Songkran 2010

Most people who have never been to Thailand have no idea what “Songkran” is. I didn’t either until I experienced it last year and since then, it’s become the yearly holiday that I look forward too the most. “Songkran” is how the Thai people celebrate the “Thai new year” and it basically consists of a lot of a lot of alcohol consumption and a country-wide water fight.

In Chiang Mai, “Songkran” lasts for almost a week but here in Phuket, it’s only celebrated for a day and a half (the evening on the 12th and the full day of the 13th). As fun as it is, I find that a couple days is enough because you literally get soaked within 2 minutes of leaving your room. There’s really no way to avoid it. Got cash in your pocket? Nobody cares. A camera or cell phone? You’re still going to get water dumped on you. You just have to wrap everything up in plastic bags, grab a giant water fun and hit the streets – which is exactly what we did.

Here’s a video that my buddy recorded of the scene outside “Jungceylon” (which is a touristy mall here in Patong). It looks wild but there’s no isolated area where everyone went. He could have whipped out his camera at pretty much any point (and at any location) during the day and it would have looked the same.

Once the “Sangsom” (Thai whiskey) started flowing, we didn’t remember much but luckily we had some funny video footage to check out the following morning. This first video was filmed at a street here in Patong that’s infamous for “happy ending” massages (we call it the “dirty triangle”). It’s pretty self-explanatory really. We were drunk so we decided to run upstairs, cause a ruckus and as my so eloquently stated, we were going to “spray all the dick we could see”.

Now, in the comments section, there’s no need to call attention to the fact that we knew exactly where to go or that the girl at the front called me specifically by name (haha). It is what it is. Anyway, in this next video, we apparently barge into an Indian restaurant and spray down the waiter (ah, the shit you do when you’re drunk in Thailand).

And for the 3rd and final round, we ambush yet another restaurant, only this time, we get a taste of our own medicine as some seemingly unassuming girl who was sitting there eating pulled out a super-soaker of her own and started firing back. Bottom line; Thailand is amazing and so is Songkran. I can’t wait for next year!

Anyway, after spending the last half a year or so here at the Patong Boxing Gym, I’m going to head up to Chiang Mai on Thursday because everyone keeps telling me about the “laid back” vibe up there. So. I’ll check things out and post up reviews on some of the gyms. A lot of the trainers at the Patong Gym come from Siam no 1 in Chiang Mai so I imagine that the training up there is pretty decent.

And speaking of the training, here are a couple semi-recent videos of me working on my boxing with Ming (who as you can see is an amazing pad holder).

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Scenes From Songkran

Up until this past Monday, I had only heard of the day where everyone throws back booze and has a country-wide water fight. It sounded pretty wild and after experiencing it first hand, I have to admit – it was very, very fun!

I was woken up by the sounds of a Timberland beat blasting out of the two giant speakers they had set up here at the guesthouse where I’m staying. I obviously knew what Songkran was about but having just woke up and put on a fresh dry outfit, I was content to just watch the happenings from my balcony for a while.

Well, apparently one of the waitresses in the in the guesthouse restaurant saw me up there because within minutes of stepping outside my room, she ran up and hit me with a bucket of freezing cold water. From that point on, I obviously didn’t care about getting wet anymore so I just grabbed a water gun, a couple bottles of water and joined the action.

Throughout the day, I saw so many things that I would never see in Canada (and most places for that matter). For starters, along beach road I saw a few on duty Thai police officers drenched with water and covered with white powder. They had their guns wrapped up in plastic and of course, they were getting the worst of it because let’s be honest – who doesn’t want to throw a big bucket of cold water at an on-duty police officer and get away with it like they can during Songkran?

I also saw some things that were flat out reckless. Here in Thailand, most people drive motorbikes. During Songkran, a lot of people get really drunk – not unlike we do on December 31st. Drinking and driving is obviously a major problem (perhaps because the police officers are celebrating themselves and getting drenched and powdered instead of patrolling the streets) but not only that, there’s actually groups of people that stand at the side of the road and when a motorbike drives by, they’ll pour a bucket of water on them – and oftentimes they aim for the face.

I actually saw someone pour a bucket of water on a passing motorcyclist and the guy on the bike stopped, wiped his eyes, turned his motorbike around and actually ran over the guys foot. Obviously the guys reaction wasn’t justified – especially during a holiday where the tradition is to pour buckets of water on each other – but I can only imagine how annoying it must be to be driving around and regardless of where you go, you constantly have people tossing water in your eyes.

I actually got an email notification from a Thailand forum this morning and apparently the death toll for the week is at 373, the injury toll is at 4,332 and all the deaths and injuries are a result of 3,977 total road accidents. They actually call Songkran the “deadliest 7 days” (it’s only 1 day here in Phuket) so I’m assuming it’s like this every year.

But like I mentioned above, it’s extremely fun – just stay off the motorbikes and you’ll be alright. I took a few videos of the scene in the streets. Here they are..

I would have taken more but it seemed like every time I took out my camera – which I don’t think is waterproof – I had someone spraying me with a water gun.

As For The Training

My “home” gym right now is Patong boxing gym but I’ve been picking odd days and trying out some new ones. I went to the Suwit Muay Thai gym a couple days ago and I’ll have a review up on it soon. I’m also going to check out Sinbi and Rawai this week and post reviews for those as well..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE