August 24, 2015 TnH Global 1

Travel To Thailand To Celebrate Songkran Festival

Songkran is the festival of happiness for Thai people. The festival marks the beginning of the traditional Thai New Year.

Songkran is the festival of utmost happiness for Thai people. During the long holiday many city dwellers go back home upcountry to celebrate with their families. It’s a time of refreshing fun during the hottest part of the year. The young playfully splash water over each other to generate and share a collective feeling of freshness. Soaking someone isn’t insulting, the water is a blessing bringing welcome coolness to people’s lives.

The Songkran festival takes place on April 13- 15 and represents the traditional Thai New Year. The world Songkran comes from Sanskrit and means ‘passage’, that is passage into a new star configuration, into a new year.

WHERE TO GO?

In Bangkok: At Khaosan Road, the heaven for backpackers form all over the world, the whole area is in undated for days on end as young Thais and foreigners douse each other with water, that’s when you’re likely to be splashed with water and smeared with powder by perfect strangers grinning wildly.

In Chiang Mai: Celebrations take place all over the old town and along its ring roads, wherever water is plentiful. Traffic gets congested due to strikingly beautiful processions and convoys of pickup trucks loaded with people tipping barrels of water onto other vehicles and pedestrians.

In Songkhla: The business district in the heart of Hat Yai is where the Midnight Songkran Fair takes place. The whole area is lit up with lanterns in all shapes and colours.

In Khon Kaen: During the Songkran festival, the main thoroughfare in the centre of town, Sichan Road, is closed and becomes a playground for water splashing.