Saturday, April 12, 2008

Songkran Festival

Songkran festival, also known as Water Splashing festival, is the Thai traditional New Year. It is celebrated on April 13 every year, and lasts 3 days. Their belief is that water washes away bad luck, and I guess thats where the water splashing gets really serious in the celebrations.... ;)






Everywhere you go, you will get wet. But its fun! The locals will travel around in their cars/vans and just splash water at everyone along the way. Along the roads, kids armed with Super Soakers or equivalent water guns spurt water at tourists and locals alike. Not only will you get soaked, you'll get smeared with a white powder which of course, mixed with water, becomes a gooey stuff....






There have been reports that ladies have been molested or taken advantaged of during these celebrations, so do take note if you're going to experience it. Otherwise, its realy a blast, literally!! Oh, similar festivals are also being celebrated around neighbouring countries on the same dates,. These include Laos, Myanmar, and even Sri Lanka, so you do have plenty of choice :).

2 comments:

davidong said...

bhi, how to protect your camera from those water sprays ?

Wanderer said...

Hi David,
2 ways I know :
- using underwater/waterproof camera casing (expensive)
- using ziploc bags to make a "raincoat" for your camera

but I didn't use any of it :p
What I did is to use an old film camera (or a 2nd hand one that cost really cheap) that I won't mind getting it damaged, and delve right in to take pics. This way, you can really get "close encounter action shots"! :)