SONGKRAN!

So the last days of camp ended terrifically! The final day we did a Summer Camp Decathlon which involved 3 teams of 7 competing in ten different events and being judged on their team spirit, activity performance, and their response to a question at the end of each event. My favorite event was a blindfolded ball toss. Basically one kid from each team ran blindfolded about 15 meters to a cone where there was a bucket of balls, grabbed one, and then ran back to his team, and put the ball into a new bucket. It was absolutely HILARIOUS! The blindfolds worked flawlessly and there was no peeking through them. We actually ended up using dust masks. The way the kids flailed about on the ground trying to locate the buckets was so funny. Especially touching were the smiles and hugs I received at the end of the day. It was obvious that a relay race which I viewed as such a simple gesture could make such a dramatic impression on both the kids and the staff. Summer camp here was brought by British volunteers a few years ago, and therefore is originally a foreign concept. Many things that summer camp in the States is as well foreign, yet welcomed wholeheartedly. The camp is for the lack of a better word, edited each year by new volunteers, their contributions have enhanced it tremendously. Actually, noting from previous experiences, camp is generally a western concept, but when brought to other parts of the world, it has made a huge impact, and is always exciting to be a part of. Last week, we also said farewell to Mark the traditional Burmese way…Thai whisky, rum, beer and endless food. We all sat on the floor and “partied” for about 4 hours. It was a good time.

Last Saturday night, I met up with my friend Alex from Delaware, who is currently in Phuket and we headed to Bangkok for the holiday Songkran. Songkran, or the Thai New Year, is a three day holiday in which our office was closed the entire week. We took an overnight bus from Bang Niang to Bangkok, which lasted 13 hours. During the bus ride, we pulled over numerous times where the military checked out our bus. We had no idea what was going on. We arrived at about 5am where I woke up to the Thai news announcing that the previously peaceful red shirt protests had become violent, and at that point there had been eight deaths. Travel alerts were going off in all of our phones, and it apparently was not the best time to be in Bangkok. However, we checked into our hotel which was right on the riverside. From there, we were maybe 2 blocks away from the TV station that had been knocked down and we had a terrific view of the riots on the close-by bridge.

But, why get stuck in the protest blues? The red shirts didn’t, and we followed suit…grabbing our hardcore water guns, we fought to the near-death with our greatest opponents being those around 8 years old and other farongs (foreigners). Oh, but why stop at water when you can also massacre those around you with a mixture of flour, water and icy hot for an extra kick? The entire experience mimicked the typical college spring break in Cancun with the day drinking on Th Kho San Road. Red shirts, police officers, military personnel, children and farongs all let go of their prejudices while no one was spared when it came to Songkran. While in Bangkok, however, I did manage to get some really cool “culture” time in as well. We visited some of the most famous temples such as Wat Pho to see the famous Reclining Buddha and the Wat Phra Kaew inside the Grand Palace to admire the Emerald Buddha. During this, because of the holiday, all of the temples were filled with Thais performing sacred rituals such as offering food to the monks, and pouring holy water over the Buddahs. Each temple was filled with the spirit of Songkran and the never-ending Thai smiles.

One of the coolest things we did in Bangkok was ride a long-boat through the canals where people live. Our driver actually took us to his own house where we met his family and took part in sharing some beer and whisky. It was very cool to talk to the locals about Songkran and celebrate with the locals.

Following three days in Bangkok, we caught a bus to Chiang Mai for the rest of the Songkran activities. Chaing Mai was nuts. One of the days we rented bikes to get a good look at the city. We truly attempted to stay dry, but we 100% thought wrong. After four days of wearing soaking wet clothes, I think we all had a good case of what felt like diaper rash, and we were much relieved to put away our water guns.

We celebrated the next day by riding on elephants, “bumper boating” (which is white water rafting in the dry season) and a much needed massage at the Thai women’s correctional facility (it’s cheaper that way). Overall, Songkran was definitely an experience of a lifetime. The most endearing insight to Thai culture I gained was how everyone: red shirts, pink, shirts, cops, robbers, ladyboys and farongs could all find a reason to smile to each other during the holiday. It was simply moving.