The writer (right) with his brother, father and sister getting ready to revel with locals during the Songkran festival- by Julio Silvestre
A few weeks ago, I was able to travel with my family out of the Philippines. There was no such thing as backing out or skipping this vacation; we were a big family (two parents, six siblings), thus trips abroad were rare and were required to be attended by most of us more or less.
Our destination was Thailand’s “City of Lights,” Bangkok. My eldest sister was based there temporarily for work, giving the family a free place to stay (which was able to cut down a huge chunk of the trip’s costs). We stayed in her flat along Langsuan Road, which is a few “walk-able” blocks away from the city’s commercial district. I guess it was somewhat center of the city since we had easy access to the different sights Bangkok had to offer. There was Lumpini Park, which was around 500 meters away, Pat Pong (the “red light” district) a few blocks away, and the different malls in Bangkok were also walking distance from where we stayed.
Strolling at Lumpini Park
I can summarize the trip as having a “beginning,” a “climax” and an “end.” The first few days were spent jogging in Lumpini Park as a family, exploring malls and eating the wide array of street food and drinks around Thailand’s capital. Lumpini Park was a five-minute walk for the family. We were all in our sporty attires and were ready to jog for the first time as a family. It turned out that we just walked around the park, observing and looking at the sights that apparently the public park had. It was well maintained, with huge jets of water sprinkling the plants and the trees. What fascinated us the most, though, was the wildlife in that park. There were turtles and crows all around the park and its lake. The locals weren’t touching them and they were all free to roam around. There were monitor lizards, too and they were free to move around the park as well. Did I mention that some of them were around seven feet and were eating Thai children as people jogged on by? I’m kidding. They were eating the turtles.
Only Thai iced tea
After our lovely stroll (and escape from the huge lizards) from Lumpini Park, we took the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) , Bangkok’s version of our railway systems here in Manila, to the National Stadium station where most of the malls were clustered. We were able to go around the glamorous Siam Paragon, Central World, and the malls beside them. They were pretty much like our own malls here, only bigger and, well, so much better. These places were well maintained and had brilliant designs and architecture. After shopping a few shirts and other things, we indulged in the food Thailand had to offer. There were these side-walk eateries along Langsuan that offered barbeque and different kinds of stews and viands. I was even able to try grilled snails, which appeared as a normal, everyday dish for the Thais. What captivated me the most was the Thai iced tea. It was more of their version of milk tea but there was something special about the taste that got the family hooked. For every meal, we only drank Thai iced tea. There was no such thing as sodas or coffee during meals. Only Thai iced tea. No water. Thai. Iced. Tea.
The family meets the reclining Buddha
Toward the end of our trip, we went to Wat Po and Chatuchak; Wat Po, to at least experience something spiritual in our trip, and Chatuchak, to basically shop for cheap stuff and clothes.
Wat Po was situated near the Royal Palace and we had to take two taxis worth a hundred baht each to get there. We had to wear jeans since Wat Po was a series of temples and shrines where the Thais go to worship the different Buddha’s. It was a sacred place so we had to respect by wearing proper clothing. We felt the heat of summer on the way to the Wat Po (thanks to our full-body get ups). Alas, our efforts were in vain. Tourists and locals, even, were wearing shorts, sandals and slippers. The younger ones started to get irritable due to the heat but then were calmed by the presence of food.
There were food stalls in Wat Po with goods ranging from free coconut juice, fresh fruit juices, to their version of siomai and the infamous padthai/patthai (noodles and veggies). They were back to their feet after that mini “food-trip” and just in time for our visit to the Reclining Buddha.
People were asked to take off their shoes outside the Reclining Buddha’s “residence”. Dozens of shoes and footwear were lined up at the entrance. We were at first apprehensive about leaving our shoes outside, but then, it was Thailand, so what the hell.
The Reclining Buddha was pretty much a sight to behold. I have never seen any monument that huge. I’ve never seen Buddha THAT HUGE. Well, I’m sure there are other big Buddhas around the world but, yeah, so far it was the biggest I’ve seen.
We proceeded to Chatuchak after thousands of pictures with Buddha. My family and I were excited since this was the major shopping part of our vacation. There were about 27,000 shops in that market and we were ready to fill up our bags with new clothing and souvenirs. Sadly, I was only able to buy three shirts. I’m a big guy, I need bigger shirts and big shirts cost more, to my dismay.
Wet and wild, the Thai way
We went to Bangkok during the week of the Songkran celebration. It was a New Year’s Celebration of sorts for the Thais, and the celebration all around the city was my favorite part of the trip (it was also the middle part of the week but I chose to share this last since it was the most memorable experience in that vacation and also because I’m the one writing).
At first I thought celebrating Songkran would be something like a street party, limited to one area somewhere in Bangkok. I was proven wrong when I saw people, locals and tourists, walking around soaked, with something that appeared like white paint on their faces.
Water guns were held by people everywhere. I was thinking that maybe they came from one of the street parties in the city. A bus then passed by and I found myself suddenly wet all over. Some old guy threw ice-cold water at me. This was no limited celebration.
I saw then that groups of Thai barkadas were sitting at the back of pick-up trucks with huge barrels of water with them at the back. They had water guns and pails in their hands as they splashed everyone they saw walking with dry clothes. We had to walk at this sort of walkway under the BTS to avoid getting wet (we weren’t in our “bathing” clothes yet). Once we got back to my sister’s flat, we quickly changed into our “wet-able” clothes and took the BTS to the street celebration/party going on at Sala Daeng.
Inside the train, we were braced for this organized party that was going on. When we got down at the station, we heard roars from the people beneath. I quickly looked down and saw a horde of Thais and tourists having a wild water fight. The whole strip of Sala Daeng was closed off to give way to the Songkran Festival. Imagine EDSA being closed off with thousands of people throwing water at one another. We had second thoughts about going down into the festival in the streets below us but the excitement soon overcame us and we found ourselves in a jungle of happy people.
It was no holds barred. If you had a water gun, it would be shame if you didn’t use it. People shot each other with water without caring who they were. As long as you were there, you had to be wet and if you weren’t wet, you were in for a mad “wetting” courtesy of, well, everyone. One establishment set up platforms where people can dance on, but people were just walking around more or less.
One thing I noticed again was the white stuff people put on each other’s faces as they passed each other by. It was some sort of paste that stuck on the skin. The way they put it was gentle, as if caressing your cheek or forehead with whatever they had in their bowls. Upon learning that, we bought our own bowl of the white paste and started putting it on the faces of pretty much everyone who passed us.
Another thing I saw was that the prettier or more handsome you are, you would be prone to more water thrown at you and that white stuff being put on your face. It was an observation, but I experienced it also so I guess everyone must be good-looking.
We ended up staying there until around dinner time and we walked back to where we stayed despite being totally soaked and covered in white “paint”. Once we got home, I quickly Googled what Songkran was and what the water and white paint represented. It was a celebration of a “new year” for them and it was actually meant to be celebrated in a subtler way.
In the old tradition, the water was supposed to be the water used from cleaning the Buddha statues in the temples while the white paste was actually clay the monks used for people who prayed for blessings. One would have to say, “Sawatdi pi mai” upon placing water on the shoulders of people you’d like to have your blessings. The clay was also a sort of blessing from one person to another, thus saying “thank you” in Thai after being blessed. Songkran was not also limited to the street parties. We were able to celebrate within the confines of the flat where we stayed. The condominium’s staff set up a huge barrel of water, along with a running hose, only this time to splash incoming cars, tuktuks, and those pick-ups with groups of Thais in them.
By the end of the trip, Songkran ended and we stayed in the flat for most of the days left there. It was one of the few moments where we were able to travel as a family and we wanted to cherish these little moments where we were together despite being so far away from home. This may sound cliché but you got to enjoy these little “big things” in life.
Julio Silvestre is on his last year as a communication research student at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He is fond of basketball, sweets, Mila Kunis and all kinds of music “as long as it doesn’t annoy him.” He has never been out of Asia, and Bangkok was the first Southeast Asian country he has gone to.
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