Songkran Water Festival 2009, Isaan Thailand.

Here in Ubon Ratchathani we have been celebrating Songkran like the rest of Thailand. This was my motley crew of Songkran players.

This is the main fire station area, here you get you water containers refilled for free.

You pull up and a fireman goes to work and in a very short time you are back on the road having fun.

In some areas some beer companies had taken advantage of offering people stuck in the long lines of traffic, beer. This was a beer called ‘Cheer Beer’ and was 5 cans for 100 Baht.

These small Thai girls were thrusting up a dancing storm on their stage. They seemed to be having a lot of fun. If they were my daughters they wouldn’t have been dancing like they were.

Some kids were very happy to just sit down and get drenched by the cool water.

Mr., no sorry, Mrs. Keith was having a great time and jumping off our stagnant truck to wet other Songkran revelers. He would often steal other people’s cool water to throw on them.

The faces of Thais when seeing these big white farangs dressed as women was entertaining. These girls thought it was hilarious.

Songkran is a fun festival; at times young guys do take things a little far. But again a group of teenage boys with alcohol in their blood does mean mischievous things can happen. Thai girls are often on the brunt of being paid special attention.

These two young girls, like many other are jumped upon when they ride along on their motorbikes. They will have water tipped over them and powder put onto their faces. Of course they also take the opportunity to feel the girls up as well.

Girls being molested would be the biggest cause of altercations and arguments between groups. If a girl’s boyfriend is there he may take offence and let the molester know this. Most of the time people just let it go.

This year one girl on our truck who was only 14 had her breasts grabbed and one of our older girls whacked the guy across the head with a container used for throwing water. That was the end of it.

The two girls who we followed for a good 800 metres were stopped many times and subjected to the same thing each time.

We finally passed the poor two girls who were in for a long ride to wherever they were going.

Songkran isn’t just celebrated here in Thailand. My mate MJ from The NH Bushman in Taiwan just played with their Thai band, Blue Sky at a Songkran celebration there in Taiwan. If you would like to read the article and see all the great pictures then please click on Thai New Year 2009, part 1 and enjoy.

Sadly the Thai New Year is also the deadliest on the roads. Road casualties climbed to 220 deaths and 2,658 people injured have been recorded nationwide in the first four of the "seven most dangerous days" of the Songkran festival.

Driving under the influence of alcohol is now the major cause of accidents followed by speeding.

Brunty