Find content
Not Telling
Posts I've Made
In Topic: 3 Murders As Songkran In Thailand Turns Ugly
2012-04-17 07:38:23
Ulysses G., on 2012-04-17 07:02:19, said:
charmonman, on 2012-04-17 06:41:40, said:
Sorry if my memory doesn't correspond exactly to yours or people who write for inflight magazines. I remember it being all water pistols and small pails of water, not the water cannons you see these days.
I have been here as long as you and there were plenty of BIG buckets of water and those pvc water cannons being used back then. Songkran has not changed much other than a little calmer as less celebrants than a few years ago.
It's interesting that people remember the same events differently. Let's just say that I must have been hanging out in different parts of the country and different parts of Bangkok than you in the late 80s and early 90s because I certainly do not remember it that way.
In Topic: 3 Murders As Songkran In Thailand Turns Ugly
2012-04-17 06:41:40
jayjayjayjay, on 2012-04-16 23:26:36, said:
charmonman, on 2012-04-16 22:06:38, said:
Songkran has escalated from a fun and relatively respectful event it used to be to the aggressive, no-fun hazard is has become in many parts of the country today. Before the usual crowd retorts that if I don't like it I can leave the country and go back to my own country, may I point out I've probably been here a lot longer (a quarter century) than the vast majority of those that bring up that lame argument. It is possible for a farang to have a legitimate appreciation for what this country's culture has to offer and at the same time to object to how one of it's traditions seems to have gone seriously off the rails. This gives no excuse for a bunch of tourists to tell them to leave. Besides, there are a lot of Thais who don't exactly enjoy being assaulted - you want to tell them to leave too?
I read a piece in the Thai airways inflight magazine. It totally contradicts your statement here. An elderly lady describes her relatives from DingDang attacking war-style their family home in Silom each year. Water fights, fun and lots of aggression ended in injury each year, but they loved it. I too have been here for as long as you. Songkran has not changed, I've celebrated from the north to south, east to west, and now go to Chiangmai every year. Justify your statement! I think it might be you've just got too old to enjoy it like the young do with such aplomb. Everybody to there own, but if you can't deal with it, I have not problem saying you should leave.
Sorry if my memory doesn't correspond exactly to yours or people who write for inflight magazines. I remember it being all water pistols and small pails of water, not the water cannons you see these days. I had a few buckets thrown at me while riding past on my motorbike, but I usually had fair warning of what was coming my way. As for me being too old to enjoy it, I still go to punk rock shows and make my way through seething mosh pits on a regular basis - it still seems less hazardous and more respectful than a Songkran celebration in certain areas of Bangkok these days!
