songkran

Today is Songkran, or Thai New Year. The celebration consists of ropes of flowers draped on everyone and then a ceremonial, yet very wet, dumping of water upon everyone you see. It celebrates the end of the dry season and the upcoming wet. Everyone is every charming and friendly, but it is a bit hard to keep dry...and you sort of need to keep dry when you are catching a flight in a couple hours. WE go back to Bangkok this evening. Wet people on planes.,....brrrr.....not nice.

Songkran has other little tradItions, too. They pat powder on your face and arms, as if just getting doused was not enough. Some people use dye in the water, but that is frowned upon as being too extreme in most quarters. I was the inadvertent participant in a wet t shirt contest when I got DUMPED on with BUCKETS of water and was wearing a white tank top. You know one of those with the double layer for "light support"? Yeah, two layers of thin white t shirt material, add 6 gallons of water and hello nipples! All of Railay beach has seen my goodies now. The farangs take the water dousing farther than the Thai. The Thai will leave you alone if you ask, but the tourists and party people here are in it for the mess and they won't let you pass. White folks always take it too far. We've now learned hold up the bag above your head and tell people not to splash it by pointing and saying "camera", but you are gonna get doused no matter what.

So I am sticking close to the hotel pool for now until we leave. I can't bring back a suitcase full of wet clothes. Yeuch.

In other news, ever been stung by a jelly fish? Well, me neither until this morning when i went to the beach for a last swim.

It fucking KILLS.

IT got me right around the base of the neck and oh my god, it's like stinging nettles and burning blisters and bad bad sunburn all in one. And there is no red mark to show my agony, just extreme pain. Luckily it seems i am not allergic as my throat has not closed up and I am not dead. Thank you for small miracles.

Yesterday was SO COOL. I just can't stop thinking about it. Rich and I today noticed a night dive where you can go at 2pm and come back at 8:30, and you can see the phosphorescent plankton they have here, that apparently sticks to you and makes you glow like the stars. How cool is that? Well, we've definitely decided to come back. This place is too wonderful and somehow comfortable to not come back to.

Tonight we go back to Bangkok, then Saturday off to Cambodia and Angkor Wat. I can't believe this trip is almost over.