The Songkran Festivites

We finally made it to Khon Kaen, the third largest city in Thailand and the city just outside Anne's childhood village. The drive from Phuket took 16 hours which we broke up over 2 days. We stopped in Hua Hin, a cute little city on the Gulf of Thailand, on the first night at a lovely boutique hotel. We then left the following morning to finish up the journey. The reason it took so long to make it up here is due to the Thai drivers who, much like in Lawrence, KS, like to drive right next to eachother at speeds of about 50 mph. Michael, much like myself, was spewing typical Weinstein curses out the window and wishing he had an Ouzie to shoot them all down. Luckily, we made it without incident to the Sofitel here in Khon Kaen. Along the way we saw a truck full of coconuts with a gibbon riding on top, an elephant in an extremely lopsided truck, trucks filled to the brim with all manners of things from colorful mattresses, people and luggage, cowboys from Isann, etc. Sightseeing from our air-conditioned car was so interesting that I barely slept the whole way.

Yesterday, April 11th, was our first full day in Khon Kaen. We headed to Anne's village where we were to be the stars on her sister's float. The theme of the float was "The Farang" so all the Thai's wore colorful wigs and Michael and I just had to dance since we were the only 'true' farangs. Basically it was a heavily decorated truck blasting Thai versions of Western music with all the Thai's drinking super strong rice whiskey and munching on crispy crickets. I abstained from both and snapped photos instead. I know I said that I would be trying everything, but I have had some tummy problems the past few days and thought that the combination of the two might be bad. I still plan on trying them soon though, especially since little Jonah (who barely eats anything on a normal basis) loves crickets and ants! Michael, intent on impressing the judges with his farang moves, spent most of his time girating on the side of the truck. I think it did the trick though, as our float came in second place! Unfortunately, due to judge corruption a float from another village took first place!

We spent the rest of the day watching the dance shows given for the pleasure of the judges. First were the transvestites dancing to a Thai version of Cher, then some older ladies performing a local dance, and then the Thai traditional dancers. I have videos of them all and will post them as soon as I can find a website like Picasa to post them on. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The Thai New Year is originally a Buddhist New Year celebration based on the Lunar calendar. It is now commonly known as the Water Festival where roaming bands of people literally douse anyone in sight with ice water from buckets, hoses, and waterguns. The water was originally used to ritually cleanse the Buddha figure in the local Wat (temple) where every Thai goes on April 13th. Now, however, many young Thais no longer go back to their childhood home nor to the local wat, but instead get extremely drunk off homemade whisky and drench any unsuspecting passerby. When I say drench I mean that in the whole sense of the word: one can not even cross the street without being soaked head to toe. Luckily, thanks to Ertan, I have a waterproof camera case so I was able to take photos of the festivities.

On Saturday April 14th, we all jumped into the back of Anne's sister's truck with 2 barrels full of water and armed to the tooth with waterguns and buckets. We, however, had the disadvantage of not having ice water like everyone else. I, the good sport that I am, spent the first 5 minutes smiling and then every consecutive minute after that cursing under my breath whenever I was doused with cold, cold water. Since I am a farang I basically had a label on my forehead declaring, "Yes, please douse me with the most water you can manage", and so was the target of every Thai with a bucket!

I am now in Laos after a pleasingly uneventful bus journey across the border for under $6! Naturally today is the first day of the Lao New Year in which basically the same thing happens here (only they use colored water! AIAIAIAI!). Everything seems to be closed until the 18th so I guess I will just be wandering around trying not to get wet until then!

Sorry for the lapse in posts, but there was no easily accessible internet in Khon Kaen. I will also be posting photos within the next couple of days.