day 2...wet,chalked and tired

the second day's supposed to be devoted to shopping after park hopping. we didn't go as planned because we woke up really late. we skipped the parks and headed directly to chatuchak after brunch. chatuchak's the weekend market known for really cheap buys. i've been warned about how busy and crowded it is but i didn't expect that in a weekend market the songkhran fever's going to be so felt. songkran festival is the thai new year celebrated from the 11th of april until the 16th. people in the streets splash water at everyone mostly using water guns of all sizes imaginable.some use hoses, coconut shells, pails,dippers and water bottles. naturallyi got got me so wet from head to toe. we were walking and walking for hours from one stall to another, from one section to another under the scourging heat of the sun and cool water, bad combination. we got lost too but it's not such a bad thing as it is normal .everyone does. the place, according to most people and even this one thai travel guide say it is hard to navigate. yes indeed.i didn't find the bags i went there for. i didn't enjoy being bathed either but it was such a treat bathing the buddhas in different sizes and poses. the water was fragrant because of the petals from some yellow and fuscia flowers. the lotus flowers floating in the gold basin the held the scented water was such a pretty sight. the thai street food from one strip was a delight too. the moo barbeque was yummy and so did the skewered squid.there was this deep fried thing that tasted like siomai or queking only with the distinctive thai spicy sauce.the sweetened and salted kamias,santol and very young green mango were not impressive but interesting nonetheless.

happy with some of our buys ( mine were really not the priority in my list ),we left chatuchak at past 7 in the evening already. we had to get home at around 8 pm to make it to dinner in Khao San, the famous backpackers' area.

while waiting for a cab, an elephant popped out of nowhere ( in sukhumvit, one of the busiest area in downtown bangkok ). it's unfathomable to me that an elephant would just be in the entertainment district of bangkok. i thought they're found outside bangkok. i was so happy to see one in the area that we practically chased it around. i was like a kindergarten in awe i was literally clapping and jumping when we finally caught up with this dumbo. for 20 baht i got to feed him. it's incredible!!! i couldn't stop smiling and talking about how wonderful the creature was.even inside the cab to khao san i was still really giddy.

we got to khao san as planned but we're utterly shocked at the volume of people in the area partying in celebration of songkran. we were a little hesitant to get out of the cab but finally decided to just be cool and celebrate songkran with the game crowd.by now we were ready to be chalked and to be bathed ( yet again ).aside from water splashing all over the place, people also used this kind of chalk dissolved in water to paint people's faces ( and even the body ). i had been chalked on the face, head, back and chest. there was just no way of evading it. what's with the crowd that resembled the volume of people in edsa 1 or 2 in the philippines, or the volume of people celebrating the feast of the black nazarene. the foreigners ( as in caucasians, latinos/nas, africans etc, etc,) looked like they're having the time of their life. it seemed like they were in this huge playground and were enjoying what seemed like a water war game. everyone was sport though. wet and chalked all in the spirit of fun, of new year. it's quite unbelievable that there was almost no trouble even when almost everyone have had some beer or have drunk spirited drinks.

after making our way out of the sea of merry making people we finally got to this Pad thai place. the food's cheap and yes, as expected, very satisfying. we ordered Pad thai of course, and steamed prawns in soy sauce, and this other thing i don't know the name.  crazy crowd can never ruin my appetite for good food. jeff, who's determined to find the restobar chu's been bragging about, was more than willing and happy to keep walking the numbered streets to get to it. he really just wanted his tequilla, his favorite drink. we found the place finally.it's called the sunset bar. it's a cozy little place.it's alfresco and boy did i love the mahogany looking tables and chair. everything's great with the place except the band. they played awfully old songs and they're not those old songs i enjoyed and the male singer for a good number of times missed the right notes so we had fun making fun of them while singing and half dancing. we didn't get drunk.it's not us. we just behaved like the good ol' pinoys that we are, laughing our a***s off at every opportunity. i noticed we did behave differently. i'm saying this in a positive way, not proud but not sorry either.

at the end of it all we told ourselves we were glad we went to khao san. wet, dirty, tired as we might've been but we had fun.lots and lots of it. i had good doses of laughter and screaming. it's liberating.

Comments

[Russelle]

asians do things rather similar... i was thinking of our own san juan celeb back here.. only that water splashed on you are not fragrant...

[ruruth]

super talo ang san juan.the songkhran is huge. the thai gov was expecting to earn 14 million baht out of it. grabe nu? amazing sila sa pagmamarket ng festivals nila.