Page 62 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2025 THAILAND
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come as we said our goodbyes and
                                                              headed to central Chiang Mai.
                                                                  Streets there were blocked for
                                                              Songkran festivities, so we had to transfer
                                                              from our bus to vans to get to our hotel,
                                                              situated in the heart of the city’s water
                                                              fights. It was only mid-afternoon, but the
                                                              street was jammed with water pistol-
                                                              packing folks of all ages. Music boomed
                                                              from pickup trucks that inched by, their
                                                              cargo beds weighed down with barrels of
                                                              cold water. Passengers filled buckets and
                                                              gleefully dumped them on parading
                                                              pedestrians.
                                                                  We were drenched in seconds of join-
                                                              ing the fray: Our wet shoes squeaked
                                                              down the flooded streets, wet hair dripped
                                                              down our backs, soggy t-shirts triggered
                                                              shivers in the afternoon sun. There was no
                                                              dodging water-gun blasts in the crowd or
                                                              avoiding icy showers when trucks past.
                                                              Unlike some street parties, there were no
                                                              sinister overtones, bothersome drunks or
                                                              intimidating ruffians. The prospect of bad
                                                              karma, it would seem, kept the mood light,
                                                              at least while the sun - and we - were up.
                                                                  We lasted about a hour, before slosh-
                                                              ing back to the hotel, for a shower and
                                                              dry clothes. But we didn’t leave the party
                                                              behind. The open-air hotel lobby bar kept
                                                              us up close, but out of range, so we could
                                                              celebrate into the evening, the last night
                                                              of Songkran. Some in our group fell asleep
                                                              to thrumming music as the festivities
                                                              roared past midnight, but we didn’t hear
                                                              anything in our room. The next morning,
                                                              cleanup was already underway and our
                                                              bus had navigated to the front of the ho-
                                                              tel.
                                                                  Some last adventures in Thailand
                                                              awaited, and once again, some of us
                                                              would get wet.












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