Well finally the festival I had wanted to see had arrived. Songkran is the Thai New Year. The New Year is rung in by a 5-day holiday, which everyone (and I mean everyone) is involved in a no holds barred water fight nationwide. Like any event it has its hot spots. Chang mai, pattaya and phuket are said to be the places to visit during this time. However as I launched myself into the festivities you could see unhappy tourists everywhere….lack of research clearly.
I had a blast in any case. I managed to get two songkran parties in as pattaya (being a tourist Mecca) have their songkran after the rest of the country and hence tourists flock to get another taste. Its quite a unique experience really I spoke to other tourists and they had not seen anything like it anywhere in the world. The streets become filled with utes packed with people and 40-gallon drums filled with ice water. Bowls are filled with water and chalk to make a paste which is smeared all over passing people, cars and anything that moves. I was covered head to toe when I had to walk down the road from a bar that I was partying at to get supplies. Though it’s not too bad as water is close by to wash off.
In addition to the water fight which is mainly for the younger generation. The elders have a more traditional ceremony, which I was luckily able to experience. AL’s grandmother and other respected elders of the family sit lined up and the younger children give posies of flowers and pour water over the hands of the elders while the elders give blessing. Was a great cultural experience.
Like any New Year celebration AL and I returned home and drank beer for the remainder of the day. Nice.
I had a blast in any case. I managed to get two songkran parties in as pattaya (being a tourist Mecca) have their songkran after the rest of the country and hence tourists flock to get another taste. Its quite a unique experience really I spoke to other tourists and they had not seen anything like it anywhere in the world. The streets become filled with utes packed with people and 40-gallon drums filled with ice water. Bowls are filled with water and chalk to make a paste which is smeared all over passing people, cars and anything that moves. I was covered head to toe when I had to walk down the road from a bar that I was partying at to get supplies. Though it’s not too bad as water is close by to wash off.
In addition to the water fight which is mainly for the younger generation. The elders have a more traditional ceremony, which I was luckily able to experience. AL’s grandmother and other respected elders of the family sit lined up and the younger children give posies of flowers and pour water over the hands of the elders while the elders give blessing. Was a great cultural experience.
Like any New Year celebration AL and I returned home and drank beer for the remainder of the day. Nice.
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