We cheated, instead of spending two days on the slow boat along the Mekong and one day on the bus, we flew for an hour and landed in Chiang Mai. It is one of the most popular places in Thailand to celebrate Songkran. The most popular activity it seems is to find 5 to 10 of your friends, a truck, and a large barrel of water. The group of you then drive around the city for three days throwing water on people on the street or other trucks of like minded people. This activity continues from 9am to 7pm on the streets and sidewalks, and no one escapes the water (some of it iced).
Like always we didn't have a reservation for a place to stay in Chiang Mai, we were fortunate that an exchange student, who spent a year in Estes Park, was able to host us during our stay. Thanks Bell!! When you come back to the US we will do some snowboarding together.
We though we found a scene straight out of a National G magazine when we stumbled upon the traditional flying paper lanterns being launched from a wat one evening in the old city.
We had seen courts and games of Kataw being played in the back yards in Laos, but we were fortunate to see the regional championship of Takraw. This game is played on a court about the size of a badminton court, with 3 players per team. The rules are similar to volleyball but only with the feet and head, like soccer. The ball is traditionally woven wicker but today professional balls are made from plastic, about the size of a #5 soccer ball, or a large grapefruit. The service and spiking portion of the game is part contortionist and part gymnastics at lightening speed.
Sunset
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