Wet n’ Wild

Songkran
Its the Thai New Year Festival and its wet n’ wild!

Survival skills required!  In order to properly document it, you must have

1) a resilient sense of humor.

2) waterproof hardware for your electronics. and

3) an ironclad immune system resistant to water borne disease.

(……only time will tell if we have the latter.)

Its a three-day nationwide water fight and its ca-razy!!  You’ve got to see it to believe it.  There is no white flag to waive.  No “Im holding a baby” or “Im wearing dry-clean only clothes” or “Im carrying groceries” excuse that offers you safe haven.

Nope.  Its just 72 hours of liberty to assault anyone and everyone with water guns, hoses and buckets of water.

Friends.  Enemies.  Complete strangers.  Its an all out war.  The attitude is jovial.  Boisterous.  No one seems bothered or inconvenienced to show up at their destination dripping wet.  Its expected when you leave your home during Songkran.   Traditionally, its something about washing away the misfortunes of the past year, but for us foreigners, its just a wet and wild party!

We made friends with the guards of our building who were all to eager to have 6 little assassins in their command.  They obliged by filling garbage cans to the brim with water and outfitting the kids with high pressure hoses.  We spent hours with neighbors on the street by our building hosing off cars, spraying down tuk-tuks and assaulting passers-by with water guns…..all who retaliated in kind!

Only in Thailand!  We love these people. this culture, these traditions!

Friendly fire….defending our turf against neighbor boys!

Even Gigi got in on the action!

We took a tuk-tuk ride around the city to check out the action outside our neighborhood…..and got DRENCHED!!

Kids said it was better than a water park….(and a whole lot cheaper!)

After a bucket of ice water thrown in our tuk-tuk….freezing!!!!

A little soggy coming home after our ride around town!