National Water Fight Day, ie Songkran

April 14th, 2002 at 12:00am

April is the hottest month of the year in Thailand. It’s pretty brutal everywhere. And there is no escape either – no air con mall to spend the day in or air con movie theatres or air con restaurants. Well, in Bangkok yes, but here in the south there are none of those luxuries. If I can just get through 2 more weeks of it I’ll be ok though. And hey, being on the beach in one of the most beautiful places in the world isn’t such a bad place to be dealing with a little heat and humidity, eh?

So. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! Or, in Thai, Sawadee Pee Mai Kah! Yes, ANOTHER New Year. It’s pretty crazy. The Songkran (New Year) celebration is a three-day event which started yesterday. Lucky for us in this heat, that the main form of celebration involves throwing water at everyone! And I mean EVERYONE! The Bangkok Post has been reporting warnings to business travellers for weeks telling them to carry extra clothes with them because they are sure to get wet on Songkran. Bangkok is supposed to be the worst – just complete insane water fights all week long.

Well, on Ko Lanta, we started yesterday morning at the Sanctuary, with an arsenal of water guns supplied by Hassan. A huge water fight ensued between the farang (foreigners), Hassan’s nieces and nephews, and the Sanctuary staff. Once we had completely soaked ourselves, we started looking for dry victims, and God help anyone who happened to be passing by the Sanctuary for an early morning stroll at that time! It was good fun.

But then the real celebration began. We all piled in the back of Hassan’s truck bound for Ao Nang beach, a 2-hour drive by ferry and road back to the mainland. And obviously Hassan has done this before because he already had 2 big barrels of water in the back of the pickup! Somehow we packed the remaining space with 2 farang (me, Alana, Georgie, Aili, Ranata, and some guy from Austria), Hassan’s sister, Din and Phu from the Sanctuary, and about 10 nieces and nephews, all armed with water pistols, water guns, and buckets, ready to attack. Hassan drove the car and in the front was Din’s wife and baby too! I still can’t believe we drove 2 hours each way with that many people in the back of a pickup.

As soon as we got to the road, the action started. They should really do away with Songkran and just start calling it National Water Fight Day, because that’s exactly what it is! There were Thai kids lining the road with hoses, buckets, and water guns just waiting for pickups like ours to drive by. Then there were so many other pickups full of people and barrels of water too dousing us with water as they drove by. Complete mayhem! Talk about fun though…and the little kids were having a BALL!

On the ferry we had water fights with the ferry staff and the other people in other cars too. Back on the mainland there were even more people on the sides of the road and even more cars loaded up like ours! We had to stop at a gas station to get more water and had a huge fight with the guys working there too! Everyone was totally into it. And they’re all just laughing – no one’s getting angry or getting into fights like they would at home. They also like to wipe baby powder on your face when it’s wet because it looks funny I guess so everyone has white faces by the end of the day. The cars are all white too.

We had to stop one more time just before Ao Nang to fill up and then we were ready. Every single car in Ao Nang was a pickup full of people and water and it was absolutely completely INSANE! There was not one person ANYWHERE who was dry. Phu was so funny – he would say Sorry! (in English, to Thai people) before shooting and practically knocking them over with the force of water out of his gun. Then he would say’Happy New Year – Very happy, all Thai people Happy!’ Every time. Other cars had made really cold water by putting blocks of ice in their barrels and oh.my.God it was SO cold sometimes! It was also really fun to get the drivers because they were all safe and dry in their cabs but anytime one of them opened their window a crack, everyone would start throwing water like mad. Then the guy would just laugh!

Even more impressive is that everyone is totally sober…all day I only saw 2 people drinking beer. It’s refreshing to see people having good fun without needing alcohol to do it. Once the kids get home to bed though, I think the adults start their own party. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a hot, humid day on New Year’s in April in Thailand!

Early morning water fights on Songkran

Its open season at the Sanctuary!

The road crew is ready for Ao Nang

Entry Filed under: Koh Lanta,South,Thailand