Songkran

the biggest holiday of the year in thailand was celebrated recently. it is the thai new year, called songkran. the holiday officially lasts three days, april 13-15, but everyone gets the entire week as vacation from work. since summer school was closed for the week, the school celebration was held on friday. the holiday is celebrated with water. it was traditionally performed as a quiet ceremony in which water was poured over each other's hands as a symbol of washing away the old year in preparation of the new year start. it has since become a country-wide water fight. on friday, at school, there was a school wide assembly that began with the traditional enactment of thai dance and water poured over the school leaders' hands. it then devolved into a water fight. the students had brought their water guns- it was impressive display.

i took advantage of the holiday week to visit pam and co. down in krabi. pam, andy, and ali moved down there at the beginning of march. i took an overnight bus (it is a nice 12 hour ride) down on friday, arriving saturday morning. and after a short time at the bus office, i saw pam, andy and ali drive up on their motorbikes. krabi is a great little town. apparently, it was quieter than usual due to the holiday- also i think many people changed their plans to travel south after the recent floods. krabi town was not badly damaged from the rains. much of the damage and scary stories were focused on the eastern coast and islands. after dropping off my bags at pam's place we were back in town for breakfast.

pam and ali are renting apartments on the first floor of a house. there are three small rooms, and a bathroom- but they came unfurnished. as of now, only the bare minimum has been purchased- so just sleeping furniture. that meant an adorable chaise lounge/sofa for me in the front room. it is definitely different than what i have gotten accustomed to in bangkok. there is no air conditioner or kitchen/fridge (which means we ate out for every meal). but it is a nice, basic residence. the first day we just relaxed before going into town for a nice italian dinner and wandering through the night markets. sunday we went to the nearby tiger temple. the tiger temple is on top of a mountain, and one gets there after climbing over 1,200 steps. ali and i took our time walking up (which meant a liberal number of breaks), whereas pam and andy seemed to climb up nonstop. the view at the top is incredible and well worth the climb. i was not expecting the awe inspiring cliffs spread throughout the krabi area.

the next day, we were off to ton sai for some rock climbing. we first drove over to ao nang, where we were able to get a longtail boat to ton sai. though ton sai is on the mainland, because of the cliffs and general landscape the only way to get there is by boat. upon arrival, we went to the hotel that they have used in the past, called the forest. they have simple guesthouses, complete with mosquito nets over the beds. after lunch we took a little hike/climb over to the neighboring railay beach. after returning to ton sai beach, we had a nice swim.  we left the guesthouses for dinner, and within minutes of leaving the shelter it began raining. the rain soon turned to a torrent. we took refuge in a bar along the path. we stayed there for about an hour, having some drinks and playing jenga. soon enough the rain slowed and we finally made it through the mud to utopia, a delicious indian restaurant on the beach.

the next morning we were off for our rock climbing. our rock climbing instructor, porn, was wonderful. after setting up with harnesses and shoes, we made the walk over to railay where we were going to be climbing. it was fun and challenging. i did pretty well with the first climb, but quickly lost the momentum in the next two climbs. andy, pam, and ali all did very well- reaching the top of all four climbs.

after the climb, we waited for a bit before getting a longtail boat back to ao nang. unfortunately, upon returning to the motorbikes we found that two of our helmets had been stolen. oh well, we safely made it back to krabi and got more helmets.

the next day was the start of the official holiday. just riding into town for lunch, i got a bucket of water dumped on me. after a nice quiet lunch in krabi town, we decided to head off to ao nang for the big celebration. the drive was a bit nerve-wracking. to begin with, the roadside was lined with groups of people with tubs of water and buckets who would try to pour the buckets of water over passing motorbikes and drivers. much of the traffic was made of pick up trucks carrying groups of people with tubs of water and buckets. these were throwing water on other drivers while in motion. the entire spectacle was so unexpected. we made it safely to ao nang, and parked on the outskirts of town. upon walking into town we stopped to buy waterguns so we could participate. i should say, we were basically wet through by the time we parked. it was an exhilarating and absurd experience. we walked into town trading water shots with the pick up trucks caught in stop and go traffic and groups on the sidewalks. as we went along, we were also marked with powders or colored substances (of the consistency of paint) on our cheeks and foreheads. it was a lot of fun. i had not been in a water fight since i was a kid, and it was a very exciting and good natured fun. it was great to see the complete joy and friendliness. there was no kind of malice or mean-ness present as people dumped buckets of ice cold water over our heads. the ice cold water was particularly shocking. after going through town, we turned around and began the walk back to the bikes. at this point the traffic was even heavier, and the street had turned into a one way street. so once we started the drive back we were forced to go back through town. the drive out of town was done by weaving in and out amongst the cars. we were moving slowly enough that people would step out into the middle of the road to stop us and pour water over us or brush the powder on us. as we were leaving town, it began to rain and the temperature dropped. but the water fight continued. we eventually made it back to krabi and showers and dry clothes. unfortunately i don't have any pictures as i didn't want to risk my camera. but i took some pictures later of us with our water guns.

the next couple days we just relaxed and recovered. there wasn't much holiday celebration in krabi town over the next few days, though i have heard that it continued through friday in bangkok. pam and andy got a badminton set that we played, we also went to a nearby park tennis court. andy and pam started playing recently and they are getting good. having not played much ever, let alone in recent years, i was not so good. but it was fun. friday evening i got the bus back up to bangkok. i was back home by 5 am on saturday- and i rested from my great week in krabi.