Thursday, April 18, 2013

Songkran Water Festival in Chiang Mai

Well, after a 12 hour car ride back from Chiang Mai, (and I say car not bus because I was actually in a mini-van) I am more or less recovered from the weekend that was Songkran.

Songkran is the Thai new year, and it is usually celebrated around the 13-15th or so of April, although this year, as is with most years, they start early and end late, adding on a day or two of festivities just for giggles. Sometimes the country side makes it last even longer!  For the new year, people flock to the streets dumping buckets and buckets of water on each other, using all manner of weaponry.  Sometimes it's a water gun, sometimes a water bottle, sometimes a water cannon.. anything you can think of to chuck water on some one else- it's there.  I imagine that traditionally this was meant as an act of cleansing, in preparation for the new year.. but as has happened with all holidays, it has become one gigantic block party water fight that gets the entire city from grannies to babies involved.

This past weekend, James and I met up with Sheena in Chiang Mai, the now undisputed Songkran capital of the world. We arrived super early to find our hostel to be a bit outside the old town, where all the action was happening, but to also be a small oasis paradise, with an insanely big pool, and free breakfast and wifi.  For only 9 bucks a night, I'd call that a catch for sure. That day we got right into it, and the water fighting and festivities didn't stop until three or so days later.

The main airline, AirAsia, had a booth near the main gate to the old city called Taipae Gate.  They had water cannons, foam parties, and a DJ, and everyone sprayed each other and cars which were passing through.  The water fighting was incredibly fun, and a great way to stay cool in the 100+ degree weather. However, the cold water that some people threw, that had literally just melted from a piece of ice was the one thing that was really not welcome.. I mean.. really.. have a little compassion people!  Luckily thanks to the one plastic bag I had with me, my camera and valuables were safe, and I was even able to snag some awesome photos and videos. Some people even put their phones in condoms, which actually worked really well! My camera wouldn't fit unfortunately...

Chiang Mai itself is a super cool city. The old part is surrounded by a well sized moat, and parts of a castle wall, which I assume to be the originals.  People were even swimming in this during the festival, but by the time the festival was more or less over, it had returned to its initial purpose. The food was great, and diverse -- I even got to have some amazing Mexican food!!  The people during that weekend were a mix of foreign and domestic which was a nice change and good introduction to the next Thai event I'll be going to, in addition to my upcoming home coming!

One really special thing I got to do was take a break towards the end of Songkran to go trek and sleep overnight in a longneck village.  They're the ones, as the name denotes who have the golden bands on their necks, similar to the african tribes who do the same. And yes, their necks are crazy long, sometimes scarily so. I was the only American in the group of about 20, and although I did get some slack at first for this, they soon realized I wasn't going to freak out or complain that no one was speaking enough english!  We trekked for about three hours the first day to a camp, and had a traditional dinner next to a fire.  Sleeping on a raised bamboo platform wasn't the most comfortable of situations but it was only for a night, and a pretty cool expereince, and I didn't get too many bug bites luckily! The next day we did everything you could possibly do in the mountains of Thailand pretty much. We rode and washed an elephant, we zip-lined, bamboo rafted, and even white water rafted, which was not so easy to do in the dry season when the river comes up to your shin in some places...

Returning to my hostel, and then eventually Nong Khai afterwards was a welcome rest from the eventful weekend.  I can't believe this is probably going to be one of my last posts!  At the same time I'm pretty much ready to go home at this point.. just the full moon party as a send off to go.  All the cultures have started to blend together.. I find myself saying falang and faringe interchangeably to describe my whiteness, everyones pointy hat with a pom pom on top is not unique to South America, Ethiopia, or Thailand, and I basically only just realized that Thailand drives on the opposite side of the road as the US... its been a long time since I've been home!

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