Thai fruit festival

Throughout Thailand, a vast selection of fresh fruits are available all year round. However for a taste of the very best of Thai fruits, the height of the summer in May and June is the peak season. During this time of the year, a delightful assortment of exotic Thai fruits come into season.

Crispy and crunchy raw mango or ripe mangos juicy and full of flavour; sweet and fragrant bananas and custard apples; succulent fragrant longkong and zalacca; tangy thirst-quenching langsat and mangosteens; sweet rambutans, longans and jackfruit with thick, fleshy pulp; and rich, creamy durians. Refreshing and nutritious choices abound.

As succulent fruits ripen on the trees and are ready for harvest, fruit orchards in many of the eastern provinces of Thailand such as Chanthaburi, Rayong and Trat are open to visitors, presenting wonderful opportunities for private tours of the orchards and plantations, and agrotourism. Several offer fresh fruit buffets and ‘all-you can eat and pick’ at irresistible prices.

THE CHANTHABURI FRUIT FESTIVAL
MAY 1 to 9,
Venue: Chanthaburi Sports Stadium

Highlights Fruit fair and sales of freshly-picked produce from the orchards
“Best Fruit” contests
Sales of unique products from each of the villages featured in the “OTOP - One Tambon One Product” promotional campaign
Beauty contests
Agrotourism: Tours of orchards

The eastern provinces of Chanthaburi, Rayong and Trat, are reputed to be the finest producers of such exotic tropical fruits as durian, pomelo, zalacca, mangosteen and rambutan. With a ready supply of freshly-picked fruits from the nearby orchards throughout the summer months from May to July, the annual Chanthaburi Fruits Festival on May 1-9, is the perfect place to savour the very best of a great variety of fresh Thai fruits, as well as locally processed fruit.
The annual fruit festival is extremely popular and attracts visitors from miles around because it provides a welcome opportunity to shop for products of exceptional quality, at truly bargain prices.

Colourful entertainment presents an added plus. In addition to contests such as the "Best Float", creatively decorated with fruit, "Best fruits" (durian, rambutan, mangosteen and longkong), "Best Processed Fruits", fruit-eating contests and the ever-popular beauty contest, other highlights include demonstrations of food-processing, gemstone cutting, jewellery manufacturing, the making of sedge mats and other attractions. The festival also features a vast array of quality local produce considered to be "Chantaburi's Best". The dazzling gemstones of Chanthaburi are yet another irresistible buy.

The Chanthaburi Fruits Festival is organised by Chanthaburi province jointly with TAT and representatives of "Talad Thai" - the wholesale market.

As the various types of fruits come into season at different intervals throughout the year, many other fruit fairs are held around the kingdom.

MAY 1-9
RAYONG FRUIT FESTIVAL
The Tapong Fruit Market, Rayong province, and
Fruit markets and orchards throughout Rayong province

Fruit Festival Parade featuring a procession of floats decorated with fruit
Beauty contests
Fruit contests including the ‘Best Fruit’ and quality product contest
Sales of freshly-picked fruit
Sales of village crafts and products under the OTOP -
One Tambon (Village) One Product promotional campaign
According to local connoisseurs, durian, pomelo, zalacca, mangosteen and rambutan grown in the eastern provinces of Chanthaburi, Rayong and Trat, are ‘the best’ in the country. The province of Rayong has thus made a name for itself as a treasure trove of exotic tropical fruits. To promote the sales of fresh fruits from the surrounding orchards, processed food items and other local products, Rayong province hosts an annual Rayong Fruit Festival.

In addition to fruit contests, displays of agricultural and horticultural produce and sales of local handicrafts and products from each of the villages promoted under the OTOP – One Tambon One Product theme, a procession of colourful floats decorated with fruit and flowers paraded through the streets, beauty pageants, cultural performances and folk entertainment add to the festive ambience of the event.


MAY 21– JUNE 6,
LYCHEE AND CHIANG RAI PRODUCE FAIR 2004At Maekorn Farmer's Market,
Phaholyothin Road,
Muang District, Chiang Rai

Lychee, one of the world’s favourite exotic fruits, is in season only for a brief period in May and June. This is also the time to visit the lychee orchards around Chiang Rai and savour the freshly-harvested fruit, or to ‘pick-and-taste’ as you go along.

Peel back the reddish skin to reveal its sweet and juicy, white flesh with fragrant aroma. Chiang Rai’s lychee is considered to be among the best in Thailand, and the most delicious of its kind. Lychee is best eaten fresh, but it is also dried, frozen, and canned.

To promote its fine crop of lychees, Chiang Rai, the northernmost province of Thailand, organises an annual Lychee Fair. The colourful fair features agricultural displays and exhibitions, contests and sales of lychee and other agricultural products such as mango and the famous Nanglae pineapple, local handicrafts, beauty contests and folk entertainment.

Enjoy the local flavours of lychee as well as other delicious northern Thai food and fruits, and purchase reasonably-priced handicrafts such as hand-woven cotton materials, dresses and hill tribe silver ornaments, and woodcraft.

National Mother’s Month

National Mother’s Month
Story by Kullwadee Sumalnop
Asking any Thai people what comes first to their minds about the month of August, you might get all similar answers; it’s the month of ‘Mother’s Day’. It is all because August is the birth month of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, who is regarded by Thais as the ‘Mother of the Nation’.

Since 1976, for Thai people, August 12 has not only been an auspicious occasion to celebrate the birthday anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen, but also the day on which the entire nation takes the opportunity to pay tribute to her and their loving mothers. On this day, sons and daughters give white jasmine flowers or garlands to their mothers as a symbol of the maternal love. Local Buddhists will go to the temple to give alms to the monks, a good deed done to pay homage to their passing mothers. Public and private organizations will hold many charity activities such as a fund raising for needed mothers and a visit to imprisoned mothers.

Thai people unanimously commemorate this day because of Her Majesty the Queen’s benevolence to all walks of Thai life, especially the poor and the needy in rural areas. Many projects have been created under her initiatives and supervision. In 1956 she became the President of the Thai Red Cross Society. Later on, the ‘Sai Jai Thai’ Foundation was founded to help war veterans and their families.

In 1976, the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques (SUPPORT Foundation) was established as an effort to help peasants to earn extra incomes through rural crafts during the non-cultivating season. This foundation not only improves the quality of life of villagers in remote areas but also helps preserve traditional skills.

As many of the foundations are located in the rural areas, some become a tourist attraction. Therefore, this month we will explore two foundations under royal patronage that are well known and frequented by both Thai and foreign tourists.

Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden
Thailand’s first botanic garden, Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden (QSBG) was founded in the early nineteen nineties. It is dedicated for botanical research and conservation and received the honorable royal grant to use HM the Queen’s name as the title of the garden in 1994. Located across the forested area of 2,600 acres at the edge of the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, QSBG now becomes the prime source of Thai valuable plants and biodiversity.

Inside the garden, there is an array of precious flora of the country and five main trails for visitors to explore: the Climber Collection Trail, the Rock Garden Trail, the Arboretum Trail, the Thai Orchid Nursery and the Glasshouse Complex. The best time to visit is around November to February.

The highlight for this visit is probably the Glasshouse Complex that comprises 4 exhibition conservatories which shelters various plant species. The glass houses feature the Rainforest Collection, the Aquatic House, the Cacti and Succulents and the Orchid and Fern House. For young plant explorers, a sketchbook and fine drawing pencils would allow them to deeply appreciate the real natural beauty and be able to remember it in details.

Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center
Founded by Her Majesty in 1984, Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center in Ayutthaya is now under supervision of the SUPPPORT Foundation. The foundation is located on the area of 115 hectare on the east of the Chao Phraya River. It can be easily and pleasurably reached by cruising approximately 2 hours along the river or a one-hour drive from Bangkok. Within its boundary, visitors are given a wide range of the natural and cultural excursions.

The first section is the Arts and Crafts Village and the Training Center where the demonstrations, displays and workshops are exhibited. The items shown here are, for example, handbags, sandals and accessories made of jute and palm leaves, ‘royal-style’ traditional clay dolls, textile products, natural-dyed textiles, weaving, house ware, ceramics and earthenware.

Another place to admire is the Royal Lodge, a Thai architectural heritage featuring a group of Thai-style wooden houses. With elegant simplicity, it is the residence of Her Majesty the Queen and other royal members during their visits to the center.Within the same compound, you can stroll around the Freshwater Aquarium and the Bird Park for a look at the biological diversity in Thailand.

The center is best for seeing and gaining proper knowledge about Thailand’s sustainable development and conservation without the slyly commercial purpose hidden behind. The Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center is a quintessence of this kind of development. Here villagers are trained to create many types of handicraft products for sale, thus adding up their household incomes and preserving national invaluable arts and crafts.

For more information about the Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center, contact
TAT Central Office-Region 6
Phone: 0-3524-6076-7
or the Bangsai Arts and Crafts Village, Ayutthaya, Thailand
Phone: 0-3536-6666-7

Bangfai rocket festival

Rocket Festival or "Boon Bang Fai" in Thai is usually held in the second week of May of each year, at the beginning of the rainy season. The farmers are ready to cultivate their paddy fields. The festival is popularly celebrated in the northeastern provinces of Yasothorn and Ubon Ratchathani. The celebration is an entreaty to the rain god for plentiful rains during the coming rice planting season.

The festival itself owes its beginning to a legend that a rain god named Vassakan was known for his fascination of being worshipped with fire. To receive plentiful rains for rice cultivation, the farmers send the home-made rockets to the heaven where the god resided. The festival has been carried out till these days.

Under the guidance of Buddhist monks, it takes the villagers weeks to make the rockets, launching platforms and other decorations. An average rocket is some nine metres in length and carries 20-25 kilogrammes of gunpowder

In the afternoon of the festival day, rockets are carried in the procession to the launching site. Villagers dressed in colourful traditional costumes attract the eyes of the onlookers, who line up along the procession route.

Before ignition of the rockets, there will be more singing and dancing to celebrate the festival. The climax of the festival is the ignition time. One by one the rockets are fired from the launching platforms. Each liftoff s greeted by cheers and noisy music. The rocket that reaches the greatest height is the winner and the owner of this rocket will dance and urge for rewards on their way home while the owners of the rockets, that exploded or failed to fly, will be thrown into the mud. The celebration is a communual affair of the villagers who come to share joy and happiness together before heading to the paddy fields where hard work is waiting for them.

With permission from : Thanapol Chadchaidee. (1994). Essays on Thailand. Bangkok : Thaichareunkanpem.