Bangkok

We happened to be in Bangkok when Thailand had it’s biggest and most important annual festival, the Buddhist New Years celebration also known as Songkran, or the Water Festival.  Supposedly celebrated from April 13th to the 15th, in reality it lasts a whole week, from April 9th to the 16th. This is to allow people time off work to travel back to their hometowns and celebrate with their families.

Songkran literally means moving forward and passage of the sun. In the Buddhist solar calendar, this takes place when Aries moves into Pieces. This is also the time when families visit temples, make offerings, and monks proliferate their temples. Thailand is 95% Buddhist and they follow the Buddhist solar calendar which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar used in the West. Their year zero starts in the year that the Buddha attained enlightenment, so it is the year 2567 instead of 2024.

We didn’t really understand the significance of it until we did a little research and asked some questions. Initially we started noticing all the street vendors selling racks of brightly colored, Hawaiian style shirts, along with racks and racks of water guns in every size you can imagine. From little palm sized squirt guns to giant water cannons. This is due to the fact that Songkran, the New Years celebration, is a giant water fight. It was not historically this way, but over the centuries this is what it has developed into, and is it ever fun!

Certain areas of town are designated by the city for the water fights to take place in. They close streets to traffic, allocate city blocks, parks, and the big shopping malls host water fight areas as well. 

After learning about it, Aaron and I were thrilled to take part. The water festivities kicked off at 11:00 am on April 13th, so we headed over to the Khao San Road area with our bright shirts and our big water guns slightly beforehand. The entire day turned out to be such an unexpected BLAST! We were walking down the street carrying our loaded water guns, in one of the designated areas, this one was for three city blocks. Nothing much was happening yet.

Then a young girl and boy ran up to us and gave us each one squirt of water on our midsections, said “sorry”, laughed and ran off. That kicked it off, we were soon exchanging “fire” with kids and adults alike. 

Aarons water gun soon crapped out, so he replaced it with one that held about a gallon of water (me too!). There were several “ammo” refilling stations on every block. These are vendors with giant drums of ice cold water where you could get your water gun refilled for five cents. Businesses also got in on the act by actually throwing full buckets of water on you when you walked by. Trucks drove by blasting music and filled with people soaking pedestrians as they moved up the street. There were live music performances in several locations, and just a lot of joy-filled people having a great time.

People of all ages, literally, and from all over the world got in on the fun. We carried on for about six hours straight before we had to stop and rest and get some food. The restaurant we stopped at had an outdoor seating area that was filled with soaking wet people. It was awesome. After eating we decided to call it a day for the water fight, but we got and received a few good shots before leaving the street we were on. The walk back to our hotel allowed us to drip off a little before entering the lobby. But they were ready with mops for all the wet guests returning to the hotel. The water fight lasted everyday from 11:00 am until at least midnight.

This festival really stood out to me because there were so many participants, and everybody just wanted to have fun. There was never anything mean-spirited or over the limits going on. I don’t know that I have ever been in a celebration that big, or that much fun, and everyone remained so nice! There was no type of aggression in the festivities at all. Families had small inflatable kiddie pools set up by their front doors so that even the little ones could join in the fun. It really was an all around good time and we are both so glad that we got to participate in it. 

This is one example of why we love Thailand. The people are so nice and polite. This is one of the few times I’ve seen the local people be not quite so reserved.

The next few mornings we observed families taking offerings of flowers to the temple on the street where we were staying. The monks bring in sand and build small sand sculptures of “cheddis” or a small, dome shaped shrines. This is also the time that children, of all ages, pay respect to their family elders, verbally and with visits, and gifts. 

This would be a great time to visit Bangkok if you’re planning a trip. We would certainly love to go back during Songkran again. If you’re not up for this type of activity, plan your trip at a different time, or stay inside because you will get wet!