Song Kron
OK, I have some catching up to do.
I’m out of Bangkok. I got my Chinese Visa and took off as soon as possible. I’m in Chiang Mai now (Northern Thailand), and I met up with the Dutch girls and my Swedish friend (Peter)that I met in Indonesia. We’re all staying at the same Guest House and it’s a really cool place to hang out
Today is the last day of Song Kron, the Thai New Year. It’s a four day holiday, but it started on Monday, so they really start celebrating the weekend before. The whole country celebrates it, but Chiang Mai has the biggest and best celebration. I’ve never seen anything like this!
People come here from all over Thailand for Song Kron. Everyone goes to the old city (of Chiang Mai), I’m staying inside the old walls that still surround the city. There are Moats filled with water surrounding the old city just outside the walls and that’s where everyone gathers. Being here for Song Kron can’t be explained, but if you can imagine thousands and thousands of people from all over Thailand (and the world) having the biggest, craziest, water fight ever (while drunk) then you can begin to understand! Try to picture a huge parade with tubs of water everywhere and everyone armed with big water guns or buckets, going mad at the biggest water fight in the world, with no rules!
There is a non-stop traffic jam around the walls, with people in the back of pick up trucks, on the roofs of cars or inside Tuk-Tuks (kind of like a three wheeled motorcycle with with a small seat in the back and a roof over the top – local taxi’s) and they all have a huge buckets or barrels of water with them and they squirt everyone as they pass, the people on the side walk are all doing the same thing to each other and the passing cars. It’s pure madness! Lots and lots of fun! Some people throw their buckets into the moat with rope tied to the handle, then just pull them up and splash away.
The highlight of the holidays for me was me totally soaking three completely dry police officers walking in the middle of the road like they were all bad! I did a run by soaking with a bucket of water from the moat, you could hear everyone at the same time yell…OOOH! Then all the Thai guys started giving me shots of they’re local whiskey! What a great time. One guy was shooting us with ice cold water from his car, then rolling up the window and laughing. I ran to the car, opened the door and all my friends (about 7 of us) all threw buckets of water in the car. The guy was shocked, but then he just yelled Happy New Year, and everyone started cheering! By the end of the first day people were getting pushed into the moat! Craziness! Needless to say I’m still having the time of my life, I feel like I’m getting younger instead of older.
I’m getting ready to do some serious travelling in a couple of days though. It will probably be the hardest part of my trip ( except for parts of India). I’ll start over land through Laos, head north to southern China, go north west overland through China then west overland through Tibet, then on to Nepal where I’ll stay for awhile. I’ll be in Thailand for 3-4 more days, then I get to travel again! I’ll be travelling with my friend Peter and two of his friends (Norwegian) most of the way, so at least I’m not alone for the hard part. Wish me luck, as I don’t know how to get into Tibet from China, and I don’t know anything about Northern Laos, or Southern China!
Tags: Thailand
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