Crazy Songkran celebrations in Bangkok.

Enjoying the Songkran fun!

When our bus was pulling up into the city the first thing that we noticed were the water fights! There was water being thrown everywhere, there was also flour and water mixed together to make a paste and that was being smeared on everyones faces. It looked like so much fun, I think the ten year olds inside of us were rearing to go, but the adults in us realized that we each had large backpacksand small carry on bags with valuables in them and had to make our wary through thousands of people to find a guesthouse in the area where Songkran was being celebrated at its wildest!

The next 40 minutes were so stressful but eventually we found ourselves a cheap guesthouse and got our bags safely into our rooms. Before we did anything else we filled our water guns up and got ready for the action that was about to unfold.

If I had to describe Songkran in one word it would be INSANE! Unfortunately I don't have any photos as bringing a camera out in the craziness would be camera suicide. We were staying just off of Khao San Road, which is the main stage area for Songkran. Everytime you left your room you had to prepare to get wet, or should I say drenched! There were people on the streets with huge barrels of water and for a small price you could buy water from them to fill up your gun. But you also had to be careful because they were pouring buckets of water over people while passing by. There were also different variations in the water temperatures. The best ones to buy from were the people that had put blocks of ice into the barrels to make the water horribly icy cold. I still shiver thinking about the many buckets of ice water that I got poured over me.

It was so much fun though, It was the hottest time of the year in Thailand so the water had a great cooling effect. We decided to act as a tactical team that had each others backs. Along the way we would pick up some other people and work together with them. My personal favorite victims were the dry tourists that looked like they had just got off the plane and had no idea it was Songkran, seeing their faces when you shakily attacked them was the best. We spent a lot of time in a great little makeshift street bar just spraying people walking past.



I also had the pleasure of meeting up with my old college friend Shane. He has been living in Bangkok for a long time now, about 5 years, I think. Myself and my friend Lou got to meet up with him when we did our round the world trip four years ago and it was so great getting to see him again. I also got to meet his lovely girlfriend Dao who was so much fun!

Unfortunately that was the same day that we had to say our teary goodbyes to Erica and Dan. Having spent the last three years with them it was so strange saying goodbye this time, not knowing when we'll see each other again. We had a great week with them and were so happy that we got to celebrate their engagement together and meet up in a country that wasn't Korea. I'm sure it won't be too long until we see each other again.

See you soon! 

That night it started raining and this made the water feel a million times colder than during the day. I had to go back to the room early because I couldn't stop shivering. The fact that we only had a cold water shower to go back to made me shiver even more but luckily i was so cold that it made the water in the shower feel hot.

The next day would mark our last day in South East Asia. I have grown to love South East Asia with all of my heart and seem to always end up coming back here. I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to come back again some day but I really hope so. Being our last day in Thailand we were both very nervous and excited about the next part of our adventure...Nepal!

On our last day Kate had come back to Bangkok so we got to go for lunch with her, Shane and Dao. We had some delicious Korean barbecue and it was so amazing being surrounded by Irish people again, there really is nothing like it. Then Shane made myself and Jason insanely jealous by bringing us to see his apartment and even gave us cups of Barrys tea! Now that's friendship.

We both couldn't believe that our time in Thailand and Cambodia had come to an end! After our visit to Shanes apartment we had to go to the airport to get a flight to Kuala Lumpur and being the backpackers that we were, had to spend the night at the airport to wait for our flight to KATHMANDU!!