Happy Songkran!
Trip Start
Apr 05, 2006
1
6
31
Trip End
May 26, 2006
Koh Pha Ngan,
Thailand
Friday, April 14, 2006
The beach at night is normally about 500-1000 people spread down a mile stretch of the beach, sitting on mats in the sand in front of the beachside bars, or dancing around in the sand. That night was different, however. At first, smaller groups of people were engaged in a water fight. People with squirt guns would run around squirting each other, with the occasional bystander getting wet
Badass Biker
. As we arrived, more and more people started getting in the gig and buying squirt guns and buckets so they could defend themselves. It soon broke out in to all out chaos. People were running in every direction, dumping buckets of water on one person, only to be counterattacked by 6 of their friends. We somehow got mixed up in a band of about a dozen people from who knows where that would rally at the ocean, fill their buckets, and "follow the leader" to a dry person in the crowd. We hooted and hollared, twisting through the thick crowd, and would all attack the same person. Often times, the people would be inside the bars themselves. Waterlogged and exhausted, Shein and I turned in early.... at maybe 4 am.By the time we woke up, the water fight (celebration?) had escalated in to an all out war on the sunny streets. People were running in every direction with buckets of water, water ballons, massive squirt guns, colored face paint and talcum powder. We quickly ran back to the room, ditched everything but our swim trunks, and set off in to the crowd armed to the teeth. Walking to the beach, people from 2 and 3 stories above in hostels are dumping buckloads of water and dropping water balloons on to people below. Walking out through an intersection is a sure way to get ambushed from all directions with water guns. Walking around with a dry shirt makes you an tasty target, as we saw other travelers and Thai locals go from dry to sopping wet in the blink of an eye
Fireboy on the beach
. Nobody is safe. An old man with a dry shirt cuts through the traffic on a motor bike and is blindsided by a bucket of water and is closed on by people from all directions with squirt guns. A taxi truck full of newly arrived tourists pulls through an intersection, and a dozen people converge and give them a proper welcome. A man and a woman sit inside a restaurant overlooking the street are eating lunch, and a child with a bucket runs up to the rail and pours a bucket of water down the woman's shirt.The same celebration happened all across Thailand yesterday, and we were told Koh Pha Ngan (the island we're still on) is one of the tamer places to celebrate. We're said it numerous times already, but life is just different here and the people
We decide to take a relaxing day on the beach and work on our tans. I had the smart idea of only putting sunscreen on my shoulders and face. We layed out for a while and read, then I joined in a beach volleyball game with some locals and the soccer playing Swedes I befriended the other day. Around the beach, people sun tanning or napping were still occasionally getting a bucket of cold water dumped on them by the more mischievious celebrators. After a few games of vball, my skin was feelin a bit baked so I retired to the sun. I think Shein and I spent about 2, maybe 2.5 hours in the sun. Long story short, "Lobster red" might be the color our bodies began to turn. We both got fried and complained and squirmed our way to sleep last night... but that's jumping ahead...
In addition to Songkran, last night was the full moon festival on the Island. The Thai's use any excuse to have a party, and the monthly full moon is obviously cause for celebration
Koh Pha Ngan Jungle
. The full moon party on Koh Pha Ngan has become well known throughout the western world and we were told we had to see at least one. Thousands of people come in from all over the world for the massive celebration. Guesses throughout the night of the amount of people on the beach was anywhere from 5,000-30,000 people. The long strech of beach was covered with people, shoulder to shoulder dancing, drinking, socializing, and yes... still dousing each other with water. Men performed with whirling fireballs on chains, or a spinning long staffs with both ends lit. From the wall of the city to the ocean, there was barely a place to sit down. Early in the night, we hear someone yelling "America Sucks!" We look around in the crowd and see Hanzig, our Dutch friend, smiling at us. We actually had plans to meet elsewhere later in the night, and somehow bumped in to him in the mass of people. We hung out with him and two Swedish girls all night, and wandered the beach until the sun came up over the water. Hanzig left for another island this morning, but we added his email address, as well as the Swedish girls', to our growing list of people to keep in contact with.This morning we had breakfast with our British friends and talked about books and watched the Simpsons in a local restaurant/bar. Shein lent Tuesdays with Morrie to one of the girls, Tory, and she already shed a few tears at breakfast. We're trying to stay out of the sun today (hence another long entry), and are trying to plan where we're going to go tomorrow morning when we leave this island. Maybe Koh Tao, we hear its the best and cheapest place to get certified in Scuba. Who knows though.
Hope everything is well back home. Keep in touch.
