Khun DanDam, Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Nang Rong Falls, Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Thailand is so beautiful.

We moved.

No longer residents of Lopburi, Thailand… now citizens of greater Bangkok.  And, it’s wonderful.  Seriously wonderful.  I honestly can’t begin to describe to all of you just how spectacular and refreshing this change of location, change of home, change of lifestyle has been for the two of us.  It is nothing short of a blessing, and that’s really the best way to put it.  After all of the struggles with noise, dirt, mold, allergies, lack of basic conveniences (a flushing toilet, for example), health problems, stress, unfriendly (and rather scary) street, living beside people who wanted absolutely nothing to do with us, etc……. we are now living in a whole new world.

I feel normal again.  Well, as normal as is possible being an American girl living in Thailand, of course.  But really, after living in the country for a year, it does feel normal.  I sometimes wonder now how weird it will feel the first time we return to the States.  Hmmm.

In front of our new house, before going out on my birthday.

Anyways, since I don’t have a bunch of pics ready to post online yet (since we just got our internet hooked up in the last day or so), I figured I’d just list off a few of the things I’m really thankful for in our new home.  It’s true, I’m no longer calling where we live our “house”… no, this place is worthy of being called our home.

• 2 real, self-flushing toilets (yes, we have 2!)
• a bathtub (a rare find in Thailand)
• a separate shower area upstairs
• a patio behind the house where I can do laundry and cook
• an automatic washing machine, with a big metal rack to dry clothes in the sunshine
• my own oven/stove (outside to keep the house cooler)
• a corner lot that actually has a little bit of yard
• a couch to sit on
• trees!
• windows on every single wall (we only had one in Lopburi)
• complete floors in every room (meaning no broken tiles, no missing chunks of wood)
• space for visitors (hint, hint!)
• a corner lot that enable us to be quite visible to neighbors, giving us the opportunity to make friends
• lots of neighbors that are willing to talk to us
• loudspeakers that broadcast weekly community announcements, which are always preceded by 5 minutes of 1940′s swanky night club style music, then closed out with more music that sounds like the end of an old-timey radio show
• birds in our trees
• quietness
• the ability to begin sleeping again
• a functional a/c wall unit in our bedroom and office
• a functional kitchen nook (one wall of our living room) with cabinets and a countertop!
• a gracious, friendly landlord
• no fluorescent tube lighting in the house  :)  (it’s all cans or circle fluorescents)
• a corner lot that happens to be where the kids play after school every day
• a little house-front vegetable stand (that sells flour, too!) in our “village”
• when riding my bike to the vegetable stand, a few people already call to me by name to say hello
• being able to actually hear the crickets at night, rather than booming clubs
• … and so much more!

Now that we’re just about finished with all of the work that goes into setting up a home from nothing (literally, we moved here with clothes, computers, and a few small items), it’s time to get back to language study, meeting new people, and learning just how we can reach out to the community around us.  I can already envision so much good here.  In the past few days, we’ve had 3 women from down the road either walk or ride their bicycles down to chat with us while we did work on our yard.  We’ve had conversations with the older couple who lives across the street, and talked to a lady a few houses down about her plants and what she thinks we should do with our yard.  The kids that play on our street corner finally got up the courage to speak to us and invited Brook to play some badminton, while I brought out fresh chocolate chip cookies to feed them at the beginning of the week… and, they came back this afternoon, rang our bell, and asked if Brook could come out again to play!

Have I mentioned yet how refreshing this change has been?  I’m beyond thankful.

By finishing up our first year at the language center here in Lopburi, we’ve moved up a level in our Thai language abilities… so much that we no longer need to study in a designated center, with designated teachers. This means we won’t be seeing the women we’ve come to know and love every day anymore. That, to me, is a little bit sad. These ladies work hard every day to teach all of us foreigners, who have no clue about anything compared to them, how to both speak the Thai language and adapt to the Thai culture. Do you have any idea how much patience they must have to put up with years and years, rounds and rounds, of these non-Thais coming through asking the same questions, making the same stupid mistakes, and all around generally failing at life? :)

They are wonderful, and I believe they really don’t hear it enough.

So, what are we going to do about this? We have been told that it is tradition that when each student or family is ready to move on, they take the teachers out for lunch together as a final sort of thank you/farewell party. This, however, is usually rather quick as their lunch break is only about an hour and a half long. It always seems rushed, someone else has to arrange for transportation, another has to decide where they will go and call ahead, and so on. This got me thinking…

Hmmm… I love to cook. These women love to eat. They know I love to cook, and seem to enjoy every time I’ve brought in treats to share with them. I am already finished with my classes and have a whole morning free on Tuesday (the day before Brook’s final exams, thus making us both completely finished at the center). Hmmm… if we were to bring lunch to them at the center, that would free up more time to spend with each other in a quieter setting and take away the stress of transportation. Hmmm…

So, yes, tomorrow I will be blogging about the lunch we shared for Tasty Tuesday. :)

But, what does this have to do with today’s post? I’ve decided it would be good for us to leave something other than bellies full of food behind. Some kind of gift that’s not too big, not too small, and has a little bit of heart in it. When thinking about the teachers and what type of things they like, I realized how much they all seem to enjoy decorating their offices with cute stuff… flowers, plants, posters, stickers, cartoon character things, etc. Then, I came across this idea online.  Perfect! 

So, I made a bundle of these flowers in two patterns I thought they would like.  Then, I made a big batch of Lime Meltaway cookies (to come later via Tasty Tuesday’s as well!), which they had all enjoyed the last time I brought them in.

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Put the cookies in little bags…  staple them shut…  tie on a flower…  and, ta-da!  I know it’s not the most beautiful or extravagant thing ever, but it’s entirely homemade – that counts for a lot over here in Thailand.  I hope the ladies not only enjoy their cookies, but will remember us each time they see the flower on their desk, hanging on their bulletin board, or whatever they decide to do with it in each of their offices.

As I opened the door and stepped outside to head for classes this morning, apparently, a snake took that as his invitation to come inside.  I have no clue where it came from, I didn’t see it at all… but, Brook did.  Not more than 2 steps out the door, he hollered to me that a snake had just come in the house.  What?!  No way!  I didn’t see anything of the sort.  Thinking perhaps it was a ball of dust, or a stray thread falling from our curtains, I asked him repeatedly if he was sure (while remaining briefly outside the threshold of the door, of course)…

We both got down on our hands and knees (after I decided to come back inside) looking under the bench, the desk, the book shelf in the corner… and nothing to be found.  He was sure he saw a bright green snake slither in past me, and we were determined to find it.  5 minutes later, he saw it under the bookshelf in the corner.  So, with him keeping an eye on the creature, I ran to get a my heaviest pot to use to smash its head.  You see, at this point, we didn’t know if it was poisonous or not – so, we figured killing it and getting the chance to examine closer after it was no longer moving would be the best course of action.  After all, only a few months ago, friends of ours just across town discovered a big bad cobra in their kitchen.  (They lived on the edge of a rice paddy, so not a huge surprise… but, still unexpected!)

Anyways, it kept playing hide-n-seek for nearly 20 minutes, before it decided to come out from under Brook’s camera bag (on the lowest shelf of the book rack) and climb straight up the wall.  Wait a second.  What?!  YES, this snake slithered straight up a sheer, smooth, painted wall with little to no effort at all.  I have NEVER seen anything like it in my life!  It was frightening and awe-inspiring all at the same time.  After making its way up to the top of the window frame, it lifted its head and first several inches of its body off of the wall as it poked around the window looking for an opening, I assume.

That’s when my hero made his move, knocking the serpent in the head with the crooked handle of my big umbrella.  Just the right length to reach it, and heavy enough to knock it senseless to the ground.  Once on the ground, Brook (my aforementioned hero) finished him off quickly with the umbrella, and I stood there watching in amazement as the body continued to writhe, curl, extend, and slither on its own after it was already done for.  Snakes are beautiful creatures, yes… but also very dangerous, and we couldn’t take that chance.

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Here it is, the freakishly long, skinny, bright green creature that invaded my home this morning, after being immobilized permanently.  I was sure to take a few photos so we could later identify just what type of snake it was without having to keep it in the house.  (And, I believe the tiles on our floor are 6-inch squares, if that helps you visualize at all.)

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We’ve come to learn via internet research and advice from fellow expats in Thailand that this is, in fact, a Golden Tree Snake – also called an Ornate Flying Snake.  Incredible creatures they are, they have the unique ability to climb straight up sheer surfaces (as witnessed this morning), as well as fling themselves in such a manner that they seem to fly from branch to branch among the treetops.  Also, we were relieved to find out that even though this particular snake is a member of the Viper family, its venom is so mild that it would not be harmful to humans.  Other than a painful bite and swollen limb, there would not be worse damage done.

I never enjoy the death of a fellow living creature, but as we weren’t sure of this particular one’s nature, it was the best option.  We know now for the future that we don’t need to worry about this type of snake, and that capturing it to release out somewhere else won’t be a dangerous operation.  Even though they scare the snot out of me, I do think snakes are beautiful creatures (especially when secured behind thick glass in a tank that has a tight-fitting lid).  Just Google this snake and look at the detail in its scales, the bright green color, and the black edging and bands on its body.  It’s really incredible!  (Even moreso when it’s not in my house… :)  )

Now, to the rest of you, to whom I may sound like just another a blabbering girly girl hyped up over something insignificant, I say “whatever.”  With the kindest smile, of course.  :)

Today, Brook and I had a few hours to kill between lessons and decided our time would be best spent checking out a new store on the other end of town.  It just opened on Wednesday, and we decided (after the last Grand Opening we tried to attend) it would be better to wait a few days until the curious crowd died down a little bit.  Even better, we decided midday would cut down on the masses even more.  Yes, this plan worked, and off we went to check out this place called Makro just outside of the city.

Makro, for those of you who don’t know, is a more simplified Thai equivalent to Sam’s Club.  They sell many items in bulk (cooking oils, snacks, some fresh produce, etc.) at a discounted price, and shoppers are asked to have a membership card.  This week, they’re letting people in without a card though, so they can start shopping and get hooked on it first.  Ha.  I’ve heard about these stores, and driven by them many times during the course of the past year, but had never been inside one.

I was in sheer awe of their produce section and frozen items, the dairy case (yes, there was a dairy case!!!!!) and the bakery.  I don’t expect any of you to understand, but after living in our city for a year, lacking many food items that I’ve been accustomed to having for the past 25 years, this place about made me cry.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Thai food!  But, it’s nice to have something more familiar every once in a while, ya know?

So, what did I see that I haven’t seen before (well, sometimes in Bangkok, but not in Lopburi)??  Massive blocks of cheese (one mozzarella, one white cheddar, one yellow Australian cheddar, one gouda and one parmesean)!  Real sour cream!  Ground beef, frozen pizza dough, yellow corn tortillas, dried bay leaves, Canadian bacon in chunk form, Prego spaghetti sauce, both black and green canned olives, lasagna noodles, Granny Smith apples, balsamic vinegar, real navel oranges, fresh strawberries, lemons (very rare), real sweet corn, frozen blueberries (berries are pretty non-existent here), frozen spinach (oh my goodness!), and both red & white wine vinegars.  It took most of the power I have within me to resist grabbing some of everything and shoving it in my cart as we walked the store (though it did help reminding myself that it was all a bit expensive on our Thai budget, and these sort of things would have to limited to an infrequent “treats” basis.  Ha!).  I simply could not believe my eyes.

But the biggest thing to me, the thing that made my eyes well up with tears for some inexplicable reason, was celery.  Real, fat, bright green, large bunched, crispy, refreshing, glorious celery.  I have been wanting for this simple pleasure for a year now – chicken salad just isn’t the same, egg salad lacks that fabulous crunch, peanut butter is lonely without it… and today I found it.  I’m not kidding about how happy I was to pick it up, see the stamp from California, and take it to be weighed.  And it wasn’t too expensive either!  Only about $1.00 US for a good sized bunch.  I was like a little kid proudly carrying a new toy around throughout the store. I just couldn’t stop smiling.

I know, I know.  I’m a silly girl.  But, it’s those little things in life that help refresh this girl when day to day life in Thailand gets to be just a little bit too much.  That celery made my day.  I ate a few sticks with peanut butter for lunch, and I made the most delightful chicken salad for supper.  It was wonderful.

What’s one of your “little things” that can cheer you up or make everything all better?

For this week’s Tasty Tuesday, I thought I’d share with you a few of the places I like to go online when searching for ideas on food, recipes, creativity and what not. Living in Thailand has surely forced me to be even more resourceful when it comes to meals (and everyday life, for that matter) and food shopping. I’ve always been one to enjoy cooking and making things myself, but boy was I surprised by how little what I made back in the States was truly “from scratch.”

Back home, I used canned tomatoes, cream soups, packaged tortillas, and pre-mixed spice blends for certain things.  I got used to having things like English muffins and bagels at the store, buying a package of ricotta or sour cream, picking up a bag of hamburger buns, or buying various types of broth for cooking and soup making.  Yes, I made meals myself and rarely used a boxed something-or-other… but, I still used things (like what I just listed) that were already prepared in order to do so.  Here, it’s a whole different ballgame – none of these things are anywhere to be found.

I now make my own cream soups, sauce bases, roux, stewed/crushed/peeled tomatoes, tomato juice, tortillas, spice blends, English muffins, bagels, hamburger buns, reconstitute various dry beans, dinner rolls, broths, sausage, pickles, salsa (which I did before sometimes, too), chicken strips/ buffalo wings, pasta/pizza sauces, various breads and doughs, and so much more.  Right now, I’m even working on making sour cream and ricotta!  It’s tough work, too, when I don’t actually have a kitchen either.  I’ve got a table out in our living space, and a strip off the back of the house with an old gas range in it.  Imagine how funny I look when doing prep on one side of the house, then running to the other with something in hand for a pot on the stove.  Ha.  I do enjoy it, but it takes a LOT of time to do here in Thailand.

Seeing as I had to leave my cookbooks back in the States (all but one my mom made for me when we got married, with family recipes in it – that one HAD to be here with me!), I’ve had to begin turning to the internet for help when I need it.  Since doing so, I’ve discovered a handful of reliable food bloggers that have enabled me to learn new ways of cooking, how to make more “pantry items” from scratch, and enjoy watching them cook certain meals that I would love to make, but simply can’t find the ingredients for around here.

That said, I’d like to share with you a few links to the sites I check most often for help, inspiration, and new ideas.  I hope you enjoy them, too!  Just click on the name, and it will link you straight to the site.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks – fabulous step-by-step photo tutorials on nearly every recipe.  Good home cookin’ type food.

Tasty Kitchen – a pretty reliable recipe-sharing community developed by the previously mentioned Pioneer Woman.

Annie’s Eats – a working mom in the medical field, from Indianapolis, who does a fabulous job of entertaining and trying/developing new recipes.

FoodGawker – a collection of food photos with links to various original blog posts containing recipes and cooking tips, updated daily.

Taste – an Australian recipe collection filled with light, refreshing, healthy meals.

KitchenDaily – sure, they’ve got lots of good recipes… but, my favorite part is the How-To’s section that features lots of short instructional videos on basic kitchen and cooking techniques from the Culinary Institute of America.

CIA Intelligence – from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), comes recipes, instructional videos, and a whole lot of knowledge, if you’re into that sort of thing.  I sure am!

Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for putting pictures and posters on. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley’s bed, but during the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. Stanley even helps catch some art museum sneak thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. But one special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. Eventually Arthur, who tires of all the attention Stanley has been getting, reverts Stanley to his proper shape through an air pump used for footballs.

In 1995, a third grade teacher in Ontario, Canada started what is now known as the Flat Stanley project.  The project seeks to connect children with others outside of their own community, by sending stories and more “Stanleys” back and forth to each other.  Over the years, the project has been adopted and adapted by teachers in all different schools.  Some choose to involve the entire class in sending one Stanley to another classroom in a partnering school.  Some choose to have each student in the classroom send their own Stanley to a friend or relative in another State or province.  And others allow their students to mail a Stanley off to the far corners of the world, as long as they know the person who will be receiving the letter personally.

Upon receiving Stanley in the mail, his host or hostess gets to take him on an adventure, documenting it the whole way.  After Stanley had has the opportunity to have his photo taken in all kinds of interesting places, checked out the local food and way of life, both he and a story about his travels are mailed back to the child that made him.  The child is then able to read about where he went, what he did, and see pictures of it as well.  The child may then also choose to share about what was returned to them in class.

We got a Flat Stanley… and you have no idea how excited I was about it!  Stanley was here through part of March and the holiday season mid-April – yes, that means he got to be part of Songkraan with us, as you’ll see in the photos.  I just received word, earlier this week, that our friend Makenna has received her Stanley pack, and I now feel that I can share his story with all of you.  After all, she deserved to see it first, right?  :)  Thank you, Makenna, for choosing us for your project!  You are awesome!

Oh yeah, and I decided to make a friend to send back to Indiana with Stanley, too!  Her name is Kung (say it like “Goong”), which means shrimp.  I just traced Stanley’s outline, so they’d be the same size/shape, and drew her in one form of traditional Thai dress.

If you know me at all, you know I love bright colors, clean presentations, and adding a little fun to everything… so, I figured it would be neat to send his story back looking like this.  No plain paper allowed.  Nope!  Just click on the image below to download the PDF and read for yourself.  Enjoy!

Click the image above to download the PDF file.

But, we had no keys. No post office keys means no mail.

Here’s the deal – I hadn’t bothered to look for our keys over the past several days, because I knew we wouldn’t be able to get to where we would use them. Today, upon looking in their usual keeping-space, I remembered that I loaned them out to a fellow student at our language school (we all share one PO box). I remember exactly where I was sitting, what I was wearing, even the conversation I was having with another person at the time that I so graciously volunteered our keys to a person who needed to run to the post office. The only thing I DON’T remember is who I actually lent them to! Blargh. So, after running around in the hot midday sun, we had no mail, no packages, and no fun.

Next up was a trip to Big C for a few essentials. We ate lunch at KFC as a treat, and sadly, the fries tasted like they’d been made 2 weeks ago, then put in the refrigerator. Blech. After finishing our lunch, then heading into the store, I realized the a/c must not have been functioning properly, as I began sweating like crazy, along with the other tons of people in the aisles (which was surprising, being the middle of the day on a Monday). But, then it happened. The one thing that made the day all better, despite the tiredness, despite the heat, despite the headache I already had from not sleeping again last night…

A little girl sheepishly said “hello.”

Upon my hearing this and turning to see her, she hid her face and giggled. I turned back away from her, looked only out of the corner of my eye, and out of the side of my mouth whispered back “hello” as I continued to browse the sale bucket of Thai printed fabrics and whatnot. About a minute later, she said it again with more confidence, so I replied and smiled back at her. Again, more giggles. Just before I was about to move on, she came up to me (with 2 other little ones now looking on) and said “my name is” with a huge smile. I figured she was trying to ask my name, but only knew a couple of phrases in English. So, what did I do? I spoke back to her in Thai, told her my name, and then asked hers. She couldn’t believe it. A farang (white-skinned foreigner) not only spoke to her kindly, but spoke in Thai! More giggles of course. I told her I was pleased to meet her, then she went back to the cart to wait for who I assume was her mother.

A few minutes later, I hear a pitter-patter of flip flops coming up behind me in the shoes section where we were looking for flip-flops big enough to fit Brook (Thais generally have tiny feet, so we have trouble finding shoes in this country), as his current ones are nearing the end of their life. I turned around to see the same little girl, this time holding the hand of another girl younger than herself. She told me the other girl wanted to meet me, too. I spoke a few sentences before they giggled again, and ran away. The same scenario happened a few more times as we went through the store, with each time meeting another of the young girl’s friends. One of them was even excited as she was also named Sara. Sweet kids.

The best part was the last time they came and found me, over in the noodle aisle, (there were 5 of them together at this point) and the girl said she had one more person who wanted to nae nam (introduce herself) to me, and find out if I lived in this city or not. After we spoke another minute or two, they all got really shy as the oldest one said naa rak cang lery, which means “I love your face,” and they said they had to go. As they went their way and I went mine, each time they saw me down at the end of another aisle, they all smiled and said, “Phii Sara” (phii means older sister in Thai). That was awesome.  I couldn’t help but continue smiling as we finished up and walked out of the store.

This is why learning the language of whatever host culture you live in is so important. Language helps you to connect with the people you are living with. Language helps you to communicate, even if it is only your name and that you do, in fact, live in this city and are not a tourist. I can imagine how excited the girls will be to tell their parents and friends that they spoke to a real, live farang today. (I know how happy I am to tell you guys about this, and I’m an adult!) Being able to understand, and be understood, no matter how difficult it is, is a victory. This same sort of scenario happened a couple of weeks ago, as I met and spoke with another group of curious young girls at a small shop two days in a row.  It’s intimidating for sure, but really fun.  I like meeting new people, but especially kids. And, to now feel like I’m starting to get my ability to connect with them back… well, that’s a really good feeling.

It’s the little things like saying hello that really make my day.

In the picture above, you’ll see a group of fellow students and teachers, with myself, from the language center where Brook and I are currently studying.  Last Saturday, we had a special session all about the celebration of Songkran and the traditions that come along with it in Thai society.  After the session, we were all asked to gather for a group photo out front of the building, since a few students will be leaving soon, and we all happened to be together for once.  Little did we know, as the students were lining up, all teachers snuk out of the group and made their way up to the balcony above… and SPLASH!  They got us all with buckets of cold water from up high, all of us completely unaware!  What a way to kick off the weekend, and kick off the Songkran fun.  No one had any idea, they planned it moments before, and it was a great (and very funny) surprise.  Interestingly enough, I happened to be in the center of the group, and soaked up most of the water by myself.  Happy Songkran, eh?

Songkran is known around the world mostly for its notorious water-fights that take place throughout the entire country.  Roads are essentially shut down as small gangs with large buckets of water form along the sidewalks, calling for vehicles to stop for an anointing of sorts!  All of the kids are also out on summer break, armed with giant water guns and hoses, ready to douse the next person who passes by.  Side roads all come to a crawl as people sitting in the back of pick-up trucks battle it out in the air, and families come running from their front steps to attack them from behind.  All ages participate, and everybody has fun.  It is no coincidence that this all happens to take place during the hottest week of the entire year.

Another thing that goes on during this staged war of water is the hurling and smearing of powder and a sort of mud-paste.  There is a certain type of talc produced in Lopburi (that is later used to make some types of baby powders) that can be bought in blocks or small chunks.  During Songkran, these blocks and chunks are widely distributed for making a sort of slurry that can be smeared on people.  I honestly have no clue where this part of the fun came from, but it sure gets crazy.  Some people hold the hoses and buckets, and others carry around bowls of this “mud,” ready to paint somebody wherever they like – usually the face.  But, don’t worry, there’s always someone 5 feet away, totally willing to dump a bucket of ice water on you to wash it all right off.

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We were told ahead of time that dousing and smearing the farangs (foreigners/white-skinned people) in a city like ours (where there really aren’t any farangs other than us) is sort of an accomplishment that can be told of for years to come. A proverbial notch on the belt, you could say.   So… we were prime targets.  As soon as one kid spotted us riding by (at a snail’s pace, of course), the whole group would come running, all eager to have a chance to touch our faces.  Kids, teenagers, even grandmothers made the rush to smear us with paste.  It was quite amusing.  Luckily, we were out for the purpose of Songkran-ing, had nowhere else to go, and were already wearing destroyable clothing.  What fun!

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Something really incredible about this whole water fight thing, though, is how everyone – literally EVERYONE – comes out to play.  The photo to your left was taken standing at the end of our soi (tiny sidestreet), looking down the main road.  Traffic at a standstill, truck after truck filled with people and their tanks of icy water, splashing from vehicle to vehicle.  It was nuts!  The only thing you could hear was “Sawatdii pii mai (Happy New Year),” “Suk sahn wan Songkran (Happy Songkran),” and insane amounts of laughter… for hours!  And there was not an angry one in the bunch.  Everyone from 5 year old boys to teenagers, moms, and grandfathers were out playing in the water together.

I’ve heard many comments about how this would be awesome to do back home, but honestly, it would never fly.  It is understood here that if you are on the road, you are fair game.  Everybody also accepts the fact that you may get a cold, an ear ache, or red eyes after 3 days of water splashing and getting mud in your face.  It just comes with the territory.  If you don’t want to get wet, powdered, or bothered, you don’t go out.  Buy your food a few days ahead and just stay at home, and no one will look down on you.  It’s your choice.  But… if you go out, be ready for action!  Going out = willingness to “len naam” (play water) with your entire community, whether you know them or not!

Seriously, could you imagine a whole city in the States (not to mention the whole country) shutting down, having roads blocked by water wars traffic, splashing in the streets, anybody being fair game… and not having any lawsuits, screaming, people getting in fights, or insane doctor bills over the little side effects?  Nah.  Perhaps we should just keep Songkran in Thailand, and all of you can come visit us sometime in April.  Deal?

Since I can’t seem to fit all of our photos here on this page, here’s a link to my Facebook album.  The link is public, so you will be able to view it even if you’re not a Facebook user.  Click right here!

Even though I know you are ready to see what this whole water war thing is about, we have one more thing to talk about first.  Today, as Brook & I were travelling about, we witnessed another very important ritual for Thai Buddhists during this holiday season.  You’ve probably heard me say it before, but in Thailand there is a saying “to be Thai is to be Buddhist.”  This means that virtually every part of their culture, traditions, and even daily life skills are rooted somehow in long-standing, even ancient, religious practices.  Holidays are certainly no exception to this.

Yesterday, I told you about the pouring of lustral waters over the hands of elders as a way of giving them honor and blessing in the coming year.  People also clean out their homes and bathe any idols or images of the Buddha that they own.  Today, we saw the latter being done in a slightly different context, in a much bigger way.

Early on in the celebration of Songkran, the city’s most precious images of Buddha are paraded through the streets so onlookers may toss or pour clean, scented water over the statues.  This provides one opportunity for Thais to perform a sort of ritual bathing of the Buddha in order to secure good luck and fortune for the coming year.  The photo above is not from our city, rather I found it online, as we were in the midst of the travelling water wars (and riding on the motorbike) when we observed the practice for ourselves.  What we saw was two large, clean pick-up trucks, decorated beautifully, each with a rather large golden Buddha (in the cross-legged seated position) riding in the back.  These trucks were making rounds to each of the neighborhoods where people could come right out of their own homes to make merit and bathe the statue.

Depending on your city, there may also be areas set up similar to the photo above, where one can go to pour water over Buddhas each in a differing position (images of Buddha can be in a number of seated or standing positions, each with distinct meaning).

As I mentioned yesterday, Songkran is a very important time for Thai families.  Songkran is when everyone goes back to where their family originated (or more modernly, wherever the oldest generation is currently living), and spends the holiday celebrating together.  On the first morning of Songkran (April 13), families traditionally will wake early and go to the temple as a group.  They will dress in their best clothing, prepare their best foods, and collect an amount of sand to take along on the trip.  Upon arriving at the temple, each family will present their offerings of food (as well as money or daily items like soap and toothpaste) to the monks in residence as means of making merit to cover any wrongdoings or sins in the past year.  As you can see in the photo above (from a Northern city in Thailand), a large amount of sand is also collected at the temples on this day as well.  Families traditionally bring a bucket, bag, or even just handfuls of sand along and dump it on temple grounds as a way of replacing the sand that they have carried away on their feet from visits during the previous year.  As the amount of sand being returned is quite large all in one day, the mounds are typically gathered together and formed into small pagodas that can then be decorated and honored as well.

As with most people around the world, Songkran – the Thai New Year – comes along with all kinds of new resolutions and pledges for good in the coming year.  People will do all they can to start the next year right.  Making merit, cleaning out the home, making promises of good will, and enjoying one another’s company in celebration are how they do this.

Just outside our street, this was going on...

Now you know just a little bit more about Songkran…. but, still not everything!  Come back again tomorrow for what I know you’ve all been waiting for….