Our First Songkran Festival
Living in a different culture means holidays are different. Sometimes there are only slight changes (Thais still celebrate Christmas by doing a lot of shopping) other times it’s completely different. It’s by embracing those differences that we truly get to branch out and understand more about the place we are and the culture behind it.
While most folks in America were prepping to celebrate Easter (probably just the egg-giving rabbit and not the zombie Jeesus) we were already getting drenched at Songkran. Songkran is the Thai New Year. Not to be confused with Western New Year, Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year. It runs from April 13 to 15, though we noticed that many businesses were closed from April 12-17. Thailand isn’t alone in celebrating the new year at this time, as countries like Laos, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia and others are also partying too.
What are the basics of Songkran?
You might be wondering why Thai New Year is in April. There are a potential backstories but it seems many circle back to ancient Buddhism. There’s a whole myth and folklore around Spring and the new harvest, dating back to the 13th century. Long story short, it’s a time to pay respect to elders and Buddha, wash away the previous year’s tribulations, and pray for good luck in the coming year.
The modern practices of Songkran started in the 20th century. Different regions of Thailand have adapted their approach depending on local customs and traditions. Some places have elaborate parades, others do fireworks and firecrackers, some even get elephants involved. In Bangkok, the main event of Songkran is the city-wide water fight that goes on for 3+ days. Streets are closed, stores are stocked with water guns, hoses are brought out, and chaos ensues!
Our Adventures
The local supermarket had a giant display loaded with water guns in preparation for the festivities. We loaded up with a couple semi-beefy units in anticipation. We learned later at the actual water fight that they were puny and inferior to what we SHOULD have gotten. Unfortunately even with maximum pumping, our streams petered out after about 10 feet. We saw folks who basically carried water bazookas that both sprayed a much fatter stream of water AND seemed to also keep their water ice cold. When it was 95 degrees outside, the ice cold water wasn’t bad, but it was always a bit of a shock to expect lukewarm and then end up with an ice dagger in your back.
Ready to rock!
We scouted a few different destinations, a lot of research said to go to the local tourist hotspot, Khao San Road. We had heard it can get insanely packed, like sardine can packed, so we opted to keep hunting. Our gameplan was to visit the local park, which had concerts, booths and other events, and then, if needed, walk on from there down the main street in our neighborhood, Sukhumvit Road. We weren’t sure how OK it would be to try to ride the train while soaking wet (we are both too polite for our own good sometimes), so heading to a far off destination was out of the question at least initially.
2 or 3 laps around Benchasiri Park netted some small waterfights and a few stealth sniping opportunities on unsuspecting children. It was definitely a good time, but not the buck-wild water war we were expecting. Some stage entertainment was starting to get going, but the folks watching the stage were basically just standing there listening to music and not participating in the water fight. Some folks say that if you go out on Songkran, even if you aren’t carrying a squirt gun, you’re fair game to get wet. Again, our politeness ruled out so we mostly left the unarmed folks alone. After a water and a passionfruit mojito pit stop in some bean bag chairs, we were not satisfied with this level of chaos. Onward!
Emsphere mall was a madhouse! The front of the mall was covered with hoses, bins filled with water, overhead sprinklers, and DJ (in a waterproof booth) and hundreds of people just going crazy. This is what we were looking for! The music added a whole different vibe and there was a tiered stage by the DJ that had little kids dancing their asses off while shooting their squirt guns into the crowd. It took maybe 5 minutes before we were both completely drenched! Pickup trucks would stop on the street and spray the crowd, even water trucks with firehoses showed up to soak everyone.
We ended up spending about 3 hours out and about and it was such a delight to see so many people just having fun and playing together! No one on their phone, no one smoking, just a big group of people celebrating and enjoying one another’s company for hours and hours. We only have a few pics because we only brought 1 phone and kept it in a watertight case the whole time. It was cool to see everyone disconnecting and just playing like they were kids again; we saw people with squirt guns from age 3 to age 80 just goofing off!
Next Year
Provided we’re still here next April, we’ve got a few items to adjust or try:
Wear goggles! It felt like some folks were aiming for faces and Thai municipal water is…not the cleanest. My eyes are still a little scratchy a week later.
Bigger guns! For a first year journey, our guns did OK. The people who’s squirt guns had double or triple the power of ours seemed to take it to another level; we’re about that life.
Expand our destination list! Not sure if we’ll make it to tourist-ass Khao San, but branching out a bit further in the city or maybe even experiencing it elsewhere in Thailand would be cool. The party in front of the mall was a good mix of lots of people but also breathing room and space so we’ll try to take that up a few notches next year.
Making a full day of it! I was dealing with some stress-related stomach issues, so alcohol intake was minimal (I know I said we made a mojito pit stop earlier, I drank water) and we didn’t go for any food out on the town. One of the great parts of BKK is the street food, so spending a few more hours out and about, eating and drinking while also partying will be nice.