Take Your Cheap Holiday Vacation In Thailand

The ancient architecture, authentic foods and beautiful beaches makes a cheap holiday vacation in Thailand a treasure. The people are fun, friendly and love to talk to tourists. They offer you knowledge, friendship and if you need to see some unusual attractions, they are willing to show you the way. When you plan your trip, you might want o stay in Chiang Mai for it beauty and exceptional culture events. You can see the city has grown to be a well-traveled area and tourist love the view of the some of the customs that are present around the area.

You will see the elephant camps, the beautifully crafted artworks and the ancient temples in the city. There are over three hundred temples to see and each one has its own beautiful architecture to see. If you plan to enter a temple, you should be prepared to remove your shoes. There are so many customs observed in Chiang Mai that has never changed over time. This is a cheap holiday vacation that no one forgets. The city is beautiful as well, it has become more popular than Bangkok. If you travel to Thailand when they are celebrating their New Year, you will see so many colors, customary headdresses and costumes that are traditional to the New Year celebration.

A cheap holiday to Thailand is exciting and when you find a package, which includes accommodations, transportation and airfare, you are finding a great deal. With all the attractions and things to do in Thailand, especially Chiang Mai, you do not have to spend a penny. You can go biking in the mountains, hiking on the beaches, sit, and watch the nightlife evolve around you. There is nowhere else around where you can experience this culture and live among the people.

Plan you cheap holiday vacation around the Thai New Year and join in the celebration that always offers to be an exceptional and memorable time for everyone. You can look online for some affordable packages, then just sit back, and enjoy the flight to a beautiful and enriching destination. Always remember to take along a digital camera or plenty of rolls of film, you will not want to miss anything.

Travel – Festive Thailand

In 1940, Thailand moved its New Year’s Day from April 13th to January 1st. The old New Year is still a holiday called Songkran. Years are counted as the Buddhist era (B.E.) which started 543 years earlier than the Christian, era, therefore 2002 AD is the year 2545 BE.

Festivals in Thailand are either Buddhist, Chinese, animist, or associated with the monarchy. Buddhist and Chinese festivals are lunar and generally fall on a full moon, animist festivals such as Songkran or Loi Krathong can be solar or lunar, while royal holidays fall on special historical days such as the founding of the current Chakri dynasty or the birthdays of the reigning monarchs.

The most deeply spiritual of the Thai holidays is Visakha Bucha held on a full moon night in May. It commemorates the date on which the Buddha was born, attained enlightenment, and died.

Visakha Bucha day is marked with sermons and alms-giving culminating in an evening candlelit procession known as wien thien in which celebrants circle the temple three times in honour of the triple gem of Buddhism – the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (community of monks).

Songkran, the most vigorous of Thailand’s festivals, was the official Thai New Year until 1941. Formerly tied to the movement of the sun, modern Songkran takes place from 13-15th April.

Songkran began as a ceremonial bathing of Buddha images as part of a new year’s spring cleaning ritual. However, it has degenerated over the years into a free-for-all water fight in which the streets are filled with revellers armed with water guns, jars and buckets.

Though Songkran is celebrated nationwide, it’s probably done with most gusto in Bangkok’s tourist centre of Khaosan Road and in the northern capital of Chiangmai.

The southern island of Phuket with its large Chinese population is the scene of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival held during the ninth lunar month each year. The event lasts ten days and other than participants observing a vegetarian diet, involves ceremonies at Chinese shrines and temples along with firewalking and other acts of self-mutilations carried out by devotees known as Ma Song. These Ma Song are in ecstatic trances and oblivious to pain as they clamber up ladders with bladed rungs, walk barefoot over hot coals, and plunge skewers through their cheeks.

The event Phuket Vegetarian Festival dates back to 1825. At that time, many immigrant Chinese worked in Phuket’s tin mines. A visiting Chinese opera troupe cured their sickness with a vegetarian diet. This much impressed the local population who started the vegetarian festival.

The afternoon before the festival, celebrants raise a high pole (the Go Teng pole) at each temple. This is to invite the gods to descend. Then at midnight, they adorn the pole with nine lanterns to mark the opening of the festival.

Over the next ten days, ceremonies such as invocation of the gods Lam Tao and Pak Tao, processions of images of the deities, and the feats of the Ma Song. The festival ends with merit making ceremonies at the temples and the send-off of the gods.

Thailand is a land rich in culture and tradition and the best and most moving way to experience the delights of this eastern kingdom is to attend one of the many festivals and ceremonies that adorn the calendar.

Songkran: Welcoming the New Year in Style

 

Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year festival that is celebrated during the middle of April. The name Songkran is actually derived from Sanskrit and means astrological passage. As the name it self implies the Thai New Year is celebrated when the sun passes through a certain Zodiac sign.

 

The Thai New Year is also known as the “Water Festival”, because it is common practice for thousands of locals to gather in certain areas of the city and sprinkle water on Buddha statues while also drenching passersby. Though this was not always the main activity of the festival, rather it was more centered upon paying respects to relatives, parents and religious teachers, today many Thai’s roam around the streets armed with water guns and contains some eve n post themselves at the corner of the street with a garden hose and soak neighbors and other random passersby.

 

The water throwing is believed have originated from a traditional form of greeting where it was considered respectful for a small amount of water to be sprinkled on a visitor’s shoulder. A number of Thais also visit Buddhist temples or Wats to engage in pious religious observances. A number of events connected to Songkran are usually organized in Bangkok.

 

Among them the official Songkran rituals are performed at the Grand Palace, a sacred Buddha statue is brought out and paraded around the streets in a colorful procession. San stupas are made and topped off with colorful flags and flowers; these are usually seen in temples. An annual “Songkran Queen” beauty pageant is also held in Bangkok, accompanied by a colorful parade.

 

Traditional delicacies made especially for the season are usually served to guests during this period, many Bangkok hotels, restaurants and eateries also sell these delicious dishes to their consumers. Bangkok’s numerous bars and clubs also join in the festivities by hosting special parties for locals and tourists during this period. Most of these parties feature popular local and international artists and great DJ’s, come prepared to get drenched at these water themed parties.

 

Tourists staying in Bangkok during the Songkran can opt to say at a Bangkok serviced apartment such as the Royal President.