Pattaya officials, led by Deputy Mayor
Wattana Chantanawaranon (center), begin planning for this year’s
Songkran festivities.
Vittaya Yoondorn
Songkran still may be two months away, but Pattaya officials
already are making plans to bring at least some sanity to Thai New Year
bedlam.
Deputy Mayor Wattana Chantanawaranon presided over a Feb. 13 meeting to
detail official plans for the April 18-20 water festival. He said this
year’s Songkran event will be larger than in past years, focusing on a
mix of Thai tradition and contemporary culture.
Activities begin April 18 with the Naklua “wan lai” water-throwing
festival. Alms will be offered to 99 monks at Lan Po Park at 7 a.m. and
a Buddha parade will proceed around Naklua Market beginning at 10 a.m.
The elderly will receive gentle water blessings before crowds begin to
throw wet stuff on anyone and everyone.
Pattaya takes its turn April 19, starting with religious ceremonies and
alms giving at Chaimongkol Temple at 8:30 a.m. The city’s Buddha parade
will attempt to roll up Beach Road to the Dolphin Roundabout and back to
Chaimongkol at noon.
Pattaya officials plan to station fire trucks, portable toilets and
other facilities along Beach Road, which will be closed to normal
traffic from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The annual rice festival closes out Songkran week April 20 in Naklua,
with ceremonies and a ghost parade beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Apparently not yet blue in the face, Wattana again repeated the plea
ignored annually to Songkran revelers to refrain from drinking alcohol,
not throw powder, not shoot water from PVC cannons and to dress
modestly.
