Bangkok and some Island Life

So it has been a while since I posted, and for good reason too. At the moment I find myself on an island where everything a healthy and able human may need. There is quality nutritious food, physical activities, the sweet ocean air and good people to become friends with. It’s quite a gem I’ve discovered and I’ve enjoyed the better part of a month here, still while working along the way.

After Pattaya, I went to Bangkok and it just happened to be the Thai New Year and the Songkran festival. This is basically one massive water fight in most of the cities and villages of Thailand where everyone including Grandma is armed with a water gun or a bucket and all proceed to engage in battle for 4 days straight. In the month of April, which is considered the hottest month in Thailand, it serves as a nice refresher.

So of course, when I found out this was going on I had to participate. I opted not to tell my friend Ben, who was arriving the day of the start of the festival, and I checked in with the local Couchsurfing community in Bangkok to see if there was any organized activity for the festivities. Sure enough, there was something going on that already has over 120 people confirmed to attend. It was called CS Songkran Bootcamp.

I arranged to stay at the hotel where most of couchsurfers were to be staying and for the next four days, we went out in full force. Can I just say that this festival is NUTS. Thousands of people all over splashing everyone. Ben and I decided the bucket option was a better weapon than the watergun because you really shock someone with a bucket of water in their face. Especially if it happened to be ice cold water, which was available for 5 baht or 15 cents. 

Typically we would go out for a couple hours and then come back to recoup and charge for the next session. After one day of being in Khao San road, we went over to Silom, where the waterfight took another level with multiple fire hoses shooting into the crowds. I was on the metro up top looking down and I had a good position to get the firetruck below. I scooped up some water, threw it hard and bam! Hit the truck straight on. Then all of a sudden, the firefighter looked up at me, and proceeded to aim his hose at me! Haha, it’s fun to experience water force from 50 meters away come up at you and everyone around you. Luckily I had some cover to hide behind, but it was on~ I scooped up and did the best I could to retaliate. What a good time, where was I?

I made some great friends, danced a step or two, and enjoyed the city of Bangkok in its most craziest time. Otherwise, I may not feel so inclined to spend that much time in the city. 

Ok, back to Island life~ There are truly some amazing gems in the world, you just need to put yourself out there to find them.