2022
Songkran is the Thai New Year Celebration and is the most popular and well attended holiday celebration every year. The Official dates for the celebration are I believe the 13th and 14th of April, but the celebrations will probably last from the 12th to the 16th. Different parts of the country actually have slightly different versions so I have actually seen celebrations taking place over a two week period, because I was traveling cross country.
There are two main things to photograph, the wild parties in the streets, which involve a lot of water throwing, and the parade of temple Buddha statues being paraded though the town, bathed and generally celebrated with a parade of local officials, mostly in traditional dress.
I will be in Chiang Mai this year and here is how I plan to photograph the holiday.
1. I will make sure that I use camera equipment which can handle being splashed with water.
2. I will ride my bicycle around the town to various temples to see how they are celebrating. There will be a lot of decorations, praying to the Buddha statues and in many temples there will be a large sand chedis that people can contribute to by adding sand to the chedi. Since temples are always in need of funds for various projects, at this time there will be bags or buckets of sand that can be purchased so you can participate in the building of the sand chedi.
3. Just riding my bicycle along the road, I like the roads that are near the river, people will ask if they can splash me with water, it is a very nice gesture and I will oblige everyone with a smile and ask to take some photos.
4. The main parade of Buddha statues will take place on Charoen Muang Road between the train station and the Thapae Gate entrance to the old city. The best places to photograph the parade are near the bridge that crosses over the river (both sides of the bridge) and at Thapae Gate.
5. Since the parade is long and slow I will probably get a table at a restaurant on the parade route and walk out to the road when I want to take photos.
6. Unless you have 100% waterproof camera equipment, I would avoid the areas where the younger foreign tourists hang out to celebrate. It can get pretty wild and can occasionally get out of hand.
Most of all enjoy, it is a very good time of the year in Thailand.
