Every year at the end of June & the beginning of July there are many of these competitions all around the country, Sankamphaeng has a few and usually on a Saturday.

This morning I went to the site of one I attended a couple of years ago, at the rear of Huai Lan reservoir  18.690415°  99.207504° but the grass was overgrown & the place looked unprepared for anything today. I stopped at a shop along the way adjacent to a workshop with loads of rocket looking bamboo poles & the lady said the Huai Lan event was scheduled for 12 – 14 July but I could see one today in the afternoon at a nearby temple !!!

At Wat Chiang Saen  18.719254° 99.229050° there was quite a gathering in the early afternoon. Everyone was gathered by 13:00 but it was 14:00 before things kicked off, as the trophies were late arriving.

It’s quite a spectacle, with lots of cheering, people holding ‘books’ on who will get what points & of course plenty of drink & staggering drunk men.

I didn’t envy the judges but somehow they made the right decisions on the 24 rockets launched. The guy who came 3rd, also came 1st !This guys rockets were the ones given the ice treatment just prior to launch.

Not quite sure of the judging criteria but the figure of 170 – 180 wasn’t the result of any technical measurement. It’s either

• Speed – By eye ?
• Distance traveled with smoke – By eye ?
• Arbitrary points awarded on 3 judges feel-good factor

Maybe there is another !! ;)

Great fun.