SongKran

Songkran is the Thai New Year and it falls on the 13-15 of April every year but will usually begin a lot earlier and last a lot longer especially in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Often times the festival is known to last more than six days! Originally, the celebration marked their actual New Year but since 1940 Thailand has considered January 1^st the New Year and Songkran has become a huge festival of non-stop water fights!

In the ancient days Songkran was an opportunity to pay respect to elders and monks – Thai people would go to the temples and use holy water to show their respect…

Things have changed…

Now people just spray the shit out of each other with high power Super Soakers and buckets of water! Literally hundreds of thousands of people fill the streets of Chiang Mai using water from the moat that surrounds the city to drench anybody and everybody that happens to be in the streets. For lots of people it is actually a goal to hit motorists in the eyes while they try and navigate their way through the gridlocked traffic!

When we went out to purchase our weapons I had to have the best gun… I actually bought the same gun that I had when I was a little kid the Super Soaker CPS 2000, which brought back some memories. However, this one just didn’t seem to have the same kick that they had when I was young… Not sure if it’s just because I have gotten older or if they actually don’t make them the same anymore – probably a little of both.

Although we went to Chiang Mai to celebrate this wild week of water, we lost interest after just a few days. It got to the point where it was obnoxious to step out of our guesthouse on our way to dinner and just get drenched with a bucket of brown water that had been soaking in ice in the back of a pick up all afternoon. I am not saying we didn’t enjoy every minute of it but it literally became a chore to take strategic back roads and alleys to get to certain areas of the town without getting soaked on your way.