Songkran Mayhem

It's hard to describe. Drive-by motorcycle and pick-up truck attacks, water guns of all sizes, and oh so many buckets. Traffic jams and crossfire ambushes all along the canal that encircles the city. Everyone, old and young alike, are fair game in the streets of Chiang Mai, at any hour. For Songkran, the week-long new year festival, you can't walk to an ATM down the block without getting soaked by kids with hoses and buckets. The ambushes are the best.
This madness is what we returned to in Chiang Mai after a three day trek with 3 different hill-tribes in northwest Thailand near the Burmese border. They were of Chinese, Tibetan, and Burmese descent, and we stayed over in a village of each of the second two, and went elephant riding and bamboo rafting during the hikes. Our guide was a deaf guy named Bai, one of the warmest and funniest guys I've met here - he also did some drinking with us and was the life of the party sometimes! The hiking wasn't so bad after what we dealt with in the jungle, but it was still challenging. The best part is playing with the village children; water fights, teaching them how to use a digital camera, singing or dancing around. We had a massive water fight at a rest stop, and all along the roadways (in the back of a pick-up) we'd be doused with buckets of hot and cold, clean and smelly water. "Incoming!^%$&^%$"
We were grouped with three pums (Englishmen), 3 Aussie girls, one South African, a Swede, a Frenchman, and one adorable Japanese girl. Kyoko taught me a great Japanese tongue twister. Once again, the group was amazing, and we've continued to hang out afterwards in the city. Many travellers head to Laos from here via Chiang Rai, so we're sure to see these people again along the way. I think we'll head that way tomorrow.
There's nothing like riding on the back of a moving vehicle with a huge water gun and a Chang beer, battling the locals like 10 year-old children. I can't even imagine this happening in an American city - people would get violent and ruin it of course.
Chiang Mai is like one big market, night and day. Mommy, you'd go nuts. Nuts. The streets are lined with vendors and food, row after row, and the temples and alleys are no different. If you get tired you can stop for a half hour foot massage for about a doller or two - rows upon rows of long chairs line the markets. It may be enhanced for the holiday, but you can find stands on every inch of sidewalk.
Last night we made a round at the bars along the canal, the most interesting of which was the last bar at 3am, full of "lady-boys." There's sort of this 3rd sex that exists in Malaysia and Thailand, sometimes very attractive! until you realize what you're checking out. Anyway, it was fun.
Ok, I'm going back over the pool to chill...! This is a do-nothing lazy day - maybe I'll take a walk and get soaked in a few minutes. We'll be off to Laos for 7-10 days, so I'll post if I can but it may have to wait until Vietnam. See you soon.