503581 Fri Mar 28 06:49:15 -0700 2008 17 14 Washington DC & Baltimore Area 0 3536214 Does anyone know anything about this? I think it is to celebrate the New Year. I've looked for more information online. All I can find dates back to 1999. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Fri Mar 28 06:49:15 -0700 2008 21646 LizG 1 3536281 Looks like their site is having trouble, but there are other results on google. It's Wat Thai: http://www.google.com/search?q=wat+thai+silver+spring&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a Go early for decent parking and kaffir lime trees. Both are gone by 10:15 am. Fri Mar 28 07:05:00 -0700 2008 3536214 11368 Dennis S 2 3536300 I can't find information about when the festival is this year -- April 12/13 or 19/20? Fri Mar 28 07:08:00 -0700 2008 3536281 21646 LizG 3 3536328 And, to tag on to this a bit, does anyone know when the Lao Wat in the area has its New Year's festival. (Lao, Thai, and Khmer New Years are at the same time....) Fri Mar 28 07:13:18 -0700 2008 3536300 54408 baltoellen 3 3540250 It's almost always the first Sunday on or after the 13th, so it should never be on the 20th; I just called Wat Thai and confirmed that they're doing it on the 13th since that falls on a Sunday this year. Sat Mar 29 08:52:44 -0700 2008 3536300 18943 sweth 4 3561773 Congratulations sweth on finding out the date of this year's Songkran Festival at Wat Thai DC. I've been going every year since 2002, but my goodness it's an astonishing challenge every year to find out the actual date for the festival. The festival is as hugely enjoyable as it is difficult to find advance information about ;-) Here's hoping it will be sunny and warm this year. Thank you very much for the information! Fri Apr 04 11:36:17 -0700 2008 3540250 180718 skatewash 5 3576619 Skatewash, What time do you suggest we get there? We aren't necessarily morning people, but don't want to miss most of what there is to see. Thanks! Wed Apr 09 08:16:15 -0700 2008 3561773 21646 LizG 6 3590787 LizG, Sorry for the late response, but I just saw your question now. Just got back from the festival and while it's always a great time I'm really hoping we can have beautiful weather next year. The festival is so different when the weather is nice. In Thailand this is the hottest, driest, time of the year. Alas, in Maryland it's a period of marginal weather, today rather cool, but at least no rain. Last year was both cold and wet. So the good news is it's getting better...maybe next year it will be warm and sunny. The short answer to your question is that there's something going on starting from 7am and ending at around 5 pm. The early morning stuff tends to be the more religious events, the food related stuff starts at about 9 am and food starts to run out as you approach 5 pm. The musical/dance stuff is very good and starts at about 1 pm. For a longer answer to your question I'll just copy the email I send out to my friends every year (once I find out the date of the festival): "The Earth having successfully completed another orbit around the Sun, it's Songkran time again. Come and experience a little slice of Thailand in Maryland. The weather for Sunday looks good. [well it did when I wrote this anyway] Before and after this Sunday's skates... Celebrate the Thai New Year Festival (Songkran) on Sunday, April 13, 2008, from 8:30am to 3:30pm (those are the official times, it actually starts earlier and continues later) at: Wat Thai DC 13440 Layhill Road Silver Spring, MD 20906 (301) 871-8660 There is no entrance fee and a free shuttle is provided from the Glenmont (Red Line) Metro Station. Delicious Thai food, drink, and various goods (CDs, DVDs, clothing, furniture, dwarf Kaffir lime trees, etc.) can be purchased from a multitude of vendors. Free Thai music and dancing are featured. Here's the announcement at the Thai Wat DC site: http://www.watthaidc.org/index.php?section=95 which, alas, is unfortunately not working at the moment. Schedule (is only approximate since it's based on last year's schedule) 7:00am Offer Breakfast to the monks 8:30am Pouring of lustral water to honor the Buddha Image Food and merchandise stands open 10:00am Religious ceremony 10:30am Offering food for the monks, Monks give blessing 1:30pm Pouring of lustral water to honor the monks/ Thai Dance and Music Show 3:30pm Food and merchandise stands close (food can still be had up until around 5pm) Even if you are not taking the Metro, I suggest you use the free parking at the Glenmont Metro Station (corner of Georgia Ave. and Layhill Rd.) and take the free yellow (Barrie School) buses that will shuttle people between the Glenmont Metro Station and Thai Wat DC. You can purchase food whenever you want during the entire festival. It wouldn't be a Thai festival without food. Parking: at the Glenmont Metro parking garage is easiest. Barrie School yellow shuttle buses will pick up passengers in front of the Glenmont Metro garage and drop off from all parking locations. (Drivers can drop off passengers on Fargrove Road (the street next to Wat Thai). It is not safe to drop off passengers in front of Wat Thai [because of the traffic]. Do not make a U turn in front of Wat Thai [again, because of the traffic].) Glenmont Metro Station neighborhood map: http://www.stationmasters.com/System_Map/GLENMONT/glenmont.html Some pictures taken (not by me) at a previous year's Songkran: http://songkran2006.blogspot.com/ Description of 2005's festival (not written by me): http://tinyurl.com/3bactj http://tinyurl.com/2d3g8a http://tinyurl.com/34ztuw Thanks for your indulgence, George Marinkovich" Sun Apr 13 17:26:55 -0700 2008 3576619 180718 skatewash 1 3540530 Don't know about the Thai festival but in honor of Thai new year the Thai Embassy in DC is having "Thai Restaurant Week". A bunch of area restaurants are participating. here's a link I found: http://oca.thaiembdc.org/restaurantweek.htm If you haven't tried fresh mangosteens before you are in for a treat! YUM! Sat Mar 29 10:35:59 -0700 2008 3536214 23896 amaebi 2 3540817 Thanks for the Thai Restaurant Week post! I LOVE Thai food, and one of the participating restaurants is one of my faves near my house in Pentagon City. Woo hoo! Sat Mar 29 12:39:16 -0700 2008 3540530 179029 javachik 1 3590156 Thanks to the posters on this board who guided me to this festival. It was a blast and a true taste of Thai culture, totally unlike the diluted festivals we see too commonly in downtown DC. This festival is likely the closest to the Anthony Bourdain / Andrew Zimmern south east Asian culinary adventure we will ever see in our area. Sun Apr 13 13:24:11 -0700 2008 3536214 72351 Minger 2 3590858 Minger, Glad you liked it! I like to say it's the best festival in the area that nobody knows about. Obviously as there are thousands of people there every year it's certainly not the case that nobody knows about it, and the Thais community certainly seems to know about it, but if you're looking for publicity or actually any information on the web (at least in English) it can be a challenge to find it for this festival. If you close your eyes as you stand in the middle of the crowd, the wonderful smells of the food, Thai music in the background, and the beautiful sounds of Thai voices, can almost make you believe, if only for an instant, that you're in Thailand. Songkran is celebrated at other DC area wats in April. For example: Sunday, 27 April 2008 at Wat Pa Nanachart 40539 John Mosby Hwy. Aldie, VA 20105 Tel: 703-327-7618 There may be a Songkran celebration at one of the other wats in the area next weekend (4/20/08): WAT THAI OF WASHINGTON, D.C. (celebrated on 4/13/08) 13440 LAYHILL ROAD SILVER SPRING, MD 20906 TEL : (301) 871-8660, 871-8661 FAX : (301) 871-5007 URL : http://www.watthaidc.org E-Mail : watthaidc@hotmail.com (Thai Bhikkhus Council) WAT TUMMAPRATEIP VIRGINIA-WASHINGTON D.C. (not sure when Songkran is celebrated here, not being able to read Thai is a severe handicap) 36 FARMINGTON ROAD., W. ACCOKEEK, MD 20607 TEL : (301) 203-9500 FAX : (301) 203-9400 URL : http://www.tummaprateip.iirt.net E-Mail : dhamma@iirt.com (Dhammayut Order) WAT YARNNARANGSEE BUDDHIST MONASTERY (held 4/6/08, we missed it!) 22147 CEDAR GREEN ROAD STERLING, VA 20164-5332 TEL : (703) 406-8290 FAX : (703) 406-4705 URL : http://www.watyarn.com E-Mail : webmaster@watyarn.com (Dhammayut Order) WAT PAH SANTHIDHAMA (to be celebrated on 4/20/08) 14289 CHAPMANS LANE CARROLLTAN, VA 23314 TEL : (757) 238-3461 FAX : - URL : http://www.watpa.iirt.net E-Mail : watpa@iirt.net WAT PA TESARANGSEE 30 RAILROAD LANE FREDERICKSBURG, VA 22405-3233 TEL : (540) 368-2272 FAX : (540) 368-2272 Sun Apr 13 18:03:53 -0700 2008 3590156 180718 skatewash 1 3593098 I wanted to thank everyone for sharing information about the Wat Thai event. Such a closely held Washington DC secret it is. We went (around 1pm), we ate(mmm), and we enjoyed ourselves. In fact, this just might become a yearly event for us. I used to live in Chicago. What I loved most about living there was the various ethnic neighborhoods. It is nice to know you can find a bit of that here too. This all inspires a new thread...DC-Baltimore area best kept secret festivals/events... Mon Apr 14 12:04:01 -0700 2008 3536214 21646 LizG 2 4565899 Three announcements: Thai Festival in Maryland(4/12/09), Thai Festival in Virginia (4/19/09), and Thai Restaurant Week (4/13/09 - 4/19/09). The Earth having successfully completed another orbit around the Sun, it's Songkran time again. Come and experience a little slice of Thailand in Maryland. The weather for next Sunday (4/12/09) looks good. Celebrate the Thai New Year Festival (Songkran) on Sunday, April 12, 2009, from 8:30am to 3:30pm (those are the official times, it actually starts earlier and continues later) at: Wat Thai DC 13440 Layhill Road Silver Spring, MD 20906 301.871.8660 There is no entrance fee and a free shuttle is provided from the Glenmont (Red Line) Metro Station. Google Map Directions: http://tinyurl.com/copoee Delicious Thai food, drink, and various goods (CDs, DVDs, clothing, furniture, dwarf Kaffir lime trees, etc.) can be purchased from a multitude of vendors. Free Thai music and dancing are featured. Here's the announcement at the Thai Wat DC site: http://www.watthaidc.org/ which as usual is not especially informative. Frankly they have no problem attracting big crowds to this festival without doing any English language advertising. Schedule (only approximate since it's based on last year's schedule) 7:00am Offer Breakfast to the monks 8:30am Pouring of lustral water to honor the Buddha Image/ Food and merchandise stands open 10:00am Religious ceremony 10:30am Offering food for the monks, Monks give blessing 1:30pm Pouring of lustral water to honor the monks/ Thai Dance and Music Show 3:30pm Food and merchandise stands close (food can still be had up until around 5pm) Even if you are not taking the Metro, I suggest you use the free parking at the Glenmont Metro Station (corner of Georgia Ave. and Layhill Rd.) and take the free yellow (Barrie School) buses that will shuttle people between the Glenmont Metro Station and Thai Wat DC. Please don't park in the neighborhood surrounding Wat Thai. The shuttles are fairly efficient, and more importantly, parking at the metro station helps keep relations good between Wat Thai and their neighbors. You can purchase food whenever you want during the entire festival. It wouldn't be a Thai festival without food. Glenmont Metro Station neighborhood map: http://www.stationmasters.com/System_Map/GLENMONT/glenmont.html Some pictures taken (not by me) at a previous year's Songkran: http://songkran2006.blogspot.com/ Description of 2005's festival (not written by me): http://tinyurl.com/3bactj http://tinyurl.com/2d3g8a http://tinyurl.com/34ztuw ______________________________ Thai Festival in Virginia (4/19/09): http://www.watyarn.com/calendarevents.html On Sunday, April 19th, 2009 the Songkran Festival will be held at Wat Yarnna Rangsee Buddhist Monastery. Please come and join us. The ceremony will begin at 10:00 am. Wat Yarnna Rangsee Buddhist Monastery 21950 Shaw Road Sterling, Virginia 20164-9318 USA. Tel. 703-406-8290, 703-406-2509 Google Map Directions: http://tinyurl.com/ddngc4 ______________________________ Thai Restaurant Week (4/13/09 - 4/19/09): Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/deuvk5 Thai Embassy info: http://tinyurl.com/c8h4fp ______________________________ Thanks for your indulgence, George Marinkovich Fri Apr 03 16:30:36 -0700 2009 3593098 180718 skatewash 3 4567318 Thx for the heads up! Sat Apr 04 10:41:04 -0700 2009 4565899 193006 chaofun 4 4568116 Be sure to search the boards about the experience! Good Finds, but quite a "rat race" Sat Apr 04 18:04:39 -0700 2009 4567318 11368 Dennis S 1 5025481 Bumping this because I was at Bangkok Garden in Columbia and saw a flyer taped to the door advertising a Thai festival at Wat Thai next Sunday, Sept. 20. Free admission, and of course FOOD. Does anyone have more info? I guess it isn't as big as Songkran but wondering if it is still worth checking out. Sat Sep 12 18:47:56 -0700 2009 3536214 14914 little audrey 2 5025625 http://www.watthaidc.org/watdc_2552/sarthai09.html Sat Sep 12 20:16:00 -0700 2009 5025481 277598 comestibles