The Songkran water festival is probably the most famous festival in Thailand, though I hear that it occurs in Burma as well. I won't go into the meaning and significance here, but for a few days in the middle of April each year, it become very dangerous to go out on your motorbike past mid morning, especially anywhere near the centre of town. You are almost certain to be hit by a bucket or stream of icy water. It is a time to let your hair down and do what Thais love to do - have fun.
We have never celebrated Songkran in Chiang Mai before so I borrowed one of the utes from office and piled our kids and invited another family to join us in going out and joining the biggest water fight on earth. We filled up 3 tubs of water and water guns and headed out towards the moat, in the middle of the city. We thought that it would be busy but it was much more than we had imagined and we crawled through the streets for almost two hours before the we had all had enough. I didn't know that there were so many foreign tourists in Chiang Mai, hundreds and hundreds lining the street where this photo was taken.
The Christians in Burma I was told by the family we had invited, don't really celebrate the Songkran water festival in fear that it might be participating in a non-Christian festival. I don't think it is the case in Thailand but it is something to ask a Thai Christian.
One the tragedies of Songkran though is that there is much drinking and driving. 378 deaths and 3575 injuries this year according to one news outlet. They are mostly motorbike related.
We had hoped to celebrate Songkran with a Thai family but it didn't happen this year. Maybe next year when we hopefully know more people.
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