Songkran

Songkran is the Thai New Year. It is a celebration that starts April 13 (the official Songkran day). On that day, it is tradition to bless the elders of your family by pouring scented water on their hands (I think it is to cool them off, or to symbolize it, because this is the hottest time of the year). That is the reverent part of Songkran. The days following are when everyone breaks lose and the entire kingdom has a water fight.

Bang Saen, where I am located, is a Thai vacation town. We have a really HUGE LONG beach (such that when you are in the ocean it goes as far as you can see in both directions. Probably about 2-3km solid). And everyone flocks to the beaches, so we probably get to see the best of Songkran. The church is also on the main drag through town. This is very convenient for observing and participating in the water fight.

Try to imagine our road out front: a 6 lane street with a median down the middle. And hundreds upon hundreds of pickup trucks in virtual gridlock in both directions. Each truck has between 3 and 15 people in the back and 1 or 2 huge barrels filled with water. As they drive down the street they scoop out water from the barrels (with plastic bowls) and throw it at other trucks and at people on the street. And the people on the street do the same. The ultimate destination is the beach, but people drive along the main drag in both directions because that is where much of the excitement is. We took a drive away from town along the main highway that leads to Bangkok. We were fine but the traffic heading toward Bang Saen was pretty much stopped, for miles. I've just never seen anything like it.

There are also no shortage of water guns. And they're cheap too. 10 bucks Canadian will get you a pretty sweet machine (like a $30 super soaker). But the streams are always so small and you spend half the day pumping the stupid thing. I found that nothing delivers water better than a bucket.

Oh ya, and then there is this clay-like powder that they mix with water and smear on your cheeks. They hop off the trucks and cover your cheeks with the stuff and wish you a happy Songkran. It's all in good fun, and the stuff is not at all gritty, and comes off instantly with water.

Every day is like 35C, so getting hit with water is actually refreshing. The tap water is actually warm. We have one garden hose running from the church out to the street where we fill up a garbage can. We can't fill that thing up fast enough. There are that many people to soak. There are also guys that go around selling huge blocks of ice to put in your containers to cool off the water (blocks like 18"x12"x12"). This makes the water REALLY cold and of course then you get better reactions when you soak people with it. We bought 2 blocks once and I think they were gone in 15 minutes.

It's pretty much a given that if you are in the street or on the sidewalk, you are fair game (if you really didn't want to play, you would take the backroads). Our favorite targets are the songtaus (the pickups with seats that are like local buses). I don't know why you would take one if you didn't want to get wet. Not only that, but it's faster to walk than to drive. That's our favorite target, because most of those people are unarmed. The other favorite are the pickup trucks that are so full of people that they didn't have room for a water barrel. They're just sitting (or standing) ducks. Open windows are fair game too. So why they will roll down the passenger side window is beyond me. We generally leave it alone but they are asking for it. And then there are tour buses and you will get the odd one with a window open. I don't think those guys want to be hit but man, they're asking for it.

An Element of Respect

Here's the part that I think is the coolest (and why this would never work in Canada): There is an element of respect throughout the festivities. For example, street vendors selling (much needed) food and drinks will set up right on the side of the main road. But no one will spray them, or douse their food with water (at least not intentionally). When they put the powder on your face, they don't try to get it in your eyes or your ears or in your mouth (some might depending on if they are drunk or not, but so far I've only got it on cheeks and forehead). And ya, some people do get drunk and may take things too far. The girls have to be more careful than the guys (who might want to smear Songkran powder on more than just their face). But the number of decently sober people seem to far outweigh the not so sober people. Also, they don't spray little kids, and they don't go out of their way to soak people who obviously aren't "playing". Overall, the point is to have fun, not to tick people off. Man if we tried this in Canada, we would have riots, fights, assaults, arrests and everything else that comes with idiots being idiots. Over here it's about having fun, with the people who want to have fun. I like that.

At the time that I am writing this, I have soaked people with water for two days now (Thursday I "distributed" water to the masses from 1:30-6:30pm almost non-stop). And we have at least 2 more days to go. It has been crazy but expect the weekend will become even more intense as more people get time off work. If you have read this entire entry, I'm proud of you.