Songkran

So the last week has of my life has been occupied by Songkran, the Thai new year which I'm assuming is Thailand's biggest holiday. Its the hottest time of the year, which I guess is a big reason why it is celebrate by pouring water on each other, or shooting it at people with squirt guns, whatever the case may be.

So last monday night (you know you're in thailand when they wait til night to have a giant squirt gun fight because its too hot out) we headed off into the city of Chanthaburi, about 70 km away, with 3 50 gallon tubs of water in the back of the truck, around 15 or 16 people, each armed with a few squirt guns. And yes, 1 truck.

As soon as we start getting into town, other trucks set up similarly start passing us, and so basically it turned into a bunch of drive by shootings, except with squirt guns. Once in town, probably every other car was involved, as well as people driving around on motorcycles, usually in pairs with the person in the back holding the squirt guns. There were stations where people were refilling tubs of water, as well as selling giant ice blocks so that everyone's water could be nice and freezing cold. I'm not sure that the picture here does justice to how bad this messes up traffic. We were there til 1 in the morning. Oh, and people played loud music which quickly turned in to dance parties in the middle of the street.



Also a big thing in Thailand is putting baby powder on your face to help cool off, so some people would go around with baby powder spreading on people's faces. The police officers were covered in the stuff. I had trouble getting a good picture. My little point and shoot water proof camera with water on the lens taking pictures at night with bright lights everywhere isn't the best.

This is our group. If any peace corps people read this, don't worry, I was being entirely safe about my riding in the back of a truck activities, I got into the front when we went down the highway at 140km/hr. Most of the time in the city we were parked anyway. Oh, and kid in the red shirt is named Fook. He lives right next to me, and can open a beer bottle with his eye socket. Also rides a bike like a pro.

The rest of the week was more relaxing, we went on this house boat trip in the neighboring Jangwatt where we played cards, drank wine coolers, and sung karaoke... Which sounds a little odd I guess, but karaoke is really popular in thailand, and completely heterosexual guys drink wine coolers without even thinking about it. I went on a few bike rides, which were never too hot since people were throwing water and baby powder on me the whole time. Riding long distances soaking wet is a little tiring though.

Anyways, hope you're all doing well, give me a shout (or email?) sometime if you want to hear more.