Songkran celebrations kicked off in earnest today for the Thai water festival with large-scale water throwing in towns and cities up and down Thailand. In some rural areas children have been playing Songkran all week, but elsewhere there were only isolated pockets of water throwing up until today.
In Chiang Mai there’s been evidence of the police’s stronger approach on alcohol sales around the moat area. I witnessed three men who had been selling beer near the moat at Chang Puak gate being put in the back of a police wagon. I’ve also noticed far fewer of the high pressure water guns than in previous years and a much reduced use of the talcum powder paste that is smeared on revellers faces. All too often the smearing of the paste is used as an excuse by drunken Thai men to grope a member of the opposite sex.
There’s been the usual Songkran travel chaos in Bangkok in the last few days as Thai people prepared for the long holiday. Yesterday was especially busy for the transport system with traffic jams on roads leading out of Bangkok. The airports at Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang both reported a surge in the number of passengers. There were very few seats available on most trains out of Bangkok’s Hualamphong station and the same was true for buses leaving Mo Chit terminal (which serves the northern provinces of Thailand). Most of Bangkok is actually very quiet during Songkran as people travel home to the provinces to be with family. The main exception is the Khao San Road area which, over the years, has become a focus for Bangkok’s Songkran festivities with thousand of Thais mixing with the overseas tourists.
With the official Songkran holidays finishing on Wednesday (April 16th) the transport system will be stretched again next week. However, it is thought that many people may not actually return to work until Monday April 21st. As for the water fights, make sure you are prepared to get wet at any time during the coming days. The water throwing should cease when it gets dark, but inevitably some people just don’t know when to stop.
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