During my early days in the Big Mango, the whole of the city used to transform overnight into a water war zone during Songkran and nobody was safe, policemen took off "upcountry", shops shut, roads turned into teenage motorbike race tracks and everything stopped.... or so it certainly appeared to me at the time. Back when I was blessed with a younger man's skin, I used to love roaming around town looking for a squirter..... or a super soaker, and proceed to leap with wild abandon in to the aquatic festivities which ensued.
However, as I grow older and lazier, and I leave such rambunctious exploits to younger, less cynical souls, the likelihood of me participating grows ever smaller. I was feeling rather smug this year for I have a car with aircon and a fridge full of food. Anyway, I went about my day on the 13th. I visited a friend and we noticed there was not a soul playing Songkran in the local area, so I and we went for a drive around to investigate, both in the morning and afternoon of the 13th and 14th. My poor tyres did about 20 km and another 25 km the next morning to no avail; I saw nobody playing, squirting or armed with a giant gun!!!??? In fact, I saw nobody playing until I went out the next day at about 5 pm! Hmm, as Borat said, "But why??" Errrm, watch the video and you'll find out, won't you. Spoiler: there's no dramatic reason, just the every day reality of the suburbs.

#songkran #songkran2024 #thainewyear