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[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Well, it's that time of year again, with thousands of expat TEFLers dusting off their Monster Squirt Guns,

picking out their 'get wet' wardrobes

and otherwise preparing for 3 days of splishing & splashing mayhem & madness.

One friend of mine (who will remain nameless) actually stocks up on food and stays home for 3 days.


Anyway ...

The official Songkran holiday begins on Wednesday the 13th of April and ends on Friday the 15th of April - although many people are taking the whole week off to travel back to their home provinces to spend the holiday with relatives.


For a little background info, you can try these 3 links:

http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/rites_of_songkran.html

http://www.tatnews.org/events/events/april/2343.asp

http://www.songkran.net/


To see what's in store for YOU, you should click on these 2:

http://www.pattaya-at-night.com/songkran/

http://iamjock.com/travel/songkran2.html



---> A few Helpful Hints

1) If you carry a mobile phone, take precautions to keep it dry somehow. Personally, I put mine in a condom. (the non-lubricated kind, thank you) Don't laugh; it works!

2) Avoid wearing or carrying anything made of leather and leave your good clothes & shoes at home for 3 days.

3) Now go out and buy the biggest da.m.n. squirt gun you can find, fill it up, and carry it with you at all times.

4) And have a VERY HAPPY THAI NEW YEAR!



PS: Songkran will be celebrated one week later in Pattaya! (on the 18th & 19th of April)

[zorro (2)]

one of my best memories of living in thailand was songkran.
what a quality festival!!!
if only they had a national water pistol fight week in england! although saying that i'm not sure the weather would hold out for everyone to want to get soaked.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Ladies & Gentleman: Let the Games Begin!

[sigmoid]

The Bangkok Post printed an excellent editorial about Songkran acouple of days ago. Water fights as much to do with Thai New Year as snowball fights have to do with Christmas.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/090405_News/09Apr2005_news29.php

EDITORIAL

Total abandon is not Songkran


Today will see the beginning of the exodus to the provinces in preparation for the three-day Songkran festival which officially begins on Wednesday. It could also be our last chance to try and restore this year's water festival to what it once was - a peaceful and serene traditional celebration where extended families gather for an annual reunion. Unfortunately, it has another face. This is one in which the sanuk factor has been diluted by teenage terrorists brandishing water cannons and high-pressure fire hoses and by a horrifying increase in the number of dead and injured on our highways, largely caused by drunken driving fuelled by the excesses of the long holiday.

What is supposed to happen is that extended families reunite to express their respects to elders and each other by pouring scented water onto the hands of parents, grandparents, other kinfolk and friends, near and far. They are also presented with gifts to make merit and the elders, in return, wish the younger ones good luck, good health and prosperity in the year to come. It is a family affair and the most noble and loving one in our calendar.

In recent years, a small and selfish minority has rejected this traditional form of celebration and is tarnishing its good name. The once-gentle individual exchange of powder and water has evolved into a raucous frenzy of high-volume drenching that can endanger passing motorists, especially motorcyclists, many of whom lose their lives as a result. To such people, Songkran is a time for getting wildly drunk, non-stop partying, motorcycle racing, drug-taking, gambling their present and future earnings away, taking water-throwing to dangerous and insane extremes with high-pressure water guns and hoses directed at unwitting passersby and moving vehicles, and engaging in outright hooliganism and water torture. Unfortunately, some foreign tourists also mistake this to be what Songkran is all about and join in the hooliganism with no understanding that the water-throwing is supposed to end at 6pm and that not everyone is a legitimate target for a dirty-water drenching.

Now, there is nothing at all wrong with having fun in the form of good-natured water fights, but there is a line between shared enjoyment and selfish thoughtlessness and too many have crossed that line and, regrettably, will do so again next week. This year, as in past years, strict measures will be enforced to minimise the carnage that accompanies Songkran and some lives will be saved as a result. But past campaigns have failed to convince enough people to change their behaviour. Last year, for instance, 654 people died from road accidents over the Songkran period and 36,642 people were injured.

Hospitals say that in past years nearly 50% of injured road users have had blood-alcohol levels which exceeded legal limits. More than 80% of past accidents have involved motorcycles. Among these motorcyclists, a large number did not wear crash helmets, and of those that did, many did not bother fastening the chinstrap. Among injured car users, 90% did not fasten safety belts. Presumably they felt it couldn't happen to them. Those they killed as a result of their reckless driving probably felt the same way.

Many of these fatal accidents did not occur on major highways, where police maintain a powerful presence, but on smaller roads which were not as well patrolled. The common denominators were usually drunkenness and a lack of driver education, responsibility, self-discipline and awareness.

Let all who want enjoy the gentle splashing of water in designated areas from dawn to dusk together with a coating of perfumed powder on the face. Do not, under any circumstances, douse motorists, cyclists or motorcyclists because this causes accidents and is not sanuk. Youngsters must be taught this.

Those who abuse Songkran spoil it for the rest of us. While revellers are welcome, hooligans and drunks most certainly are not.


For more info about Songkran check out:
50 dead in 847 road accidents over two days

http://www.bangkokpost.com/110405_News/11Apr2005_news10.php

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Let's squirt gently & politely.