them ice cream and they'll all go crazy.
In January 2000 we stayed close to the roundabout at the dolphin on Pattaya North for a week and then there was a fair a bit higher up on Pattaya Nua. We visit the area almost every year but have never seen this fair again. This was the only time we have seen a fair in Thailand with similar attractions as in Europe. We would like to visit more such fairs near Pattaya.
Inquire at the temples (Wats) in and around Pattaya when the fairs are held.
will be nice if you know where it is in hua hin.. and what day and time it starts
I would also like to know at which temple in Huahin. Maybe the one by the clock?
Go in there often but have never experienced an event like this.
We are going to Huahin from December 5th to March 4th and we are really looking forward to it!
I am now in Thailand for a month with my Thai girlfriend, just now it is “ Loy Kratong. I masked edn you tube video iver dut festival and the accompanying fair. Beautiful and very nice. Below the link.
https://youtu.be/Em4qIIj23VA. On you tube channel.” Enjoy life with chris” with all kinds of videos about thailand.
Regards Chris
Dear Editor,
This is definitely recommended.
I have also visited this a number of times, very nice.
Do not bring alcohol inside or leave it outside at the gate, otherwise 'some' will wave.
Inside the temple, almost everything is 'entirely' open to sights that are normally not open to the public.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
Nice indeed, but the combination of Temple and fair does make me frown.
That combination is no stranger than the combination of church and Carnival, it seems to me.
I dare not say what the origin of the fair on the grounds of the temple is.
It was of course true in the past, the temple was the central point in the life of the villagers.
In that respect it is not so strange to choose the temple as the place for the fair.
I imagine that a village used to consist of a number of houses on stilts, a temple and for the rest only rice fields and forests.
There was probably no other place for the fair than the temple.
Unfortunately there are no temple fairs here in Narathiwat in the deep south, because there are also very few temples and the temples that do exist often function as army bases.
In the past I have been able to visit many fairs throughout Thailand and it was always a pleasure to walk through them.
In Belgium, people don't know why the fair is when.
It's very simple. Fair comes from church mass,
the occasion that the new church through a ceremonial ceremony
and the celebration of a mass was consecrated.
This ceremony is therefore commemorated every year.
Anyway, a nice tradition.
The question now is whether the Thai fairs have a similar origin.
Is it the commemoration of the day the temple was consecrated?
You can read it in more detail here
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermis
Also in January I happened to be in Khong Chiam during my bicycle tour and there was a big temple festival there at the temple, where the Mun river and the Mekong meet.
But there was no such “jumping and hopping of sexy dressed girls”.
The evening was still early and there were still children from 3 to 12 years old, but the show was a challenging session that required no imagination and would get even the most self-respecting monk an erec… from it.
But what happens with carnival in the South of the Netherlands?