Pattaya Music Festival 2012

The Pattaya International Music Festival 2012 is over but what a great time it was. A lot of great music, tons of great food and every kind of trinket you can imagine on sale. The streets were jam packed with music lovers, food lovers and families enjoying the beautiful weekend. There can be no doubt that this is Pattaya’s largest festival and I would bet attendance this year topped half a million people. Well, enough with the words, time for the pictures and videos. Enjoy!

Pattaya Music Festival 2012

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• Pattaya International Music Festival 2011
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• Pattaya International Music Festival 2012

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Pattaya International Music Festival 2012

April 27, 28 & 29

It’s that time of year again for the Pattaya International Music Festival; taking place all along Beach road starting the weekend of April 27th and going through the 29th. With the crowds of  Songkran still fresh in our memories, Pattaya will hurriedly reading itself for thousands of music lovers. Over a half a million people are expected this year!

The festivities will begin at 6pm each day and go straight through midnight with stages strategically placed all along Beach road featuring reggae, rock, hip hop, pop, blues and many other forms of music to be enjoyed. The Pattaya Music Festival will be a place where Thai and foreign artists come together, entertain audiences, show their musical talents, and promote ecotourism activities. As well there will be hundreds of food stalls and products from all over Thailand on sale through OTOP.

While there will be many stages both large and small the 4 main stages will be the Galaxy Stage located   Bali Hai Pier, Moon Stage on Pattaya Soi 4 and Beach road, Universal Stage at Central Pattaya and Reggae Stage at South Pattaya.

There will be a number of famous Thai artists who have agreed to participate in the festival; such as, Da Endorphine, Golf-Mike, Potato, Palaphol, Calories Blah Blah, Paradox, Chin Chinawut, Ice Sarunyu, Namcha, Noona Nuengtida, Ge-on, New-Jew, Aof Pongsak, Punch, Sweet Mullet, Ruj The Star, Singto The Star, Pek Palichoke, Blackhead, Bie The Star, Got Chakapun, Tai Oratai, P Sadirt, The Richman Toy, Modern Dog, etc.

Foreign artists who will participate include: A.B.C-Z, Kis-My_ft2, B.I.Shadow and Qestion from Johnny’s Junior from Japan, Derrick Hoh from Singapore, Super Kidz from Indonesia, PAK from Vietnam, Will Ng from Malaysia, Nina from Philippines; Tik Princess from Lao PDR and Rain from Korea.

The Pattaya International Music Festival has been a huge success over the past few years and this years festival is shaping up to be a great one as well. aIf you are in town this weekend make sure not to miss it!

Pattaya International Music Festival Schedule

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Songkran 2012 the Finale

Another Songkran has come and gone and it’s been a pretty popular consensus that this years Songkran festival was one of the best in recent history, although still a little too long at 7 days for Pattaya.

A few days such as day 4 & 5 were pretty barren around town as people were tired out from the first 3 days and saving their energy for the final push of days 6 & 7.

Day 7 in Pattaya was complete bedlam with all the major roads clogged with Songkran revelers and every small soi engaged in massive water fights, not surprisingly water was getting hard to come by.

Anyway, here are some pictures and video of the madness of Songkran’s last day in Pattaya, and boys, pay close attention to the last 2 pics and you’ll get a good idea of how this years Women of Songkran 2012 post is shaping up…I promise to have it posted within the next few days and I won’t bore you with any words:)

Final Day of Songkran 2012

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Songkran 2012

The day started out very slow yesterday, many people are resting and saving up their energy for the last 2 days of Songkran. To give you an idea of how slow it started out I walked from my apt on Pattaya Klang  all the way to walking street ( with a detour up soi Diana ) at about 2:00pm and I didn’t get wet until I walked all the way down to soi 8 and Beach road. For those of you that don’t know the area, that’s a lot of walking. Anyway, there were pics to be had and you can see them below.

Songkran Day 5

Songkran 2012

I decided to take out the cheap camera yesterday instead of the good one, I don’t want to take too many chances in getting it soaked. Unfortunately the pictures aren’t as good but I did grab some video ( posted above ). The upshot was I didn’t have to worry about the camera as it is small and fit into the small plastic covers being sold, so, I could have a great time running up and down the soi’s with my small guns ( filled with ice water ). Everyone laughed at me until I attacked

Songkran day 4 was a mild affair in Pattaya, many people were tired out from the first 3 days and decided to take a day off, so, the streets weren’t as crowded during the afternoon but it seemed to ramp up some towards the evening.  I still managed to get some decent pictures but I will be taking out the good camera today and hopefully I’ll get some great shots.

With Songkran being in the last 3 days it will start getting more maniacal as we get towards the 19th, which is the final day of Songkran in Pattaya. The 19th will be all out bedlam!

Songkran 2012 pics

Songkran ( Thai New Year ) 2012

Songkran is already into it’s third day and it decidedly started with a shout instead of a whimper. Although the war has just begun major battles for control are taking place just about everywhere from the smallest soi’s to the large prominent roads dissecting town. Beach road is awash ( literally ) with thousands of revelers and soi’s 7 & 8 are hotly contested property. The merchants selling water guns, powder, water and ice are making a killing as supplies are often running low and new recruits are showing up by the hour.

Songkran 2012 has been a blast so far and it’s an unbelievable sight to see so many smiling people laughing and having fun with friends and complete strangers…Okay, enough of the words. Here are some pics from the first 2 days. I’m still scoping out places to hide with the camera so much more and better are on the way, and don’t forget there will definitely be a Women of Songkran post before this is all over. Enjoy!

Songkran 2012 Days 1 & 2

Songkran 2012

As you can see from the picture above I have already started stocking up on small arms, heavy ordinance will be acquired soon enough.  A lot of expats can be heard moaning about the upcoming festivities and quite a few have already left town to escape the madness….me, I love it!

Water cannons, powder smeared on your face and smiles everywhere, whats not to love. While Songkran is only supposed to be from the 13th to the 15th; here in Pattaya the official days are the 13th to the 19th with more than a few people getting it started off early on the 12th.  If you are like me and you go into the Songkran festival accepting you will be soaking wet for a week then it’s all good, sure, there are always some idiots that love to ruin things by dousing people after dark or aiming for your camera but they are largely far and few between.

For those who may not know or have completely forgotten Songkran isn’t just the worlds largest water fight, it happens to be Thai New Year. A time when one cleanses ones spirit and washes away the bad of the previous year. What used to be a simple ceremony of monks dripping scented water on the faithfuls heads and monuments to wash away the bad has turned into all out war and personally this is how I think all wars should be fought. I can’t even imagine the money the Songkran war machine will rake in from brightly colored floral uniforms to all manner of plastic armament…I know I contribute yearly to the arms race. Buddha knows I lose every gun and cannon I buy every year!

For me though Songkran is about spending time with friends and family and enjoying the cool water as the temperature begins to rise in Thailand.  Everyone should experience Songkran at least once in their lifetime…if you thought water fights were fun as a kid then you can only imagine how much more fun it can be as an adult.

As with last year I will definitely be giving daily updates with loads of pictures …so, make sure you check in regularly.

If you need a little peek of whats about to happen you can check out the Songkran Photo Gallery for 100′s of past Songkran pics.

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• Everything’s Better When Wet…Songkran 2012
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• Songkran 2011 Day 3 : The Ladies of Pattaya
• Songkran (Thai New Year )
• Songkran 2009…Amazing!

Loy Krathong 2011

Loy Krathong is without a doubt one of my all time favorite Thai holidays and like all Thai holidays it’s a time to spend with friends and loved ones. I had a great time last night wandering the streets and the beach taking pictures and joining in the festivities, although I was a bit surprised that there weren’t as many ladies dressed up this year. Even so there were plenty of smiles to be had and the ladyboys picked up the slack in a big way.

The Beach was packed from Walking Street down to Soi 8 and luckily with the tide out Mo and I found a nice secluded island out in the water and set our krathong’s adrift from there. Well, that’s quite enough of my rambling…enjoy the pics.

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Moon Cake Festival September 12, 2011

The Moon Cake Festival, also known as the Mid Autnm Festiva, is a very important Chinese festival that celebrates the yearly harvest and also one of few important Chinese festivals celebrated in Thailand every year due to Thailand’s high Thai-Chinese population. This year the Moon Cake Festival will be celebrated on September 12th.

The traditional center piece of the Mid Autumn Festival is the Moon Cakes in all their many delicious varieties. Most westerners aren’t familiar with moon cakes; commonly found in Chinese bakeries these sweet cakes are made in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a traditional Chung Chiu delicacy. Nobody actually knows when the custom of eating moon cake of celebrate the Moon Festival began, but one relief traces its origin to the 14th century. At the time, China was in revolt against the Mongols. Chu Yuen-chang, and his senior deputy, Liu Po-wen, discussed battle plan and developes a secret moon cake strategy to take a certain walled city held by the Mongol enemy. Liu dressed up as a Taoist priest and entered the besieged city bearing moon cake. He distributed these to the city’s populace. When the time for the year’s Chung Chiu festival arrived, people opened their cakes and found hidden messages advising them to coordinate their uprising with the troops outside. Thus, the emperor-to-be ingeniously took the city and his throne. Moon cakes of course, became even more famous.

True or not Moon Cakes have become a staple to the Mid Autumn Festival which is commonly referred to as the Moon Cake Festival. Some of the more popular moon cakes are the ones made with Durian, Lotus Seed paste, Black Sesame or my favorite Green Tea. No matter what your favorite Moon Cake might be or even if you have yet to sample one of these sweet treats it’s a sure bet that the best place to experience the Moon Cake Festival will be in Bangkok’s very own Chinatown.

Yaowarat is one of the oldest areas of Bangkok, originally settled long ago by Chinese traders it has become the center of Chinese tradition amid the bustling Thai city and one of Bangkok’s top attractions. During the important Chinese Festivals of the year, such as the Mid Autumn Festival, Chinatown comes alive with the sound of music, the sweet aroma of freshly cooked moon cakes and the vibrant and colorful dragon dancers winding through the small shop laden streets and alleyways.

If you are in Thailand then the best place to witness this delicious festival will be in Bangkok’s Chinatown but no matter where you are in the world there is a good chance that a Chinese bakery is close at hand, so, if you get a chance stop in and pick up a Moon Cake or two and experience the delicious tradition of the Moon Cake Festival for yourself.

For more information on upcoming Events and Festivals in Thailand please visit the Thailand Events Calender.

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• Pattaya Chonburi Cultural Festival Part 2
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