Songkran in Chiang Mai: Celebrating Thai New Year Like a Local

I have tried to describe the Thai New Year Festival of Songkran to so many people over the years. I have Skyped people from a safe distance for them to see the madness as close as possible, I have about a million photographs from this year's festival alone but nothing can quite capture the feeling of a city that is completely transformed for 4 (maybe 5) days of the year. 

 

The word Songkran is from the ancient Sanskrit language meaning to pass or move into. Dating back to the Sukothai period of 1238-1438AD the Songkran festival has been enacted in many ways over the years resulting in the blown out madness that we see in the festival today. It is not uncommon for things to get taken to extremes in Thailand, so when the bathing of the Buddha image became a city wide waterfight as early as the 1960's everyone just went with it. Today the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai is celebrated with street parties, water fights, music and the phrase "sawadee pii mai" meaning Happy New Year! 

This year we found ourselves as members of a family celebration that happened in the driveway of a local home. Beginning at the cafe next door with some local kids, the invitation to join the family party never came in so many words. It came through placing beer orders with one of the younger family members who disappeared on his motorbike to replenish the supply. There are two things that the Thai people do well, food and fun and this day was a combination of both. We spent just as much time 'playing water' with the little kids in the street as we did sitting with the adult members of the family snacking on grilled pork and talking about our travels and experiences.

For a brief moment in time we had the opportunity to see this fantastic festival through the eyes of the local people. Away from the tourists in the main street, we spent our day in a side street buying huge blocks of ice to freeze our water supply and splashing anyone and everyone who happened to pass. When the street grew quiet we began our own waterfight and drenched each other with buckets, water pistols and anything else that came to hand at the time. No one stays dry during the Songkran festival and considering that April is one of the hottest months in the year in Thailand, the opportunity to stay soaked throughout the near 40 degree heat of the day is welcomed. 

Chiang Mai is flooded with 'farang' or foreigners during this annual celebration and there is nothing to stop you from joining the partying crowds in the main gate area, where everyone is welcome to join in the fun regardless of age or race. But there is something to be said for joining a group of locals who are somewhat more tame and enjoy their new year by coming together to eat, drink and be merry. The party atmosphere may not be as extreme as the network of backpackers and travellers who converge on the city but the experience is just as rich!  

To join The Austin Experience for the Songkran Festival in Thailand in 2015 go to http://www.theaustinexperience.com.au/fixed-date-tours/thailand-water-festival/

Life in Chiang Mai: A Charitable Experience

Chiang Mai is stocked full of young American graduates looking to do good in this world. It is a city full of volunteers and retirees, some who care about the place in which they are lucky enough to live and others who seem entirely impartial to the happenings in this tiny pocket of the world. The typical NGO has gained weight in a town like Chiang Mai, within close proximity to so many hilltribe villages that are in need of outside help. Villages so poor that they only have one school, where most of the children are raised by their grandparents because their mothers left, long ago, to become 'bar girls' in the big city. Villages where fathers are either working in another place or spend so much time smoking the local weed that they don't know what is going on around them.  This is a sad state of affairs for the future of Thailand, because that's what these kids are... The future.

Living in Chiang Mai is an experience, certainly one that you will either love or grow to resent, but an experience none-the-less. The people you meet here will etch a place in your heart, without you even realizing until you are sitting in another place contemplating what the true meaning of your life is. The people here have done that to me, both farang (foreigner) and local alike. Chiang Mai is a place that captures your heart and will always be in your thoughts. One of the beauties of living in a relatively small town such as this, is that making friends is never a difficult task and in our time here we have been lucky enough to make many. So when we were invited to visit a hilltribe village with a group of Thai friends of ours, naturally we jumped at the opportunity.  

Drinking for Charity

This experience really began a number of months ago when we were invited to a charity night at a local cocktail bar. The premise of this night was that you could exchange a children's book for a free cocktail and drink to your heart's content. Of course you could also pay the normal price for a drink of which a portion was donated to the cause and then there was a BBQ feast for the cost of a cash donation. Drinking in Chiang Mai is the done thing, whether you are local or otherwise, and drinking for a cause just lends some charitable merit to the experience. So we went shopping for kids books and we drank the night away... We had absolutely no idea what kind of experience would come of it. At this point, it was just another night out in a string of crazy nights in Chiang Mai. 

Our journey began on a Monday, Asana Buscha Day to be exact - the day that commemorates the giving of the first sermon by Buddha - at 6:00am. Picked up in a friend's car we set off on our adventure. In the true tradition of a farang in Thailand, there was little information given about where we were going, who was coming with us or how long it would take to get there. For some reason, no one except the driver is usually privy to this information, just one of the lessons we have learned in our time here. But eventually we made it to a gas station on the outside of town where we met another car load of people heading in the same direction as us. Still early in the day and with no idea that we were still many hours from our final destination we ventured on, now with a full tank of gas. 

A friend's house in Mae Chaem

We arrived in Mae Chaem at around 10am, to another friends house, we were told, and we headed in to wait for some more friends to arrive before we kept on. It was at 10am that the Sangsom came out and the drinking began, bearing in mind that on a national holiday such as this, that the sale of alcohol in the entire Kingdom of Thailand is prohibited by the King - but they were prepared. They all partook in a drink or two, most mixing the locally made whiskey with water, unlike our driver who was also taking mini shots from the lid of the bottle. A quick trip to the market and the table was filled with local delicacies and us white-folk were offered bite after bite of interesting things with minimal explanation as to what they were. This set the scene for our entire trip, Dave and I amidst a group of Thai people not understanding most of what was going on, but joining in as best we could. A second trip to the market for more snacks and some rearranging of the cars, including the installation of an all important ice box and the concoction of a Sangsom and water mixture in a 1L bottle for our driver, and we were ready to continue our journey.

The Half Way Point

After a stop at the local market to get food and supplies both for our group and the village school we were heading to, and we were off literally bouncing up the hills of northern Thailand on very poorly maintained roads, always getting higher and higher into the mountains. The scenery was good to start with, but as we climbed higher the fog and mist set in making for a damp, clouded journey to our half way point. A little rattled from the bumpy trip we got out of the cars and sat for a while to have a break at a small corner store which was closed for no apparent reason. As we headed back for the cars we were told that our trip so far was the 'easy part' with a cheeky grin, and the hard part of the driving was still to come... Enough to make us at least a little nervous. 

Only part of our treacherous journey

Fairly soon the poorly maintained bitumen roads gave out to muddy roads with little to no grip and we fishtailed higher and higher into this treacherous part of the country. "As beautiful as Switzerland but as tough as Ethiopia, you will see" said our driver between swigs of his Sangsom refresher. And then we came to the mother of all inclines, a 60 degree climb up a thankfully straight stretch of road which was wet and muddy. "Here we go..." they said and I was suddenly grabbing for my seat belt for the first time since arriving in Thailand. He gave the truck all it had and we fishtailed up the incline, nearly losing it a couple of times - but we live to tell the story. It kept on like that for another 45 minutes. While I was wondering how anyone would be crazy enough to make this drive in anything less than a 4WD, we passed a couple of little old ladies on scooters making the same journey. Incredible!

We finally arrived in the small village set on the side of a mountain, the name of which I still don't know, and headed for the school. The kids were ready and waiting when we arrived at 12:30pm and came to the cars to help carry the supplies we had brought - they had been waiting for us since 8am that morning! As always occurs in a situation with Thai kids, Dave and I were a point of interest, somewhat different to the people that they normally interact with. We headed to the central assembly area, a slab of concrete covered by a tin roof - which this same group built for them last year - for an honorary class. We were introduced as 'Teacher Jay' and 'Teacher Dave', but there were two other members of our group who did the real teaching for the day. There was a smaller attendance at the school then normal, considering that this was a Buddha Day and this was a Buddhist village, and the games began. 

All of the games that we remember playing in primary school are the same in any language apparently but at this school there was sweets! Lollypops, sugary treats and more and more sugar handed out to every kid in the group of about 50. From a Western perspective we were amazed... Kids aren't even allowed to take one sugary treat to school in Australia, and these kids were getting a whole month's worth in the space of an hour! As the games went on there was a beat required, so Dave took over the drumming portion of the lesson, a happy man indeed. The kids were enjoying their day of fun, all the while sneaking peeks at Dave and I. It took a bit to crack them, to be honest. These kids were obviously not used to the likes of us showing up at their school and they were understandably wary. Most of our group had disappeared into the kitchen to make lunch for the crowd, until one guy came around the corner with a fresh Sangsom for Dave. Drinking during class - this was new! Eventually I figured out the only way to crack the kindergarten kids... The answer is bubbles! Once the bubbles came out I had an army of kids waiting on my every breath!

Meditation to Finish Class

The class finally ended with a short meditation session and a lot of dirty, but smiling faces and the boys from our group entered carrying the biggest pot I have ever seen in my life... It was lunch time. One of our group members explained to us that these kids are lucky to get a decent meal during their school day - let alone what they don't get at home and you could tell as each one of them came back for seconds that this was the case. And by this stage it wasn't only the kids, many of the village people had come to the school to watch the class and have a decent meal. All dressed in shabby clothes and sitting on the concrete to eat their meal in a mismatched array of bowls brought to the school with them. The meal was served by hand with plastic bags as the only hygienic element to the whole affair. I later asked what the meal had cost to serve these poor people a decent meal and the answer absolutely blew me away... $30USD. That's all it takes to be able to feed these poor people for a day and yet the school struggles to get by on the little government support they get and the donations from this community conscious group of Thai drinkers. 

Some of the boys serving lunch

Eventually lunch was done and it was time to retreat to the staff room for a few more drinks. This gathering later moved to the only store in the village and then the fun started. There was more food, of course and plenty more to drink with a few other escapades that I wouldn't care to detail in a public forum but I can now say that I have seen a bong made with a machete, candle wax and some bamboo cut from the forest! It was then that the music started. Armed with an acoustic guitar and a set of maracas (originally intended for the kids) the afternoon entertainment took on an international form with Thai songs and Western songs all intertwined. Dave got into the spirit and with the help of a few others, he managed to create a drum kit out of a plastic lid, a pot and a few other various items with pieces of bamboo for drum sticks. All of this was taking place in a tiny store/house on the side of a mountain while I stood back and took in an atmosphere of fun and celebration and what I can only describe as the Thai way of life. As the sun set, it was time to take the treacherous journey back to our accommodation for the night and the festivities went well into the night with more food and more ridiculous antics of both Eastern and Western origins.

The Corner Store

A day like this gives me a great sense of pride and admiration of my group of Thai friends, who don't need a Non-Government Organisation or even an organised charity to help their fellow people. These are just people with a sense of community who are giving to those who are less fortunate than themselves. And I consider myself so extremely lucky to have witnessed this day of charity with a group of such welcoming people, most of whom we didn't know at the beginning, but who we now consider to be friends. Next year they plan to build a library for that same school and are now looking for corporate sponsorship to help their cause. These people are providing an opportunity to a small collection of kids who, without their help, would not have much else and I am extremely proud to know them. 

Sunday in Chiang Mai: A day at Huay Tung Thao Lake

Chiang Mai, as a tourist destination, has a rich array of cultural sights, temples, tigers and elephants. Being the original capital of Thailand, there is a great deal of history for tourists to gain an insight into the rule of Siam and a world that existed over 500 years ago. But what do you do here after you have seen the sights and scoured the histories? What does Chiang Mai hold for the long stay traveller?

The perfect Sunday...

We are lucky enough to have a group of friends here in Chiang Mai who live here, a combination of Thai and many other nationalities who reside in this beautiful city full-time. It is this network of friends that has provided us with some of the richest travel experiences that we could ever hope to find on our travels. It is these people who have helped us to see the real Chiang Mai, beyond what the tourists see. This week we revisited a place that we have ventured to before, Huay Tung Thao Lake...

Huay Tung Thao is located some 15km north of the main city of Chiang Mai and it is where the mountains meet the water. A popular hang out for the local people, it is an enormous body of water fed by the mountains of Doi Suthep which is one of the most picturesque locations that Chiang Mai has to offer. On an average Sunday you will arrive at the lake to join hundreds of Thai people scattered around the banks, sitting in simple bamboo huts whilst enjoying a sip of local whiskey and some traditional Thai foods for an extremely affordable price. The waters are full of kids splashing around and enjoying the day as the parents and families look on from their comfortable beach side location. 

Sipping local whiskey with a view!

This kind of Sunday afternoon is reminiscent of my childhood days in Australia, our parents sitting on a riverbank while we paddled in the Murray River; but in Thailand the picture presents a little differently. Instead of a home abound with Gum Trees, I am faced with Thailand's second highest mountain and a light mist, making the whole scene slightly magical. As we sit with Cartoon, thankful that he is Thai because we cannot read the menu, we talk about our lives and the differences between growing up in our respective countries. Funnily enough there are more similarities than differences in our conversations about life and the realisation that growing up is a universal thing. Marriage, kids and how to make enough money to survive and be happy - it doesn't matter where you are from, these kinds of things are fundamental all over the world. 

I am wearing swimming gear under a sun dress - as the first and easiest thing I came across in my wardrobe that morning, without thinking (or remembering) that I am in Thailand... I sincerely dislike the Western people who visit a country and don't follow the local dress codes for decency... So when I decide that it is time to join the local kids for a swim, I realise that going into the water in my dress is my only option. If I had thought it out, I would have realised that shorts and a singlet would have been a much more practical option because Thai people don't swim in only bathers, there is a level of decency which is adhered to here and that generally means not stripping down to your underwear to go in the water!

 

So I bite the bullet and take my sundress for a dip, the water is warm from the constant sun and as I turn in the water, the sensational view of the mountains takes my breath away... again. I look back to the shoreline at the mass of people simply enjoying their Sunday afternoon and I spot a group of Western people, bikini clad, who have found this secret paradise. That image in a place like this just looks plain wrong, it doesn't fit.

I venture back to my group, cool for the first time since Songkran and I appreciate where I am in the world at exactly this point in time. A simple Sunday, with friends in a spectacular location and I feel like the luckiest person in the world. It is these moments in life that make you stop and really appreciate what you have and the months of extremely hard work and saving that it took to get to this point and it is all worthwhile, just to be here.

Sunset over Doi Suthep

Life in Chiang Mai

It has been a week since we arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand and it surprises me that we have settled into doing nothing so easily! Prior to arriving here, we had 3 solid weeks of finishing up with work, packing, then crazy packing and the final move. It was exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. A time full of goodbyes - adjacent to a time rampant with possibilities, a window to a new life for both of us. 
The result...
We landed in Chiang Mai both exhausted and excited and walked 16km on our first full day here! As it is with all beginnings we were true to our generation, trying to take it all in at once. And so, day by day, I begin to realize that it will take so much more than one massive walk to drink in all the sights and sounds of this beautiful city. 
On our previous visit to Chiang Mai - the one that inspired us for 3 years to work towards this adventure - we slept outside the city, to the north, in a beautiful small resort on the banks of the Ping River. There, we had the perfect combination of city and country. It was from there that we participated in almost every tour available to the tourists of Chiang Mai, and it was from there that we made the first pact inside of our marriage to return to this place and, somehow, make it our home. But now we are staying in a guesthouse on the edge of the Old City, a land full of guest houses, scruffy travellers and tuk-tuks. I remember Chiang Mai as being almost a quiet place with locals doing their own thing and monks walking the streets robed in orange. Trying to think back to how I first saw Chiang Mai compared to what I have seen on this trip is almost like remembering a different place, but then, I was a different person 3 years ago too. This is not to say that I don't like it here - not at all. What I have seen of Chiang Mai in the last 7 days has only grown my love for this beautiful, ancient city. 
Through all of our exploring since that first huge day, I have come to realize that there are 2 distinct parts to Chiang Mai. The first is the city moat (yes it has a moat!) that surrounds the city, where it is virtually impossible to cross the road for all of the traffic - which seems to be ever present no matter what time of the day or night. The second is the quiet Soi's (laneways) off the main roads which are filled with suburban housing. The minute you turn off the main road you are transported to a different world all together, simply by turning a corner. Thai housing is interesting to me. The differences between Australia and Thailand in this sense are immense. The houses look grubby and there is always someone standing outside their house talking to someone else, or a bunch of kids running around the street - yet you can tell that these are a proud people. You get a much stronger sense of community here, which seems to be common in the third world no matter where you are. It makes me wonder why we lose that sense of community in the first world. Here, there is not a great deal of fear from people about being out on the streets at night, I see women walking past our guesthouse alone late at night who don't seem to be frightened or even cautious the way I would be at home. But then here I see kids riding around on motorcycles at age 15 with no helmets either. This is something that I intend to explore further in my time here. To understand the differences in the community, the fears and the grievances of these quiet new neighbors of mine.  
The next step for us is to move away from this guesthouse riddled area we are in, to a place that feels a little more like home, to an area that isn't so tourist focused (which is not hard to find in a place like this). We have spent our week as tourists in this city and now it is time to settle in and become part of the furniture that makes Chiang Mai what it is. 

Chiang Mai by Night