Songkran Festivities

Ready for War

It's fair to say that we manage to make the most of the 3-day national waterfight. Starting off in the popular Khao San Road area, we arm ourselves with ice-filled supersoakers and join the tens of thousands of locals and tourists 'blessing' each other with the gifts of water and flour. In the evening, having dried off, we head to a local music restaurant for some Thai food and Thai pop, unsure of the etiquette. But sure enough, by 10pm, all 200 customers have lost interest in either the band or the food, and we spend the night emptying buckets of water over each other. Hilarious.

Swamp Boxing

But the highpoint comes when we all visit Muang Boran, a Thai cultural park which throws a Songkran festival each year. Being the only white faces, we're suddenly centre of attention as we wander past the swamp boxing arena. The compere grabs me for an interview and the crowd are amused by my adopted Thai name. Before we know it, Jules and I are locked in mortal combat balanced on a pole 10 foot above the swamp, being cheered on by a few hundred spectators. The aim is to box your opponent into the swamp, but being untrained in Thai martial arts we put on a somewhat unspectacular display of flailing limbs before simultaneously falling off, much to the crowd's amusement.