{"id":2513,"date":"2015-12-19T09:03:44","date_gmt":"2015-12-19T07:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2015-12-19T09:03:44","modified_gmt":"2015-12-19T07:03:44","slug":"traditional-boat-races-week-end-bangkok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/2513-traditional-boat-races-week-end-bangkok","title":{"rendered":"Traditional boat races this week-end in Bangkok"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visitors to Thailand are invited to enjoy two days of fascinating and thrilling races of swan boats and longboats to be held on the majestic Chao Phraya, the River of Kings between 19-20 December 2015.<\/p>\n

\"boat<\/p>\n

The races are a very important reflection of the kingdom\u2019s socio-cultural \u201cThainess\u201d identity and highlight the historic significance of Thailand\u2019s main river as a source of livelihood, trade and transport.<\/p>\n

Known as the Greatest of Siam, the Thailand International Swan Boat Races 2015<\/strong> and the 10th National Competition of Traditional Long Boats are organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) together with the Bangkok Metropolitan City, and the Rowing and Canoeing Association of Thailand.<\/p>\n

\"Boat<\/p>\n

For centuries, the Thai people have settled alongside the rivers, their main life blood. Dating back to the Ayutthaya period (approximately 600 years ago), the boat races were organised to celebrate the end of Buddhist Lent or Ok Phansa during the agricultural non-growing season when the river\u2019s tide level was the highest. All boats are designed with a figurehead prow in the shape of a swan, claimed to be the only one of its kind in the world.<\/p>\n

The Siam Boat Race is also mentioned in the documentary archives of the French King Louis XIV (1638 \u2013 1715) as representing the Thai identity and its cheerful way of life as a mark of national unity and consolidation.<\/p>\n

The challenging and exciting races cover three categories carrying total prize money of over two million baht:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. large long boat races with 55 oarsmen for the King\u2019s Cup Royal Award<\/li>\n
  2. long boat races with 30 oarsmen for the Queen\u2019s Cup Royal Award<\/li>\n
  3. international rowing boat races with 16 teams from 10 countries for the Prime Minister\u2019s Award.\u00a0This year competing teams come from China, England, Hong Kong, Iran, Macao, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Visitors are invited to take part in this event to continue the legend of the great Chao Phraya. Come join in the fun and cheer the rowing crews as they battle it out on the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The best place to watch is Rama VIII Park under the Rama VIII Bridge<\/strong>. The course is 500 meters long. The event\u00a0stated this morning at\u00a09am and continue until\u00a05pm and tomorrow from 9am to 5pm. The\u00a0final races will be broadcast live on Thairath TV on Sunday from 3pm to 5pm.<\/p>\n

    For more\u00a0information\u00a0about events in Thailand, have look on our Thailand festivals page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Visitors to Thailand are invited to enjoy two days of fascinating and thrilling races of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events-festivals-thailand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailandee.com\/blog\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}