Songkran

Festival of water

Now I know that this is a web page for China but I have to share somthing that I think is very amazing. Also its in Thailand and there are many Chinese people here and its not so far from China.

>Bangkok is on Fire!

My feet are burnt, my shirt is soaked, and if there wasn't 8 million >people, huge sky scrapers, and never ending traffic jams all around me Id swear I was in the middle of the dessert. At this time of year Bangkok really starts to heat up. The heat tends to get trapped in the city. Huge buildings make airstreams of heat. Mix the hot air with a little car exhaust, burning grease from fryers, and body heat and you get grayish brown drops of sweat falling from your forehead.

"Big City Life"

Living in Thailand I have learned that this country has its ways of turning a typical day or week into one that you will never forget.

Im not the only one that gets sick of the sting of toxic sweat in the eyes. Some time many many years ago the idea of Songkran appeared. Songkran is a festival to celebrate the Thai New year. A time when people would wet the monks hands with water to cleanse them and wash away and bad that had occurred. This noun has in the past few decades been turned into a vowel.

To be Songkraned.

From around April 10-15 Thailand and surrounding countries bring out the guns, buckets, and Cup of noodles. (Strangest weapon I saw was a little boy with a cup of noodles and a hole near the bottom. The little boy would squeal with laughter everytime he squirted a passing person.)

Thousands of people pack the streets from morning to sunset and engage in a ferocious (but happy) water fight. I haven't had such a good time in years. People of all ages, race, class, and type come together to play with water. No one is spared. Police men carefully keep watch with their radios protected by plastic bags.

Business man

use body jackets to protect their suits. Even the prime minister was smashed in the face with ice water. It is not a violent fight and all you see is smiles as people hurl buckets of water from the backs of trucks, the sides of the road, and bars or houses . Lady boys dance, dogs hide, and people drink. The festival is nothing like I have ever seen. At 6:00 the water police come and are very strict to make sure everything is stopped. If caught punishments include Taking away your water gun Soaking your already soaked body with water or

THE BABY POWDER

Besides using water people enjoy splurting you with a dash of baby powder.

Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place". While studying the origin of Songkran I realized that there is a lot more to it then just a water fight. Songkran is a time to clean, a time to be with your family and your community, and most of all a time to respect your elders and the Buddha. Try and make some time in your life to change what you are doing. Its easy in life to get into a routine. Maybe its good and maybe its bad but whatever it is try and take one day to move away from it. The key to understanding something in full is to look at in from all angles.