Songkran - Chiang Mai 2551

Songkran is the Thai New Year, the end of the dry season and beginning of the rainy season. [All photos © www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com, use with permission only. And click any of them to enlarge it.]


Chiang Mai.com gives an overview of the holiday of Songkran.

The family sprinkling scented water from silver bowls on a Buddha image is a ritual practiced by all Thais in on the third day of Songkran, known as Wan Payawan. This is the first official day of the New Year and on this day people cleanse the Buddha images in their homes as well as in the temples with scented water. The family is dressed in traditional Thai costume and wearing leis of jasmine flower buds. The water is scented with the petals of this flower.

In addition to the cleansing of the Buddha images a traditional Songkran involves the sprinkling of water by younger people on the older people as a tribute of respect and for blessings. This is much different from the water tossing we see on the streets and is a genuinely sincere event whereby scented water is poured over the shoulder and gently down the back of the person. While pouring the water in this manner, people utter good wishes and words of blessing for the New Year. The water symbolizes cleansing, refreshment of the spirit and all good things associated with life.

There was a table at the entrance of our building with a small Buddha and some fragrant water. But when we ventured out into the streets we found the modern Chiang Mai Songkran of tossing water on passers by.

She wasn't going to just douse me and ruin the camera. She gently emptied the bucket down my back.

J had already gotten wet. But when it's 100° Fahrenheit (over 37°C) wearing wet clothes feels great.


This man had a plastic case to carry his phone in. So did a lot of other folks it turned out.

Chiff.com adds more information:

Songkran (สงกรานต์) is the traditional Thai New Year Festival which starts on April 13 every year.

The word Songkran comes from the Pali language of the Therevada Buddhist scriptures (Sankhara) and the Sanskrit word (Sankranti) for movement or change.

In ancient times, it was celebrated as a moveable feast, and set to occur as the sun moved into the Aries portion of the zodiac. In modern times the date has been fixed as April 13.

Although the Thai people officially changed the New Year to January 1 in 1940 to coincide with the Western business world, the traditional Songkran Festival is still celebrated as a national holiday.

The festival lasts for 4 days. Maha Songkran Day

is the first day of the celebrations which marks the end of the old year. April 14, Wan Nao is the day between the ending of the old year and the beginning of the new year when foods are prepared for the temples. The third day of Songkran, April 15, is Wan Thaloeng Sok - the day on which the New Year begins and on the last day, Wan Parg-bpee, the ancestors and elders are honored.

This lady will still be at it when we come back home a couple of hours later.

Even this little guy had a bucket.

There's a lot going on in this picture if you click it to enlarge it.

The shirts totally wet and the pants you can see.

There she is again, still going strong.

Even these young monks had giant squirt guns.

We slipped into Wat Suandok on the way home.

And walking past the monk housing, we learned that the older monks have power water weapons too.

All in all, people were having a great time, getting good and wet, getting other good and wet. It felt great in the hot weather, but we did see a few people shivering. We also saw some blocks of ice being slipped into the water in some of the garbage cans in the back of pickups.

Thai Elephant Beggars

We had dinner again with AM. She's going to be busy for the next couple of weeks and wanted to be sure we saw each other again before we leave.

We ended up at a Chinese Thai street restaurant where we talked till late. During dinner we were interrupted by a visitor. We'd seen an elephant walking down this road late at night a couple of times when we were in song thaews coming home. This was the first time it was up close.



Andrew Lam wrote for the Pacific News Service back in 2004:

The Asian elephant may still be a revered cultural icon in this country, gracing bas-reliefs of temples and ancient paintings of battle scenes, but it is woefully underemployed. Worse, in a country whose civilization was more or less built on the elephant's back, the mighty creature is fast disappearing. More than 100,000 existed at the beginning of last century. At the beginning of the 21st, there are less than 5,000 -- 2,000 of which are still in the wild.

Classified as an endangered species, the Asian elephant is expected to disappear from the country altogether -- except perhaps in zoos -- around 2050.

Here's the routine. The mahout (elephant handler) hands down bags of cut up sugar cane to his helper who then sells the bags for 20 Baht each. I'd been able to say no to the various kids selling flowers and the stump armed beggar who'd approached us while we were eating, but this was different. How do I justify saying no to people but not to an elephant? I'll have to ponder that. But looking into this elephant's eyes, I know there is a sentient being inside there and I think I'd never pass up a bag of sugar cane if this team came to my dinner table every night.

Then the helper gives the elephant the 20 Baht bill and it hands trunks it up to the mahout. Then you feed the sugar cane pieces to the elephant. I gave it one, then gave one of the kids working at the restaurant the rest to give to the elephant. [19/4/08: See follow up comment from an elephant expert on this topic in this post.]


Then, this environmentally conscious team has you give the elephant the empty plastic bag which he trunks up to the mahout. And then they went to the other side of the restaurant.

This is a modern elephant who gives us the real meaning of tail light while walking the night streets of Chiang Mai. This is a sad decline for the once very proud elephant (and mahout) that is a symbol of Thailand and was instrumental in Thai life over the centuries. As a reminder, here again is one of the pictures that I took ( and recently posted) in Kamphaengphet back around 1967 or 68 of those proud working elephants



This is one of the side effects of globalization, the speeding up of life around the world. The replacement of living work partners like elephants and water buffalo (kwai) by machines. Yes, we can talk about the advantages to people's lives, that people wouldn't buy the new things if they didn't want them and all that. But the main reason that people have introduced these things was to make money for themselves, not to improve people's lives. And they've done it in ways that have seriously eroded the spiritual richness that was the birthright of all Thais fifty years ago.

Alaskans can understand this too, as we still celebrate sled dogs in the face of snow machines, log cabins in the wilderness as concrete big box stores replace trees and mountain views in town, and small family fishing boats in a losing battle against factory trawlers that ravage the sea beds.

“ongoing processes of substantial increases in personnel”

Dick Cavett has some useful observations in the NY Times about the language of General Petraeaus. It reminds me of the Jim Boren's When in Doubt Mumble. It would be funny if this weren't the general who is in charge of 'winning' the Iraq war.

It reminds you of Copspeak, a language spoken nowhere on earth except by cops and firemen when talking to “Eyewitness News.” Its rule: never use a short word where a longer one will do. It must be meant to convey some misguided sense of “learnedness” and “scholasticism” — possibly even that dread thing, “intellectualism” — to their talk. Sorry, I mean their “articulation.”...

Petraeus’s verbal road is full of all kinds of bumps and lurches and awkward oddities. How about “ongoing processes of substantial increases in personnel”?

Try talking English, General. You mean more soldiers.

It’s like listening to someone speaking a language you only partly know. And who’s being paid by the syllable. You miss a lot. . .

He should try once saying — instead of “ongoing process of high level engagements” — maybe something in colloquial English? Like: “fights” or “meetings” (or whatever the hell it’s supposed to mean).

NGO Volunteers in Chiang Mai

We've not had much ex-patriot contact in the two months we've been here. But things have suddenly changed. Melissa, one of the other AJWS volunteers invited people working in OD (Organization Development) with NGO's (Non-governmental Organizations - basically non-profits) in the Chiang Mai area, to meet and talk Friday afternoon. We met at trendy Coffee 94 off Nimenhaemen Street which has a lot of foreigner accomocations. (I had a passion-fruit, banana, ginger slushie, mmmmmmm. About twice the cost of a street stand, but it was air conditioned and had wifi.) The discussion focused on how folks are doing in their placements. We had a couple of British Volunteers, two AJWS volunteers, and a Frenchman. All the others (besides me) are working with organizations involved with Burmese refugees. This is a politically tricky topic here so I won't go into it further. I did ask the Frenchman, who's been working in this area for a number of years, about the radical difference between Thakileik and Myawaddy - the two Burmese border towns we've visited. His response was: Thakileik looks more properous because 70% of the world's heroin has come through it in recent years.

Meanwhile, Ew has been talking to AM who worked as a volunteer with the Canadian Volunteer organization and said AM wanted to meet me. Well, I didn't even know that they'd had this volunteer or that she was still in Chiang Mai working with the Agricultural School at Chiang Mai University now.

So after the NGO meeting, J met me and then we met AM. Appropriately, after the meeting I'd just attended, we ate at a Burmese restaurant the other volunteers had recommended.

The dinner with AM lasted several hours not only because she had worked in my organization, but she's a very lively and interesting Canadian woman. (When I mentioned French-Canadian, she corrected me. "No, I'm a Canadian. The others are English-Canadian.")

I got a lot of background about the people in my office. Hers was a rather different perspective from mine. We figured that some of the difference stems from my age and gender compared to hers. I'm glad we met and I got to hear her stories and I'm also glad that I didn't hear these stories until now when I've had a chance to form my own impressions. It was also good to hear the Ew had been telling AM very good things about the impact I'm having at the organization. I do think I'm raising possibilities and options that haven't been raised, but it's good to hear that independently. On the other hand I also wring my hands and wonder whether my being here has done any good at all. I realized Friday that I've only been here two months, which is no time at all.

It also followed up a good meeting that afternoon with my boss about what I'm doing and what I should focus on in the two weeks I have left. This meeting had also confirmed that they thought my time there was worthwhile. Just the fact that we can talk openly about things is a good sign. He asked when Joan was scheduled to leave - two days before me. He said he'd take her to the airport. Then I asked, "What about me?" "No, you're staying here."

(Bew)Air Asia

I booked my flight to Singapre through Air Asia. It’s a low fare airline, but for new users like me, there are a couple of things to beware of:

1. You have to book each leg of the trip separately. So my Chiang Mai - Singapore trip had to be booked
A. Chiang Mai-Bangkok, then I had to start all over with the second booking
B. Bangkok - Singapore

You have to fill in the forms all over again. OK, my computer had the info ready to plug in, but still. And if the second flight isn’t available, then there’s a hefty fee for changing the first flight. It might be better to call and let them check on these things before you commit your credit card.

And if your first flight is late and you miss the connecting flight on Air Asia - you lose your fare and everything!!

2. The prices are wildly deceptive. They show you the price for the flight. The Chiang Mai - Bangkok leg was listed as 449Baht. Somewhere on the page it says not including fees and taxes. But when I got to the next page it was 1386 Baht including a fuel surchage of 550 Baht.

3. Very limited luggage. 15 Kilos (about 33 pounds) is your limit. Carry on is 7 Kilos. How much if you have more? In Thailand it is 80 Baht per kilo extra (almost $3) and between Bangkok and Singapore it’s 186 Baht per kilo.

And since each flight is separate, you have to pay the extra for each leg of the flight.

This is fine for short term trips and as long as you know all this in advance, you can plan which trips would work best on Air Asia. I’d guess the best time to use Air Asia is for single flight trips with minimal luggage.

The Racket Tailed Drongo Shot

twenty or thirty times it calls

penetrating deep into my sleeping brain
it's not even light yet, go back to sleep.

several days now this morning racket
just out our window

today it is light
I groggily get up to see


Not the drongo call I know
My brain still in bed as I watch him
fly away


[Photos © whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com All Rights Reserved]

To hear this guy, watch the video here.

Refugee Nation out of Hibernation and KyiMayMaung Too

Burmese exile Kyi May Maung put links to my Border Run posts on her blog this week. She's also got two poems in a new anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, & Beyond. She has glowing praise for the book from the likes of Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Howard Zinn, People's History of the United States. Also lots of links to sites about Burma.

And Refugee Nation, the Laotian American theater group out of LA that wowed the audience at Out North last fall, has started writing on their blog again and will be performing in April in Berkeley.

April 25th Benefit Tickets:
Center for Lao Studies / Legacies of War

April 26th Tickets
La Pena Cultural Center

So this is a warning to my Berkeley/Oakland readers (both of you that I know of) to check it out. They offered a great view into what it means to be Laotian-American today. Their blog seems to have started in Alaska last November at the end of their national tour and petered out after they got back to LA.

Just consider for a moment all that traveling: planes, trains and automobiles from June to December in and out of town from New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Alaska, the miles, the people, the energy and effort, the changes in time and weather...it's exhausting! It's work!! So we felt we needed to take a breather. Calm ourselves. Be with ourselves. Be down with ourselves and during that time we took time to evaluate 2007 and all it's struggles and successes and take that knowledge to plan out the 2008 series of Refugee Nation events to come. We hope you follow us again because our batteries are fully charged and we look forward to making impact with people, places and things...promise. So come along for the ride or better yet come see us in person when we are in town. It's a lot nicer face to face, smile to smile.

Racket Tailed Drongo Video, Finally For Real

Something was snagging up this video - either some audio, some frames from the video, or the final titling. I rebuilt the video piece by piece and saved it until it started balking again. So here it is. After the title you have to wait about 10 seconds to see the drongo fly by the first time (it seems much longer). But wait for the slow motion version of each shot, especially the second one. Then you can see the tails clearly. I cut out the stills, but you can see them in the previous post.

Racket Tailed Drongo Video, Finally

[Click the picture to enlarge it]

The racket tailed drongo is always followed by these two long tail feathers which seem to disappear just before there's a wider feather and then the end of the tail. There are several that fly around here, but they've been incredibly hard to catch with the camera. [Go here for an even better shot taken the next day.]

But persistence pays off. Here are two on video. It's all explained on the video. To hear the drongo's strange electronic call, listen to the end of the video here.

[I don't know what's happening. iMovie keeps crashing while it's trying to save the video. I need to remake it I think, but I don't have time now. I'll add it in later when I get it figured out.]

Scooping Thai News, Almost

I was telling Bon at lunch today about seeing the gaur and the monk at the temple on Sunday. She reacted with surprise and said she saw a story like that in the newspaper today. When we got back to the office she showed me. I guess you could say I had a number of exclusive stories, like the village protest over the land survey. But as far as I know, no one else covered them. This is the first one that I've posted that I know of that was posted almost simultaneously in a national Thai newspaper. But only my loyal readers and a few people in the office are likely to know that.

I have to admit, their photographer got a lot closer than I did, but I got more story - and background on gaurs.



Of course, remembering the sign in the temple about boasting and bragging, I'm just letting you know that my surprise at this wild animal living so close to this populated area and befriending the monks was news for the Thais too. (You'd think I'd never been in Alaska, let alone had moose sleep in my backyard, but this is Thailand, the land of the endangered species.)