Suksan Pi Mai (Happy New Year!)

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Morning all.

It's Song Kran today, the traditional Thai new year. Actually, the celebrations have been going on for a good few days now, and aren't likely to stop just yet, either. Song Kran isn't just about the new year, though - it's the celebration of the upcoming rainy season, and is also called the water festival. People celebrate this holiday by chucking huge amounts of water at each other. Trust me, when you're being carted around on the back of an open truck, you get a lot of water thrown at you. Yesterday was even better/worse. I walked into town, and was mercilessly bullied - victimised because of my race. I was absolutely sodden by the time I got half way. It's not just random members of the public - if you want to go to a shop or cafe, you've got to be prepared for the owner emptying a bucket of water over your head.

Still, it's all good fun, even if my phone, which I foolishly left in my pocket, doesn't quite work as well as it used to. On the way back to AFECT, I ended up falling in with a Thai scooter club, of all things. We drank Thai whiskey and ate barbecued beef (I do like the way people apologise for drenching you by giving you food). It all descended into a huge water fight - actually, more of a beer fight, by the end. I stumbled back after a couple of hours - really very drunk. But it's OK - it's all good on Song Kran!

A little more news - I've been to Laos. Just two days ago, I added another country to my trip. I may only have been there for half an hour, but still, it counts. You see, not far north from me is Chiang Saen, the town that's the site of the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos meet. The Khong river branches here into the Sai (seperating Thailand from Burma) and the Maekhong (seperating Burma and Thailand from Laos). We took a little boatie across the Maekhong, stopping in Don Sao, a small island on the Lao border. Just 35 minutes of market time, I'm afraid, but I paid my immigration tax. In fact, we were only 225 km from China, as a sign on the border proudly attests. Good thing they don't check passports though - by re-entering Thailand, I broke the terms of my visa. Tsk.

Life at AFECT is good fun. We've had a lot of free time since the Aqkaq Zahl festival ended, but I have been working sometimes. We're building a pig poke and chicken coop at a bamboo house up the road. Quite why they want to use five girls and me for manual labour is beyond me, but there we were, digging holes and carrying big concrete beams into them. The idea is that the locals are going to use the gas given off by the animals' waste as a fuel source. It should work, but digging the shit hole and carrying those things has left me with blisters on my hands - to add to the many insect bites. The mozzies have really been out in force the last few days - and there's not much protection from them in my little museum. (I'm sleeping in a museum - had I mentioned that?)

So, I'm tired, burnt, bitten and blistered. My hands aren't even the same shape anymore. But who cares - happy new year!

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