Say it Ain't So

[aj 59]

Pattaya mail; had article informing public that Songkran would be 21 official days long this year.

April 1st to the 21st. As if 3 official days were not enough. the extreme water works is wet enough

but increase the number of road deaths by 3.  looks like early out for me this year.

[Bruce Mangosteen 376]

Unofficially, Songkran has always been a month long.  It's regionally celebrated (with water chucking) for different one-week periods.  No change to that is envisioned, the government is going to sponsor other cultural events during the month.

https://thepattayanews.com/2024/02/08/thailand-to-celebrate-21-days-of-songkran-in-april-really/

"Basically, the 21 days of Songkran is nothing new. Different parts of Thailand have celebrated the festival on different days for various reasons for decades. Pattaya’s big day, for example, is April 19th, partly to encourage domestic tourism after the official national days.

The official national days, by the way, will remain April 13th to the 15th, with public holidays running to the 16th. Pattaya, as usual, will likely run from the 12th to about the 19th.

In terms of the 21 days, the thought process behind this is NOT 21 days of water throwing. Instead, it’s best to think about it like Christmas, in which decorations, music, cultural presentations, etc. will take place for the entire month. The idea for Songkran is similar, with events proposed across Thailand from April 1st to the 21st, almost all of them focused on religious, cultural, and traditional heritage aspects.

Yes, there will still be water play, but according to Thai officials it will be limited to the official days and not the whole three week period.

So, for now, readers can rest easy that this doesn’t mean 21 days of water throwing across Thailand. Regardless, many of our regular readers and expats likely will plan to either stay indoors or even leave Thailand during the festival, while droves of tourists, domestic and foreign, arrive."

Note that the above link may not work if you click it, seems there's a problem on their website at the moment.  I promise that's where the quoted text comes from though.  

[jacko 8,722]

Anything to keep the place busy..... 

Currently the impact of the Music competition, concerts every weekend in March, at various venues . will make any attempt to get into town at weekend problematic..... there is also Beach football in Jomtien going on at the moment. 

 

[whitney 10]

I would not want to be around 21 days of water throwing, as riding a motorbike during Songkran would not be my idea of fun.