All around the world people celebrate life and the beauty of nature with festivals and events centred on the magnificence of flowers. We’d like to highlight a few of the world’s most impressive festivals, beginning with Thailand’s landmark events at the River Kwai.
The River Kwai Festival, Thailand
Thailand celebrates its unique natural landscape, cultural traditions and history with the River Kwai Festival, a ten-day event that begins in the last week of November. The Festival takes place at the River Kwai Bridge and culminutes with a fantastic last day on the Thai King’s December 5th birthday.
At this time of year, Thailand’s countryside grows rich with greenery and the nation’s ochre and other trademark blooms come in beautifully. The Bridge is situated in an ideal spot for tourists and citizens to gather in the splendor of Thailand’s natural features. Visitors take in a fantastic view of the River Kwai itself and the greenery that grows natively on its banks.
The River Kwai Festival is focused on flowers but also hosts exhibits that mark the famous bridge’s place in history. Nightly shows feature fake air attacks, explosions, fireworks and multi-lingual commentary and visitors can also tour museums devoted to military history. A popular attraction around the Bridge is a train trip that takes passengers along the wooden viaducts (built by former prisoners of war) that hug the River Kwai’s banks and the cliff faces above.
Adventurous visitors can also travel to the River Kwai’s jungle rafting stations to experience the natural landscape. Taking in the full power of the River during the Festival is a great idea for flower enthusiasts that wish to experience native Thai blooms during their most prosperous season.
The period of time surrounding the River Kwai Festival also holds a number of other annual events for Thailand’s citizens and tourists to check out. These include Loi Krathong, Yasothon Rocket Festival I, Chinese New Year and the Chiangmai Flower Festival. These festivals, and many others, will be detailed in further posts centred on international flower festivals.
