Songkran 2015. Hua Hin - with VIDEO report

[NOKYAI]

Bloody predictive thingy! Must admit to being a bit pissed when writing that ! sewage pi mai! There it goes again.....lol

[dtaai-maai]

Well, I'm working my way through Song Kran at home, which is fine by me.

A lovely start to the day when Mrs D-M took me away from the computer for a few minutes to say a little prayer and soak my hands and feet in flower-scented water.

That'll do me nicely, thanks very much!

[usual suspect]

Abolutely seething with Thais in Poolsuk Rd by 11pm last night..I've never seen it so cram-packed..& of course some of them had to ride their m/cycles thru' the masses also (ffs!).
By midnight the seething-mass had spilled into Binta...
...& that's when the fighting started between them.

[richard]

Well after 15 years of it I've hung my flippers and goggles up for this year.

A relatively quiet barby is on the go at the shop at the condo and may then wander to the beach.

Petcha is like a slow moving car park so the thought of getting in and out has put me off to be honest (plus a gammy leg and old age)

Enjoy all you brave/crazy revellers

[JAGfx]

As I live down at Takiab I decided to head up to Market Village via the beach as there weren't many buses running and the main road up from the Takiab Police Station looked like a car park. There seemed to be quite a few Thai families enjoying festivities at beach houses and restaurants. Gotta love the Hawaiian shirts everywhere! Wasn't until I popped my head up opposite MV to see and hear the masses. The traffic was crawling at best, and the music was loud, with people and water everywhere. I had to laugh at all the kids playing in the fountains around the front. Didn't hang there too long and headed up to town via the main road. Got well and truly drenched several times and the powder applied to my face also. All good fun and very polite about it. Ended up near the Council building park for a bit of parade watching and then headed into El Murphys area to see the action in there. All very busy with plenty happening. There appeared to be plenty of beer and scotch being drunk, but generally everyone was very friendly and I didn't see any real craziness or aggro. As the days goes on though, that may change. There is no way in hell I would be riding my scooter through it though. All in all a fun day and I'm glad I made an effort to go and be a part of it. Long walk back to Takiab and now I'm a wee bit tired...and thanks to all for the advice on where to go etc. Cheers.

[Big Boy]

Did anybody try the water tunnel at Damnoen Kasem Alley yesterday? I walked it both ways going into town, then again on the way home.

IMHO it was a complete failure, and turned an otherwise fun day into a miserable walk through pouring rain. Even worse, on the way home we had to negotiate a fast flowing stream on the way home. If you haven't guessed. I didn't like it.

[Big Boy]

There is one day each year in Thailand, where a strange phenomenon akin to a sci-fi/horror movie happens. The entire population, resident and visitor alike wake up as a hardened water warrior. These warriors wake up, don a uniform (very loud, flowery shirt) and go into battle.

This is my story from 13 Apr 15.

I set off from my home with my son at about midday to join the battle that would be raging in the Binthablock region of Hua Hin. Our initial goal would be to reach safety of our pre-determined base-compound at The Big Kiss Bar at the heart of the action, next door to the 5 Street Foam Party. Our partners would be taking an alternate route using their scooter.



We planned our route carefully, to ensure we hit the greatest resistance. There was an eyrie calm as we walked down our Soi (street). At the bottom of our street, we encountered a taxi driver (as yet unaffected by the phenomenon) who advised us the greatest resistance would be encountered if we turned left. Obviously a 5th columnist – we wouldn’t be taken in by this. We turned right as planned, and soon encountered light resistance.

We turned left down Soi 94, and started to encounter more resistance. We had our first encounter with ice-water, to which there is no remedy. I lost a shoe in that skirmish, but my trusty companion managed to retrieve it.

There were many minor skirmishes on Soi 94, but we made it to our first Checkpoint on Petchkasem Road. Here, the road was lined with groups of snipers, ready to shoot anybody who crossed their sights. We managed to get in behind many enemy strongholds on this stretch of our quest, but there was always a danger of mobile patrols hitting us from behind. We did, of course, have various shades of face paint applied by the many volunteers along the route. Fortunately, this year, face paint did not have any burning additives, and nobody applied it to the eyes.

Next Checkpoint was Market Village, where they were due to have a massive foam party. When we got there, it hadn’t opened. Many impatient children opted to play in the fountains. We were expecting heavy resistance here, but people happily were queuing, waiting to get in (very British, not Thai like at all). I was sure the phenomenon would get them as they crossed the Foam Party threshold. So resistance at Market Village was very light.

We moved back along our pre-planned route along Petchkasem to the next Checkpoint – the Eastern end of Soi 80. We were still encountering light pockets of resistance as we went.

We entered Soi 80 with trepidation. We knew resistance would be vicious through this stretch. We were not disappointed, with attacks coming from both sides – much of the ammunition used was the feared iced-water. We took several huge hits here, and I was almost taken prisoner by a young lady trying to lure me towards her lair, but I proved to be too strong, and managed to escape her clutches – a very close encounter.

We now turned right along the Railway Road towards the station. We thought this would be a breeze. How wrong we were – this was our first encounter with heavy artillery – a 4” hose connected to a fire hydrant. Primarily used to reload passing mobile units (huge buckets on the back of pick-up trucks), but very effective against foot soldiers.

We got through Railway Road, and turned right down Damnoen Kasam Alley. This was supposed to be Hua Hin’s centre piece this year – what a disappointment. The entire road was meant to be a water tunnel. Well, it resembled a typical British Summer’s Day. Steady rainfall, cold and damp. The only thing missing was gale force winds.

The annual Songkran Parade was just starting off as we passed – what a miserable start to such a joyous event. If such conditions were prevalent in the UK, I’m sure the parade would have been cancelled. It looked quite colourful, but nobody in their right minds was going to stop and look. We couldn’t help but feel sorry for those stood in the water tunnel waiting to set off.

We crossed the River Petchkasem, and walked down Soi 61. It was very quiet past the main police station, but then we started hitting small pockets of resistance. We witnessed a defenceless open tour bus attacked – carnage resulted. If those tourists didn’t know about Songkran, they must have wondered what had hit them.

We turned left towards the Hilton. I’ve had some epic battles on the road outside the raised bar area in previous years. It was very quiet this year – only minor skirmishes along this stretch.

We were now on the edge of the real war zone. Question? Do we turn down Binthabat, or do we carry on along Nares Damri Alley, and get to our base camp through the back roads. We’d been struck by the phenomenon – we were hardened warriors by now. Of course we turned into Binthabat.

The real war had started. Not as full on as in previous years, but we knew we were in a fight.

A right turn into Poon Suk, and now resistance was fierce, especially past Poon Suk Plaza, where they had the advantage of the higher ground, and 50% cover. They were shooting the dreaded/feared ice-water. We got past that obstacle, and encountered a series of bars, also with height advantage and ice-water. These guys were unforgiving. We barely survived that encounter, but survive we did. We were running low on ammunition, and needed to find ammo quickly.

A right turn into Soi Selakam, and time to track down an ammunition point. Fully ammo’d up, our base compound was in sight. We fought our way through some heavy resistance to arrive safely at our destination, The Big Kiss Bar.

We took up our defensive positions, ordered a drink (non-alcoholic for me), and then surveyed the landscape outside of our compound. Basically the 5 way junction had been transformed into a dance area with perimeter walls built of huge ice blocks. To the left was a foam machine. People from all over Binthablock were congregating here. Dancing in the foam, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and shooting anybody that came into range. For those gamers amongst you, think Grand Theft Auto. This was definitely the place to be – a great time was being had by all.

We enjoyed watching the madness go on for quite some time, but eventually, 3 of us decided it was time to patrol the Binthablock area. Whilst on patrol one of our weapons disintegrated, and emergency field repairs were necessary whilst under fire. Again, the most lethal part of the patrol was along Poon Suk where we lost the height advantage, and they were still attacking with iced-water. We eventually made it back to base compound with only minor injuries.

We stayed there another couple of hours before making our way home. By this time, the strange phenomenon was starting to wear off, and many people were wandering aimlessly, wondering what the weapons in their hands were there for. OK, there were still some small pockets of resistance, but generally the war was over for another year. There were still quite a few walking wounded (soaked to the skin) though.

On the way home we had to travel against the tide up Damnoen Kasam Alley where the Water Tunnel was still doing its work. This really was unpleasant. We took a diversion into Phon King Phet Park to view the rest of Hua Hin’s pride and joy. There was a band playing, and water fountains everywhere continuing to turn the area into a British Summer. I hated it. However, there were plenty of smiling faces and people dancing, so I was in the minority.

We carried on our homeward journey, and I encountered the real problem with Songkran. A motorcycle whose driver was totally out of his brain crashed into the back of me......... and bounced backwards. Surprisingly, I think he struck me at the right angle, and it didn’t hurt. I turned around to see what had hit me, and there was the guy steadying himself, getting ready for another go. He hit me again but the bike glanced forward with quite a wobble. He then hit my wife and wobbled on. Thankfully, neither of us sustained any injury.

Just a couple more skirmishes along Railway Road, and Songkran 2015 was over for me in Hua Hin.

A lovely day out, spoilt sometimes by the mindless use of iced-water in temperatures exceeding 30C – surprising there aren’t more heart attacks. Everybody joins in from the very young to very hard. Of course, you have to gauge the severeness of your attack according to your victim – you will probably have noticed me submit to a few kiddies. I’m not sure what the war paint (powder) is all about, but it makes the Thais very happy when you let them smear it on your face.

Roll on 2016.

Index

00:10:03 – It begins
00:12:50 – Soi 94
00:39:93 – Petchkasem to Market Village
00:59:20 – Outside Market Village
02:06:73 – Market Village to Soi 80
03:04:07 – Soi 80
05:49:43 – Railway Road towards Railway Station
06:31:63 – Damoen Kasam Alley
07:51:37 – Soi 61
08:29:93 – Nares Damri
09:22:10 – Soi Binthabat
10:41:73 – Poon Suk Road
12:22:17 – Soi Selekam
14:31:47 – 5 Street Foam Party
16:56:37 – Binthablock Patrol
33:55:00 – More 5 Street Foam
35:10:60 – The Break for Home Begins
35:15:07 – Resistance has all but died out
38:51:83 – Phon King Phet Park
39:44:37 – Battle weary warriors make their ways home
40:12:13 – Final pockets of resistance on Railway Road

[Ralfredo]

Great movie! Thanks for sharing!

[pharvey]

Oh, I bet you loved that BB!!

The LHG and I haven't made it back to HH for a while now unfortunately, so great to see the sites - many thanks for sharing.

[Big Boy]

Oh, I bet you loved that BB!!

Absolutely fantastic.

It was the first time I'd worn the GoPro as a fashion accessory, A few lessons learnt for the future:

- Stand and take the punishment, don't run away squealing like a girl (you've only got the edited bits) - the cutting room floor is full of howlers

- Don't go out tooled up in future - the weapon keeps getting in the way.

- Remember the huge capture arc of the GoPro.

I couldn't decide between chest or head mounted. In the end I opted for chest mounted because of security. Head mounted would have been too easy for somebody to grab and run with. Chest mounted was very easy to control as well.

[dalmatiandave]

Enjoyed the report. Thanks for sharing.

For me there are no half measures, immerse yourself right in it or avoid it. Sounds like you had the right attitude for the mayhem.

[Dan1]

Thanks for that BB. I watched it whilst taking a shower. Almost felt like I was there taking part.