Luckily I had a wonderful family to take care of me. The day before Songkran, Kru Pet’s niece called Tara and Be and asked them to join her family to go to a waterfall. I have never met her, but she loves Tara and Be and always wants to practice English, and was happy to have me along too. So the morning of April 13th, we headed to Chompu’s house in Sukhothai. This is actually the house we went to for dinner on my birthday, so I’ve met most of her family already. They picked us up from the bus station, the back of their pick up truck already overflowing with a tub of water and nine people, joined by the three of us. Not the most comfortable squeeze, but we didn’t have too far to go. We were going to start our morning in Sukhothai Old City. When Kru Pet found out that Tara and Be and I were going to see his family without him, he got a little jealous, and had his family rearrange their plans to take us to Sukthothai instead, so he could take us to the waterfall the next day. But when we got to Sukthothai city, it was still early, around 9:30, and the first day of the festival, so there weren’t too many people out yet and we only got a little wet. Chompu and her little brother Gao were disappointed, so immediately they said, “Okay, change of plans. We go to Khampangpet!” I don’t know much about Khampangpet, except that they have an Old City there too, and Kru Golf lives there and has told me it's an old hidden treasure, not as cool as Sukhothai but worth checking out. So I was excited. It’s a little over an hour from Sukhothai city, but being Songkran, of course it took us longer than an hour. Every 5 km or so, we had to come to a halt as a group of kids come running up to the car to splash us. And the water fight began. Gao is about 10 years old, and absolutely loves Songkran. He was prepped and ready with buckets and powdered chalk. Part of the water fight is smearing this powdered chalk-goo on each others faces. I think the chalk thing came from what monks used to give blessings, but now it’s just an excuse for teenage boys to touch girls’ faces. We spent the downtime drawing on each other with this chalk stuff. There were 4 of Kru Pet’s nieces and nephews that were about our age, then Gao and Chompu and two other cousins their age, and we had a chalk fight between the 11 of us in the back of the truck, using up so much of it we hardly had any for our targets outside the truck. This chalk thing has turned into such an interesting gesture- when we stop in the middle of the road to get splashed (and splash back), after the storm of little kids with buckets of water passes, there is always a few teenage and up boys that come over with chalk in their hands, and affectionately wipe it on your face, sometimes pinch your cheek or nose. Women do it too, but its really mostly boys.
And you know, sometimes I hate being a farang, sometimes I love it. Songkran was one of those times I loved it. When we got into Khampangpet and got stuck in traffic, our car was the main attraction because I was in it. People came running up to the car to splash water on the farang, screaming “Welcome to Thailand”, “What is your name?”, “Where you come from?” Actually by the end of the day, I had gotten so much sun I must have been blending in more, because I heard some guys coming for me saying “luuk-krung!” meaning, half Thai.
At Khampangpet, we headed towards the Ping River, where hundreds of families were already gathered, playing in the water and picnicking. As soon as we parked, we jumped right in- already soaked from the drive over. We must have played in the river for three hours or more. I fell in love with Chompu’s youngest cousins, Bow, about 6 years old, and Fai, maybe 4 years old. They were absolutely the most sweetest girls, and wouldn’t let go of me the whole time in the water. Meanwhile, Gao was on my back, asking me to throw him into the air, do a handstand, or pull him upstream. Even though they couldn’t speak English, they all call me “teacher”. We took a break from the water to have a feast. Kru Pet’s brother and sister-in-law set up a huge picnic, complete with the must-haves: grilled chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad, mango, and coconut ice cream!
We were reluctant to leave the river, but as the sun was setting, we had a long drive back home and were already soaking wet. We caught a beautiful sunset back to Sukhothai, stopping every so often to get soaked. Chompu invited us to stay at her house that night, which worked in our favor because Kru Pet had originally asked to take us out for Songkran on the 14th, the next day. So Chompu’s parents made us a wonderful dinner, and we fell asleep early, exhausted from the first day of this awesome festival.
Since Kru Pet couldn’t make it the first day because he already had plans with his friends or something, he wanted the same group of people come out with us for the second day of festivities. After having breakfast, and putting on the same clothes as the day before, Kru Pet took us to his village leader’s house while his brother went to check the rice paddies. The village leader’s son was going to be ordained the next day, and they were getting everything ready. They had just butchered a pig and were cleaning it and cutting it to prepare for the ceremony. I think the village leader is actually his cousin. And after touring the village, I am pretty sure the entire village is really just Kru Pet’s huge family. They pulled up a table for their visitors, gave us a morning bottle of whiskey, and started serving our table with pig intestines. Nothing like the village life in Thailand. I’m growing quite fond of pig intestines, even at 9 in the morning. But we didn’t stay long as they continued to cut apart the pig, as we were eager to get started on our second day of the water fight.
(Gao and Chompu making breakfast)
(morning views from Chompu's house)
The same kids came along with us (yessss) but the environment totally changed having Kru Pet around. He kind of helps bridge the gap between us and his family, but he also likes to monopolize our attention, making Gao and Chompu more shy in front of us. Another sister-in-law came with us this time too, and the party changed from playing with chalk to drinking whiskey and singing, using the buckets as drums instead of for water splashing. This day, we went to a waterfall in Phitsanulok (they kept calling it a waterfall, but it was really just rapids). Like the day before, we headed straight for the water and didn’t want to get out. I jumped right in with Bow, Fai and Gao. This time Bow was the center of my attention. After only an hour, I had taught her to swim to me, and then she was all over the place, pointing to where she wanted me to help her swim to.
(Be, Chompu, Tip and Tara by the "waterfall" in Pitlok)After having lunch under the trees, we had to head back home. We decided to stay another night in Sukhothai, mostly because the person who would have to drive us to Sawankhalok (Kru Pet) was not fit to drive. Exhausted and drunk, the adults passed out on the ride back, so I taught Fai and Bow how to say “I love you” in English =)
(My lovely girls, Fai and Bow)That night was a big party in Kru Pet’s village for the son that was going to be ordained. We had dinner twice at two different parties- one of them being the pig we had watched being butchered that morning at the village leaders house. My perception of Kru Pet’s large family was fully realized at this event- every person we were introduced to was a cousin, a brother’s wife, a sister-in-law’s cousin. Really confusing family. Plus Kru Pet’s mix of English and Thai, where he mixes up as many English words as I do in Thai, made it make less sense.
After two nights in Sukhothai, we were dying to get home (and get some sleep!) in Sawankhalok. Kru Pet drove us home early in the morning, and we got to check out the big hype in our town. All my students have been saying Songkran in Sawankhalok is the best in the area, and I believe it now. Still wearing the same clothes from the past two days, I biked down to meet my friends and students in the center of town for the epitome of the three day festival. The main road was absolutely jam packed with buckets surrounded by dancing kids, teenagers, parents, everyone. I biked through the madness, which turned into walking with my bike because I was stopped every two feet to get water poured on me and get my face smeared with chalk and baby powder, with a cheek pinch here and there, and even a few hugs and kisses on the cheek from strangers wanting to touch the farang. I bounced between seeing Mint, Kauai, and Kaffa and the M6 and M5 students.
(My M5/01 boys)
(Loading up on water from the river)The whole day was filled with music and dancing, and lots of love and blessings. After a huge parade rolled through town, I went out with P’Sonya’s family in their pickup truck to join in the traffic jam of wetness. The sun was already setting, and the buckets of ice water was starting to not feel so great anymore, but I loved seeking out my students and racing them to a source of water to pour on each other. By the end of our elongated pick up truck tour around my town, I was freezing cold. Just as we were coming to an end, one of Steven’s students that I play football with saw me from three cars away. Out of ammo at this point, I was defenseless. He had a huge bucket of water, and came running at me screaming “teacher!” and poured his bucket of ice-cold water down my back. The hottest day of the year in Thaialnd, and I’ve never been so cold!
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