Rocket Festivals or Bun Bang Fai (บุญบั้งไฟ)

Well it's that time of year again where I head off to the Northeast part of Thailand to watch PVC pipe stuff with gunpowder fly through the air.

I think I have been saying the name of these festivals wrong all the time I have been coming here. I thought it was Boom Bang Fai but now think it is Bun Bang Fai but still don't know what tone I should be using for each syllable. I don't think I will ever learn this language but am thrilled each time someone understands me.

Following is the Yasothon Schedule of festivals that I used to try and plan at least part of this trip.

I spent a number of hours with this schedule, google translate and google maps. I was attempting to make a plan but even when finished it was still full of holes and errors but at least I had something.

I wanted to be in Yasothon for a festival on the 3rd of May but left Kanchanaburi on the 30th of April and made it to Yasothon city on the 1st. I went to the hotel I have stayed at the past few years and checked in for 11 days with only causing a little bit of confusion.

After getting my room it was still early afternoon so I checked the schedule and went in search of some rockets. I found what I was searching for at Ban Dong Bang (บ้านดงบัง).

This was a big festival with 2 launch platforms, 3 performance stages and a huge number of vendors and viewing tents. I found a place to sit and enjoy the activities.

I had problems with my phone camera so just enjoyed the day with no videos or pictures of this days events.

On the 2nd of May I relooked at the schedule and headed out to watch Rockets at Ban Kut Phan Khiao (บ้านกุดพันเขียวบุญบั้งไฟ).

This festival was a bit smaller than the one the day before but was a fun day out. I still don't understand what they are betting on with the rockets but I found it funny at this place it seemed like a monk was the bookie.

Following is the short I uploaded to YouTube while at the event.



On the 3rd it was off to Ban Si Than Rocket Festival (บ้านศรีฐาน บุญบั้งไฟ). I have been coming to this place for a few years and it is one of my favorites

I uploaded 2 videos from this festival. Following is the short.



I got hungry at one point and went off to eat but decided to still try and capture a rocket launch while eating and this is the 2nd video. It turned out to be a good time to have some distance between me and the launch area. I didn't hear of anyone being hurt.



On May the 4th the Star Wars day I was off to see the Rockets at Ban Song Rocket Festival (บ้านโซง บุญบั้งไฟ).

I have been to this site a few year now but not one of my favorites. It is impressive for the rockets with 2 launch platforms but it's crowded and I find getting in and out a bit difficult. I did have a nice guy hold down some barbed wire fence while I attempted stepping over.

Following is the event poster I saw on Facebook and believe it listed the rockets and teams competing. After that my short video.

I had not found any festivals on the 5th of May so thought it would be a day off but when checking Facebook I saw the following banner.

After playing with Google translate and Google Maps it was off to Phra That Non Nong Hang,Roi Et Rocket Festival (พระธาตุโนนหนองฮาง บุญบั้งไฟ).

This festival was not very crowded but was fun until a storm rolled in and attempted to blow all the tents away. I got very wet leaving this festival and riding back to my hotel.



Following is the banner I found for the festival at Ban Pong Rocket Festival (บ้านโป่ง บุญบั้งไฟ) that I visited on the 6th.

Following is the short I uploaded while at the festival.



I also uploaded a video of a rocket exploding at Ban Pong. I was a bit too close to this one with the majority on the rocket landing less than 100 meters/yards from where I was standing. I don't think anyone was hurt but a bit scary.



I have been carrying two phones with me. I use the newer phone for GPS on my motorcycle since it's supposed to be waterproof and it had the better camera. I think it has something to due with the heat but the camera seems to go haywire when hot so have been using my older phone to capture the rockets.

On the 5th I dropped my older phone on the floor and the screen broke. It looked like the upper left corner had blue ink poured on it. I was able to video with it on the 6th but the ink stain seemed to be spreading and really was unusable.

I use the older phone for email and all my banking so it is more important than the newer phone. Not sure if I could move to a new phone while traveling so I was thrilled when a shop was able to replace the screen. It may have made more sense to buy a new phone but I was happy to have my old phone working again for about $50.

I got the phone repaired on the 7th and didn't have any festivals planned for the day but I still had a wonderful day.

I had a festival planned for May 8th but saw something on Facebook about Sao Hae, Roi Et (ตำบลสาวแหร้อยเอ็ด บุญบั้งไฟ) and seemed there were more rockets here than the one I planned.

Following is the video I uploaded at Sao Hae and the event banner.

The festival in the City of Yasothon is a 3 day event. The main street through the town is closed off on Friday and stages setup along the road. I stopped by after the rockets but I must be too old because I found the music pumping out of these stages painful and just went to the peace and quiet of my hotel room. I also didn't attend the Saturday parada through the city.

On Saturday the 9th I went to watch rockets at Rockets at Ban Dong Mafai (บ้านดงมะไฟ บุญบั้งไฟ).

This event had a single launch platform but with it being a Saturday it seemed a bit crowded. I still found a good seat under a tent and enjoyed the day.



Rocket Festival in Yasothon City (เมืองยโสธร บุญบั้งไฟ) on the 10th of May this year is the festival everyone knows but in my opinion not as much fun as some of the others. There are fewer tents with chairs and the ones they have are a lot further away from the launch platform. The food vendors are even further away.

It seems to be about a 50% foreigner crowed where the other festivals I attended only had a few foreigners. There are a lot more signs saying danger and I didn't see any gambling. I still had a good day watching rockets and this event has the largest number of rockets starting around 9AM and going till 6Pm.



I saw 2 events on the schedule for the 11th. I first rode to what I thought was Ban Sing (บ้านสิงห์) but couldn't find any events in the area. I then rode out to Ban Bak Ruea(บ้านบากเรือ บุญบั้งไฟ).

I arrived just before a large rocket was launched and then sat and watched rockets for most of the rest of the afternoon. I did find the people here very friendly but no one seemed to understand me and I didn't understand them very well either. I do like the picture at the end of the video.

They did have one more big rocket but I was getting on the big as they were carrying it to the platform so missed it.



I'm not done with Rockets for this year yet but am moving away from staying in Yasothon City tomorrow. Stay tuned to the blog for more rockets in the coming weeks.

Thai Buffalo Racing (วิ่งควายไทย) Samnak Bok, Chonburi (สํานักบกชลบุรี)

I saw the following on facebook so ran it through Google Translate and added it to my calendar.

I have some stuff going on so was not sure I would want to go this far for only a few days but decided to make the trip.

I stayed in Pattaya and made going to the races a day trip. I found this a bet funny because when I lived in Pattaya and went to the buffalo races for the firist time I spent 3 nights in a hotel and now I do it as a day trip.

I found the event without any problems. I thought it might be hard to find with only knowing the area it was in Samnak Bok and that the races would be next to an abandoned temple. I never did notice a temple but rode right to the event site.

I thought that the info I had said the event would start at 8 AM and I was only a little late arriving around 8:30. I didn't know there would be speeches before so think it would have been better to arrive at 10 AM or after since I didn't understand any of the speeches.

This was a much smaller event than the buffalo races I have attended before and seemed to be only local people. It went a bit slower than the big event that takes place every October in the center of Chonburi City but I enjoyed the lack of a crowd. There also seemed to be a lot more running of a single buffalo with rider down the track than at the major event. I enjoyed watching these single rides that I considered practicing.

I should have stayed at the event longer but with spending about 6 hours in the heat and knowing I had an hour ride to get back to the hotel I left when racing was still ongoing. I am glad I made the trip and it was a good way to spend a day.

Following are the videos I put together of the event. The first I did when I returned home and the 2nd was the one I uploaded when I was at the event. I found the clip where the guy just jumps on a buffalo real impressive and I know I would kill myself just attempting something like that. At the start of the races they have at least 2 people trying to hold the buffalo still before the rider attempts to get on so I was very impressed with this in motion mount, that is in the firist video.

Songkran 2026 (สงกรานต์ 2569)

I really enjoy Sonkran or the Thai New Year. This year was not different and I went out and took part in the big water fight again this year.

I have a phone now that is water proof so got a lot more clips than I have got in the past but don't feel I can really capture the full joy of the water play. I am either joining into the water fight or I am trying to catch it on the phone but can't do both at the same time.

Following is the video I put up on YouTube.

Thai Tractor Races Wat Khlong Khwang, Nonthaburi (การแข่งรถแทรกเตอร์วัดคลองขวางนนทบุรี)

On Sunday I hopped on the bike and rode about 100 kilometers to Wat Khlong Khwang in Nonthaburi to watch the tractor races. I posted about the tractor racing a few weeks ago and said I wanted to attend one of these races that was through a wet field and that is what I got to see this Sunday.

I think the videos shows what is going on at these races better than I can describe it so check it out. I only captured the guy in the air in my video but found and stole a video from Facebook that captured where a race went wrong.



This is the short I uploaded at the event.