Gearing Up for Songkran 2014!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled recap of our Cambodia trip to bring you a special report from Bangkok on Songkran 2014 preparations!

Songkran is Thailand biggest festival, celebrating the traditional Thai new year.  The holiday falls in April each year, which is the hottest time of the year in Thailand.  Many people celebrate Songkran by going to the temple, making offerings, cleaning their houses and shrines and making new years resolutions.  

The most fun part of Songkran, though, is that Thailand basically turns into a country-wide water fight for 3 days.  I mean, if you leave the house during the festival, it is guaranteed that you will be squirted, splashed, doused in a bucket full of water, and probably have your face smeared with talcum powder! It's all very good-natured and fun. 

Here's a pretty hilarious video of the folks as the U.S.Embassy in Bangkok, including the ambassador, wishing Thailand a happy Songkran:

Today, Saturday, is sort of the soft opening of Songkran, so when Tim and I walked to the grocery store to stock up on food as most restaurants and shops close, we went prepared to get wet, putting our wallets and cell phones in ziplocks.  However, other than the grocery store clerks wearing Hawaiian shirts (an inexplicable Songkran tradition), we didn't see much action.  But we did stock up:

Ben and Tim are taking the motorbike out to do some reconnaissance, though, checking out the Songkran hotspots.  They're going prepared, Ben in his aloha shirt and Tim riding in the back with the weaponry:

This report will be updated in the near future once the festival is in full swing!