A rainbow of shiny plastic guns erupts, spewing icy-cold water on laughing strangers passing by. Buckets of water warmed by the sun float out above the crowds, tipped just so to drench from head to toe. Hands covered in talc-paste come at your face, your hair, your sunglasses from every direction. Within minutes everyone is a wet, pasty mess, and it is impossible not to smile.
Welcome to Songkran, the celebration of the Thai New Year. Keith and I had been looking forward to our first Songkran since the beginning of our trip planning. We had heard from other travelers that this was one festival not to be missed and planned the Southeast Asian leg of our trip to ensure that we’d be back in Thailand for the celebration. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.
Keith and I made our way around the Khao San Road area and within minutes were soaked through to the skin and laughing amidst the arcs of water flying all around us. When it’s over 100 degrees, being doused with ice water every few minutes is definitely the most comfortable approach to being outside. We followed the joyful crowds and slowly moved through the center of the celebrations on jam packed Khao San Road. Never before had we experienced such a carefree mass of humanity, everyone grinning from ear to ear and joining in the goodhearted fun.
The Thai people are famously laid back and peaceful, and we were both struck with the thought that such a public celebration in any city in the United States would easily devolve into a dangerous or even tragic situation. Yet here, hot and crowded as it was, we were engulfed by smiles and the spirit of fun.
Then we reached the end of Khao San Road. The crowd thinned out. The laughter was suddenly muted. Instead of plastic toy water guns, the shops were lined with bullet holes. Instead of streams of water and talc, the asphalt was stained with blood. A makeshift memorial arose in the middle of the street with pictures of the dead, flags and twisted metal debris replacing the colorful buckets and beer cans of the party taking place just meters away. Just four days earlier, this was the site of a violent clash between the Red Shirt protesters and government troops that left 24 people dead.
The juxtaposition of such a peaceful celebration and such violence was surreal. How could such sadness have occurred just four days before such joy? It was a gruesome reminder of how quickly a peaceful crowd can turn dangerous and of the three days we spent mostly holed up in our Bangkok hotel watching the news and trying to rearrange our travel plans.
A few days later we were safely out of Bangkok and watching the headlines of increasing tension, police raids and more violent clashes. We will try to remember Songkran for the friendly, easygoing people, the beauty of the throngs of humanity letting loose in the world’s biggest and most entertaining public water fight. But I don’t think we’ll forget the shock of suddenly swallowing our joy and being confronted with the reality of the price that those fighting for a political voice have paid.
In other news, Greenbiz.com recently published an article we wrote about a renewable energy company that we met with in Cambodia. Be sure to check it out here.
