The bus ride went quite smooth, but I did arrive at 05.30 in the morning in Chiang Mai, so I was very tired upon arrival. I took a local red bus to get to my hostel. Once there, it was my lucky day, as my room was already available. I went up and slept the bus trip off. Around noon I woke up again and realized that I arrived in a very bad hostel. The sheets on my bed seemed not to have been washed for ages (though they smelled fresh). And the bathroom… well let’s just say I felt cleaner before taking a shower than after my shower. The hostel needed a big renovation, but for the price I paid I shouldn’t be complaining. Thus I decided to go take a look at the first day of the Songkran festival. On my way to the city centre I passed a 7-eleven (convenience store) and went in to buy some water. I saw that they were selling water guns and as you can’t go on the streets without one during Songkran, I decided to buy one.
When I got to the city centre, I realized that I bought the wrong water gun. It was just too small. Luckily there were a lot of local stands selling bigger water guns, so I bought a bigger one. Armed with my two water guns, I was now ready to… take revenge on the guys that made me wet during my walk to the city centre. Because as soon as I left the 7-eleven, I got sprayed upon with water non-stop. So armed with my guns, I started spraying water on everybody passing by. Of course with a big smile and each time followed by a ‘Happy New Year’. They all didn’t hesitate to give me the same treatment and I was soaking wet all afternoon. Some people surprised me by having ice cold water in their guns, whereas most people just took water from the city canal or water taps.
Around 6pm the activities started to end and I decided to go back to my hostel to freshen up a bit. Whilst walking my clothes dried quite fast in the sun. So I was kind of happy when I was almost at the hostel with dry clothes. Until my hostel’s neighbor decided to do some sniper action from his balcony with a big bucket of water. I thanked him by pointing my water gun towards him and spraying him wet, but evidently I didn’t get him as wet as he just got me.
In the evening I went out for some food and drinks. I tried to stay dry, and I almost succeeded, until an over-enthusiast tourist started using a water hose to spray water on everybody passing by the bar he was drinking at. So with wet clothes I had dinner, but by the end of dinner I was dry again, luckily! After that I went back to my hostel and managed to stay dry.
The next day I went back to the city centre, armed with a new water gun that promised to have a high-pressure water beam. And indeed it had! I didn’t attack anybody, but I did retaliate all those shooting at me. They all got stunned by my water beam! So same-same again this day. At noon I went to a small restaurant to have lunch and dry my clothes a bit. While I was sitting there, I saw how the owner sprayed water on all cars, motorbikes and pick-up trucks passing by. The pick-up trucks often had people in the back with water guns and a big barrel of water, so they shot back. What did scare me a bit though was that some motorbikes got destabilized due to the water as they drove by. Also the owner’s little girl, I estimate she was about 3 years old, was walking around next to the street and throwing water on everyone passing by, sometimes she even ran to the middle of the street. And just to be clear, this was one of the busiest main streets of Chiang Mai.
In the evening, when I got back to the hotel, I read in the Bangkok Post that Songkran is in fact a dangerous period, with lots of road casualties, due to drunk driving, speeding, etc. Most of them killed on motorbikes. According to the same newspaper during the 7 dangerous days of this Songkran, 364 people got killed and 3,559 got injured in 3,373 car accidents across Thailand. Four out of five accidents involved motorcycles. And these are just the reported accidents.
My last day in Chiang Mai I picked up my bus ticket back to Bangkok and spent some time in the Central Festival Mall. In the evening I went to the night market and bought some traditional Thai clothes.
On Friday morning I got up very early, checked out of my hostel and took the daytime bus back to Bangkok, where I arrived early in the evening. As I had a really bad (but cheap) hostel in Chiang Mai, I decided to go very posh in Bangkok and booked myself in the Lebua at State Tower. In this hotel the first scenes of The Hangover Part 2 were filmed. I got upgraded to a better suite and regretted staying there for only one night. I enjoyed sunset in the rooftop cocktail bar with a magnificent view on Bangkok.
As I was being really posh and didn’t want to leave this hotel without style, I booked a luxury car to Hua Hin, which was in fact not so much more expensive as a normal taxi. I specifically asked a black car, just to stay in the mood. My experience at the Lebua was really fantastic, but I am looking forward on arriving back at Korawan Resort in Hua Hin to spend my last week on holiday. I made a movie where you can see the room at the Lebua.
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