The truth is I hadn’t planned my trip to Thailand to coincide with the Songkran Water Festival, but travel fate plunged me smack in the middle of it. My own mind was on Malaysia’s Ramadan month and the travel complexities associated with the fasting month; changes in land transportation schedules and hotels booking up. But I had a return trip to Hat Yai on my radar and by golly I was going to go for it! Imagine my surprise to find the streets, as well as my barely able to squeeze in Hat Yai hotel, packed with tropical shirt wearing masses. Songkran in Hat Yai was in full swing.
Songkran is Thailand’s New Year, which I didn’t actually know. In fact, all that I knew of Songkran is that it involves a lot of water throwing. As a westerner, I would never have associated it with a new year celebration. My own new year experiences generally involve a televised New York’s Time’s Square, a dramatic countdown to midnight and fireworks. Dousing people in the streets with buckets of water? Well, that’s a whole new experience for me for sure!
Images I’d previously seen of Songkran Water Festivals often show a lot of westerners (which to me has always been a bit of a turn off). The idea of getting wet with a bunch of bikini clad backpackers may have appealed to me a few decades ago, but the new stodgy version of me is more culturally focused. Which is why Songkran in Hat Yai kind of intrigued me. The most enthusiastic of the Hat Yai Songkran celebraters appeared to be locals and older than I expected, with the average age maybe being 40s.
Sure there were young folks too, but I think they were outnumbered. Maybe the younger people all head to bigger cities for Songkran, but I saw truckloads of families cruising the streets as if ‘they’ themselves had come to the ‘big city’ of Hat Yai from the surrounding areas of Southern Thailand. Plenty had come in from Malaysia as well, as Hat Yai is a quick and easy Thailand holiday for the Peninsula Malaysia based.
What is Songkran?
In addition to being Thailand’s New Years, Songkran is a time when many Thai people will return home to celebrate the auspicious annual dates with their families. April 13 thru 15 are the official dates for Songkran, but some areas will extend the annual festivities for a week or more. Family is an important part of Songkran, so more traditional mixes of water and flowers are often gently poured over the hands of older family members and neighbors, rather than shooting them with a water pistol.
The Songkran annual celebration lasts three days, with April 13 being Maha Songkran, April 14 being Wan Nao and April 15 being Wan Thaloeng Sok; the official New Year’s Day. If you’d like to experience a more spiritual side to Songkran pop by Wat Hat Yai Nai (temple) during the week and you might get lucky. Timing of course is everything, so inquire with your hotel about the temple’s scheduled Songkran activities.
Songkran Water Festival Hat Yai Style
In Hat Yai, one will start spotting tropical shirts a day or so before April 13, as well as Songkran ‘supplies’ for sale; water pistols, crazy sunglasses, tropical shirts and the like. But for the most part no one will be dowsing strangers in the streets until April 13. But from 10:00am or so until midnight on the 13th, 14th, and 15th anything goes. Live music, food, street performances and more; make a trip to Hat Yai for Songkran well worth the effort. Look for most of the action around the downtown area of Hat Yai.
For those who want to observe the festivities and avoid getting wet, well good luck with that. I crept along the street at a safe distance when trying to get photos for this post, but the crowds can spot a dry person a mile away! Especially the older folks. If you really want to stay dry, then get yourself a rain jacket, tropical print if possible.
Planning to Celebrate Songkran in Hat Yai?
So, you’re ready to celebrate Songkran in Hat Yai? Easy peasy. As long as you have a hotel room in Hat Yai, you’ll have no problems. If taking a bus or train into Hat Yai, you might want to secure your tickets in advance, just to avoid the expenses of desperate last-ditch travel options. But it’s not mandatory.
Oh, and be sure to pack a few extra colorful tropical shirts, because Songkran is one of the few times you can wear one and not look like a tourist, but instead a fashionable Songkran party animal.
Have fun! Happy Songkran!
Leave a Reply