http://www.thailandfriends.com/index.php?name=DB_phpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=350669#350669

I won't try to sway anyone's opinion here, but I avoid the "celebrations" like the plague. Usually I leave the country or stay in my room for three days. These days this **** has gotten out of hand.Why?, you may ask.....  Ohh maybe it's because I don't like to have piss or dirty klong water thrown on me. Maybe it's because I don't want to be targeted because of my ethnicity. Maybe because I like to be dry when I go shopping or go out for exercise. Maybe it's just because I have personal space that I don't want violated without my permission.  (Same reason I slug touts and beggars and small children selling flowers when they touch me or tug on my clothes) For a guy who has no hatred or anger in my life, I don't understand why I must retaliate  immediately when people press that button.

Just today, at dusk, the final day of the "festival", I was riding my bike to the track so I could get some exercise running.  Just a 3 minute ride on the main road. I had stayed dry the previous days by staying inside working on projects.  Without any notice, a pick up truck full of people in back pulled up along side of my bicycle and completely soaked me.  I was unarmed. I had no water. I was just minding my own business trying to get to point B. If I were armed, I would have killed....I propose the following solutions to the songkran problem:1. Just pass a law prohibiting things to be thrown from or onto moving vehicles during songkran.  2. Choose one color or color pattern for people to wear in order to opt out of having water thrown on them. Then those who don't want to take part, don't have to. 3. Only let children and youth under 18 celebrate songkran. No adult in his/her right mind (except Jan) should be allowed participate in such mass stupidity.

4. Or just assign certain places and certain times of the day to do the "celebrations" Seriously... F*ck Songkran holiday to hell

I suggest to wear red color in Bangkok these days..or wear a dive suit instead - a shorty will look good on you, Don. Hey, what do you expect to hear ?

Songkran is like war - but if all wars were that peaceful, there should be Songkran around the world, if there werent more than 300 dead and thousands of injured on the roads in Thailand.

You could have easily lost control over your bike, mate.

fu*K u

ohh wrong person hehhehe:P

Suggest you go back home? You're a guest here in this country. Can't stand it's culture or festivals? I'm not stopping you from leaving buddy... I HATE getting wet, i've been indoors for the past 3 days too, and i hate it that they extended it for 2 more days, but i'm here as a foreigner in a foreign country.

You are starting to sound like the foreigners in my country. They refuse to adapt to our culture and refuse to respect our values. **** them! I wish they would leave because they f**ked up my country and made me and 220.000 others PER YEAR leave my country as well...

If you can't stand song kran and have the guts to say F*CK Songkran, please, be a man, and go back home... attitutes like that don't belong in this country....

More effective way to kill and maim people than have huge protests.

Ôbirdtongchai>> Idiot... we are all guests on this planet and I will go back home soon enough.

ha ha ha... good one.... read what I wrote again... you sound more like a whiny little biatch than I do.... This is not a foreign country...This is my home... I don't go for this nationality bullshit or religion bullshit or culture bullshit... I go for common sense and pragmatism.

Thank goodness for freedom of speech. I was just voicing an opinion against the ugly side of a holiday that has degenerated to an excuse for being a hooligan and/or molester for three days and nothing more....

I said nothing against Thais or Thailand or anything pro whatever place I was born.....

This is MY journal and I can easily delete what you have written.. Instead I'll state my opinion that you, my friend are a dipshit.

"Suggest you go back home? You're a guest here in this country. Can't stand it's culture or festivals? I'm not stopping you from leaving buddy... I HATE getting wet, i've been indoors for the past 3 days too, and i hate it that they extended it for 2 more days, but i'm here as a foreigner in a foreign country.

You are starting to sound like the foreigners in my country. They refuse to adapt to our culture and refuse to respect our values. **** them! I wish they would leave because they f**ked up my country and made me and 220.000 others PER YEAR leave my country as well...

If you can't stand song kran and have the guts to say F*CK Songkran, please, be a man, and go back home... attitutes like that don't belong in this country...."

Woow.. seems not only u who pissed off CT! U got long lectured here lol

I gotta work today and office located in soi convent!! Luckily it close to the way out to sathorn road so i sneaked out dry but i had to jump into a cab suddenly. Its a waste of money esp with this part time job that pay me so lil but i cant stand there any longer and it impossible to walk to bts and still all dry. Its my unlucky day today, happened to deal with a sleazy driver.. He kept taking about sexual thing with me. Thanks Buddha that it was no traffic so i got home within 25mins.

I dont blame ppl playing water even i dun like it at all. I hate it when i have no choice not to see them(like today). I feel guilty to tell them to pls dont soak me up. Its like i disappointed them.

Normally i stayed in during Apr13-15 as its a peak time and it sounds weird to tell them not to water me during this.

And have a happy & dry day tomorrow!

Im glad that banks open tomorrow as that would make most co's open as usual so ppl will not play water a lot like 2day.

OMG DON WHAT DID U EAT LAST NIGHT HEHEHEHEHE

love the holiday

HOWEVER condo

i agree totally about throwing water, talcum mud, or any objects at MOVING vehicles or persons in them

should be considered as a "!!dont do!!" thing

i saw an accident today over that and its just sad too see anyone being put in danger for any reason

- the guy was fine

and Song Kran the last two times, have been the BEST experience of my being in Thailand

agree with the assign areas and maybe personal homes and propertys but that would ruin some of the "fun"

the color or avoid the elders? hahaha uhhhh good luck

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Condotown. I detest Songkran. When I don't have a choice whether to participate or not, then it becomes state sanctioned assault against me. For (at least) three days.

Actually this year four days as I was walking down Sukhumvit Sunday night and some moron thug Thai teenager squirted me. When I told him not to get me wet because it was not yet Songkran, he flew into a rage and would have beaten me up had a group of bigger Thais not intervened. Is that the spirit of Songkran that you love? And even if it had already been Songkran, do I deserve to be physically attacked for not wanting to "play"? I was the one who should have been beating him up for wetting me before the holiday started. But if I would have beaten him up, I would have gotten in trouble for not being "in the spirit" of Songkran.

And why should I have to hide in my room for three days - just because a bunch of juvenile morons are so frustrated with their lives that they want to throw water on everybody - and especially people who don't want to get wet?

And anybody who says that shooting people with water guns is somehow a Thai tradition is being ridiculous. What we see today is a fairly recent quantum escalation of a Thai tradition that started out being something nice. Now, it is completely out of hand.

Another possible solution to this blight would be to restrict the water games to certain public parks. Anyone who wishes to participate can go there - and anyone who doesn't wish to participate can simply avoid those places.

Now that I think about it, do you know of any other "festival" in the world that: (a) People are FORCED to participate in whether they want to or not; and ( a good number of people absolutely hate it? I don't know of any other such festival.

C'mon Don, don't let the sex tourists get you down.

I totally understand you and your anger about how the festival invade your personal life.

However, things that you propose sound almost impossible to me here is why.

>>>>>>>1. Just pass a law prohibiting things to be thrown from or onto moving vehicles during songkran.

Can't be done cause this is how we do it,esp outside of Bangkok, more like all over the country, some pple who stay downtown they play in front of their house, some pple who live in the sub soi they take the truck out.

>>>>>>>2. Choose one color or color pattern for people to wear in order to opt out of having water thrown on them. Then those who don't want to take part, don't have to.

I think after these few years of playing shirt color game, and the chaos that just end,we kinda don't want to even consider that option.

>>>>>>>3. Only let children and youth under 18 celebrate songkran. No adult in his/her right mind (except Jan) should be allowed participate in such mass stupidity.

Do you know that 13th April for Thailand it is official elder day. Songkran is not only trow water, it's like Christmas for us. 14th April is officially Family day too. So, I don't know how that can be done.

>>>>>>>4. Or just assign certain places and certain times of the day to do the "celebrations"

Up north (well... at least my hometown) we can't say the certain place cause yes we do driving around, but we do play at the certain time. Throw water will be over by 7pm or someday earlier. In exchange that songkran in my hometown start from 9th or 10th and will end at 17th April every year.

Personally if I really don't wanna get wet I'll choose 3 days stay inside of Bangkok.

Yeh.

Had an experience a few years back after visiting a mates condo in BKK. The entrance was situated slightly off a main road and I asked the security to hail me a cab. Well, out of 5 local lads, none of them was willing to venture 100 meters along the road. Why? It was ******* Songkran.

We could all see the gathered mobs and roaming utes and NONE of us wanted to get involved. I was one guy out of five Thai ppl, said a lot to me...

In addition for this year as a Thai citizen.

I"m very glad that guns in people hands fill with water not bullets.

This is a big relieve.

went out to the minimart today, walked through the songkran war zone. combatants everywhere, water flying, i walked placidly, calmly past and through, and not a one person soaked me, not even the farrang chicks who were playing hte water game. it was like Ed Harris in "Walker."

then i calmly walked back inside and stayed there. no fan of songkran myself.

After about a week, it will all be forgotten..

Until next year....

someone call an waaaahmbulance for misery guts.

Oh yeah, we do celebrate hard(er) as the red shirt protest finally stopped(tho its like take a break).

-taking a water gun and aim right in his eye..pisssssssssssssssss-

I went to Silom with the water gun and I didn't know how much fun I missed hiding at my apartment years before. I enjoyed it this year, I was prepared to get wet.

I walked to 7/11 today and tried to explain those guys, that i have enough and i have mobile phone with me, it didn't work. I got wet my phone is f**ked up it wasn't fun after all.

"condotown [ 15 April 2009 | 8:21PM ]

After about a week, it will all be forgotten..

Until next year.... "

ha yeah.and reliving that sinking feeling when you realize what day it is...

******* great. Coming in Thailand and saying "**** Songkran!". Hope you won't mind if people are gonna say the same thing about you too, or your birthday, or your nation, etc.

BAR HUMBUG........you.s sound like song kran scrooges.....you cant change somthing just because you,s dont like it when millions do.....i hate Christmas so i stay home every year and watch movies or somthing while the rest of the country does there thing......Christmas carols irritate me but i wouldnt tell someone to stop singing especially if its bringing joy to peoples life....i think song kran is a beautiful thing seeing people from every country and every religion having FUN TOGETHER.....if you dont want to get wet,buy a rain coat...