Good thing I didn't buy a gun......I think they just sell those to the tourists and young children. The local seasoned veterans (from 5 to 60 years of age) use pails which are more effective, or if close to a water source (river or lake) then they use a water pump and a large hose for non-stop heavy spraying. It got really crazy yesterday for the official start of their 3 day New Year's celebration (Songkran). The roadside warriers have now been joined by roving pick-up trucks containing large barrels of water and revellers in the back with pails. In several high density areas, traffic slows to a crawl and everyone gets drenched, all in good fun. Even in the more rural areas, parents have supplied their kids with easy access to water.....there are no safe havens and we have been 'baptized' many, many times.
Yesterday we took a tuk tuk out to the Old City and then rented bicycles for the day (a slow moving target) to tour the ruins. There were 21 historical sites within the double-moated ancient kingdom and another 70 within a 5 km radius. The temperature was 40C under a scorching sun so the heat gradually sapped our energy before getting to very many of the additional Wats outside of the Old City. As part of the Songkran celebrations there was a sand-building contest underway and we watched 20 different adult teams create their own temples with intricate designs. Rhonda was interviewed by a roving announcer but forgot to mention on the microphone that none of the designs really looked like castles.......not sure they would have understood anyway.
After returning our bikes and looking for a tuk tuk driver to provide transportation on the 15 km return trip to our guest house we quickly realized we had a problem. Just outside the gate of the Old City, a massive water fight was underway along the main road back to New Sukhothai. Traffic was at a standstill and everyone we could see for several hundred metres in the direction we were headed was spraying water, drenched and laughing. We stealthily (for 60 year olds) snuck behind the street vendors, who seemed to be off limits and gave us a chance to snap some photos. We still got squirted by some snipers who were on to our tactics. One hundred metres into the frenzy, and with no clear end in sight, we felt it was only a matter of time before we were hit by a tsunami so we engaged a tuk tuk driver snoozing down a laneway and convinced him to take us on a round-about safe (dry) return trip to our room which worked out reasonably well (the water propellants are everywhere).
Today I was much better prepared. We took some bicycles from our guest house to tour around the new city....not really that 'new' but they consider anything post-15th century to be new. I wore my bathing suit, an old t-shirt and my sandals for the 1-2 km trip into town. Within two minutes of our departure both of us were totally soaked so my choice of attire was appropriate. Much of the day market was abandoned by vendors due to the holiday and a couple of electronics stores we wanted to visit were also closed so it was a short excursion but we laughed a lot as we were doused along the way (I think Rhonda was laughing?.....she was following behind me so she could scamper by before they reloaded.....but she was still very wet by the end). After a while it actually felt pretty good to get 'hit' in the 40C heat.
Tomorrow we are on a 7 hour bus ride to Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok. We will watch the water fights on our way with our windows closed in our air-conditioned bus......at least it was advertised that way but you never know if the a/c is actually working on a bus until you are underway. Hopefully it will be or else it will be an even longer journey.
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