The water festival (Songkran) was BUCKETS of fun (har, har, har). I piled into the back of a truck with Noon, Young, Noh, LeiYin, and some of the girls from the boarding house, and made a three truck caravan out of camp. We were soaked even before we got out, because the kids who weren’t going with us (to the waterfall, I was told) were staked out by the road with squirt guns, bucket, and pails to throw water on us. Inside the truck bed, we had a big plastic drum full of water, and a few buckets to fire back, and this was the basic routine of the day.
All through the town and along the streets there were people, usually in small groups, ready to bombard the trucks, cars, motorcyclists, or walkers, and we would occasionally pass another truck as well full of kids that would chuck water our way. I feel our driver was rather in the spirit of things, especially was there was just small group of young kids, usually slowing down or stopping to make sure we got a good soaking in. We stopped first by the Chinese school and monastery, took a group pictures, refilled our tub and jumped in the lake for a bit, which had its share of people, then took a slow meandering route through towns, because lots of the fun is the water throwing, to another lake.
By this time we were all frozen, so we ate some and warmed up before joining the rest in a lake, this one really busy, with life jackets, inner tubes, and bamboo rafts for rent, and I floated with my pals on the bamboo raft before heading over to the smaller girls in a tube. Then, being a little warmer if not much drier, we piled back in the car for our last stop at the Mae Hat waterfall. I couldn’t bring myself to get in, because then sun kept disappearing and I was so wet and cold from the ride over, but I did climb up to the next level with some girls, and help them across on the rocks. I put my outdoorsy skills to use. Then, LieYin, the cook, had a giant bug on her shirt, so I screeched a little and pointed it out, and then we all screech a little more, and eventually get it off with some twigs. Good bonding. We go back to camp after a long wet day, get splashed all the way until we’re parked.
Oh! Scary moment, one of the girls nearly, or did, fall out of the truck- she was sitting on the tailgate as we were going and something happened and she fell back, all I saw were here feet, but the girls next to her were quick and grabbed her, or perhaps she landed on the bumper.. still, gave me a heart attack.
That night, I got Sai Oo’s history, and this morning Sai Lang said he will tell me his as well, so that’s neat. The Frenchman is still here, I’ve picked up some interesting political knowledge- he’s definitely been around. And arrested and moderately tortured in the Philipines for his publication of information on children in the prisons. It’s strange, but even in his odd and gruff and presumptuous manner, he makes me want to look into doing more human rights work. Definitely.
Songkran keeps up for the next few days, but I don’t think we’re going anywhere today because one of the trucks, the one owned by the camp, has a shit clutch and can’t shift, so they’re working on repairing some part of it, oil intake/ something, and maybe tomorrow we’ll go to the dam. I’m starting to read Crime and Punishment, just for kicks, and hopefully writing project stuff soon. I also have been perusing Craigs List for places to live, so we’ll see how that goes. It may just be hannah’s couch indefinitely.
Oh, and even though the Red vs. Yellow shirts are going a little bit nutso, I hear, don’t worry. I’m far away from it here, and when I’m traveling I’ll be strictly in tourist areas. I think the military are in
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