Songkhran, Festival of Water, Thai New Year's celebration: Everyone here in Chiang Mai, where the celebrations are considered the most enthusiastic, eagerly anticipates Songkhran. Officially celebrated this year on April 13, 14, and 15, the people can't wait to get started, so some say it'll start as early as Monday, April 11. Once started, they can't bear stopping, so some say it'll go on until as late as April 18. A week of Songkhran!
By the way, you are probably asking just what the celebration consists of? What do the people do? Simple: They throw water on everyone in sight! They tell me that I won't believe how enthusiastically the Thais throw, dump, spray, and shoot water on perfect strangers, especially foreigners. Here is a people who whai (bow reverently to another with hands pressed together, fingers up) to everyone they make eye contact with, now drenching the otherwise referent objects of their attention!
Songkhran is coming! And I'll be right in the middle of it. Literally. On May 14 I will be moving from my present guest house to another guest house across the city. People say I'm crazy, but that's not new to me!
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