Songkran is Thailand’s New Year festival and, in Bangkok, it lasts three days. Not one. Three. The entire city becomes a water fight that nobody specifically asked to join but in which everyone participates regardless. Tourists plan for it. Locals brace for it. Expats who have lived here long enough know to check their diary and move anything important to the week after.
The tradition itself is beautiful in origin. Water symbolises purification, the washing away of the old year’s sins and misfortunes. In temples and family homes across the country, it takes the form of a gentle, respectful ceremony. Elders have scented water poured over their hands. Statues of the Buddha are bathed. It is quiet, considered and genuinely moving.
Then you step outside in Bangkok.
What greets you on Silom Road or Khao San Road bears approximately no relation to that ceremony. Super soakers the size of small artillery pieces. Pickup trucks with industrial water tanks cruising slowly through traffic while their passengers drench anyone within range. Children who have been waiting twelve months for a socially acceptable excuse to absolutely ruin a stranger’s afternoon.
I have no objection to any of this in principle. Getting soaked is part of the deal and the spirit of it is genuinely joyful. Bangkok loosens up in a way it rarely does. People who would normally walk past each other without a glance are laughing, shrieking, negotiating temporary ceasefires that last approximately four seconds.
The problem is the water itself.
Bangkok’s klongs, the network of canals that run beneath and around the city, are not what you would call pristine. The water that gets scooped up, pumped into tanks and enthusiastically deployed onto unsuspecting pedestrians has a history that does not bear close examination. And then there is the powder. At some point someone decided that Talcum powder or chalk mixed into the water added an extra dimension to proceedings. What it actually adds is the feeling of being slowly converted into papier-mâché.
At that point it stops being a celebration and starts being a biohazard.
The authorities announced alcohol-free zones this year. I will believe that when I see it. I have heard this particular announcement before.
I am staying indoors. The view from the window is entertainment enough.
Happy New Year to everyone celebrating Songkran. Bangkok will be back to its normal chaotic self by Thursday. The rest of us will be back slightly before that.