Last days in Bangkok
Bye~
With the holiday, the riots, and the last final exams I’ll ever have to take the last days in Bangkok were interesting. I left in the middle of Songkran (Thai New Year) and political protesting. It seems fitting that I would arrive in Bangkok on our New Years day and leave on theirs. The intensity of the protesting was hard to judge because of the holiday. Shops were all closed, the bus schedules were all thrown off and people were all very excited about the water fight. Now that I know the Thai culture a little better it makes perfect sense that the entire city of Bangkok would still have a party despite having an attempt at murder on their prime minister. Songkran is celebrated by pouring water over the hands of your elders, friends, and family. This symbolizes starting the new year pure. This tradition has been turned into a nation wide water fight. The friction with the prime minister has been going on since before I got here. The two opposing political parties in Thailand are the red shirts and the yellow shirts, one wants to keep the prime minister, the other does not. Both still love the king.
To celebrate Songkran I was with a Thai family near campus. They supplied Kirk and I with water fight weaponry and refreshments. Whenever a truck would drive by Kirk and I would dance out into the road with all the Thais to stop the truck so we could dump water and white powder on the passengers. The passengers in return would drench us and this went on all day. In between trucks of people we amused ourselves by soaking the taxis and motorbikes that went by and stuffing each other into the big barrels of water. It was fantastic. It wasn’t until later that night that I heard about the tear gas and the tank and the people who died in the riots in Bangkok. Still, they’ve been fighting since this prime minister was elected.
With our old year washed away and our new year ready to begin, my boyfriend and I finally got out of Bangkok. It took an entire day of travelling and 9 different modes of transportation but we did it. We reached rock climbers mecca. Kirk and I are now in Tonsai. Tonsai is not an island but it is only accessible by longtail boat because of all the 1000+ limestone cliffs. We are in climbing paradise. If it weren’t for the mosquitoes and the heat I don’t think we’d ever leave. Until may 20 I will be living in a bungalow at the top of the hill between Raleigh and Tonsai. I wish I could plaster pictures all over this article but my camera is still being fixed in Bangkok. I urge to curious and bored to google Tonsai rock climbing. Life is good.
We had amazing luck with the timing of our arrival. The day after we got here was the beginning of the Asian Bouldering competition. Top men and women climbers from Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and China came and made near impossible looking problems look easy. It was such a treat. And as if that wasn’t sweet enough at night there was a fire spinning contest. So for two days and nights we had glorious entertainment to welcome us. Now that the competitions are over the semi-island is clearing out. Not that it was ever that crowded, it’s low tourist season at the moment.
I’m off to continue celebrating my college graduation.