Bangkok Songkran Festival - The biggest water splash party in the world

Bangkok with its 15 million residents is one of the biggest cities in the world. The town is full of immemorial temples, markets, breathtaking buildings, huge shopping malls, shows and also you can find all kind of hotels in Bangkok. The city of Bangkok which used to be called "The City Of Angles" also holds a variety of festivals such as the Royal Ploughing Ceremony in May, the celebration of the queens birthday and the Trooping Of The Colours in December.

One of the most popular events is called the Bangkok Songkran Festival which annually takes place from the 13th to the 15th of April. This festival is the Thai way of welcoming the new year. Originally, the arrival of the new year was the reason to organise ritual cleaning ceremonies. During this period, religious people used to also visit the temples to pray. In these days the friars have been receiving lots of food, money and flowers as a donation.

However, nowadays the primary religious event is more a huge water splash party than anything else. The people meet in the streets. Everybody brings water pistols, water balloons and powered pigment, and nobody hesitates to use them. In every corner the inhabitants hoard huge reservoirs of water where they return every time they need to fulfil the water pistols and to prepare the water balloons.

Therefore, after getting off the bus, car or the buildings it takes only a few seconds until you are soaking wet. All the travel agencies warn their customers not to take anything valuable with them. Otherwise it will get wet or broken at the end of the day. If you really want to stay dry do not even think about leaving your Bangkok hotel. During Bangkok Songkran Festival the city is full of ambulances since many accidents occur as the result of wet roads. The local people especially love dousing the foreigners and this is the reason why loads of European, American and African visitors look forward to leaving Bangkok as they are tired of the Bangkok Songkran Festival's outcome.

So pay attention when booking your Bangkok hotel in the middle of April. You might be a part of the biggest water splash party in the world. However, there is no way to escape the water anyway as the Thai people are celebrating this event all over the country. Fortunately the April is the hottest month in Thailand and even if you will get wet it may be more refreshing than annoying.