Today marks the official start of Songkran, the Thai New Year Festival. All over Thailand, people are out on the streets happily throwing water at each other, enjoying the party atmosphere and attending religious ceremonies to mark one of the most important Thai holidays of the year.
In Bangkok, some official celebrations have been cancelled, but there are still plenty of people out on the streets enjoying themselves despite the problems in parts of the Thai capital at the weekend. Khao San Road in the Banglamphu district of Bangkok is traditionally the area where many young Thais and foreigners join together to throw water at each other and party during Songkran. The violence at the weekend was very close to this location and a number of tourists have already checked out of their accommodation and moved to other areas of Bangkok or other parts of Thailand. Although the numbers might be down compared to other years, those out and about in Khao San Road today and for the next few days will still be making the most of Songkran. A similar thing happened last year in April 2009 when there were also political disturbances in Bangkok, but the Songkran party still went ahead in the Thai capital despite the official cancellation of festivities.
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