Songkran 2005

A bit of fun or aquatic anarchy? People have mixed views but, having just completed my second Songkran, I have still not witnessed anything bad. This couldn't happen in the UK. There would be fighting on the streets.

The Thais are a much gentler race of people though and their outlook on life is generally better. They have their priorities in life about right and the number one priority is to have fun, to enjoy life.

The Songkran festivities in Hat Yai for 2005 came just 10 days after terrorist bombs had gone off at the airport and Carrefour shopping centre. As a result, many Malaysian tourists had cancelled their trips and the locals were a little nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect on the day but imagined that the occasion would be quite subdued this year.

I was completely wrong. The festivities seemed to be a lot livelier than those I participated in the previous year. It says a lot for the spirit and character of the Thais and also about what they consider important in life. Life is about having fun and no Thai festival offers as much fun for them as Songkran. It will take a lot more than terrorists to spoil the party in Thailand.

All photos on this page were taken using a Sony DSC-P1 digital compact camera in a Sony MPK-P1 underwater housing. This equipment is really for scuba diving but comes in handy at Songkran. The 13th April is not a good day to wander around in Thailand toting your expensive digital SLR equipment. Some images are not very clear due to the copious amounts of water that was flying around.

Click on the thumbnails for a larger image.

This is one of the most common sights you will see if you are in Thailand during Songkran - someone coming towards you with one thing on their mind and that is to get you as wet as possible. Some use high-pressure water pistols, some use old fashioned bowls and buckets. The end result is the same. If you go out during Songkran you will get wet. Foreign tourists generally get special attention in Thailand but being a farang during Songkran guarantees you will get very special attention. As the alert goes up, "farang, farang," the water pistols are loaded, the buckets filled, and it all comes your way.

Thais love pickup trucks. Thailand is apparently the second largest market for pickup trucks in the world after the United States. They are ideal at Songkran for cruising around the streets with 20 kids and three barrels of iced water in the back.

Water on its own gets boring after a while. Much better to have some foam as well.

Have you ever seen so many squeaky clean Thais? With all the foam lying around, this is about as close as you will ever get to a snow scene in Thailand. The temperature was 94 degrees in the shade.

I can't imagine a nationwide water fight remaining as peaceful anywhere else as it does in Thailand. It's the way the Thais are. In the crowd I spotted two farang 'Jack-the-lad' backpacker types. They had water pistols and were surveying their surroundings as if they were Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry movie. With guns in their hands, this was warfare. It's the same when farangs play paintball. The Thais are completely different. It's just fun. There's nothing malicious and they don't want to hurt anyone. If you show any signs of aggression it is met with quite stern looks. I wasn't keen on a kid tipping a bowl of iced-water down my neck and as I pushed him away he dropped his bowl. It didn't go down well, he glared at me and I felt bad afterwards.

Go on, see if you can get her top wet enough so you can see through it. Some of the local lads use Songkran as an opportunity to get better acquainted with girls they don't know. Their advances don't always go down very well but this girl looks as if she is enjoying the attention. It happens the other way too. One girl, after giving me a good soaking, was quite keen to know where my room was so she could come back. I'm sure it was all perfectly innocent and she just wanted to ensure that everything about my stay in Thailand was satisfactory. It was a tempting offer but somehow I figured that Iss wouldn't have been very impressed so I had to decline.

Everyone is out just to have a good time and the Thais love this festival. It's unusual for Thai girls to drink alcohol but most of the young males are off their faces by noon. Apart from putting powder on my face many of the young lads wanted to shake my hand, a few wanted to hug me, and one managed to plant a kiss on my cheek.

In addition to someone coming at you with lots of water, this is the other common sight. People daub powder over one another - normally on the cheeks. It's harmless most of the time and I don't object, especially when it's a pretty girl who is doing the daubing.

The refueling stations get busy. It doesn't take long to get through your ammunition at Songkran. If there is one thing I object to at Songkran it is the use of iced-water. Water on its own is fine. After it has been left standing outside in the hot season it becomes quite warm and doesn't feel unpleasant. The iced-water is a different story though and feels very uncomfortable. I have a habit now of checking the temperature of the water before allowing it to be poured over me. This doesn't help when a young hooligan sneaks up behind me and pours it down the back of my shirt.

Iss was working and having a dry Songkran. Well, that was the plan but every time she ventured outside the shop she was at the mercy of the aquatic marksmen.

Did I say the girls don't drink? Maybe a few of them do, or perhaps they are on something else to make them this happy?

The Thais are a funny bunch. In a classroom environment they are too shy to speak but at Songkran there is little evidence of self-consciousness. I guess the vast quantities of booze they drink helps. Perhaps I should start taking some into lessons to help my students overcome their shyness?

"Uh, uh, uh, uh, staying alive, staying alive." Songkran Night Fever with Somchai Travolta.

The kids, especially, enjoy Songkran and it's good to see them having fun.

This was an amusing sight. Two Muslim girls had sought refuge in a telephone kiosk in an attempt to remain dry. Some people will respect other people's wishes if they don't want to get wet but others won't.

Pickup trucks are just one means of getting around. How many kids on this motorbike and sidecar?

These two youngsters were enjoying the water in an alternative way. Ah, memories from my own childhood - a paddling pool in the garden.

After wandering around on foot for a while I was invited to ride on a pickup truck so I climbed aboard. The same thing happened last year but that time my new friends armed me with one of their spare weapons. No such luck this year. I spent all day unarmed. For me, Songkran is fun for a few hours but it is basically one joke and making that joke last all day gets a bit boring. The festivities last for one day in most places but in some areas, for instance up in Chiang Mai, they go on for several days.

Let's not forget the Buddhist significance of the event. Traditionally this is a time when Buddha images are bathed and respect is shown to ones elders. On my way home I bumped into some friends who run a restaurant. They invited me to bathe their Buddha image and to pour scented water over the hands of an elderly relative. They bathed my hands also. It was all very refined and respectful. That is what Songkran used to be all about before it degenerated into a huge water fight. The kids tipping iced-water down my back weren't exactly showing me a lot of respect! Nonetheless, it can be fun if you are in the right mood.

The vast majority of people have a thoroughly good time but Songkran is not without its problems. On the evening news it was reported that a couple of teenagers in Pattani were found squirting water laced with acid. Six of their victims needed hospital treatment - a really great way for them to end what should have been an enjoyable day. In a country with a population of over 60 million there are always going to be a few idiots. What is quite remarkable in Thailand though is how few there actually are. Thai culture does a pretty good job of self-regulating society and maintaining law and order. Despite the bombs last week and thousands of people on the streets (many quite inebriated) there were very few police around.

The other problem at Songkran is that Thailand's already high rate of road fatalities soars. The young lads get over-excited in a fun atmosphere, they drink, yet they still continue to ride their motorbikes around and they ride them even faster. On Songkran day I saw very few people wearing crash helmets. The roads are wet and motorbikes are just another target when tossing water around. It's a recipe for disaster. Taking their motorbike keys away for just one day wouldn't actually be a bad idea but that will never happen. Thais don't like laws and don't like being told what to do, even if it could possibly save their lives. Note: In the ten day holiday period for Songkran 2005 (April 9-18), 522 people were killed and 16,395 injured on Thailand's roads. In the same period in 2004 the figures were 654 killed and 36,642 injured so a big improvement this year but the figures are still far too high. Source, The Nation. It should be added that when the 2005 figures were questioned a source said that over 100 deaths had not been reported because, "... provincial authorities do not wish to put the deaths on record for fear that their performance in accident prevention might not look good." And so, another Songkran comes to an end in Hat Yai. As far as I am aware there were no bad incidents and hopefully confidence will be restored soon so the tourists start to come back.

Footnote

Following my observations of a fairly good-natured and well-behaved Songkran in Hat Yai, the press had a completely different story to report. On Saturday 16th April The Nation led with a front page story concerning, 'Plans to rein in the mayhem.'

The article described the Songkran festivities exactly how I would predict them if held outside of Thailand with, 'drunken water fights and out-of-control partying.' Deputy Interior Minister Sermsak Pongpanit accused revellers of, "turning a once beautiful and gentle tradition into a time for sexual harassment, assault, street fighting and violent water throwing."

As far as I'm concerned, the Thais have had a pretty rough year. Insurgency problems in the south, Indonesian earthquakes and tsunamis have put big dents in the tourism industry which many Thais rely on to make a living. On top of that, the 2005 hot season has been unbearably hot and pretty miserable. Many areas of the country have been in a state of drought for the last six months or more.

Everyone needed to have a little fun and let off some steam and Songkran gave them that opportunity. In a country of over 60 million people, with many boisterous but generally good-natured young males, it is not unexpected that a few bad incidents will occur. Proportionally though, the problem is tiny and doesn't need to be fixed by Draconian measures which will affect everyone.

There were a couple of other interesting facts published in The Nation. It is police policy apparently not to advise the public if certain areas are considered to be at high-risk of a terrorist attack. They want people to continue enjoying themselves and not to worry about such things.

Thailand's moral guardians have been going crazy recently about the way Thai females dress. They are obsessed with so-called 'spaghetti-strap tops' because these items of clothing are regarded as being far too revealing in conservative Thailand. Orders were given out that young Thai women should not wear the offending articles during the Songkran festivities for fear of inciting lust and naughty behaviour.

Another instruction was that 'Western' music shouldn't be played because it is too provocative. "It is too upbeat and could provoke riots," so the Thai authorities believed. The newspaper also reported that around 100,000 Malaysians had arrived in Songkhla province for Songkran and had filled hotel rooms. All in all it was a great response to the terrorists by both the Thais and Malaysians.

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