Songkran started in Thailand yesterday and before I tell you what we did last night, let me begin by saying that Songkran is an ages old tradition that begins with ceremonies in homes, villages and temples throughout the country. It’s a Thai, traditional, new year celebration.
We went into Hua Hin last night, parked the car and wandered into the melee. In some of the quieter streets, families with small/young children set themselves up with water guns and barrels of water or hose pipes. Everyone who walks past is a victim and is invited to fight back if they have their own water guns. If you run out of water, you are free to take water wherever you find it.
You will see some people, just a few, who walk past who are still dry. Well, like us at the start, we just arrived in town and had met no one so far. Dryness is a foreign concept very early on, however.
As you get further into the main songkran area, the number and intensity of stations increases. Very quickly, the roads and streets lose their traffic. Otherwise, anyone on a motorbike or in the back of a pickup is just fair game and they are in for a soaking. Many people set off in a pickup with one or more barrels of water and they set out to do battle. Some of the most uproarious sights comprise pickup v pickup or pickup v pedestrians. You can laugh so much at some of the battles that you stop breathing!
Who gets involved in this mayhem? Everyone who can get there. Young kids who love the idea of soaking an older person all the way to men and women, armed with serious water power who are there to squirt and be squirted.
There are people armed with small, medium and large sized water guns. There are people armed with hose pipes. There are people who are armed with smallish bowls with which they fling their water. So water can come at you from any angle and even from significant distances.
No one. Let me repeat, no one, ever gets angry here. You go there and you are deemed to have signed a virtual consent form. It’s all really good, clean fun.
Our kids loved it, we loved it, everyone loved it. We walked a long way to go around the whole water soaking area! We took towels and a change of clothes for when we got back to the car.
Is there anything not to like? Not really, except for me, there is one thing. I am a cold water coward and some people have access to really, really cold water. I had one full body ice cold water dousing early on and it took my breath away! But, this is Thailand and the weather is warm so most of the water is warm.
There is also the tradition of face painting so, as well as with the water fights, many people are there just to paint your face. Again, nice and friendly.
So, I was attacked by very young children with their small water guns, by women with their water bowls, with a seconds long attack by a hose pipe and by that iced water attack from behind!
Finally, if you’re ever in Thailand at Songkran, get invoked, you’ll love it! By the way, there were six of us in our party and five water guns: guess who had no gun😳
DW
13 April 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment