Here’s my pics from 2015 Songkran, Thai New Year
celebrations. Yes, that’s plural, as in
days and days of festivals, water throwing, general revelry including alcohol
consumption on a scale that I couldn't describe without losing
credibility. I’ll try to tell the story
but there really isn't a plot – better to let the photos do the telling.
You can tell the posed shots by the two or three fingers up
gesture. Those without the finger gestures had to be taken quickly with little
to no time to adjust from the previous shot, so either you get the picture or
you don’t . Those are the most fun and
of course the most challenging.
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| This money tree holds about 17,000 Thai baht, or roughly $540. The money will go to the local clinic which is trying to purchase a CAT scan machine. |
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| In Thailand it ain't a party without music. |
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| One lane of Hwy 1001 was closed to allow villages to march their money toward the clinic. I'm not sure how many participated, but a guess of 100+ might be in the ball park. |
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| Villages in the procession announce their approach with lots and lots of noise. |
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| Like I said, noise. Exploding fireworks cause this young woman to flinch and cover her ears. |
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| Dancing in the street. |
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| Arriving on horseback. |
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| Money trees being blessed by monks. |
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| Ban Kaset Mai having their money tree blessed. |
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| People watching the procession, which went well past sunset. |
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| Part of the Songkran tradition is the blessing of water. How you get blessed doesn't matter. |
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| The man on the left is Khong. He runs one hour every morning around the village streets. He's 84 years old. |
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| Bless you, and you, and you..... |
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| Procession starting on the small streets out of the village. |
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| Spectators |
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| Even processions aren't free from being "blessed." |
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| Meet some of the village kids. |
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| Traditional Lanna costume for festivals. |
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| Eating Som Tham, made from green papaya, several other vegetables, tiny dried shrimp, and loads of chili. Thais eat it like candy. |
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| My favorite picture of this festival. |
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| Our hosts for one of the festival dinners, and there were several of them. |
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| My neighbor Mr. Chumpon, singing a traditional Thai folk song. |
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| Burmese buddies. |
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| Burmese dance of the deer to bring prosperity in the new year. |
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| Assigned to kitchen duty. |
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| Kitchen duty escapees found an old truck to sit and enjoy some kan-nom. I don't have command of that word, but it means something like snacks, and in this case it's a sweet combination of bananas and coconut milk. Delicious! |
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| There are two Burmese settlements within the village. They come to Thailand to find work at manual labor jobs. Here they are banging drums and cymbals, dancing and singing to announce their arrival at the dinner. |
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| Bearing gifts |
