Songkran Chiang Rai

Songkran (Thai New Year) in April 2012 was my 12th since I’ve been in Thailand but it was the first one that I’ve celebrated away from Phuket. This year we were in a tiny village up country, north of Chiang Rai.

I’d heard that in the north they celebrate Songkran for the entire month, not just two days like in Phuket. So I was expecting to be dodging water a lot. As it turned out there was a near drought in the village and only a little muddy brown water for the kids to fling. The celebrations mainly involved going from house to house, eating, singing and drinking beer and whiskey. Partying starts shortly after sunrise and ends around sunset as people stumble back to their own beds. Then the following day it starts where it left off the night before. The holidays is a time of year when everyone returns to their village to see family and friends that they haven’t seen all year.

Life in the village is about as simple as it gets, much removed from the ever developing Phuket. If you get a chance to sample it at some stage I would highly recommend it.