April 13, 2008
Koh Tao, Thailand--Sairee Beach
While shopping in town, Donielle and I noticed that several Thai vendors were selling super soaker water guns of all sizes. It dawned on us at that moment that the famous Thai holiday of Songkran was only days away. Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year, starts on April 13 every year and lasts for 3 days. In Thailand it is typically know as the "Water Festival" as people believe that water will wash away bad luck. Historically you and old Thais joyfully splash water on each other in celebration. However as with many traditions it has evolved into something more.......A full fledged water fight!
Deciding that we wanted to join in on the fun we purchased our super soaker (opting for the medium size as we couldn't bring ourselves to spend $20 on a jumbo size that we would use for only one day and would have to leave behind and we couldn't possibly defend ourselves with a child size one). We thought we could simply share one gun---one person shoots and the other takes cover. The morning of the festival we headed out for breakfast without our super soaker figuring that it was unnecessary at such an early hour. We were wrong! Within minutes we were ambushed by Thais on the beach with water guns, buckets of water (some mixed with talcum powder or "prickly powder" as it is labeled in Thai stores) and kids with spray hoses. We soon realized that every path towards breakfast resulted in us getting soaked and there was no option but to take the most direct route. After drying off during breakfast we headed back to our room to get our water gun. At this point almost everyone was out on the street with squirt guns and it was impossible to walk more then 10 feet without getting shot and soaked. Back at the hotel room, we realized one gun would not suffice so I improvised a couple of additional weapons by cutting up our bottled water containers and turning them into small buckets. The rest of the day was exciting with full scale water fights in the streets where Koh Tao residents would ride around in pickup trucks with barrels of water dousing celebrants, and merchants retaliating with garden hoses from their shops. Everyone was celebrating from old to young. After hours of getting soaked we returned to our bungalow. As I walked in I looked at Donielle and I knew she felt the same as me.....it was like we were kids again getting back from a neighborhood squirt gun fight.
Not a bad way to celebrate the new year, though i think it would be difficult to import this tradition to America.....it's a little colder in January!
~Jon
April 13, 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment