Songkran On Bang Tao Beach

Songkran, the Thai New Year, the water festival that has taken on legs of its own in recent years and become an all out aqua war in some areas, good natured of course. Angsana Laguna Hotel and Xana Beach Club with Attica joined forces to celebrate the passing of the New Year with a stunning parade followed by after party around one of the finest swimming pools on the island.

The parade started within the heart of the hotel as members of staff dinned traditional clothing, colourful masks and made as much noise as possible as they made their way through the huge resort. Drums were banged, whistles blown and water sprayed on anyone that the parade met as it snaked its way through the resort. The turn down gift the night before was a mini water pistol so all the guests were armed for the ensuing water fight, clearly some of them had been to the supermarket because some of the kids had swapped the pistol for huge water cannons and were giving the members of the parade as good as they got.

As it made its way through the hotel towards Bang Tao beach the numbers grew, guests joined in the festivities and members of staff added to the numbers as it passed them. As Xana with Attica readied itself for the festivities the drums from the parade could be heard growing louder as it neared the beach before it burst pout of the shadow of the hotel, a vision of colour and a cacophony of noise, dancing its way along the beach, soaking everything in its wake. On reaching the beach club, the full parade plunged into the infinity pool, splashing and dragging anyone it could get its hands on in with them.

As the entire parade splashed around in the pool, the judges dragged themselves to the side of the catwalk overlooking the beach as final preparations were made for the Miss Songkran contest. With representatives from housekeeping, front office, F&B and Xana with Attica it was a tough decision for the judges to separate three from the eight contestants. After seeing and then hearing from all of them, the judges deliberated for a minute and made their announcement

As Miss Songkran took the applause from the crowd, the traditional Thai festivities continued with an exhibition of Muay Thai, three rounds of fighting were scheduled but it never made it the distance with a clear winner being pronounced after the second. Both fighters showed remarkable skill and agility and I think the huge crowd may have turned it from a friendly exhibition into an actual bout but no one was hurt and the spectacle was worthy of the day. The music continued by the poolside and one by one, everyone that was working who had managed to remain relatively dry was lifted and plunged into the pool. David Hollmann got back to his musical roots in Italy by delivering a great set full of cool, funky house nuggets.

The party continued with the Xana with Attica pool remaining the focus of attention throughout the day. The kid’s sandcastle competition was a popular event and some of the castles were inspired, and with everyone that took part getting free ice cream there were no losers. The beach barbecue proved to be hugely popular as energy needed replenishing after the water war. The event ran smoothly from start to finish and all involved in the planning should be commended, what a great start to the year, Happy Songkran from everyone at Angsana Laguna and Xana Beach Club with Attica.