The Waterpocalypse; It's a New Year afterall

Last week, the entire country of Thailand was engaged in what I would consider to be the most outrageous tradition I have ever had the pleasure of being involved in: Songkran.

Songkran is the celebration of the Thai New Year.  But “celebration” is probably too docile of a word to describe it. I’d say “good-natured riot” is a bit more accurate. Whereas we in The States have one night of wild partying and New Year’s excitement, Songkran lasts 3 days. Technically. In reality, it lasts 5, especially in Chiang Mai. The official dates of Songkran are April 13-15, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week. People started celebrating on Sunday.

What Songkran essentially consists of is a 5-day nationwide water fight. The whole thing is somehow derived from a Buddhist tradition of purifying others with water as a symbol of good luck in the new year, but I think few people actually have that intention in mind when it’s all going on. During Songkran, people go around and spray, splash, or soak anyone and everyone they see from sunrise to sundown. People roam the streets on foot, ride around in the back of pickup trucks, or just stand on the side of the road with super-soakers, buckets, or hoses, dousing whoever dares come near.  It is literally impossible to leave your home for any period of time without getting wet, no matter who you are or where you’re going. Basically, it is a 10-year old boy’s dream come true. And I loved it.

As I mentioned, here in Chiang Mai the festivities are particularly ridiculous and long-lasting. Starting on Sunday, tourists, both Thai and foreign, began pouring into the city. My hostel was fully booked every night from Saturday the 9^th until Saturday the 16^th. The festivities really began in earnest on Monday, and in order to help you get a picture of what it was like, I should explain a bit about how the city is laid out: in the center of Chiang Mai lies the “Old City.” This is what you might consider the “downtown” area, and the most popular place for tourists to stay and explore. Observe this map:

The square-shaped Old City is surrounded on all sides by an old wall and a moat. On either side of the moat are one-way roads that go around the perimeter of the city. During Songkran, these roads are packed full of pickup trucks, which are packed full of people. And water. People have barrels, trashcans, and any other large receptacle they can fill with water, and they just drive around throwing it at passersby, other pickup truck passengers, and people just standing on the street. To make matters even crazier, you can buy large blocks of ice on the side of the road to put in your bucket of water. There is nothing quite as shocking as being hit from behind with a bucket of ice-cold water, and nothing quite as sadistically rewarding as being the one who is throwing it.

Where does all the water come from you ask? Anywhere. There are all sorts of public and private water stations, some of which you have to pay a small fee to use, but you will never have difficulty finding some. One of the most popular and inexpensive water sources for the general public is the moat itself. If you think using a public, unregulated body of run-off water with various creatures possibly living in it sounds a bit unsanitary, you’d be correct. But we ain’t Moneybags McWealthington over here, and you can’t argue with something that’s free! However, there is no denying that the moat water is not the cleanest, and one of my friends here got a pretty substantial rash as a result of spending the whole day being drenched by it, which apparently is a fairly common result of Songkran in Chiang Mai.

The whole week was fantastic, though it was slightly marred by a rainy day on Wednesday, as it made it too cold to enjoy getting out and getting soaked. The best day for my friends and I was definitely Friday, as my Thai friends from Bangkok where in Chiang Mai for the festivities. It was great seeing them, and to make matters even better, my friend drives a pickup truck. So 7 of my friends and I piled in to the truck bed with 2 trashcans full of ice water, and wreaked havoc on the streets of Chiang Mai, stopping frequently to refill with moat water.  

My one regret is that I did not get more pictures of this insanity. As I said, going out in public and staying dry are absolutely mutually exclusive, so it is not a very camera-friendly environment. I did manage to get a few pix from the passenger seat of my friends truck, so hopefully they will give you some clue as to the nature of the insanity that was my life for 5 fantastic days.

 SongJam: Songkran-related traffic jam

 Spraying water from the balcony. Coward.

 In the face!!

So in conclusion, I believe we should petition Congress to make Songkran an official National Holiday. It would also make the perfect college spring break. Just sayin.

Until next time, thanks for caring, more posts coming soon. Stay tuned.