I just have one word: WET!

Last week we celebrated our first Songkran! Basically it is the traditional Thai New Year celebration and it lasts from April 13th to 15th. Traditionally it was a time to visit and pay respect to elders, including family members, friends, neighbors, and monks. People would also go to the Wat to pour water over small statues of Buddha as well as Monks or elders. It was meant to bring good luck in the new year and also to wash away the bad (that part sort of remind you of a Christian tradition?) These things are still a part of Songkran, but the "water" aspect has evolved. Seeing that it's the hottest part of the year, people must have taken the "pour the water over the Buddha/Monk/Elder" to an extreme. Now it's a huge party for a week where everyone in the entire country (and a few surrounding countries) throws water on each other. Ever since we moved here people have been talking about how crazy this week in April is. Wow, Songkran did not disappoint. People actually stand on the street with buckets as you walk or drive past. They mostly target Motorbikes, but our Thai tutor told us to keep our doors locked because they will open them when you're stopped and throw water on you. We gave each boy a water gun and whenever we'd go somewhere this week they would sit in the back seat with the windows down and shoot at people. It was really fun. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the main days where there was practically a parade in the middle of the city (around the moat) where some people would drive and others stood on the side of the road - all throwing water. We all went down on Thursday and then Micaiah and I went again on Friday. I was able to get a few pictures but I mostly had to keep my camera away because we were constantly getting splashed.


The water gun aisle at Carrefour! There were tons more than this. I've never seen so many in my life!

As we were driving to the moat the traffic was pretty much stopped so we pulled off and then walked the rest of the way. We were completely soaked after about 3 minutes.

The road we were taking to get to the moat.

O & M having a water fight with a pick-up truck. The had just poured a bucket of water on the boys.

We love that everyone is just in their normal clothes. I know if we had something like this in the US everyone would be walking around in bathing suits for a week. Definitely an indication of the modesty of this culture.

This was at the Thapae Gate by the moat. It also seemed to be the place where most of the Farangs hang out. It was really crazy. As we walked to other parts of the moat it was a little more calm...what you would expect from Thais. Crazy for the Thai culture is still pretty calm compared to the American culture. But it was still fun to see the local people letting loose.

Soaked in the car on the way home. Sora was in the stroller the whole time. At first people mostly tried not to get her wet but the more she got wet the more people felt comfortable splashing her. By the end she was soaked like the rest of us.

Micaiah trying not to smile. :-)