Festivals in Thailand 2012
The colourful festivals of Songkran and Loy Krathong are well-known to tourists. However, Thailand has many more unique festivals that are not always found in guide books. Please contact us with news about your event.
| Traditional Sports Festival |
| Written by Richard Barrow |
| Monday, 12 October 2009 02:08 |
 The Temple Fair in Samut Prakan has now reached its fourth day. Today is the 8th day of the waning moon of the 11th lunar month. On this day every year, the local people from Phra Samut Chedi District come together to compete in various traditional games. The event was presided over by Mr. Surachai Khanasa, the Governor of Samut Prakan. The District Chief sent a flotilla of boats across the Chao Phraya River to pick up the Governor at the Provincial Hall and then escort him back to the waterfront at Phra Samut Chedi. As you can see from this first picture, the pagoda now has a brand new sacred red cloth which was wrapped around it on the first day of the Temple Fair.  The highlight of the day was the long boat races. These boats were very long and had as many as 30 rowers. There were also other boat races which only had half a dozen rowers.  In these picture, the people are competing to finish a thatched roof first. They are sewing together nipa palm leaves. This palm tree is very common in this district and people use the plant for many different commercial reasons.  Another skill needed if you live in this district is to be able to safely catch crabs. In order to stop them crawling away or biting you, the crabs need to be securely tied up. The winner of this competition was the person to tie up the most crabs.  This next competition is one that I probably would lose. I am not really that fond of cockles. But these people had to eat a large plate full of cockles. The winner was the first person to eat all of their cockles. I hope they were well cooked as there seemed to be a lot of red liquid left on the plate.  This last competition was the most fun to watch. In Thai it is called Muay Talay which translates as Sea Boxing.The rules are simple. The person who falls into the water first loses the round. We had an enjoyable morning watching all the fun and games. We have posted more pictures on the Samut Prakan Forums. I have also posted a video in the Paknam Video Blogs.
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RichardBarrow: 10:20pm Judging by the radar it is raining over much of Bangkok again. Reports coming in of many flooded roads. Drive carefully out there.RichardBarrow: A picture from today in Thai history - 17 May 1992: Soldiers on the streets of Bangkok http://t.co/7U3q9lqM - MT @top10thaiRichardBarrow: I post the highlights of the best stories from Twitter in Thailand on my website http://t.co/xocfUzEl #Censorship #TestRichardBarrow: The shortlinks seem to be working again in Thailand. I guess someone was listening and sorted it out (until next time)RichardBarrow: RT @UKYorkie: Can route it through a VPN connection => Yes, but how do I tell my customers when True mistakenly blocked my online store?RichardBarrow: If Thailand cannot get its act together, one of these days I might be forced to move to a "more open" society like Burma. Very tempted.RichardBarrow: I have no idea how they expect us to run an Internet business in Thailand when they keep bungling censorship of websites.RichardBarrow: Coconuts Bangkok: Relaunch of Bangkok’s Leading News & Reviews Website http://t.co/spOlqhSGRichardBarrow: Pictures of the Rocket Festival in Northeastern Thailand by @motorcyrubjang: http://t.co/KiujJAxSRichardBarrow: Pet Expo Thailand 2012 is on at Queen Sirikit (QSNCC) from now until SundayRichardBarrow: BMA may demolish BTS Saphan Taksin station & build a skywalk across the river with travelators to BTS Surasak http://t.co/RGkhAxaDRichardBarrow: According to Jatuporn, 200,000 expected to join 2nd anniversary of red shirt protest on Saturday (MCOT) http://t.co/zswuffxWRichardBarrow: 3pm Srinakarin Road is looking very much like a river: http://t.co/XMPpZ3Kl - RT @ikongggggg: ถนนศรีนครินทร์ตัดทางรถไฟหัวหมากRichardBarrow: After the heavy rain around Bangkok this afternoon, many roads are looking more like rivers - RT @mongriva: http://t.co/jjCj4OOLRichardBarrow: Video interview (Thai/Italian) with Elisabetta Polenghi (@PolenghiE), sister of Italian photographer http://t.co/MEt2XyBBRichardBarrow: RT @forestmat: Interested to hear what developments have been made in investigating the shooting of Fabio Polenghi => Don't hold your breathRichardBarrow: Sister of Italian photographer shot dead during crackdown two years ago meets with Metropolitan Police http://t.co/TgmFxZQn - MT @ter_tnewsRichardBarrow: WANTED: Have you seen this man? Thai police need help in capturing Police Colonel Pichit Kromprasit http://t.co/NquMXFIQ - TR @RawangpaiLatest Festival Blogs
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