Songkran Festival

Happy Songkran! Songkran is Thai New Year and is celebrated from April 13 - 15. Up north the celebration can go on for longer. April is the hottest month in Thailand temps reaching in the 95-100+ with high humidity!  There are many symbols and traditions of this holiday some include: bathing Buddha images for good-luck, visiting a Wat, doing some spring cleaning, or making a new year resolution. The water is meant to symbolize the washing away of all the bad. The chalk is a representation of the chalk used by monks to bless things.

We discussed the holiday with some students prior to school getting out and they told us Khao San Road is one of the best places to go. Luckily our Canadian friends, Jess & Alex, were staying on Khao San Road on the 13th. So we hopped in a taxi and headed to Khao San Road to visit our friends and take in the festivities. As we drove we saw groups of children with big garbage bins full of water and armed with buckets, waterguns, and hoses waiting at street corners. As cars, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, or people pass they would douse them in water! As we got closer to our destination scenes like this occurred more frequently.

We arrived and were amazed at what we saw! Khao San Road was completely blocked off and FULL of people and water flying! We got out and starting walking. It didn't take long to get wet - everyone was armed with a bucket and endless supply of water (sometime with ice!) or watergun. We were dry so we were a target for sure! As we walked, shoulder to shoulder, Thais would also come up to you armed with liquid chalk! They would rub it on your face and tell you "Happy Songkran!"

Khao San Road - Packed for Songkran!

 After walking a few blocks in this craziness we were soaked and chalked up! We finally found the hotel. We retreated to their hotel pool for some lunch and relaxation before heading back out into the battle field again.

Us after our first walk through!

Armed again for battle, this time with Jess & Alex and three of their guests, two of which were headed to the airport with their big luggage (in the first video they have shower caps on.) This was quite the sight!! Again, people seemed to aim for all of us as we were dry - didn't take long for each one of us to be soaked, some with a bowl of ice water!!

We stayed inside for the majority of the remaining days of Songkran. Whenever we went out we got splashed by the community members we have come to recognize. 7-eleven workers had three totes full of water waiting for the next passerby. We walked passed our favorite soup place and they ran out with a small bucket eager to get us - the cutest thing! Down at the market we got hit by some small kids. Walking down the street we were hit again by a family loading up the back of their truck with the large water drums preparing for drive-by water attacks.

One of the many trucks we saw!

 













 

 Oh wow - what a festival!! It is a very fun holiday and everyone really gets into it! Even the police cars, taxis, busses, and pizza delivery guys are drenched and chalked! There are so many strategies of water attacks - the street corner armed with an endless supply of water, the truck loaded with water bins, buckets, and waterguns, motorbikes armed with a watergun, tuk tuks for the quick getaway, or just walking with a watergun or some liquid chalk paste! It is one crazy fun holiday!


Today: Went ice skating with a student at a nearby mall. It was a chilly 60 degrees Fahrenheit, lots of fun.

 

  

What's Next: Thai cooking class tomorrow and starting our journey home on Thursday.  Be back in the cold weather by Friday evening, look forward to seeing everyone.