Page 62 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2025 THAILAND

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.

62 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2025