So it's 9:30pm and I'm lying on the top bunk in our cabin on the night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. The Express no less.
We've had the best day today. Got up at 7am and had breakfast whilst waiting for Nichar to show up. She had a 10km race this morning and came second. She even had a trophy to prove it.
Nichar gave us a lift on her scooter to the bottom of the road up to Wat Doi Suthep, where we jumped onto a song tao headed for the temple. The road had so many sharp bends in it, by the time we got up there both our stomachs were churning. Just glad I didn't have much at breakfast.
Doi Suthep was really cool. The entrance is lined with street vendors selling a wide variety of tasty treats. So tempting.
We headed inside and walked to a few steps to get to an open area at the bottom of the main stairway to to the temple. This staircase has two very elaborate naga (mythical sea serpents) as banisters all the way up, like all good staircases should have!
The weather was really overcast this morning and around Doi Suthep, there was thick mist, which only added to the atmosphere of the place.
As we are on day two of Songkran, there were hundreds of people at the temple saying prayers and giving thanks. You could buy lotus flowers and incense on the way in as offerings. We didn't but all the Thais did.
You take your shoes off to enter the main temple. It's very impressive. A sea of gold. Thanks to Songkran it was even more impressive today. The Thais processed around the central golden spire carrying their lotus flowers. Others were lighting candles or incense, or being blessed by one of the monks who was tying ceremonial string round their wrists. The air was full of the sound of bells. These bells are about two foot deep and arranged in rows. Usually you're not allowed to ring them, but today everyone was getting involved. It all added to the feeling of celebration.
We saw some spectacular moths. In one area there is a billboard lit at night by two enormous halogen flashlights. The two fig trees next to these lights contains some of the largest hawkmoths I have ever seen. They were giants. By far the most impressive find had to be a large pale green moon moth. I had these as pets when I was a kid in the basement of my parents' house, so to see one in the wild was really special. Even Amber had to agree it was beautiful.
Just outside the main temple we stopped to watch some young dancers dressed in traditional costume. The dancing was okay, but the thing that was really holding the crowd's attention was the way these girls were picking up money (donations to the temple) off the ground. I guess they were in their early teens and they were picking notes up off the floor by bending backwards into the crab position and then grabbing them with their mouths. Amber pointed that those skills might come in useful for then in later life if they were to pursue a somewhat less devout career path. Obviously I have no idea what she's talking about...
We left the temple at 10:15am and I bought myself a delicious snack, which consisted of pork, garlic and glutenous rice - mixed together and shaped like a sausage - on a stick. Incredible.
We texted Nichar to say we'd meet her outside Wat Prahsingh at midday and got on a song tao headed to Chiang Mai zoo. The windy road was so bad that two kids threw up during the trip down. Not ideal.
At Chiang Mai zoo we swapped song tao and headed to the Wat.
Wat Prahsingh was a hive of activity too. First there were the women selling birds in bamboo cages to be 'set free', then the people sprinkling a Buddha statue outside as a blessing. Yet more people were lighting candles and adding bright coloured streamers on sticks to what looked like a giant silver cake stand, each level filled with sand. So colourful.
We went inside two areas. In one of them sat an old monk, who seemed to be an important figure in the history of the Wat, as he featured in many of the old photos on the walls inside the temple and also appeared to be the inspiration for several gold statues. Being heathens, we failed to ascertain who he actually was, but he certainly came across as pretty enlightened. Either that or he was asleep with his eyes open!
Inside the main temple people were hanging up strips of bank notes on wires that ran the length of the hall. The 20 baht notes were arranged in plastic wallets horizontally, one above the other, as strips of five, with a golden triangle at the top and bottom. These rows of notes all ran to the far end of the hall where there was an enormous golden Buddha. It was truly spectacular.
The garden around the temple has a seating area full of proverbs in both Thai and English. Amber and I read a few of them before making our way to the temple entrance to meet up with Nichar. The plan was to get khow soi for lunch and then get properly stuck into the world's most famous water fight (Chiang Mai is reknowned as being THE place to celebrate Songkran).
We walked to the khow soi restaurant. Khow soi is a local delicacy of crispy fried noodles, a light yellow curry sauce, a chicken drumstick, some pickled veg and red onion, and a squeeze of lime. I am pleased to report that it lived up to the hype entirely. During lunch Sue and George showed up. Sue is a friend of Pete's (now doing a post-doc) and had been staying with Nichar prior to our arrival. George works for the WWF and in fact the two of them had just come back from Malaysia this morning. Lovely people with great stories. I could have chatted to both of them in the restaurant all day, but we had more important things to do. It was time to get wet.
Imagine an entire town surrounded by a moat in which every single man woman and child has decided to take to the streets with water guns, buckets and trucks carrying huge vats of ice water, all with the aim of drenching everyone else to celebrate the new year. Now take that image and make it tens times more crazy. That's what Songkran was like. I've never seen so many people having such a good time without the use of excessive amounts of alcohol or recreational drugs. And so many smiling faces!
George and Sue bought some buckets and pretty soon Nichar had blagged us onto one of the pickups carrying ice water, so we could wreak watery havoc on the crowds below. The sun had been hiding all morning, but now it was blazing. Perfect weather for a water fight. I didn't want to leave when it was time to head back to get ready in time to get a taxi to the train station. Sadly there wasn't a choice.
We walked back to Nichar's bike. The trip back was bedlam. The roads were packed with people, all soaked to the skin. Half of them were overspill from big street parties blaring out music. Some of these were being filmed for TV, presumably to show the rest of Thailand how it should be done.
Anyway, we eventually got back and packed up our bags. The taxi arrived and we said goodbye to lovely Nichar and crazy Chiang Mai.
We got to the train station nice and quick, so had a chance to grab a bite to eat before boarding the train.
Our cabin is amazing. We had been told we would only have reclining seats and no bed, but in fact we've got two beds and AIR CONDITIONING!!! Talk about luxury! So pleased with this result. Especially as neither of our fellow passengers is a) a weird, or b) a snorer. Woohoo!
We had dinner in the dining a while ago. Somehow they brought us a set meal that wasn't even on the menu, let alone being what we ordered. We also ordered a cashew nut spicy salad, which came as a plate of roasted peanuts! No points for attention to detail. We didn't pay for the peanuts.
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