Songkran Festival - Perfect for Aussie culture

Warm weather,
Your outdoors,
You in shorts and a hat,
You balance a beer in one hand and a water pistol in the other.....
You laugh all day..

well that 's an Australian Summer..

"so where the bloody hell are ya!!"

report by Spindle

Well W.A. got on Board!

Auswathai's Songkran Slayers team from West Australia did it.

"We were clearly out numbered, but we had a mission, we came we saw, we soaked" said the commander and last standing officer of the W.A. Sandgroppers...

This bandit bunch surprised so many with the display of devilish skills and relentless stamina. They not only conquered Phuket, they went on to Bangkok and embraced almost all she had to offer, inspite of the Political volcano that entombs Thailand’s Tourism Industry.

The Songkran festival begins from the far North (Chiang Mai - 8th) and drips it’s way down to Phuket (13th), then across to Bangkok (15th), then into the South East (Pattaya 18th).

 
Songkran Report by "Craig (G Man)" his 1st Songkran ...

Monday morning we were receiving reports of small outbreaks of water fights and by the afternoon there is just no place to hide on the streets.

We stand back to back as we carry out a sortie down Bangla Road thinking safety in numbers regardless we are totally overwhelmed by the length and breadth of the fighting taking place but amazingly without any sense of aggression, only in the spirit of total enjoyment. Although we held our own there was just too many fights to fight, the water just came from everywhere.

A tactical retreat in to a side bar with a full frontal attack on a opposing bar left us with a short lived taste of victory as a surprise counter attach caught us totally off guard. The youth in our team took up an offensive position behind the grassy knoll at the hotel which proved to provide an endless supply of surprised squealing targets thru out the night. Video and photo gallery, see link below.

Tuesday and the streets are out of control, we hit the road in the back of a ute with two large drums filled with ice water (thanks to the hotel), the colder the better the reaction when hit.

Carnage abounds during the day on a road tour throughout Patong. Every man, women and child is out and armed with a spray of water hidden behind a friendly smile. By the evening all calm is restored to the place as the festival moves on around the country. After hearing stories of past Songkran my expectations were high and I must report expectations well and truly surpassed in this instance.

It’s a Magical event for many of the 66 million Thais, not to mention the millions of tourists that migrate for this “must do” event.

Photos of the Songkran Event click here

Best Links
Forum Article - Includes Photo Gallery, Videos, Travel Log and links to Songkran Knowledge base