Ariyawat Nuamsawat
The traditional Pattaya longboat races will be held at Mabprachan Reservoir on November 18 and 19.
Mayor of Pong Pranoem Siri-roob and Nongprue district chief Saksit Yaemsri held a meeting on October 27 to prepare for the event and appoint the organizing committee and officials.
This will be the sixth consecutive year for the races, which are held jointly by two local administrative organizations - Pong district administration and Nongprue municipal administration - with the support of Chonburi provincial administration, Pattaya City, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the private sector.
The races have drawn large crowds of locals and foreign tourists in the past. This year 19 boats from around the country will be competing. They are being divided into a 55-oar category where eight boats will compete for the HRH Princess Sirindhorn Cup and 100,000 baht prize money, and 13 boats will compete in the 30-oar class for the HRH Princess Soamsawalee Cup and 50,000 baht in prize money.
Other than the boat races many other activities are to be held such as buffalo races, windsurfing, and local long drums.
the pattaya mail
I actually went to this yearly festival last year, but I ended up in a bar next to Maprachan resevoir and never got to see any of the boat racing, so this year I made a special effort.
On the way to Maprachan I decided to take the back roads, but I got lost and after about 8kms I ended up 1km away from where I turned into the back roads, I really have no idea how I done that and hopefully wouldn't be able to do it again.
To get into the grounds you have to pay 10baht for your motor bike, no idea how much for a car and that's it.
What amazed me is how fast they can row these bloody great big wooden long boats, I mean they must be really heavy, also the amount of spectators that were there, there were quite a few thousand, the place was massive and it was packed.
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Couple of long boats doing a turn around after their race.
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Some members of one of the teams, they didn't look so happy so I don't think they won the 100,000baht.
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The noise was absolutely horrendous, this aint the place to go for a nice quiet afternoon, the commentators had speakers and tannoys all over the place, there were bands and groups of people with instruments all competing to see who could be the loudest, and yes there were even Thai people asleep next to all this, quite an amazing feat.
The blind organ grinder.
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A whole blind band, they were pretty good actually.
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Some group who brought loads of loud noise making machines.
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Another load of noise makers.
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As there was so many thousands of people there there was also a massive selection of Thai food, just about everything you could think of actually, got to admit I didn't no what half the stuff was though :(
This first stall is the one of the beer stalls, they couldn't understand why I would take a picture of their sign and not of the beer promotions girl, it was a bit too difficult to explain the irony of it so I didn't bother.
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I assume these are Thai sweets, but I don't eat them.
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Thai fruits.
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Halal noodle soup stall.
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Boiled pig, one of my favourites.
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Crackling.
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Unusual cuts of meat made into funny shapes and then bbqued.
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