Culture with Krabi

Thai people are a highly tolerant and hospitable people. It is very easy to get along with them. They believe in Live and Let live ideology. Women have considerable status in society. Even though men folk seem to have upper hand in every decision making, women enjoys considerable privileges as well. Trading transactions are normally managed by womenfolk.

Krabi’s populace represent a multi ethnic multi racial society. It is a mix, mélange or mosaic of various ethnic groups. Each ethnic group in Krabi represents a page in the annals of immigrants to the area from time immemorial.

Krabi is not over populated just as Thailand in general is. As the country is poised in the middle of the states in the area, plenty of migrations have taken place in the past centuries overlooking geographical boundaries.

In the late 19^th and 20^th century, people from Chinese mainland, especially the southern area entered Thailand. Even though they came in for supplementing the local labor, they got assimilated into the society. You can see a cross section of the Chinese society in Krabi as well. Chinese rituals and cultural aspects were absorbed in parts by the Thai society as well.

There is an ethnic group called Sea Gypsies or Chao Ley whose origins are not known. But they have been natives in Krabi for quite some time now. They have been a nomadic tribe depending mainly on fishing, collecting shells and diving for sustenance.

75% of the total populace is of Thai origin, 14% are Chinese and the remaining 11% includes all other ethnic minorities including Indians.

Information : http://www.krabi.com/culture.htm

FESTIVALS & EVENTS.

December 5^th is King’s birthday. Thais love their king and the day is celebrated nationally.

April 13^th to 15^th – it the festival period for the whole nation. Songkran is the Lunar New Year as per Thai Calendar. Buddha images are washed on the day and great processions are held. Monks and elders are shown special respect by one and all in the community. In very many ways it has got the similarity with Deewali celebrations in India. People move around and as a mark of respect water shall be sprinkled may be even to the extent that coloured water shall be showered in gaiety.

May 15^th – Sree Budhdha’s birthday. Candle lit processions are held in local Wats ( Buddhist temples ).

6^th and 11^th Lunar months – on the full moon day, in Ko Lanta, there is the religious rite of Setting Adrift of Chao Le Boats. The function is worth watching.

Asanha Puja in July - this festival is on the Full Moon day.

August 12^th – Queen’s Birthday. This is celebrated as Thailand’s Mothers’ Day.

Loi Krathong in November. – One of the most beautiful and moving sights are related to this annual festival. This day marks your venture to cast off all your troubles and tribulations with the hope having a new prosperous future. The good luck for the forthcoming year is wished by discarding some symbols of the badluck such as a piece of your finger nail and some tufts of hair in folded banana leaves and floating them off in the ocean or running water.

Andaman Sea Festival – this marks the beginning of the tourist season. Water sports and cultural competitions are held on this occasion.

Information : http://www.krabi.com/events.htm

Festivals & Events : Krabi

Andaman Sea Festival
This Festival takes place in November and celebrates the opening of the tourist season in Krabi. Water sport competitions, cultural shows, and good-natured fun are the schedule.

Information : http://krabi.sawadee.com/

Introduction : Krabi

Krabi is a southern province on Thailand's Andaman seaboard with perhaps the country's oldest history of continued settlement. After dating stone tools, ancient colored pictures, beads, pottery and skeletal remains found in the province's many cliffs and caves, it is thought that Krabi has been home to homo sapiens since the period 25,000 - 35,000 B.C. In recorded times it was called the 'Ban Thai Samor', and was one of twelve towns that used, before people were widely literate, the monkey for their standard. At that time,
c. 1200 A.D., Krabi was tributary to the Kingdom of Ligor, a city on the Kra Peninsula's east coast better known today as Nakhon Si Thammarat.
At the start of the Rattanakosin period, about 200 years ago, when the capital was finally settled at Bangkok, an elephant kraal was established in Krabi by order of Chao Phraya Nakorn (Noi), the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat, which was by then a part of the Thai Kingdom. He sent his vizier, the Phra Palad, to oversee this task, which was to ensure a regular supply of elephants for the larger town. So followers many emigrated in the steps of the Phra Palad that soon Krabi had a large community in three different boroughs : Pakasai, Khlong Pon, and Pak Lao. In 1872, King Chulalongkorn graciously elevated these to town status, called Krabi, a word that preserves in its meaning the monkey symbolism of the old standard. The town's first governor was Luang Thep Sena, though it continued a while as a dependency of Nakhon Si Thammarat. This was changed in 1875, when Krabi was raised to a fourth-level town in the old system of Thai government. Administrators then reported directly to the central government in Bangkok, and Krabi's history as a unique entity separated from the other provinces, had begun.
During the present reign, the corps of civil servants, the merchants, and the population generally of Krabi and nearby provinces have together organized construction of a royal residence at Laem Hang Nak Cape for presentation to His Majesty the King. This lies thirty kilometers to the west of Krabi Town on the Andaman coast.

Administration
Krabi is divided into eight districts : Amphoe Muang (Krabi Town), Khao Panom, Khlong Thom, Plai Phraya, Ko Lanta, Ao Luk, and Lam Thap and, Nhua Khlong.

Size, Location and Boundaries
Krabi is on the Andaman Sea coast of south-west Thailand,
between 7' 30" and 8' 30" north latitude, and 98' 30" and 99' 30" west longitude.
Total area is 4,709 square kilometers bounded thus :

North - Connects with Phang-nga and Sura Thani Provinces.
South - Connects with Trang Provinces and the Andaman Sea.
East - Connects with Trang and Nakhon Si Thammarat Provinces.
West - Connects with Phang-nga Provinces and the Andaman Sea.

Krabi's mountainous physical geography is broken by highlands and plains on the mainland.The provincial administration also covers more than 130 islands in the Andaman Sea. Natural forest cover is chiefly mangrove and Cassia trees. Krabi's sandy clay soil conditions are perfect for a variety of agricultural products, including rubber trees, palms, mangos, coconuts, and coffee. The Krabi River flows 5 kilometers through the city and falls into the Andaman at Tambon Pak Nam. There are other streams as well : the Khlong Pakasai, the Khlong Krabi Yai and the Khlong Krabi Noi in the province's highest range of mountains, the Khao Phanom Bencha.

Climate
Weather in Krabi is typically that of the tropical monsoon, providing the province with just two seasons, the hot season from January to April, and the rainy season from May to December. Monsoon winds, which change according to season, blow from the southeast, the southwest, and the northeast. Temperatures range between 16.9 and 37.3 degrees Celsius and the yearly rainfall averages 2,568.5 millimeters.