1st impression: wow. Absolutely, wow.
In Bangkok, Songkran is celebrated from sat - tues, with other districts either celebrating later or for longer (eg. Pattaya goes till about thurs). Saturday started off pretty tame....all locals walking around in their floral numbers...in hindsight, should of been sufficient warning. Bangkok seemed a little too quite...... (Like the calm before the storm!). You get the occasional squirt walking in the street, but that's easy to handle...
Bring on Sunday (which is the actual New Year's Day - 13/4/2557, or might be 2558 now). Sunday is (was) the day that the water fights hit full steam...on the streets, car parks, outside shops...even the friendly 7/11 had their registers covered in glad wrap (I'd call that a smart move!).but anyway...although it is technically everywhere, there are specific sections of Bangkok where it's 110% festival. The easiest way to choose which one to go to is depending on what type of crowd you want - more foreigners (farang) go To khoasan rd (backpackers), young/fun/crazy (Silom) or damn right loose (RCA). Naturally, I chose Silom. Best of all :). Now, what probably saved me from a lot more trouble, is that I went with a friend from work and his friends (locals). Made it easier! (And me less of a target...when I reached them)
As i got ready I sat for a good 20 minutes contemplating what to wear. In hindsight, I shouldn't have. I simply should of stuck with speedos. Or maybe a one piece. Seriously....
I walked to the BTS, slowly walking past some people with large water guns...I suddenly had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach......as soon as I stepped on the train I knew it was too late now. Squirting from a train to a platform? Not sure you are technically allowed to do that, but it happened. Who's cares? It's Songkran!
Anyway, fast forward a good 15minutes and train change and I arrive at Silom. First word that popped into my head is one that i can't write here. I messaged my friend on arrival and we arranged a meeting place...the challenge now was to get there (easier said than done!).
Now, picture this....a white boy walking down the stairs slowly..into a pit of wet, loud, screaming, happy locals. There's no point having a stopwatch as within 1 minute I had clay/mud on my face and was drenched by water pistols and buckets of ice cold water. Although it was FREEZING I smiled. This is crazy! I wiped the clay/mud off my face, only for it to be re-applied as i kept walking. This became a ritual haha. They say it's a sign of respect and apart of the tradition and I had to remind myself of that everytime someone caressed their hands over my cheeks, neck and forehead. Tradition....hmm..
Anywaaaaaaay. Fast forward and after meeting up with my friends we got our guns. Like, seriously big guns. 280baht each and probably held 1L or maybe 1.5L of iced cold water. BOOM.
Once you have a gun though you become more of a target, so it turns into an all out skirmish. Hustling and bustling through massive crowds, squirting people as they squirt you. If someone's dry, they become a target. Similarily, if a few friends pick on one person, about 15other people join in and it turns into a massive water fight. I may have started one of these..#sorrynotsorry
as you walk up and down the street there are the usual groups of ridiculously good looking people mixed with people who look like they have just been in a mud pool. And then there's the dancers on the podiums..being squirted with water pistols to thumping music and twerking. Seriously? Absolutely crazy.
At one point the police decided to drive through the crowd. Rookie mistake. Every officer became a target, as did the car. It's all in good spirits and I never saw one person yelling,angry or offended. Likewise, their was little to no alcohol present, so....a lesson for western society. Alcohol doesn't make fun .
I could keep typing for ages but I will just show you pictures. In summary, picture a massssive street party with the best atmosphere,no violence, thousands of smiles and endless positivity.
Happy Songkran! Xx
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