Thailand 2004 travelogue BKK & USM

Songkran is the Thai new year celebrations held in April.

Great celebrations are the key to the day and we thought it was due to start on Tuesday. So we made plans for a very flash dinner at Poppies at the other end of town. Ang spent 90 minutes in the getting ready hair, nails, clothes, shower, fag, the whole works. We decided to leave plenty of time for a pre dinner cocktail.

The problem was there were no taxis about. So as time was marching on we went in an open sided taxi or tuk tuk. 300 yards down the road the tourists had started early. You see the other name for Sangkran is the water festival. It is thought a long time ago that splashing water about would give fertility and good luck. That through the mists of time has changed to a damn good soaking.

So there we were minding our own business when suddenly whoosh 3 buckets of water and half a dozen water pistols hit us full force. So we strolled into Poppies like drowned rats. Then we looked around and saw the other drowned rats.

Laugh you have to..... we did!

So after a delightful dinner in a beautiful tropical garden setting we drove back in another tuk tuk. We did not need to shower when we got back..........

The following morning the hotel laid on a fantastically true Thai procession with all the staff in full traditional costumes the colour and spectacle were magnificent.
They then proceed to annoint you with talc and water. This and a splashing of perfumed water. White faces but you smell nice.

Out in the street is was more like Beirut than Samui. A full scale water battle was in progress from dawn to dusk. The roads were literally flooded with amount of water used.

However cars and bikes were also targets. I saw one car hit the other up the rear due to bad driving and another poor soul fall off his moped.

We decided to stay in the hotel that night and enjoy dinner in a private sala or raised hut on the edge of the beach watching traditional thai dancing and dining on white snapper cooked with corriander ginger and other herbs in a banana leaf. Whilst after dinner we were entertained by a sensational firework display lighting up the sky and disturbing the sleeping wildlife.

The night,the warm evening, the gin fizz, the maitai. It don't get better than this kid.

And so dear reader how did I end up looking. I ended up covered in Talc & sweet smelling water