Songkran Adventure: Thailand's New Year Water Festival - Part 1 of 2

Songkran Adventure: Thailand's New Year Water Festival - Part 1 of 2 by Doug Anderson

April is Songkran, the Thai New Year. Thai people celebrate three new years every year: the standard Gregorian one at January 1, Chinese New Year, and Thai New Year. Did I mention that Thai people like to have fun?

Songkran is also known in English as "The Water Festival". In the Buddhist temples, priests conduct ceremonies pouring water over people's hands while chanting a prayer.

On the streets, however, is where all the action is.

Tuesday

Today, my Thai assistant and I were out and about looking at hotel rooms, as my lease is up tomorrow and I have been looking for a smaller, cheaper place. We looked at four today alone, and that brings us up to 9 or 10 (I forget exactly) over the last week or so, plus innumerable phone calls.

While walking out of the parking lot of one hotel, I was suddenly splashed with water, and I don't mean a sprinkle, I mean a bucketful. I was shocked, of course, and then quickly realized that it being Songkran, I should have known better. My Thai assistant also got pretty wet. We walked about 20 or 30 feet, and all of a sudden, wham! Another bucket of water. Now the only thing you can do is laugh and try and wipe the water out of your eyes before it happens again.

We stood in the lobby of another hotel, and as it happens, there was a group of about 8 young people about 20 feet away, laughing hilariously, each armed with a bucket, a big pot, or a water gun. All of them were in their 20s, not kids, and all were soaking wet. Two were women, the rest guys. The women were wearing identical purple sarongs, and looked like hotel employees. They were standing on the sidewalk, watching the street. Whenever a motorcycle came by, they flagged it down, and doused the rider and passenger. Same thing for the 3-wheeled open taxis (tuk-tuks). All were drenched. Occasionally, a pickup truck ("ute" for you Aussies) would come by, filled with young people in the back. The trucks always stopped in front of the group, and they sprayed each other. Each person in the back of the truck was armed with something to throw water with, or squirt with. In one truck, there were 15 people, ranging from about 6 to 26, in the back. After a couple of minutes, the truck moved on, looking for another group.

This goes on all day, every day, for about 5 days, I think. This is the first day.

I saw one young woman who had two large, yellow water tanks on her back, and a hose leading to a huge plastic water gun which she held with two hands. In my day, a water pistol was a little black plastic thing that you had to refill every minute. Not these babies, though, she was easily carrying 10 litres of water.

As we were watching safely out the window, an elderly Muslim man with long white beard, white robe, and white cap walked by. Nobody squirted him.

Then an older Thai lady pushing a food cart walked slowly by, pushing her heavy cart, which has two large bicycle wheels, and two smaller wheels. She was already wet. She eyed this group warily, and sure enough, the two women squirted her.

I left the safety of the hotel lobby and dashed across the street to an ATM machine, where I got some more money. My ATM card, which had been in my wallet, was wet, but the machine accepted it anyway. After I got my money, I put the receipt and money in my pocket, and turned around. I noticed two young women, again in their early twenties, on the fourth floor of the building across the street with a big tub of water and a couple of saucepans, and they were letting fly at anything appropriate 40 feet below.

Just then two dark skinned men walked by the group, and they got squirted. I noticed there were a number of Arabic signs on the buildings, and realized they must be Arabs, although they were not wearing traditional jelabas, they were wearing Western clothes. They got squirted, not badly, but got angry, and yelled at the group of Thais. So of course they got squirted again. One of the Arab men then ran quickly out of range, but the other turned his back, obviously very angry, and walked stiffly away. So naturally, the Thais squirted him again.

And I was thinking, "How dumb can you be?" You come to a foreign country where the customs are totally different, and you get angry with the locals because they are following their traditions.

My assistant and I walked up the street, heading for the Skytrain station. We had to pass by another group of young people, and I discovered another part of the ritual. I had noticed that many taxis and cars were smeared with something white, which I first thought was bird poop, and then, since I saw so much of it, thought must be paint or clay. Wrong. Turns out it's just flour, and it's smeared on your face for good luck.

As we walked into this second group, one of the teenage girls tried to smear the powder on my face. This is after four others had each thrown a bucket of water at me. Everyone was laughing and giggling and having a grand time. A fifteen year old girl reached for my face, with her hand covered in this white goop. I quickly grabbed her hand, and moved it around in front of her face, and she squealed and laughed and backed away quickly.

Then I got another bucket of water from the rear, drenching my backpack and my rear end.

We walked on, and yet another group doused us.

At this point, being a normal male, I noticed yet another cultural difference. If this had been North America or Australia, all of the girls would have been wearing T-shirts, and none would have worn a bra. A huge wet T-shirt contest. Not so in Thailand. Everyone was appropriately dressed for a normal day out, and every one of the Thai women wore a bra. My assistant, for example, was wearing a business suit, and she knows all about Songkran.

Eventually, we made it to the main street, and my assistant squished her way up the steps to the elevated station. There was a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) nearby, so I decided to head there, as it was now dinnertime, and I haven't had an order of Grease and Cold Fries for 7 or 8 months now.

Four of the KFC employees were out front with a big bucket and small pots. All of them were in uniform, and yes, they were dousing everyone.

I entered the restaurant, and immediately started shivering, as the place was air conditioned. Outside, it was a hot 33 degrees C, but inside it was only 23 or 24. Being completely wet, I was cold. I noticed that there were two employees with mops wiping the floors, and that I was, myself, leaving a trail of water as I squished my way in. I made my way to the counter, where the menu is the usual stuff, plus a few spicier things for the Thais, and ordered my usual three pieces and fries and a Pepsi. I reached for my money, and had difficulty extracting it, as it was all stuck together in a wad in my wet pocket. The ATM receipt was just a blob of pulp.

When I got to my table with the food, I took the wad of money and dried each note with a serviette. Then I opened my wallet; I keep my credit cards and frequent flyer cards and some paper notes in separate plastic pockets. Each card was wet. The water had penetrated into the wallet and into each plastic sleeve. Amazing.

After dinner, I hailed a taxi, and made it back to my hotel without further incident. Once there, I literally wrung the water out of my clothes, and then decided to throw everything in the laundry.

So this is Thailand's New Year. Sanook mahk!

Happy New Year. Now quick, duck!