Bangkok Week 42 April 16, 2009 Up to Chiang Mai for Songkran, the Thai New Years festival! View fullsize Everyone on the skytrain looks out at Victory Monument, which the Red Shirts had taken over. View fullsize The Red Shirts party in the streets, as they say. View fullsize Our 747 prepares for its taxing 500-mile flight. View fullsize What bums would bring their own dinner to the airport? View fullsize Dinner #2... now in Chiang Mai! View fullsize Our little hotel room in the backpackers' area of the city. View fullsize The hotel's courtyard. View fullsize Breakfast the first morning, at a little family-run op. View fullsize Breakfast of champions! (Really good fried rice.) View fullsize The neighborhood in which our hotel was located. View fullsize Free coffee in the hotel lobby. View fullsize The hotel's little mascot, "Money" the Schnauzer. View fullsize All within a few blocks of our hotel... amazing what farang backpackers will do to a neighborhood! View fullsize Old teak homes were common throughout the city. View fullsize Wat #1: Wat Chiang Man, the oldest Wat in Chiang Mai. View fullsize Inside the main building. View fullsize The very golden Naga that guards one temple building. View fullsize Many famous Buddha images are held here. View fullsize Elephants stand guard. View fullsize Really, you're not welcome up here. View fullsize Traditional New Years flags flap in the breeze. View fullsize An old playground attraction. View fullsize A really well preserved teak house. View fullsize A rickshaw-cade. View fullsize At the Three Kings' Monument. View fullsize The Three Kings. View fullsize The Chiang Mai Cultural Center, with a distinctively European influence. View fullsize The entrance to... View fullsize ... Wat #2: Wat Phan Tao, an all-teak Wat. View fullsize Inside, more teak. View fullsize Wat #3: Wat Chedi Luang. View fullsize Features a huge, partially destroyed brick stupa. View fullsize Another view, from the side. View fullsize A jolly Buddha. View fullsize Applying gold foil to the Buddha of Tuesday (birth day of the week is very important). View fullsize Wat #4: Wat Phra Sing. View fullsize People make New Years' merit by writing family members' names on cards and hanging them with money in the temples. View fullsize Writing each family member's name on the corresponding Chinese zodiac animal card. View fullsize A novice monk can't get enough Rubix. View fullsize Our finished hanging. View fullsize Another temple building of Wat Phra Sing. View fullsize Trying out a big gong. View fullsize Another tall stupa in the rear of the Wat. View fullsize The giant base that will pull the temple's Buddha image in the big New Years procession. View fullsize Stopping for some "ancient" ice cream at the temple's food market area. View fullsize Good Pad Thai from... a pad thai vendor. View fullsize Uh oh... it's only Saturday but the water-throwing has begun! View fullsize An over-enthusiastic jack fruit tree grows a few too many fruit! View fullsize The Songkran banners that lined the city's streets. View fullsize Pausing on the south wall of the city -- the city centre is a square surrounded by a moat. View fullsize Walking away from the war zone... should've been a warning to us! View fullsize Hmph! We were just trying to walk past a restaurant. View fullsize The main gate into the city centre. (Although formerly surrounded by a wall, only the gates remain.) View fullsize The hub of the action -- not nearly fully-developed yet! View fullsize A pickup truck full of farang. View fullsize We thought that taking the market-path home would be a dry route... View fullsize ... but we were wrong! View fullsize The damage done by that little girl. View fullsize The city installs water pump stations everywhere just for this festival. View fullsize A night market... View fullsize ... where we bought our weapons of mass destruction! View fullsize The next morning, gun vendors line the streets. View fullsize Masks also seemed like a popular part of the celebrations. View fullsize Taking a truck up the mountain to visit another Wat. View fullsize The well-maintained, but windy, road up the mountain. View fullsize Arriving at the base of the Wat, a hot-spot for vendors. View fullsize Wat #5: Wat Phra Tat Doi Suthep, a Wat built on a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai city. View fullsize There's a steep climb up to the Wat itself, lined with souvenir-sellers. View fullsize Standing at the base of the climb, which is framed by two Naga. View fullsize The end is in sight! View fullsize Finally, reaching the entrance to the Wat. View fullsize The central Wat is surrounded by a large courtyard and many smaller buildings. View fullsize This is the elephant fabled to have chosen the location for the temple. View fullsize You see how perched-on-the-mountainside the temple really is! View fullsize Ringing one of many large temple bells (called Rakang). View fullsize A really-quite-huge Rakang. View fullsize The main look-out point, which overlooks Chiang Mai city... View fullsize ...but mostly its airport. View fullsize More view-seekers. View fullsize A shot of the main temple compound. View fullsize Me and Mom. View fullsize With the flowers used for making merit inside the temple. View fullsize A group of kids plays traditional music. View fullsize Inside the main compound, lots of gold. View fullsize And mini-bells. View fullsize People light candles and incense. View fullsize The photo everybody takes. View fullsize You're supposed to walk around the stupa three times... we only had the patience for one go-round. View fullsize Heading back down the stairs. View fullsize There's also a "cable car" system to take elderly or lazy visitors to the top, too. View fullsize But they charge farang a premium. View fullsize The overly-packed truck that we rode back down the mountain. View fullsize Then we hunted down a teeny vegetarian place with tasty dishes. View fullsize A colorful house. View fullsize Didn't make it back to the hotel safely, though. View fullsize Heading back out, and prepared for war. View fullsize Feeling sheepish? View fullsize It didn't take long to become completely water-logged. View fullsize Wearing our fighter faces. View fullsize Another form of ammunition was moat water collected by buckets-on-ropes. View fullsize Everyone is fair game! No treading lightly on these streets! View fullsize The danger warnings didn't keep people from jumping into the moats. View fullsize A farang claims her victim. View fullsize Summer fun for everyone! View fullsize A motorcyclist is attacked by 4 different people as he passes this storefront. View fullsize Pickup riders often travel with huge basins full of ice water. View fullsize Tuk tuks (often convertible here) were another popular form of battle transport. View fullsize An entire household gangs up on this tuk tuk. View fullsize A crazy farang shoots someone miles away! View fullsize The kids are trained for battle from a young age. View fullsize Stopping for a mango-and-sticky-rice break at the festival's main stage. View fullsize Two farang model the big-tank guns. View fullsize Three young girls shoot each other on stage. View fullsize After a heavy downpour, a glimmer of hope emerges. View fullsize And the dimming sky turns a picturesque pink. View fullsize The "Sunday Walking Street" is really an evening bazaar lined with neat stalls. View fullsize Overwhelmed by it all. View fullsize A street artist poses as a statue and has passers-by "write anything" on his body. View fullsize At Wat Chedi Luang at night, people come to make merit. View fullsize But we came to get dinner. View fullsize The teak temple, lit up at night. View fullsize Wat Pan On, quite golden at night. View fullsize Even the temple chickens came out to celebrate. View fullsize The next morning, back at our favorite fried rice joint. View fullsize One of the huge water pumps that the city brings in to supply the water for Songkran. View fullsize Even the police have to gear up to stay safe. View fullsize A "Beauty Contest for Lanna Lady, Ride a Bicycle with Umbrella," as advertised in the official festival program. View fullsize The audience of the beauty contest (which was held at the city's main gate). View fullsize All the on-lookers interested in getting photos of the Final Five. View fullsize Said Final Five. (The woman in black and yellow won first prize -- B 10,000 and a bicycle!) View fullsize Meanwhile, back on the streets, the madness continues. View fullsize Kids and dads on motorcycles tour the city, looking for prey. View fullsize Another crazy farang attacks an unsuspecting tuk tuk passenger. View fullsize And then he empties an entire bucket of ice water on top of one poor guy's head. View fullsize Another tuk tuk prepared for battle. View fullsize Even a truck full of workers, at quite an elevated height, can't stay dry. View fullsize Many generations play along. View fullsize Sandwiching the kid doesn't necessarily protect him from the wetness. View fullsize A busy intersection filled with a variety of warriors. View fullsize On a different note, an old teak house displaying antique photos open to the public. View fullsize With no passers-by, one family resorts to attacking itself. View fullsize Even Doraemon is used as a weapon in this battle. View fullsize A fire truck passes through the main street... View fullsize ...to make way for the procession of Buddha statues : one from each Wat. View fullsize Some over-taxed boys carry colorful flags to introduce the parade. View fullsize The main Buddha -- everyone is supposed to help pull it by the ropes as it passes by. View fullsize This is the Buddha from Wat Phra Sing, on its very elaborate, ornate cart. View fullsize As the Buddha statue passes by, you splash it with special fragrant water. View fullsize As demonstrated here: toss the water at the Buddha. View fullsize Some poor, sun-beaten ladies carry their "wares" as part of the parade. View fullsize More fragrant water-throwing. View fullsize An example of a temple's decorated truck and Buddha riding in the rear. View fullsize Using carts on casters was not the most ergonomic way to wheel over cobblestone streets. View fullsize Girls take a break and rest their legs while the procession is held up. View fullsize One fancily-dressed boy in the parade, riding on the shoulders of an adult, still manages to shoot the on-lookers with a super soaker. View fullsize Returning from having tossed the water. View fullsize We're not sure how this poor kid landed the job of hanging onto the end of a drum for 2 hours. View fullsize More tossing and splashing. View fullsize After the 59 temples drove through, additional groups followed in the procession -- like these drag queens. View fullsize Back out with a vengeance. View fullsize This boy decided to forgo the water throwing, and just go for a paddle instead. View fullsize Shooting at passing targets from behind my bunker. View fullsize Dinner at a "famous" vegetarian restaurant and cooking school. View fullsize Thai-style tempura. View fullsize Hmm! Puzzled by breakfast the next morning. Our normal place was closed! View fullsize The Wat in the mountains that we visited the other day. View fullsize A view of the river that passes through the outskirts of the city, on the way to... View fullsize .... Boh Sang, the umbrella-making village. View fullsize Not an umbrella shop, but colorful nonetheless. View fullsize One of the many stores selling the hand-made umbrellas produced in this village. View fullsize Even in the village, it's not safe to walk the streets! View fullsize Even the road signs feature cute little umbrellas. View fullsize The storefronts are very colorfully decorated. View fullsize Outside the showroom of an umbrella-making factory. View fullsize Inside the showroom of an umbrella-making factory! View fullsize The factory! Unfortunately, all the workers had gone home for the holiday. View fullsize The structure of the umbrellas, before the cloth is added. View fullsize Posing with the World's Largest Umbrella! View fullsize The stage at which the umbrellas are painted. View fullsize A rather large hand-made umbrella on display. View fullsize Trying to return to the city center proved to be a wet task. View fullsize Here you see just how packed the outer moat was. View fullsize Two groups battle it out from opposite sides of the street. View fullsize Some warriors take advantage of the traffic jams and dash away on foot. View fullsize See the size of their on-board basin! View fullsize Attacking boy-in-sidecar! View fullsize A tactical misstep? This group seems to be lined up, waiting to be soaked. View fullsize A crazy farang and his off-road jeep? Where did it even come from? View fullsize Par-tay! View fullsize Granny and her Super Soaker! View fullsize Another family, stickin' it out together. View fullsize Successfully reaching a passing truck. View fullsize We count at least 15 people on this tuk tuk. View fullsize The scene from above. Madness! View fullsize Chaos doesn't describe the state of the streets by late afternoon. View fullsize Money, faithfully waiting for the hotel's guests in the lobby. View fullsize Writing post cards on the last evening... View fullsize ... in Thai! How taxing! View fullsize We stumbled upon a famous kids' band (now in its 15th generation) performing on the main stage. View fullsize This guy was a child star, and performed this song 26 years ago... View fullsize ...and he still has fans today! View fullsize A traditional dessert, made of black "vegetable jelly" and eaten with ice and brown sugar. View fullsize A good shirt... but couldn't bring myself to buy it. View fullsize The last morning (New Years Day), visiting an interesting-looking Wat. View fullsize The Yaag standing guard outside the temple's doors. View fullsize A cow, waiting patiently to be freed as part of the New Years ceremonies. View fullsize The Wat in question -- busy with New Years festivities. View fullsize A brick building that looked rather like a western house. View fullsize Sand is brought to the temple to replace the sand "removed" by visitors' shoes over time. Here, it's sculpted. View fullsize The really large brick stupa. View fullsize A kind-of-creepy elephant sculpture using naturally-shaped pieces of wood. View fullsize Another Wat, with a really tall first step! View fullsize And a really tall Buddha inside! View fullsize The silver-tiled walls around the Wat made for great auto-pixelation. View fullsize Some guys pick an aerial location as their home base. View fullsize Ammo, waiting for its owners to get back in the game. View fullsize Unloading ice, which will then be put into barrels of water to make REALLY COLD ammunition! View fullsize Day 5 and still going strong. View fullsize Somehow, the food vendors manage to stay relatively dry! That's the trick. Be a food vendor. View fullsize A dad and his daughter go for a dip. View fullsize Quick lunch at the hotel, before heading out. Fried egg on rice! View fullsize Chiang Mai International Airport: overwhelmingly underwhelming. View fullsize Eating some of the candies we bough as souvenirs... so we'd be thirsty enough to drink up our water before going through security! View fullsize Presenting my annual Stewardess of the Year award. View fullsize Even the airport wasn't missing the opportunity to celebrate. View fullsize Check out the dated plane! Brown tray-tables and gaudy print on the walls! View fullsize Our water guns had to be checked! At least they were a Priority! View fullsize And while were gone: a bit of progress on the roof and 3rd floor.
