Songkran, Thai new year!!!
Hello my friends!!! it feels so god to be in a place you know… getting here to Chiang Mai from Cambodia was a pain in the bum, but it was absolutely worth it. Songkran it’s amazing!! one of the best celebrations I’ve seen. I mean, a 5 days water fight?? Awesome!
So, basically Songkran is a religious festival, where Buddha statues are washed with water, followed by believers washing off their sins. But this has evolved into one of the biggest celebrations in South East Asia!! People on the street are armed with water guns and buckets filed with ice cold water, waiting for their victim to pass by. Farang (foreigners) and policemen are the favorite target of course. It’s so funny watching that old grandma sitting with her grandsons at the porch of her house, all merry, waiting with a hose open to the max, and then watching her stand up and soaking two cool dudes on a motorbike!!! it’s hilarious 🙂
My first contact with the water fight was riding a tuk-tuk, going to work (Oh, yeah I worked in Rambo again, jejeje) and getting absolutely soaked by hundreds of liters of water!! Thank God I was not the only one on set with squeaking shoes!
Chiang Mai is the best city to spend Songkran, because the old city is surrounded by a moat (caño), so there is plenty of water available. Just drop your bucket into the moat and pull it out with the string attached to it. When the party has being going for some time, people start swimming in the moat, I, of course, did as well.
I had a wonderful time.
Sorry for the short post but I have to get going. I’m leaving to go to Vietnam, for something like 10 days, and then heading to China for a month.
I’ll talk you guys from Hanoi
peace and love
simon =)
p.s. If you want to read a decent story about Songkran, check my friend Greg’s article HERE
Mandy, my water fight partner, just being soaked with ice cold water! Why didn’t you fight back? Oh I see, busy hands….
Taken from the moat as hundreds of people hurry up to fill their buckets again
Tags: Chiang Mai, Songkran, Thailand, Travel
simonuribe@yahoo.com
Happy Thai new year ! 😉
ummm… yeah….
Any web page with cute blond girls in soaking T-shirts is fine by me.
Rob
Oh yeah, see you in China!
It was definitely a blast! Remember if you ever find yourself in another water fight, I’m your man!nrMandy