Songkran, the Thai Water Festival - live on your Monitor!
[ B.O.Y.S.: Boys On Your Screen (The Message Board) ] Written by The Poor Farang am 11 Apr 2001 16:09:15:
OK, guys, picture this:
It's the hottest days of the year - the middle of the Hot Season in a stinking hot, tropical country. And what do the locals do to cool off? They go nuts, in their polite and gentle way, soaking everybody and anybody with water, for three full days! It doesn't matter, if the city reservoir is almost empty or if you are a cop or the provincial governor - you get wet! Traditional rice bowls, buckets, super-soaker water guns, garden hoses, any delivery method is allowed. When you get a good blast, don't forget to turn and say "thank you" to your smiling benefactor!!Thailand is one of those countries where over 50% of the population is under 21 and the kids, especially the cute boys love this festival. The streets are full of pick-up trucks, each one with barrels of water and a dozen kids in the back. And the sidewalks are loaded with kids with hoses, adults with buckets on the balconies and second story windows. Can you imagine what they do to each other? School is out for the Hot Season; kids go back for the new school year in the middle of May. Anyone who has been to a hot tropical country knows that powder, especially ice-powder has a wonderful cooling and cleansing effect. So you will also see powder used as part of the Songkran ritual. In the not too distant past, Songkran was the Thai New Year , a time for physical and spiritual cleansing.
The Songkran water festival begins with a solemn procession of Buddhist monks, cute novice monk boys and public officials in the morning of April 13, 2001 (Good Friday, this year) After the procession ends, the water festival begins. By tradition, that must be before 11:00 AM Thai time (10:00 PM EDT, 7:00 PDT) on Good Friday the thirteenth, of April 2001 and extends through Easter Sunday, Apil 15, 2001.
There are eight (8) live web cams in the Thai Sin City of Pattaya. The action is constant, but best in the late morning and early afternoon hours, which would be late evening, to the wee hours in most of the US. So, if you are board Easter weekend, tune in and watch the live Thai water festival - Songkran! The action is a bit stilted over the web cams; Pattaya web-cams refresh the picture about 6 to 10 times per minute
Pattay Live CAMs
http://www.pattayalivecam.com/livecams.htmlThe "Pattaya live" website changes almost daily. Currently, on the left side, you will see the note about Songkran, with three rotating pictures. These are Thais in traditional garb, celebrating politely, with small bowls of water or powder. The normal action is much wilder than this.
One of the live cams is inside an entertainment complex, where people will NOT throw water. All the others are outside, where the water-fun reigns, unchecked. I can post a separate list of each web cam, if anyone has trouble seeing the choices on their browser.
Do have fun!
The Poor Farang