Back in Bangkok for Thai New Year. 'Songkran' A celebration that lasts 3 days from 13th April.
The view from our lovely high rise apartment.
The view from the bath tub was great!
Songkran has begun and its water guns at the ready!!!!
The ritual for Songkran is to wash away last years shortcomings and look forward to a fresh clean start to the New Year. It has become a huge water fight. There are many 'Hot spots' throughout the city ranging from massive water fights to traditional boat rides, flower shows and a Miss Songkran competition. The one we chose was of coarse the wettest party! They close of the whole 4 km's of Patpong Street to traffic and the barrels are filled to the brim and lined up for refills. This is also the street where the sky train follows so if you don't fancy getting soaked you can watch from above although there is no guarantee some stray water will not find its way to you! Everyone was having a great time with no malice, just good clean fun. The rules stipulate that you must not wet monks, old people or babies. Other than that it's a family friendly free-for- all of freezing cold water!!!!! There were DJ's playing at various spots throughout the street which all added to the feeling of a New Year Street Party. This goes on for 3 full days. Most office buildings, banks and family run businesses in the city close for the duration and many people head home to see family during this time so the city feels less busy and traffic is drastically reduced. This makes way for us tourists to enjoy the festivities.
We had a great time. We thought it would be a good idea to walk home once we were finished playing in the street & so we could dry off in the sunshine! How silly were we as all the way home there were stations set up by locals just sitting waiting for us! I think we were wetter by the time we got home than we had been at the street party!
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