The Itinerant Foodie
 

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Songkran April 2017 (สงกรานต์ เมษายน 2560)

22 April 2017
thailand nomadlife songkran festivities chiangmai

Tha Phae Gate Tha Phae Gate Area

Well I’ve made it. This year I chose to stick around Chiang Mai for Songkran as it is said to be the most festive - basically it’s a 3 day water splash fest. Expect to be wet (which was quite welcome being that April is about 30 - 35 degrees during the daytime)

The main areas.

Kad Suan Kaew

Kad Suan Kaew 1 Kad Suan Kaew 2

This mall was one of my first sites I hit up, as it’s in my local area.

There’s barrels of water which get refilled where you can fill up your water gun or bucket and splash passerbys or people riding pickup trucks, songtaews, or motorcycles.

This video shows a sneak peak of the action (and what your would expect if you chose to drive during Songkran)

Sri Poom Moat Area

Sri Poom Moat 1 Sri Poom Moat 2

Around the moat is where most of the locals play the water fight game, or have picnics at the street food vendors (which is offlimits to the water game - and seems to be “followed”, some vendors have taken some extra precautions though)

Sri Poom Moat 3 Sri Poom Moat 4

The Parade

On the first day of Songkran there is a Parade along Rachadamnoen Rd (also known as the Walking street on Sunday nights)

Parade 1 Parade 2

Phae Gate area (ประตูท่าแพ)

Phae Gate Pew Pew Phae Gate

Around the MacDonalds is a popular spot for camping out and refilling water (sometimes Ice gets delivered too).

This area started a day early.

Phae Gate 3 Phae Gate 4

Phae Gate 5 Phae Gate 6

Loi Kroh Road (ถนนลอยเคราะห์)

This is a popular spot for expats and foreigners. I found the water fights quite intense here - being it’s the main party strip in Chiang Mai. I didn’t get any pictures here as by then my waterproof camera (very important to have one!) had no battery power left.

But what’s the meaning towards Songkran?

The meaning behind the new year and water represents purification and the washing away of one’s sins and bad luck.

In all the shopping malls and temples, you can also pour water over the buddha which is the traditional thing to do.

See below video (taken from snapchat images)

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I write codes, I am passionate about usability / user interaction ), I travel (alot), I snapchat 👻 (alot), and I blog (sometimes) [Read More]