Super Soaked at Songkran (สงกรานต์)

For us (as in Westerners), December 31st is the date that marks the end of one year and the beginning of the next by getting completely hammered and forgetting all the crappy things that happened to us over the past 12 months. For Thais however, they have a much more traditional and beautiful outlook on the end of the year. Known as Songkran, which derives from the Sanskrit word for "Astrological Passage", this three day celebration rings in the new year and is celebrated with mass street parties, food, music, and LOTS OF WATER.

All ready for Songkran!

Held between the 13th and 15th of April each year, Songkran sees Thailand come to stand still. Everyone heads back to their home provinces (as if it was a Thai Thanksgiving of sorts) to be with their families and will party, feast, and enjoy festivities for the following 72 hours. This is perhaps my favourite holiday I have witnessed so far whilst in Thailand; not just because I got to celebrate it with my best friend Harriet, but because it was the one holiday that I have truly felt special to be part of something so uniquely Thai.

After coming back from Chiang Mai, which I have learnt is the place to be for Songkran, Harriet and I headed back to my home sweet home of Korat to see in the New Year. What was nice about staying home for it is that I got to bow in and out of it as much as I wanted, I was familiar with the surroundings, and I got to see other friends and my students throughout the celebrations! A massive plus for me is that Korat is not really tourist central...far from it in fact, so it was really nice seeing a true Thai celebration being celebrated by Thais!...not just by a bunch of drunk westerners running around with water guns acting like its some sort of mass battle...

Celebrating Day One of Songkran with First and Harriet.

Oh yes, the WATER. The most important part of the festival. The water (ice cold at times!) is thrown over you to represent a cleansing of all the bad things that had happened to you and to wash away all of the sins you committed in the past year and to start afresh. In addition, many people would come up to you and put (ok, more like caress) powder onto your face, which I believe stems from chalk that is used by Monks when they bless people. It was a very surreal and exciting experience. Strangers in floral Hawaiian shirts (how ironic) would constantly come up to me and throw water, rub powder on me, and wish my Happy Songkran; it in no way felt invasive or callous - I really felt welcomed to the celebration which I really had no idea about. The first day was spent with my friend, who's appropriately named First! We hung out near his Grandmother's restaurant and threw buckets of ice cold water at passers by, drank lots of free beer, and danced in the street. Korat has shut off a massive section of its downtown area, and although cars and bikes still passed through, pedestrians swarmed the area and made a 5 minute journey into about a half hour/hours trip. Due to Harriet and I being exhausted from our trip, we decided to bow out early that day and take a break for the rest of the night.

Korat came to a standstill to celebrate this giant water festival!

On the second day, I decided to venture out mid afternoon with Grace to what was utter choas in Yamo; The usually empty had been transformed into a giant pool full with water shooting from practically every direction thanks to a massive party that was being hosted by Pepsi. Grace and I got into the full swing of things -- jumping into the pool and dancing to trashy EDM. On the way home, Grace and I were yet again bombarded by Thais who were just in awe of the fact that white people were walking past their homes, I was offered multiple glasses of whisky, and (as always) asked to be in photos upon photos. As tiring as those two days were, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

"I'm soaked!" doesn't come close...

The last day of Songkran was spent going back to Bangkok to take Harriet to the Airport. But, I am thankful for that as I don't think I could have handled Bangkok Songkran as all I wanted to do was eat Mexican food and sleep haha.

As I FINALLY finish off this post, Summer School is now finally coming to a close and that means I finally get to enjoy what is left of my summer break. The last week has been spent preparing exams for the children, a field trip to the zoo with all my students (super fun!) and preparing for the last day of school this coming Friday where Grace and I have been "chosen" to sing John Denver's "Country Roads"...yikes.
But more importantly, I'll be turning 24 this Sunday (May 3) so I'm really excited as the prospect of ringing in my birthday in Bangkok with some friends! Fingers crossed I will have some money to do so as my trip with Harriet left me completely skint! Haha. So here's to the next few weeks of adventures, travels, and celebrations. I (promise I) will keep y'all posted.

 

When Harry Met...Thailand

Apologies for the length of this post - we did do a ton of things on this trip! But, due to my memory being atrocious (and okay, just being lazy too I guess), this is all I could come up with.

My Ride or Die Girl.

Since booking her flights in December, I have been waiting anxiously for the day to come where my best friend, Harriet, would come to visit me in Thailand for a fortnight. After spending the first 36 hours in Bangkok allowing Harry to adjust to the time difference (which essentially involved her sleeping in for most of the day or watching X-Men reruns whilst I ventured out constantly and got her food, drink, or any medication she needed...), we heading to our first stop; Koh Phangan.

Harry had decided to treat us whilst on this first leg of the trip and booked us into a 5 star hotel on the North East side of the island, away from all the "Full Moon" craziness. This hotel, called the Salad Buri Resort and Spa, was in a stunning location and boasted its own private beach. When we arrived there that evening, we were treated to a sunset view from our room balcony and it was just beautiful; the sky was splashed with beautiful warm pastel colours with the sun just peaking over the hillside that surrounded the resort; I knew this was going to be the best that it got accommodation wise, so Harriet and I just soaked it all in for all its worth.

The stunning view from our hotel room in Koh Phangan.

We spent practically the entirety of the next day lounging by the pool and overlooking the private beach. I must have moved about 3 or 4 times the entire day, and in the naive state I was in, thought I would be fine lathering myself in SPF 30...I was wrong; I really should have learnt from when I was in Malaysia last summer but alas, the actual consequences of my actions didn't hit me until later that day, when my legs, face, and head turned more red as the night fell. Unfortunately, our paradisaical trip turned a little sour after that night. Harriet and I went to dinner at this burger joint not too far from our hotel. We both agreed that the food was delicious but just a few hours after, Harriet's stomach decided it had changed its mind. And then the night from hell ensued where we were cleaning up puke, on a tiled floor, at midnight, in a five star hotel...I will spare you from the rest of the details to avoid images in your head. But yeah...not the best of starts to our trip, but it was safe to say that Harry would definitely play safe with food from now on.

After our short trip to Phangan, we then made the long-ass trip over to Phuket, where we would stay for a further 2 nights. Our first full day there consisted of taking a tour over to Koh Phi Phi where I thought we would get the opportunity to explore Maya Bay which, apart from seeing me, had been the main reason of Harriet coming over to Thailand. Unfortunately (well, actually more bittersweet-ly), we just ended up going straight to Phi Phi and spending 3 or 4 hours there. But, we were definitely not disappointed; Phi Phi was mesmorising. It was like something out of a dream; the white sands, the crystal blue waters - it was just so relaxing and really gave Harriet and I time to not have to think about...anything really.

The gorgeous Phi Phi Islands.

We flew back to Bangkok the following night, and decided to use the filler day to explore the temples. Unfortunately, with our sunburns and exhaustion from our constant travelling, the heat got the best of us and we ended up touring the temples for a couple of hours and then heading back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the day. Looking back on it now, I think that was beneficial because the following day we heading out to Chiang Mai. Out of all the places on the itinerary, I was most looking forward to Chiang Mai; I had heard great things about it from friends and I was excited to get my first glimpse of the Thai New Year festivites, known as Song Kran (will talk about that in another blog post.)

Chiang Mai was just as beautiful as I expected. There was more of a calmer vibe there compared to other places I had visited in Thailand, especially on this trip. The city was nestled with cute coffee shops and restaurants and accompanied by stunning temples that were dotted around the city. We spent our only full day there exploring some of these beautiful temples and at the same time, trying to avoid other obnoxious Westerners throwing water at us...(even though Songkran officially started the following Monday). Unfortunately we didn't get to see what is renowned as the best temple in Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep, but I will save that for next time. The temples we did see, however, were just as beautiful. Our evenings though were filled with exploring the Night Bazaar and being astonished with my lack of will power in not buying everything I saw. I bought tons of gifts for my family and a water gun ready for Songkran (without really thinking HOW I was going to get it back on the plane.)

Chiang Mai was just beautiful.

What I loved about this trip with Harriet, is that all the places we went to was experienced for the first time for both of us. It was tiring to travel to so many places but an amazing experience none of the less. Additionally, it was cool for Harriet to get a glimpse of what Thailand has to offer - which is SO much more than just the beaches. After Chiang Mai, we took the long trip back to Korat and celebrated Songkran. But I'll talk about that later.

Thanks Harriet for an amazing trip! It was so good to see you and I had the best time! Hope to see you when I'm back home in the UK...whenever that may be...