Surviving SongKran & Bike Week?

The past two weekends have been very busy indeed, first another Water Festival has come and gone, were you able to survive the weekend’s water fight on Soi Bangla?  How is your wrist watch working, any problems after getting soaked as you walked down the street?  No problems while you were driving from place to place in Patong, a bucket of water in the face can be very dangerous if you are driving a motorbike.  Were you able to find and purchase an adequate water gun to deliver a nice stream of water or were you one of the unlucky people who had the guns with the weak streams, ensuring you always got the worse of any duels?  And just when you thought it was safe to go out again in dry clothes, there was a die hard soul that insisted on carrying Songkran that extra mile.  I know there were some that chose to start a day early, I got wet on my way home late Thursday afternoon, even though I tried yell “mai Ow” (meaning not want).  Were you one of those hardy souls that play well into the night on Friday, wondering up and down Soi Bangla, both getting wetter and wetter as you repeatedly reloaded your water gun at 10 bath a refill.

I am wondering how many people like myself forgot that Monday was a national holiday as far as the government offices were concerned.  I ventured over to Phuket Town from Patong early Monday morning in an attempt to get in and out of Immigration quickly, only to be met by closed doors and a sign telling me the obvious that the offices were closed for the Songkran holiday.  OH Well, what is a little gas wasted on a nice Monday morning.

How many of you actually observed the true meaning of Songkran and visited a temple?  Did you get the traditional blessing from the monks?  Perhaps you as a foreigner, went with your beautiful Thai “girlfriend” on Sunday out of respect.

So you made it through Songkran and your wardrobe is finally dried out when the peace and quiet of the day is broken by roar of big motorcycles descending on Phuket from all over southeast Asia, such as Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam as well as expats from Holland, Canada, England and the USA.  Some of you may have noticed that several clubs actually came to Phuket on the original dates of the Phuket Bike Week, driving around Patong with a special police escort. 

For those of you that braved the frequent rain storms that marred the festivities were treated to a rare display by the Royal Thai Navy and marines as they demonstrated their skills by storming Patong Beach using smoke grenades and firing blanks to simulate a real amphibious assault.

The scheduled Beauty Contest and Tattoo Contest were fit in between rain storms, picking the most beautiful Phuket lady along with the most colorful, spectacular tattoo.  Notice the interesting choice of outfits the contestant in the beauty pageant.

All of you that made the effort and dodged the rain drops to look at all of the spectacular big bikes that were on display were rewarded with some great bikes.  Along with some beautiful women adorning the bikes.

Luckily, the gods decided their continued celebration of Songkran was on hold for Sunday afternoon, allowing the tree planting along Beach Road to take place, plus the big ride around Phuket to celebrate togetherness.

Grab your raincoats – Songkran is almost here!

Yes it has been a year since we celebrated Songkran, 2011, so get ready to do it again.  This year the celebration often referred to as the Water Festival is from Friday, 13th April through Sunday, 15th April. But since it is a national holiday in honor of Thai New Year many businesses will be closed giving their employees a long weekend that actually lasts until the 17th of April.  For those of you that have celebrated Songkran in Patong before, you know what to expect, so don’t complain when you find yourself soaked to the bone on your way to the store.  For those first time participants let me try to explain a little about what to expect during the several days that we celebrate Thai New Year, which is what Songkran means.  The best way I can describe the Songkran celebration in Patong is say that it a water gun fight to end all water gun fights that lasts the first two days.  Now it goes on all over the island so if you are traveling about other parts of Phuket during this period, be prepared to get wet.

Patong Beach is the epicenter of the celebration, thus if you are in Patong Friday the 13th or on Saturday the 14th, you will get wet and not just a little wet, but you will be soaked by people with all manner of water guns, buckets of water and all manner of containers so they can dump water on passers by.  If you want to take part in the celebration, first buy a squirt gun from one of the hundreds of vendors along the streets or that are sold in all the stores.  Next, fill your wet gun and head to Soi Bangla where most people like to wonder up and down squirting each other.  Don’t worry about running out of water, there are vendors with barrels of ice cold water that will happily refill your water gun for only 10 baht, but be prepared to get squirted and have ice cold water dumped on you as you wait to refill.  It is all great fun for everyone, although some people, mainly foreigners, do tend to go a bit overboard with very powerful squirt guns, so do be careful. Even the police are not immuned from getting soaked

You will not only get wet, but many Thai’s will cover you face with white powder as a sign of good luck and Buddha’s blessing.  So don’t be surprised when one person is dumping a bucket of water over you, while another is rubbing powder on your cheeks.

You may be asking how did the Songkran/Water Festival/Thai New Year Celebration evolve into this huge water gun fight?  So let’s look at the history of the celebration, the Thai people have celebrated Songkran for centuries to honor the “New Year” based on the Sun passing into a new astrological sign, in this case Aries.  You will be interested to learn that Songkran actually comes from a Sanskrit word, Songkhla, which means the movement or passing of the Sun into a new astrological sign.   Water has always been a important part of the celebration showing the main focus of happiness in the new year,   On the morning of Songkran Day the Thai people will give alms to Buddhist monks, bath Buddha images and pour water onto the hands of the elderly and most respected members of the community.  Following these solemn proceedings, it was customary for young Thai girls to throw water on each other in celebration and it from this practice that today’s huge water celebration has evolved.  The Grand Songkran Festival is celebrated in 13 provinces throughout Thailand in a variety of ways, with the largest being in Bangkok.

It is up to you whether you participate in Songkran and to what degree, but if you are looking for a good time with lots of good natured fun, load up you water guns and join in the celebration.  But don’t forget the solemn side of Songkran since it is probably one of the most important events on the Thai calendar.