Friday, April 15, 2005
Happy New Year
Songkran, from what I've learned, originally came about as the time to wash your Buddha. But Thailand is quite sweltering during this prelude to the rainy season, and it makes more than a bit of sense for Thais to spray water on all of their compatriots in mid-April. Chiang Mai is a rather ancient city, and the old city is surrounded by a brick wall in the shape of a square. Outside of that wall is a moat. Truckloads upon truckloads of Thais (and a few farang as well) drive around the road along side the moat with huge vats of water (many of them also filled with ice), buckets, and water pistols. Along the moat, are oodles of Thais as well, you continually fill up thier vats, buckets, and water arms from the moat (and also add a bit of ice on occasion). In addition, many of the participants are full of beer and rum. In a nutshell, tens of thousands of people spend all day engaged in what must be the world's largest water fight.
Yesterday, I spent the morning walking around, shooting people and being dumped upon. You cannot stay dry at Songkran if you want. Eventually, I found my way into a salon for a hair cut (which was no easy task, as most of the businesses in the city are shut down right now). The lady working there, while she spoke English, did not cut men's hair, so I had to hang out for about an hour waiting for some Thai lady to come from the other shop - but I got to hang out on the street corner and chat in broken Thaiglish with several of the revellers. When the lady did arrive, I got talked into a shave as well, and when we were all done the ladies invited me to have lunch with them - right there in the shop. The Thai people are so darn friendly.
After returning to my Guest House (very wet), I met up with Damien and Boom and had sushi, followed by a rather exuisite two-hour Thai massage. Then, off to the VW busbar and a couple of nightclubs. How Boom made it to work at 9 ayem is beyond me.
I am very content with my decision to come back to Chiang Mai for Songkran.
Yesterday, I spent the morning walking around, shooting people and being dumped upon. You cannot stay dry at Songkran if you want. Eventually, I found my way into a salon for a hair cut (which was no easy task, as most of the businesses in the city are shut down right now). The lady working there, while she spoke English, did not cut men's hair, so I had to hang out for about an hour waiting for some Thai lady to come from the other shop - but I got to hang out on the street corner and chat in broken Thaiglish with several of the revellers. When the lady did arrive, I got talked into a shave as well, and when we were all done the ladies invited me to have lunch with them - right there in the shop. The Thai people are so darn friendly.
After returning to my Guest House (very wet), I met up with Damien and Boom and had sushi, followed by a rather exuisite two-hour Thai massage. Then, off to the VW busbar and a couple of nightclubs. How Boom made it to work at 9 ayem is beyond me.
I am very content with my decision to come back to Chiang Mai for Songkran.
