SongKran!!!

It's here! Finally!  It's been the most anticipated week of my being here.  Everyone has mentioned and promoted Songkran and it's finally here!  It's seriously the entire nation of Thailand participating a water fight.  I know I know, it sounds funny and weird, but it's actually really fun and amazing, except for the drunk people, that part's a little scary.

I'll try and paint a little picture of what my day was like today, but I have a feeling that words won't be able to describe all the fun I had, so my pictures and words will have to work together.  Walking through the streets is like walking through Best Buy's music center.  It's very loud and very fun.  It makes you want to dance, kinda.  People are all stationed around water bins ready to aim and fire at any people walking by.  People of all ages and sizes are targets on the streets.  It's like an army field, you always have to be prepared and watching your back, you don't know who will get ya!  

Walking to the park was difficult, we were trying our best to avoid getting wet, but you really can't avoid it when EVERYONE wants to get you wet!  It really doesn't help that we are obvious foreigners, it makes us even more-so targets!  Not only do the people enjoy in getting others wet, but they also rub powder on your face.  That was scary at first because peoples' hands were in my face!  But, I realized that it's their way of saying "welcome to Songkran, join the fun!"  

We were blessed with amazing Thai friends when they offered to drive us around in the back of a pickup truck.  This was so much fun.  We filled up two trash bins to their fullest and ventured out in the city.  It was crazy.  It seemed like everyone stopped all they were doing to join the festivities.  Seriously, I think I can count the number of stores I saw open on one hand, everyone wanted to join in the fun!  And man, it was fun.  We had scoopers and enjoyed splashing people, and they would splash us.  It was one giant water fight.  People really enjoyed getting us wet.  

The streets were bumper to bumper traffic.  So sitting in the back of the truck and getting hosed became a regular happening.  Also, crazy people would jump in the truck bed with us and slap powder on our faces.  Sometimes the powder was prickly heat powder, which really stings!  They use it when it's really hot to cool their bodies down, but I really didn't like the way it felt on my face, so I began avoiding, if possible, having any powder on my face. 

The entire day was a blast, and it's so hard for me to believe that this goes on for three full days!  I was only out there for half a day and my arms are exhausted and I'm sunburned.  I don't think we'll be joining all the fun again, but I hope to witness it at least.  A national water fight is something every country should consider doing, what a way to enjoy the heat and ALL of your neighbors!