Water festival!

Our plan for this afternoon after flying in to Bangkok was to visit the city museum because it was air conditioned – it’s high thirties with a ‘feels like’ of several degrees higher. But, in a bit of serendipity, today’s the first day of the Thai Water Festival and the area we’re staying in leads off.

So, obviously, water festival it was. The Water Festival, Songkran, is the Thai way of welcoming the New Year. And it’s the tourist way of cooling off in the heat sink of Bangkok. Major streets are closed and become a huge water fight, some people roaming others flinging water from the emplacements in bars. It was enormous fun.

Bangkok is a strange place. It’s not a pretty city: A huge sprawl of skyscrapers and shanties. But in amongst the mess there are some beautiful buildings crowned in gold and shining in the Sun. And then there are the tourist streets of bar, followed by weed bar, followed by tattoo parlour, followed by even less salubrious establishments.

But amongst the worlds largest water fight it’s impossible not to laugh and let it all, quite literally, wash over you.

[If you are a regular reader of the blog – remember this moment. Bangkok. Water festival. It’ll take on greater significance in a couple of months.]