Songkran Madness

Today was officially the first day of the Songkran holiday. My day started with a coffee/chai yen run on the motorbike. Mike came along with me, and after getting the drinks we made our way back to the school. But we didn't make back dry. A group outside the gate had started Songkran already and were merciless to us. They threw a bucket of ice water on us; thankfully I didn't crash. From then on in the day, I felt bad for all of the motorbike drivers out there, as I didn't enjoy the splash of water while I was driving. 

After breakfast we took a walk into the neighborhood. By that time, there were many people out in the street waiting for motorists/pedestrians to pass by. We made it pass them without suffering the wet consequences, well at least for awhile. We walked through the park, where if you were dry; you were out of place. Part of Songkran is getting others wet and applying powder to others faces. At first a few people asked to put powder on my face and I politely declined. But that didn't last long, shortly people just started running up to us and spreading powder on our cheeks. 

Surprisingly, we made it out of the park area dry, but since it was really hot I was wishing for someone to pour water on me. We walked a few blocks more down to the Moon river. One of the stray city dogs followed us and somehow ended up leading us. It was really random, but he seemed to know where we wanted to go. lol. While we were down there, some ladies greeted us and very politely initiated us into Songkran. The gently poured a bucket of water on us, it was nice way to start our experience of the famous holiday. 

After lunch, we had the chance to drive around in the back of pick up truck and participate in the water fun. We had two big buckets in the back and about eight people in the truck bed. I have never seen anything like this before; the streets were packed with cars, just like ours throwing water at each other. There were also a ton of people just on the street tossing water at the cars. Some of the water was room temperature but some had ice water in their buckets; that was a little shocking. Not only did people come up to us with water, they also brought us that powder. I wasn't a big fan of the powder and I didn't like strangers touching me. This was only the first day of the three days of celebrating; it scared me a little because people were already so drunk. 

A couple of times we had to stop and 'refuel' so to speak. After filling up the buckets we hit the streets again and rejoined the giant water fight. The clouds began not to work in our favor and hid the sun, which made being soaking wet a little uncomfortable. But overall it was an enjoyable experience. I have never seen a holiday like this one. It was lot of fun and I am so happy to have had the chance to be a part of it. HAPPY Songkran!