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Published: April 17th 2011
If you have never been to the Thai water festival called Songkran, celebrating their New Year, you might not realize how important plastic is. Paper and cloth will not do. Only plastic!! It is quite difficult to stay dry for the three day holiday unless you plan on locking yourself inside during its entirety.
Having played (yes 'played' as they like to say) in many Songkran festivals during the last few years, I decided to go and try to shoot some of it. I went the low tech route and stuck my camera in an ice bag from 7-Eleven. I figured what the hell....let's see what happens. I saw a lot of people with much more sophisticated equipment out there. And undoubtedly they got much clearer images. All I can say is that I got something different but certainly far from clear. The lack of clarity in the images was a bit disappointing but I will let you judge for yourself the overall effect.
My good friend Evi from Chile was in Bangkok so I decided to take her a walk through Bangkok and the various neighborhoods where the water festival was at its height. It was good way
for her to see the city when it wasn't crowded or polluted with traffic, noise and bad air (because many people leave the city during the Songkran holiday). Not surprisingly, some of the most interesting people and places were at the in-between spaces. However, the hot spots were certainly full of action. We started at Khao San Road (backpacker heaven) and made our way to RCA (the young people's nightspot)......Silom, Sukumwit Road and Thong Lo were in-between. All-in-all we probably walked over 20km. Most surprising was the weather, it was cloudy and cool; weather this perfect for walking I have never seen during this time of year in Thailand. Songkran usually heralds the beginning of summertime here.
For good measure, I spent the last day of Songkran with a few good friends on the outskirts of Bangkok in true Thai style, in the back of a pickup truck. (Phuttamonthon Sai 4 area) Unfortunately, I got very few pictures here because the scene was wild. Water stations with firehouses refilling large buckets, motorcycles whizzing around, loud music combined with lightly clothed girls, people of all ages involved in the action, a ladyboy brigade showing off, pickup trucks bumper-to-bumper for miles
and miles, ashen painted faces, and an atmosphere of festivity that was sublimely electric; I wish I had filmed it.
Postscript: In case you were wondering why the Thai New Year is different. It springs from the fact that many Thais still come from rural backgrounds and the rice growing season and the rainy season (both start around the same time) will be starting soon. About a month or so from now, the first rice crop of the year will be grown and in the case of many, the only rice crop of the year. It is also a holiday much like Christmas, Thanksgiving or even summer holiday in that families gather together this time of year. Many who come from rural backgrounds that work in Bangkok and other cities return home during this long holiday to share in common traditions with their families. For many, this is the only extended holiday they get all year and the only chance to go home, especially if they are working in the cities.
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elahbyu
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e.lab.u@hotmail.com
i love it!!!!!!!!!