Pattaya– As the mercury rises, Pattaya City’s locals and international visitors have kickstarted the Songkran celebrations, Thailand’s famed water festival, days ahead of the official schedule. The revelry commenced within the bustling lanes of Soi 7 and Soi 8, alongside Beach Road, where beer bar operators and their staff joined forces with foreign tourists to indulge in the spirited tradition of water splashing.
In anticipation of the over a week long (In Pattaya) Songkran festivities, several establishments along Pattaya Beach Road have been observed equipping themselves with an array of water-dispensing apparatuses, including large buckets and water cannons. These preparations not only cater to the merriment of employees and tourists but also offer street vendors the opportunity to sell water guns and protective cases to the area’s visitors.
While the traditional Songkran events in Pattaya City are slated to begin on April 18th with the Wan Lai Na Kluea tradition, followed by the main Pattaya festival on April 19th in which Beach Road will be shut, the early onset of water play signals the community’s eagerness to embrace the cooling respite of the festival. The Wan Lai celebrations are expected to draw innumerable participants, with tens of thousands of Thai and international tourists projected to converge on the city for the water-splashing jubilee.