Songkran.
Just typing that sacred word makes me all sorts of giddy.
Two syllables, one country, millions of people, what must be billions of gallons of water and five days of unadulterated bliss. In case you're dull and can't already tell; Songkran was hands down my favorite five days in Thailand.
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Though Songkran is a massive celebration,
there is a profoundly spiritual side to
the festival that can easily overlooked. |
Songkran is celebrated as the Thai new year and generally takes place between April 13th and 15th. These dates are more guidelines than set in stone start and end dates. In Bangkok the festivities kicked off a day before the traditional start date of the 13th and I had met up with Caitlin the day before to share the enjoyment of Songkran's festivities with my 'local' guide (Caitlin and I attended UMW together and she currently lives in
Chon Buri, where she teaches english as a second language. ขอขอบคุณสำหรับทุกสิ่งทุกอย่าง Caitlin!). We started in Bangkok on Khao San Road and continued north to Chiang Mai where we found the festival at its absolute high point. The further north we ventured the longer Songkran stayed in full effect. I do believe there is some isolated providence somewhere along the Thai/Myanmar border where Songkran's chaotic joy is perpetual. I'd like to live there someday but fear turning into an oversized albino raisin.
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April is generally the hottest period of the year and the celebrations that ensue are perfectly timed. Historically, solely Buddha images both public and private were 'cleansed' by Thais pouring a blessed mixture of water and a fragrant blend of crushed and uncrushed flowers over the sacred statues. The inundation was and is still believed to bring good luck and prosperity in the new year. This holy water was sometimes caught as runoff after it ran over the Buddhist and then poured over a stranger to bless them and this idea of soaking the people within your immediate proximity spread like, well, a flood.
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| 9am on the first day of Songkran, Khao San Road |
Today, Songkran has evolved into a four to six day (depending on where you are) nationwide festival that doesn't stop until it has run its full course. When you wake up, the streets are full of people wearing mischievous grins as they fill their water spraying apparatuses and search for their next victim. The latest I stayed out during Songkran was the first night, I made it until 4 in the morning when I finally felt I had caused enough havoc along Khao San Road and went to turn in. The streets were still full. When I say full I mean packed. This evening luckily found me reunited with a college friend, Caitlin, and we proceeded to drench as many people as humanly possible. We danced our way through packed streets spraying and being sprayed, bobbing and weaving amongst people of all ages and ethnicities.
It is impossible to walk more than 10 feet outside one's accommodations without getting drenched by beaming Songkraners. The overwhelming majority of Thai get off from work and proceed to swarm the streets on foot and packed into the bed of pick-ups, tossing water in every direction with buckets and water guns. Everyone understands the nature of the festival and happily get drenched repeatedly by strangers while doing their best to do the same to those around them. It is a joyous occasion and those with disgruntled expressions feel the full force of the waterworks.
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Khao San Road early on the second day
of Songkran |
Back on Khao San Road music poured from bars in every direction inundating the road in bass. The road itself had disappeared and seemed to become an amorphous strip that throbbed to the steady tempos that drove its convulsions through an auditory remote control. All around people were dancing and shouting and spraying water all over each other. Within an hour of my first Songkran experience I came to the conclusion that the festival is a seven year old boy's wildest fantasy; the water fight was larger than anything I could have ever imagined.
After an eventful evening laying siege upon everyone within a three mile radius of our hotel Caitlin and I were coaxed into heading towards Siam Road where we would meet up Caitlin's friends and enjoy a less Western experience. The moment we left our hotel we knew transportation was going to be difficult. It was 10 in the morning and the roads were, you guessed it, absolutely packed. Foam poured from giant fanned machines and makeshift stages had been constructed. DJs spun and so did the crowds. Caitlin and I managed to grab a taxi somehow and proceeded to spray every unsuspecting motorist that crossed our crosshairs. We were dropped off at the head of the road and wandered towards the massive rumble of a street so crowded it made Khao San road seem as spaced out as the outfielders in a baseball game.
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Caitlin and I attempt to weave through the dense crowd
on Siam Road |
Caitlin's friends were in a Subway refilling their waterpistols when we called them, so into the crowd we ventured. It took us close to two hours to walk half a block. It took us about 45 minutes to make it through the last thirty feet. Siam road was celebrating in full force and we had finally arrived! Siam Road proved to be quite a bit more authentic as we were close to the only Westerners roaming around the stuffed area. We proceeded to dance and soak and cheer our way around a small area based around the Subway (free refills; a surprising rarity) until we were borderline hypothermic. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Khao San Road for an early night as we would be catching an early flight to Chiang Mai to spread our H2O far and wide.
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| Reunited and it feels so good! |
With Bangkok in our rearview mirror, Caitlin and I ventured over four hundred miles north to the largest city in northern Thailand; Chiang Mai. We landed in Chiang Mai around noon and grabbed a
Tuk-Tuk into the city's center. After driving two blocks in the doorless, windowless oversized motorcycle we realized our flagrant mistake when our Tuk-Tuk had accumulated about three inches of water in it. We were drenched by beaming Songkraners over and over again during what should have been a fifteen minute drive but turned into a forty-five minute excursion to avoid the standstill traffic of Songkran. Water flew at us from every direction, it poured down from those standing in the beds of pick-up trucks, it flew in through where the door should have been from people on the street and all of this water came right back at us from below when the Tuk-tuk jolted into and out of motion. We were soaked, our backpacks were soaked, everything in that drive welcomed us to the complete joy that is Songkran in Chiang Mai. Finally, we made it to our hotel and were on our way out the door to get right into the swing of Chiang Mai's celebrations.
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| Traffic was backed up all around the city of Chiang Mai. |
Chiang Mai's old city is effectively Songkran's epicenter as the celebrations are magnified within the city center's well-defined border. There are people celebrating everywhere around Chiang Mai, but once one comes within a block or two of the road and canal that provide the city center with a definitive border the crowds thicken dramatically. Roads turned into parking lots equipped with foam guns and loud PA systems set up alongside them. Good music motivated our pliant trajectory and eventually Caitlin and I found ourselves dancing atop a pronounced median overlooking a crowd of thousands. Smiling Thais and foreigners sprawled out in front of us in every direction and we marinated in the ecstatic crowd's energy for a few hours before departing in search of some much needed food.
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| Songkran water warring party gearing up for a loop around Chiang Mai |
Caitlin had been to Chiang Mai before so she guided us to the city's outdoor market where we indulged in fresh mangos, seafood pad Thai, various meat skewers and Caitlin's staple: instant noodles. During this meal we would meet three fellow travelers who we would spend the next couple days with exploring the Chiang Mai's zoo and outskirts.
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Buckets and friends; Songkran
in a nutshell |
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| "Instant noodles are my favorite!" |
