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.

Long boat racing

Long-boat Racing is one of the traditional rites which marks the end of the Buddhist Rains Retreat. It mainly takes place in the 11 th or 12 th lunar months (around September or October). When the water level is at its highest. At this time,racing is held almost nationwide,notably in PhichitPhisanuloke, Nan , Angthong, Pathumthani, Surat Thani and Ayuttathaya etc

Traditionally,long-boat racing is held as an annual event by provices with a major waterway flowing through. It is not restricted to any particular region. At present,long-boat racing is considered as a national sport,its history can be traced back to Ayuthaya period some 600 years ago However ,boat racing in those days was justs only a mean to keep boat means physically and mentally fit for national defence.

Usually racing boats are made from dugout tree trunks and can accommodate up to 60 oarsmen sitting in a double row. The oarsmen usually dress in the same colour.The festival event draws several hundreds of local and foreign spectators who watch the race along both sides of the riverbank enthusiastically . At the end,trophies and prizes are given to the winning teams.

Lanna Boat Races Nan October 2001

Lanna Boat Races form part of the local kathin religious ceremony traditionally held during the Ok Phansa, the end of the Buddhist Lent. The races on the Nan River are colorful and unique because the racing boats are brightly decorated with imaginati vely designed prows. The cheering squads on the river bank are usually boisterous and plenty of fun. The boat races are also meant to celebrate the black ivory, an age-old object of Nan Province.

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

Pi Ta Kon

Phi Ta Khon is a type of masked procession celebrated on the first day of a three-day Buddhist merit-making holiday known in Thai as "Boon Pra Wate". The annual festival takes place in *May, June or July at a small town of Dan Sai in the northeastern province of Loei.

Participants of the festival dress up like ghosts and monsters wearing huge masks made carved coconut-tree trunks, topped with a wicker-work sticky-rice steamer. The procession is marked by a lot of music and dancing.

The precise origin of the Phi Ta Khon is unclear. However, it can be traced back to a traditional Buddhist folklore. In the Buddha's next to last life, he was the beloved Prince Vessandorn. The prince was said to go on a long trip for such a long time that his subjects forgot him and even thought that he was already dead. When he suddenly returned, his people were overjoyed. They welcomed him back with a celebration so loud that it even awoke the dead who then joined in all the fun.

From that time onward the faithful came to commemorate the event with ceremonies, celebrations and the donning of ghostly spirit masks. The reasons behind all the events is probably due to the fact that it was held to evoke the annual rains from the heavens by farmers and to bless crops.

On the second day, the villagers dance their way to the temple and fire off the usual bamboo rockets to signal the end of the procession. The festival organisers also hold contests for the best masks, costumes and dancers, and brass plaques are awarded to the winners in each age group. The most popular is the dancing contest.

Then comes the last day of the event, the villagers then gather at the local temple, Wat Ponchai, to listen to the message of the thirteen sermons of the Lord Buddha recited by the local monks.

Then it is time for the revellers to put away their ghostly masks and costumes for another year. From now on, they must again return to the paddy fields to eke out their living through as their forefathers did.

Yeepeng Chiangmai

Yee Peng is tha annual festival held to celebrate the fulll moon in the northern capital of Chiang Mai on the day preceding Loy Krathong by one day in November.The word "Yee Peng" is the northern Thai term referring to the full moon of the 12 th lunar month in the Buddhist calendar.

The festival is celebrated as a religious event in whichlocal people throughout the region make merit and other religious activities. The highlight of the event focuses on the lunching of the Khom loy or floating lanterns info the night sky with the belief that misfortune will fly away with the lanterns. It is their belief,if the lanterns are made and offered is said to symbolise knowledge and the light it gives will guide them to the right path of their lives.

Meanwhile,"Khom loy" is a Thai word signifying the floating lantern which is a large balloon - like made from a light bamboo frame covered with saa(mulberry) paper. It floats by means of hot air heated by a flaming torch fixed in the balloon. During the event, both day and night local people and monks are closely involved with the Khom making process. Besides, the premises of large hotels, the temple compound is thus the appropriate venue for the launching of the Khom. The activity has gained such popularity that at the height of the event the flight training of the Royal Thai Air Force has to be suspended until all the Khom Loy have dispersed while all commercial air traffic at the airport has been warned to exercise extreme caution as the climbing lanterns could pose a danger to the jet turbines.

To celebrate the auspicious event, companies and private individuals make merit by sponsoring balloons to dispel bad luck and seek good fortune. If their balloons rise high and travel far, this indicates prosperity. It has been said that this kind of hot air balloon could rise to heights of up to 1,250 metres and travel even as far as Hat Yai District of the southern province of Songkhla.

The most spectacular event is held at the Thapae Gate area where local and foreign visitors can see floats, marchers and beautiful Yee Peng queens. As the night falls, the spectators will be excited to see the long strings of Khom loy rise gently into the limitless sky as they stimulate the participants' spirits to rise higher to the heaven. This brings joy and happiness to the merit-makers since their ill-fortune has been floated away.

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