Thai New Years

Let's Get Wet
It's the middle of the hot season here. The oppressing heat and humidity generally sucks the will out of you. A reprieve is found in the Thai New Year, called Songkran, which is also known as the Water Splashing Festival. After asking around a bit, I decided to head to the central Isan city of Khon Kaen. Isan is not so busy with tourists and as a poorer more rural province, I figured if I wanted to party Thai style, this would be a good place to do so. How right I was, it's got to be one of the best parties in the country.

The official festivities lasted three days, but the water throwing (or playing as they say here) went on for about five. I spent the holiday wandering the streets making friends with Thai and expats alike. There were three main activities to partake in, and I certainly experienced them all.

The craziest by far involves circling the city in the back of a pick up truck. The beds of the truck are filled to the brim with both people and giant buckets of water. The goal is to get as many people wet without severely injuring yourself by doing something silly like falling out. It sounds easy enough, but I counted at least three time when i almost fell out, and all before i had one beer. While I managed to stay in the truck, I did not leave unscathed. By the end of the festival, all my fingers were nicked up, not too much damage. The water throwing was great, and since I was in a truck full of Americans we got lots of attention, especially when we were crawling through traffic, which was always.

Since it's so hot outside it generally feels pretty good being wet the whole time. But some malicious folk (in this case the truck of Americans) go to the ice factory to ensure their water is frigid. All in the hope of getting the maximum reaction possible. The result is always funny, as people scream and yelp once soaked with this water. It was much less funny when it happened to me, and once the sun was down, it was just mean.

Khon Kaen closed off a several block stretch of their main road, which was filled with stages for live, yet mediocre music, in addition to numerous street vendors. Strolling up and down the street was always a good time. When I was tired of walking, i would sit and watch the crappy bands, and the associated bouncing teenagers, or go to a large barrel of water located at the side of the street and get passersby wet. The highpoint of the walking street was the celebration at dusk. Everyday for a couple of minutes, the whole street, probably somewhere in the vicinity of ten to twenty thousand people did the wave. And then fireworks were launched.

Basically, it was a giant street party where everyone participates. As the trucks cost down the street they would be attacked and attacking those on the street, where hoards of people set up little party stations with food, music and barrels of water. It was all great, but I especially loved dropping in and playing with the various groups on the streets. It was great eating BBQ chicken and drinking whisky with some older redshirt supporter, and i also loved dancing on the street to a combination of traditional Isan music (think very bouncy) and American hip hop with some teenage kids, or just having water fights with little kids (I usually let them win).

What made this holiday so great was the festive spirit showed by all. I was approached to eat, drink and play by all walks of life; older protesters, middle-aged women with children, ladyboys, high school kids. The later in particular were in full force, it seems the total population of 10-20 year olds were on the street dancing and drinking. For a reason that I'm not quite sure, another tradition of the holiday is to put baby powder on your hands to pad other's cheeks with. It is an honor to have the powder applied to you in this manner and many were quite pleased to convey this honor to a bearded white person. Surely many of whom had previously touched neither. The biggest powder purveyors were once again the teenage boys who were clearly using it as an excuse to touch pretty girls. On more than one occasion, I saw a lovely young women descended upon by a group of giggling guys. All she could do in her defense was smile and thank them for the honor.

I'm really glad that i chose to stick around for Songkran. It was awesome to be part of such a festive celebration and definitely a highlight of my time in Thailand.

Attacked by Boars, Chased by Elephants
With Songkran over, I planned on heading over to Laos (I'm currently writing in Vang Vien), but since time is not at a premium, I figured I would head to one more national park before making my move. Phu Krudeung, is only three hours away and sort of on the way north, so it wasn't so much of a detour, plus after several days jumping up and down in the street, I needed some spiritual cleansing.

It sounded like a good plan, but I found myself questioning the decision during the first hour of my five hour ascent to the plateau. It's probably because I was a bit hungover, hadn't eaten for the day, started my hike at 2 and was walking in some major hot, humid stickiness. Let's just say the first hour was really tough. In no time I sweated out the toxins (my shirt was completely drenched) and once I got some food in me, I trudged up the mountain in reasonable time, actually feeling pretty good. Apparently, hiking in heat is a good cure for a hangover.

The camping site is huge, with tents and cabins setup, easily able to hold a thousand people. Once I settled down, I was greeted by a thunderstorm. I scampered off to eat and was finally ready for bed. Just as I was turning off my flashlight, i noticed a large shadow creeping around my tent. Two seconds later, that shadow, a several hundred pound boar was running into my tent trying to get in. I'm not sure what he wanted, I didn't have any food with me, but I was glad when he stalked away after his failed entry.

The next day I decided to head out towards one of the many waterfalls on the plateau, but I was blocked at the entrance of the trail by a sign which read, danger wild elephants. I was skeptical of claim and proceeded to make my way down the trail. About fifteen minutes later, I heard some major rustling in the trees nearby, then I heard some angry (i think it was angry) pacing. At this point, I turned tail and headed straight back for the trail head. There were wild elephants, and I didn't want to see them. By this time the thunderstorm returned just in time to completely drench me. Fortunately the heat had me dried off in no time.

Even though I struggled on the hike, was attacked by a boar, almost annihilated by an elephant, I'm very glad I went to the park, it was nice.