
If you've all been wondering why all has been quiet on the tg front these past few weeks, and you've suspected that I've been having too much fun to stop and write, you'd be right.
Thailand and I are currently caught in the grip of Songkran, the Thai New Year festivities.
Chiang Mai is the epicentre of all the fun which, as my friend Gary put it so succinctly, really is "as much fun as you can get without being horizontal".
Indexed to the birth of Siddartha Guatama (the historical Buddha) in 543 BCE, the Thai calendar begins in April. Festivities involve throwing water, symbolising purification, renewal and the end of the dry season.
The word 'Songkran' derives from Sanskrit and means 'to move into'; it is a period of transition. The word liminal is used to describe such states - they are held, by most cultures, to be sacred, magical, powerful and potentially dangerous times, when boundaries become blurred and limits exceeded.

Everyone gets wet - it's churlish (and foolish) not to. Here in northern Thailand, it's incredibly hot at the moment - around 102F at midday, 85F at midnight (40/32C), so getting soaked to the skin is not only a thrill, it's a massive relief.
To point out, as many do, that water is a precious and often scarce resource in Thailand, that it's dangerous and irresponsible, childish and silly, is to miss the point entirely. Thai people live entirely (and often unnervingly) in the present. Have fun today, clear up tomorrow. Get wet, get dry. Laugh - often; there's enough to be serious about.
Songkran is of course dangerous too - motorcyclists are killed and maimed year in, year out, as they are ambushed by boisterous, often drunken revellers who unintentionally blind them with a carelessly thrown bucket or squirt of water. But the streets are full of motorcyclists and Rates of conception rocket. It's bizarre, bacchanalian, Buddhist - and brilliant.
You can see more Songkran photos here
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