Happy New Year!

You have to love a country where NYE comes twice a year!

And the Thais certainly know how to celebrate. Songkran – New Year, is celebrate by drinking, eating, fireworks, parties and of course WATER. In some areas, Bangkok and Chiang Mai the celebrations carry on for 5-7 days. Im not sure I could handle a whole week of it. In Samui due to lack of water it doesn’t go for as long and I hadn’t realised it started on the 12th. So my second Songkran started me riding down Chaweng Beach road – the main “water-way” – where I had to stop a little way along to stow my belongings – wallet, phone, camera under my bike. I was very wet by the time I got home.
Later that evening Pan stopped by to collect me to head out into the celebrations. We met up with friends at ones shop where we had plenty of access to water and began throwing. Anyone riding or driving down the Beach road knows they will be wet by the end of it. A few Farang didn’t realise this but were soon set straight, they weren’t all happy about it. But its their own fault, when they saw what was happening they should have got off the Beach road and walked along the beach….. My favourite was the songthaws – taxi/truck things…. Many had covered the sides with plastic to stop passengers being soaked, but you could always throw it in from the back…. We got a lot of shocked screams from people who thought they would be safe and dry. Everyone is so friendly at Songkran, you could go alone and end up with 50 new best friends, just stop by someones drum of water and start throwing with them…. So a young South African guy joined us. I knew what he was after when after a few minutes he asked me where my boyfriend or husband was… I had to laugh; I should have told him how bad that sounds when he is a little older. He wanted to know my age at one point after asking about my family… I think he was a little surprised when I told him I was 10 when he was born. Most amusing!

The water being thrown is not the cleanest in the world, its fine to shower in but you don’t really want to drink it. A hazard of the event is having someone with a water gun spray it in your eyes… the other thing you don’t want it to have an open wound. Unfortunately this is exactly what I had and no matter how I tried to cover with waterproof bandages…. It was still very wet after a few hours. I had been to the hospital to have it treated but this involves tearing up the scab, scratching out the wound before applying the bandage… this really isn’t pleasant. So after doing this someone suggested I use some powder that is meant to help it heal. I still find it interesting that a scientist such as myself will apply something call Magic Powder to an open wound but…. Anyway it wasn’t water proof so I went home after a few hours to let it dry out. But once I was home I got a call from Dennis inviting me to a club – as it wouldn’t be wet inside I decided to join them. It was difficult getting there without getting completely drenched again but I managed. We were going to Q bar to watch the fireworks on the balcony but realised that Thais celebrate NYD more so than NYE so there were no fireworks but we had a few drinks to bring in the New Year anyway.

The following morning I went out with Pan and two Irish lads who she had befriended who were staying in our building complex. We threw water for a while before heading out in search of some food. After a lot of driving – most people take the day off – we stopped for lunch. No sooner had we got to the restaurant then I was drenched in water – Colin had spotted me, they were in a car on the way to Lamai with a whole truck load of people. He invited me to join them but I needed to eat. On the way back from lunch the heavens decided they would get in on the act as well and we got drenched – so much for the dry season! It was also a little windy making us very cold. On top of this a number of people have decided to add a little extra to the water – that being ice! After being drenched in ice water you are begging to be soaked my warm water. Another thing that people do to celebrate is wipe powder on your face, this is ok unless they miss your cheeks and get your eyes… this happened a couple of time but thankfully more often than not someone would very kindly pour water over your face immediately after, removing the powder.

On the way back from lunch we got a flat tyre so had to stop and walk, but this just involved meeting up with friends along the way. As we were stopped with friends at the beginning of the Beach road we saw a guy running past – everyone else is on bikes of utes – carrying a massive leaf, getting sprayed with water. I think he was off his chops…. He didn’t seem to be on the same planet as the rest of us. We continued moving up the road and met more friends at Solo Bar, they were playing good music so we stopped for a while. Here I saw the ugly side of the songkran… many farang decide that because they are going to get drenched that they wont wear very much. This is ok when they are people who take care of themselves but there are a number who just don’t care…. Here are a few I saw at Solo…

We continued throwing water into the evening before going home getting into dry clothes and having dinner. The Irish lads wanted to have a drink after dinner, Pan and I would have been happy to go to bed… but we joined them for a few buckets at Ark bar. We then braved the water again (only drunk farang still trowing…) and went to Green Mango, we stayed for another drink, but Pan and I were exhausted by then, my leg throbbing and Pan knowing she had to go to work in the morning so we headed home, us to go to bed, the boys to collect their water guns and head back out….

I cant arrange the photos so they will be in a randon order....

Attractive old men....

Dee getting water from a ute only to throw it back on the girl that gave it to her... Tourist getting in on the fun
Chaweng Beach Road

Another attractive guy

Games at Solo
protecting our drinks
Games at Solo
Pan and I
Pan and the Irish lads
throwing water
and another attractive guy...
gang at Solo
Chaweng Beach Road

Pan and Aoun
Colin et al... waterproof cameras are great but the lense gets a little blurry
Chaweng Beach Road