A splashing good time
The best Southeast Asian cities in which to get soaked during the Water Festival
Nothing captures the summer spirit in Southeast Asia like water – cold water to be precise. In a few days, as the old traditional year gives way to the new circle in mid April, the Sun God will heat up the air to boiling point or higher, depending on where you are. Many Southeast Asian nations, who are connected by a “water culture” (and a network of low-cost airlines), will respond to the unbearable heat with water.
From Jinhong in China’s South to Luang Prabang in Laos’ North, from Yangon in Myanmar to Phnom Penh in Cambodia, millions of Asians will be gathering at city landmarks to celebrate the much-loved festival. Politically speaking, they may be miles apart, but when it comes to the Water Festival, they will all dance, sing and pray their way into a new year.
Check below for the best cities in which to soak up both water and culture next week.
JINHONG, Southwestern China
Date: April 13 to 16
Place: Bank of the Mekong River
The water festival is very obvious in Jinhong, since the locals celebrate it every day to earn tourist dollars. For around 50 yuan, tourists can enjoy throwing buckets of water at the locals – usually young women in colourful costumes and flowers. This weekend’s water splashing festival however, is less of a tourism arrangement than a spirited celebration, as it marks traditional new year for Dai-speaking communities in Jinhong and Xishuangbanna Prefecture. The festival will be celebrated on the banks of the Lancangjiang River – the Mekong as it’s known here - with singing, dancing and dragon boat racing.
On the first day, just follow the throngs of Dai and beating drums to the river bank and enjoy the living and dancing museum of Dai culture as oarsmen battle it out in dragon boat races. The second day is the grandest day, a water splashing day, when men and women, old and young, walk around armed with buckets full of water. Those who get the wettest, say the Dai, are the luckiest. Expect gallons of luck.
The festival ends on the third day with romance in the form of the “Throwing Pouch” tradition, with the girls throwing the beautiful pouches to the men they love. Keep your eyes in the air.
YANGON, Myanmar
Date: April 13 to 14
Place: Rakhine Religious Hall and Thuwanna Stadium
Known as Thingyan, the Water Festival runs at the same time as Songkran and involves water splashing, exchanges of well wishes between the elderly and the young and family get-togethers. Just as in Thailand, gangs of youths go on the rampage armed with water pistols, buckets and hoses, causing watery havoc.
Yangon’s Rakhine community celebrates Thingyan in its most traditional form at the Rakhine Water Festival, which kicks off on Saturday at Rakhine Religious Hall at the Shwedagon Pagoda. As part of the rites, the Burmese grind Thanaka power and mix it with water before gently pouring this on Buddha images. Then comes the water-splashing mode, as people use up the rest of the thanaka water on each other. Before that happens, there’s a clean-up campaign at the temple, which is followed by a session of producing thanaka undertaken by a group of Rakhine ladies in a pavilion within the monastic grounds. The men entertain the crowds outside with music and dance. – Haythar Channyein, Eleven Media Group
LUANG PRABANG, Northern Laos
Date: April 13 to 16
Place: Bank of Mekong River
If the traditional New Year needed a home, it would probably be Luang Prabang – the attractive town on the banks of the Mekong River in northern Laos. Legend has it that King Kabilaprom had seven daughters (known as Nang Sangkharn), but he lost a quiz challenge to Thammakuman and had to pay the penalty – decapitation. Since a monarch’s head couldn’t touch the ground, it was placed on a tray and kept on Mount Krailard, to be brought down every year by one of his daughters for a procession. The procession is now recreated annually for Songkran, with a vibrant parade overseen by the most beautiful local woman and senior monks seated on a palanquin, over whose hands the faithful pour perfumed water. Known as the Sang Klan Long Festival, the water festival in this part of Southeast Asia scrubs away the sins of the last year.
CHIANG MAI, Northern Thailand
Date: April 13 to 16
Place: around the city moat
The old Lanna capital waves goodbye to last year and welcomes the new one in a riot of water, making the Songkran Festival well and truly the Water Festival. From Saturday until Tuesday, children and adults take to the streets and city moat throwing buckets of water over each other. Shots of water are fired from a high-power pump and there’s cold water in balloons, which are thrown at people. It’s sanctioned anarchy and visitors tend to be the targets. Expect to finish the day looking like a wet puppy. Earlier in the day, there’s traditional and gentle sprinkling of water on temple grounds. The festival culminates at night with cultural shows at Thapae Gate.
BANGKOK, Thailand
Date: April 12 to 15
Place: Khao San Road
The traditional Songkran Festival will be celebrated all over Bangkok – including Wat Suthat, Wat Pho and Siam Square shopping district. But the centre of the action is probably Khao San Road, a backpacker ghetto-turned-cool hangout place. For a really wet-and-wild scene, Khao San Road is definitely the place to be. Armed with pump-action water canons and buckets of coloured powder, thousands of fun-lovers will be soaking everything that moves. Starting from Friday until there is nothing left to soak, Khao San Road and Santi Chaiprakan Park in Bang Lamphu play host to the unofficial International Songkran Festival, the most boisterous of the Asia’s water festivals.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
Date: April 16 to 18
Place: Tonle Sap River
The three-day Bonn Om Toeuk, or Cambodian New Year, returns the festivities to the Cambodians after two years of cancellation following a tragic stampede in Phnom Penh in 2010. Millions of spectators, revellers and oarsmen gather for spectacular dragon boat racing. The race, with more than 400 boats from around Cambodia, marks the traditional New Year as well as a unique natural phenomenon – when the Tonle Sap River reverses the flow of its current. Firework displays and cultural shows add to the colour.
