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April 17, 2005

First Hours of Songkran

As I came around the corner, waiting to cross the street over the moat, I saw a boy and his friend swimming in the murky water of the Chiang Mai canals. He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and watched as he was trying to climb up the steep, slippery, rock lined shore of the moat. He made it a bit further up on each attempt, but would always loose his grip and slide back into the depths. I admired his determination and offered him a hand as he clawed his way back up. He didn't weigh much and made it out easily this time. His friend seemed content staying in the water so I smiled and turned to go just as I noticed the bucket of water that had been sitting on the sidewalk near the boys the whole time. The only thing different now was that it wasn't on the sidewalk. It was raised over the rescued boys shoulder and with a devious scream of delight, he charged and laughed as two gallons of water came flying my direction. As I dripped off down the sidewalk, I forgot all about the mid-summer April heat and watched as the boy slid gracefully back into the moat-- waiting for his next victim to offer a helping hand, no doubt.

Later on...
The day started hot, sunny, clear, and hot. A walk through town changed all that, as I was drenched by little kids, big kids, beautiful girls, topless expats, sexy lady boys. Businesses were closed, especially the bookshops, and swimming pools were empty. The ancient canals of Chiang Mai were party central. As the hours ticked by, newly formed clouds grew big and dark, threatening even more drenching. How could I get any more wet? By the time my second breakfast was finished, chance encounters on the street brought all the friends back together again. We took a walk downtown -through and under gallons of flying water- to the main gate where the mobile faucets were set up for the sole purpose of filling buckets to soak passerby. Almost painful ice water from the beer coolers. Constrastingly warm water from the murky canals. All of it infinately refreshing. Some of it diluting my open beer... I'd better trust my immune system. As we stopped by a friends bar, the clouds finally opened up their arms and soaked us. It was a truely amazing show of human happiness and nature in syncronicity. Everything was wet. Have you ever had a water fight in a thunderstorm? Be it super soakers, hand-held pistols full of ice water, hoses, water bottles, or huge buckets from the back of a pickup truck, water was flying not only from the sky, but from smiling hands and their smiling faces; a genuinely happy and healthy drenching of everyone's stress, worries, frustrations, and negativity--all being washed down the storm drains along with the tar and oil filled road water after such a long dry spell. Happy New Year (Sabaai Dee Bee Mai in Thai) and good luck was wished upon us as we walked down the gauntlet sections of downtown, every inch saturated by a new bucket every few feet by smiling people, Thai and Farang. Nowhere else in the world can I imagine this happening so smoothly; it is a grand display of the genuine good-hearted nature of so many beautiful people; not to be missed by anyone who shares this sanuk feeling, this love of life, this carefree laughter, these smiles you just can't get away from... and this was only the first day.

Posted by Tom Bodhi at April 17, 2005 02:20 AM

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Posted by: Anonymous at June 9, 2005 09:19 PM

Posted by: Anonymous at June 9, 2005 09:20 PM

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