Travel Videos By Dhruva Aliman - ...Songkran is an annual festival which takes place over three days during the traditional Thai New Year, April 13th-15th (in almost all provinces). The official Songkran festival lasts three days but in reality the whole week is taken over by a mass celebration as the whole country shuts down for a momentous water fight. Wild scenes of exuberance can be seen throughout the Kingdom with music, dancing, drinking and people drenched from head to toe. Water guns, hose pipes, buckets, in fact, anything you can get your hands on can be used to splash people, and one thing is for certain: you will get wet! As April is the hottest month of the year in Thailand, everyone gets involved with this country-wide water fight and it brings great relief from the soaring temperatures. Songkran started as a Buddhist tradition, using a light sprinkling of water to symbolize purification but, as time went by, people began splashing each other in a more playful manner until recent years, when the entire country becomes one almighty water fight celebrated by millions! br br Songkran in PATTAYA When: April 13-19 Pattaya is known as a party city so it should come as no surprise that Songkran festivities last longer here than anywhere else in Thailand. There will be water fights going on during the regular Songkran days (13th-15th April) but, uniquely, Pattaya celebrates into the following week too. Known in Thai as the Wan Lai Festival, this year the biggest day of revelry will be on April 19th so if you arrive in Thailand a little late this is your last chance to party. Where to Party? Everybody is armed with a water dispenser of some description. Some favour the semi-traditional bucket, many go for a water gun and some use Heath Robinson high-pressure hoses made from a length of plastic plumbing pipe with a small hole at one and a plunger at the other. Beach Road is cut off to traffic and stages are set up for live music and foam machines. The fire department park their engines here, filling numerous water butts for revellers to reload their soakers from. On the roads that do allow vehicles, the main ones become a slow-moving traffic jam. Pick-up trucks are turned into mobile parties, with their own water butts, the radio on full volume and many young Thais strafing pedestrians and other vehicles from the back. br br Good To Know About Songkran in Thailand If you find yourself anywhere in Thailand during mid-April, there is no getting away from being splashed (the only exceptions to this would be monks, new born babies and the elderly), even if you are dressed in your nicest clothes… so leave your best suit and suede shoes at home. Also, take good care of cameras, passports, and other valuables – keep them in your hotel safe or, if you have to bring them out, waterproof bags are widely available and should be used.