Happy New Year!!!

Songkran!

The year is now 2550 and the Thais have seen their Songkran in with copious amounts of water. Traditionally the ceremony was to pour water into the palm of people’s hands. The aim was that the water would cleanse the person of negative actions and with the water, negative thoughts would also flow away. It was a way to purify. While pouring the water in this manner, people pass on good wishes and words of blessing for the coming New Year. The revamped version of this ancient ceremony seems to be full submersion in water throughout the day. Whether or not this means total purification is yet to be clarified.

Traditionally, children show their respect to elders by performing this water ceremony and as a national bank holiday, this means that in reality not only have the children of Khao Lak had the free run of the town, but that they have been closely supervised through the festivities; Today I have seen one father escort his knee high children around town; the children had mini water pistols and the father an oversized semi-automatic. The children’s attention seemed to dwindle as the day went on and by the afternoon it was only the semi automatic that was still in active use. I have also witnessed one attentive grandmother direct a toddler towards unsuspecting shoppers, who were promptly soaked. However, it is not only those on foot who were targeted. As the majority of people in Thailand ride scooters rather than drive cars, large plastic barrels of water were aimed at passing bikes. This was a rather successful technique as when faced with an onslaught of gushing water on a rattling Honda Dream it seems the only sensible option is to slow down. Others have taken to transporting the large barrels of water in the back of pick up trucks and emptying it at various points across town – or rather emptying it on various people across town!

Despite all the screams and hollers from outside, the shop has been incredibly quiet. It seems as though most potential divers prefer to be wet under the water rather than above it. Although we did have two customers today, both of whom left small puddles on the shop floor and promptly started to shiver, courtesy of our effective air con.

Traditionally scented water was also poured over the shoulder and slowly down the back of people. My only experience of this today was of sweetly smelling prickly heat powder which had been mixed with water to form a paste before being slapped onto my face. Paul however, did have water poured over his back, but this was ice cold water and was done so surreptitiously by the old lady in the shop next door. This was just as he turned around after ordering one of her tofu Pad Thais for lunch. Paul had spent the past couple of hours debating whether or not it was safe to venture outside in order to achieve this feat, and ultimately, hunger won at 3pm. His next exploration into the madness was armed with his waterproof camera…

It is now evening and the festivities seem to have reverted back to their more traditional roots, where Songkran is a time to spend with ones family. Either that or the torrential rain which hit several hours ago and is still continuing ruined the aim of the game, and has been equally successful at soaking the purifiers as it has the purified!