We arrived in Chaing Mai today at 0545 on a very nice bus with reclining seats and AC that departed Bangkok yesterday at 1900. We got situated at our guesthouse and hit the town. It's 2000 now and we are going to go out for some dinner. Yesterday was one of the worst of my life (dehydration, overheating, adverse reaction to my antimalarial drug, upset stomach from street food, etc.), and it culminated in a brief visit to a Thai emergency room. Mostly this was precautionary, if I was at home I certainly would have just slept it off, but it all seems very serious when it's 95 degrees and no one speaks english. (mom dont worry I'm just fine, seriously, but I will call you soon. Mostly I was just worried because I had never been out in this kind of heat and I had a hint of vertigo from taking my doxy on an empty stomach.). Today, by contrast, was one of the greatest days ever. 400,000 Thai People flooded to the small city of Chaing Mai and held the first day of the Thai New Year Celebration, a four day water fight with absolutely no hold barred. Grandmas were squirting teenagers, kids were throwing buckets of ice-water on motorcyclists, and we rented bicycles and bought super soakers and swerved through the packed streets blasting with no regard as to age, sex, gender, social class, race, or anything. No joke, we were probably splashed with at least 1,000 Gallons of water each over the course of our 6 hour ride, and returned a few favors in the form of "snipe shots to the ear" as John liked to call them. We couldn't take pictures because EVERYTHING was soaked. The streets were flooding with water-fight water. It was the most socially wild thing I have ever done.
Oh, Time to go get dinner. More Later. Christopher and John.
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Christopher I am glad you're OK.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the emergency room like?
Do they really sprinkle chicken blood on their patients and stick pins in voodoo dolls.
What did the witch doctor look like? Did he have a bone in his nose.
Water fight sounded like a lot of fun.
Be safe and careful
Mr. Myles Kelly
Stay hydraded you guys. I told you the story of Greg on Phi Phi Island. Drink more water than you think you need especially as you head south. Glad you are OK.
ReplyDeleteThe water fights sould so cool! Super soak me. Engel
Yo, Cif and John Marc, Tyler and Weldon: Just heard on CNN about civil unrest in Bangkok. Clashes with red guys and prime minister around gov. buildings. 40 or so injured. So I hope you are done with Bangkok for awhile. What are your future plans? Still floating the Mekong River to Vientiane, Laos? And, of course glad to hear you're okay Cif. I agree with Engel. Drink more than you need. I bet you'll be ready for some quiet beach time before too long? Love Dad and Mom
ReplyDeleteYou are all MUCH loved. Stay safe.
ReplyDeletePost more pictures, guys, (if you can)...we're all dying to see what you see! ...Watch eachother's backs! -Tom Frizelle p.s. Oh, and Blessed PASCHA! Christ is Risen!
ReplyDeleteYou guys will really enjoy Laos. I just came back from there last month. I was in Savannahket and Xapong along the Ho Chi Min trail. To say how are you is "Saa Bah Dee"
ReplyDeleteand to say thank you is "Kahp jai"and thank you very much just add "lie, lie". If you can tell already Thai, Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese are all very similar. Just add a few words to same sentence and you get the same results. Pick up as much as you can, trust me, it'll help. God Bless you guys and have fun.
So I was told to tell you that Aunt Sue and I are not at all jealous of you because we are here on the Moon. It is pretty cool and we get to eat astronaut food and everything. Well I have to go we are about to play some Lunar Basketball.
ReplyDeleteThai New Year is a blast..having experienced it ourselves. We had more fun soaking the well dressed and flatbed trucks with ice cold barrels of water soaking us. Enjoy. We are enjoying the posts keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteStan Gretchen and Erin