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[lunthom]

Hi all,

Songkran Fest. will be coming in 13 Apr till 15 Apr.. Let all of you join this big Fest. all around Thailand , Especailly Bangkok --Khaosarn Rd. and Chiangmai ..... Have fun and don't forget your water bottle or water gun before go out ....

[thellie]

yup, gutted that i'll be missing it this year

was looking forward to seeing a chiang rai songkhran, after last years fantastic bangkok one (i spent it on soi rambuttri, and walking around sanam luang, and the whole general banglamphu area).

still, next year...

[starlagurl]

Can you remind me what this is again? Is it the one where people spray paint on each other?

[lunthom]

Yes, it had happened before but not now only water and a bit of face power..

[starlagurl]

Ohhhhhh, that's too bad! When did this happen?

[starlagurl]

That sounds pretty average to me. That's an eighth of what the locals spend. That's actually pretty good for incoming foreign money, I think!

[starlagurl]

Yeah, I know Thailand needs money.

How do high oil prices impact Thailand's economy exactly?

[Paul]

Hi - I was in Chiang Rai for Songkran and we had a great time. My mum was here too and she loved it and is starting to understand why I love Thailand and Thai people I think.

It was fun. Lots of fun. But it was also mainly polite and respectful. That would have been totally impossible in Australia.

Thellie - you would have liked it - but it was no Khao San Rd. Even more reason to like it.

Chiang Rai is a great place and I hope lots of people take up Eric's offer to join his homestay. But to be honest, western tourists - please don't come here for Songkran. It is a Thai event and a time for Thai families to get together and Thai communities to play together - you really haven't got much place in that unless you can fit in with a Thai family or in with the mainstream Thai community (not some money hungry alcoholic backpacking version).

And if all you want is alcohol and western food and cheap prostitutes, please don't come here either. You are not needed. There are other cities that cater for you a couple of hundred km down the road.

I disagree with Eric in that Thailand needs more money. There is plenty of money. Too much. Look at all the BMWs and Mercedes driving around Bangkok. What Thailand needs is more sensible education, more trees, more animals, more confidence in itself and its culture, more (or some) good government, more compassion, more wisdom.

If the oil prices are going up the answer is less oil, not more money.

But back to Songkran - it was heaps of fun and showed the people here to be a great natured happy but polite and reasonable people.

[starlagurl]

Yeah you're right... most people's (and nations') problems can be solved by using less oil...

[Paul]

Hi. I waned to go back to the last comments I made. They perhaps weren't too welcoming.

Hmmm, Thailand is a great destination because the people here are friendly and are very welcoming of tourists to participate in the life here. I think that is great and I don't want to go against that.
But, I am also caught up as I can see that if masses of tourists come here (Chiang Rai) they will show no respect to the locals or culture and will destroy what tourism originally came to see.

So I'd rather see low key tourism, not too many and the tourists doing home stays with Eric or volunteer tourism or that sort of thing.

All the tourists I did see participating in Songkran here were mainly doing so in the spirit of the event and doing no harm and they were having great fun - so that was great.

On the other hand, yesterday I was discussing with someone about tourism here. It seems some of the local tour operators have started to refer to Westerners as ghosts, as they just come out at night, they drink lots of alcohol and have sex with young pretty prostitutes.

This area has many beautiful natural features, fascinating cultures, great food, friendly people, a range of outdoor activities to do, gardens, museums, .....
But it seems at the moment that Westerners far too often just want to eat pizza, get drunk, have sex and then go to Laos where they repeat the same process. :-(

What can we do????

[starlagurl]

Hmmm... good question...

That is interesting about the "ghost" comment. My friend taught English there, and she said all the kids called her a ghost too, but it was because of her pale skin, not for those reasons!

How did Thailand make it on this "backpackers circuit" anyway? Why did these people start coming in the first place?

I think you have to look at the root causes, before you can fix the problem.