Songkran (Thai New Year)

Well if you read my last post you would of learnt that I had no clue what Songkran was or that it was happening whilst I was out in Thailand until my flight, when i was sat next to a guy who started tell me all about it, from what he told me I was not expecting what we were faced with. So at Songkran, its basically a three day on going water festival, or a water fight seems more appropriate, because they are in the dry season they have the water fight to welcome the monsoon season, which starts normally about a week after Songkran. 

So we were in Chiang Mai for Songkran, and it was mad, people actually fly out to Thailand just to take part in Songkran, it brings a lot of visitors. We got kitted out, with waterproof pouches for phones and money, and bought water guns which came in pretty useful! ... Stages were being set up for the day, where performers would be playing through out the day and stalls and bars would set up barrels of water for people to fill up their water guns, to use the ones at bars which normally had ice in them you'd have to buy a drink, but families were sat at the side of the roads with a barrel or even just a bucket of water which if you asked they would let you fill up from it, it normally consisted of you getting wet by them whilst you were trying to top up the water gun, but it was in good humor. On the main day of Songkran we set off to head to the buzz of it all, where the stages were, with water guns in hand we were set, you could tell we were getting closer not just by the thousands of people but by the warm puddles we were trying to wade through, it was like a stream. The crowds were huge and there were normal traffic trying to get through too. It was great fun though, the smiles and joy it brought to peoples faces was amazing, and the quick connection you  get with people when you are shooting them in the face with ice cold water is hilarious, that day I never saw one unhappy face!

The water throwing was supposed to stop in the evening, so we headed out to find somewhere to eat, still had our plastic pouches but were dressed up a bit, yet we were greeted with people still out enjoying the celebrations, so by the time we got to the bar we were going to we were well and truly soaked! 

Then the most ironic event happened, on the last day of Songkran, I was having a nap, when I could hear water running, at first I just thought it was my room mate Lexi, having a shower, but when I opened my eyes the bathroom door was open and she was not there, so I opened our front door, too see a down poor of rain. I could see two of the girls of my trip were stood at their door in complete awe, it was the strangely beautiful. 

Rafting, Tuk Tuks and Chiang Mai

So we headed to what we were expecting to be white water rafting, well this was not quite an accurate description, four of us were sat on about 5 bamboo shoots tied together with rope with a 12 year old as a driver, who was using another bamboo shoot to steer us, the water was very shallow at some points and you could feel the raft scraping along the bottom, the kid was also quite cocky and it seemed that we were not his first priority, but looking in the water for things he'd be able to sell on were. he was searching so much that he let us collide into quite a few other rafts... it wasn't the most enjoyable activity, especially as it was the start of the Thai New Year i.e. a water fight, so everyone was splashing us with ALOT of water and the raft had a lot of ants on it. 

After this we headed back to the idyllic hotel to sadly pack and head into the City of Chiang Mai, this is where we would be spending 4 days until we were to carry on to the volunteer project at an orphanage.

We had a nice hotel with a very inviting pool, the weather was gorgeous, this was the first time we had to actually relax and catch a bit of sun, we so needed to the time to just sit down and do nothing, we had been so busy up until this point so we enjoyed it. We had the chance to go to a Tiger Sanctuary, where you could have photos with the tigers and stroke them and feed the baby cubs, but we found out that they actually drug the tigers so people can approach them, this sickened me so we did not end up going, I didn't want to give money which would probably pay for the drugs they use on the tigers, I was not supportive of this one bit! When some of the group had gone to it came back they weren't even that impressed they just said it was an expensive photo.

When I had booked the trip I was not aware about Songkran, I had no clue what it was and certainly didn't have a clue what we would be getting ourselves into!

A Night With No Electricity or Running Water

After the ordeal that was the awful trek we go settled into our home for the night, a bamboo hut which when you walked on felt like it was about to crumble under your feet. It was one big room to fir 9 of us in, there were thin mattresses laid out on the floor and blankets for us to use, no pillows and plenty of holes in the walls for the friendly misquotes. If the hadn't been a cooler full of beers, I really don't know what we would of done that night. Our tea was prepared over a camp fire, which the fella that had built the hut and it was part of his home had cooked all the food for us, it was tasty, but I feared I was eating dog, so i mainly stuck to the veg. Night fell and it went pitch black in a matter of minutes, so the drinks came out and so did the drinking games. Our elephant trainer had traveled up on his motorbike to spend the night with us then would travel back down in the morning and be with the other half of out group who were with the elephants. Music was playing and the games began, it was a card game and whoever lost had to either take a shot of a unknown alcohol or have the face painted from the soot of a cooking pan, lucky me lost first so had my face drawn on.

More Elephants and a Trek I Won't Forget.

Second day with the elephants was just as amazing as the first, Chi tried making us get on the elephants some strange ways, like crawling up the elephants trunk, I passed on this because I would of felt sorry for the elephant! We were going on an elephant trek, somehow it felt higher up than the day before, but thankfully heights don't bother me too much. We set off but we were soon interrupted and had to alter the trek because the original route had a forest fire, this was quite scary being in the jungle surrounded by trees, it hadn't rained for months there so it could quite easily of spread but luckily for us it didn't it was just a small one. Going uphill on an elephant is a terrifying experience, never have I held on to a piece of rope as tight as I was that moment, going downhill I could cope with! We had a well behaved elephant that day unlike one of the others, whose elephant just wanted to go and eat all the time! After the trek we headed down to the river again, and splashed around with the elephants, and got to do a few tricks with the elephants.

After a good nights rest we were waking up to the knowledge that we were going on a trek into the hills today and would be staying overnight in a bamboo hut the trekking back down the morning after with a few stops at some waterfalls, I don't mind walking, but in the high temperatures we would be walking in I was having some serious doubts whether to do it or not, up until the night before I was adamant that I would not be trekking and would pay to get the truck up to the site where we were staying, but it was after a couple of drinks that I decided I would do it, because when would I get the chance again to do something like this in Thailand. So I did it, and it was horrible. I honestly wished I had just got the truck up, it was not one bit enjoyable to me, and obviously this is a person opinion because some people on the trip really enjoyed it, I just didn't. We were told we would only be walking for about 2 hours, this turned into about 5. We stopped at the waterfalls, and being so miserable I didn't even enjoy them properly. Whilst walking I would put my sunglasses down and just cry, that shows just how much I didn't like it. I'm not a drama queen or a diva I was just being made to walk at mid day in the scorching sun on a path which at times was no wider than a foot, with a drop down to god knows what. 

Majority of people in the group helped me and tried to cheer me up, and even when we got to the end on of the girls asked if I felt a sense of achievement after doing it, i shook my head and she just burst out laughing, I had to join her laughing otherwise I would of cried, I was that drained and exhausted.