Happy New Year!

When I was in Bangkok, I wrote about the bowls that the monks use to collect alms each morning. Well, now you can see them in action. We got up at 6am to watch the monks from all the various temples in town processing through the streets to collect their food for the day. You can see the black bowl inside an orange sling at their side. The faithful place food into the bowls, being careful not to touch the monks themselves, as women and monks are not allowed to touch.

Afterwards, we once again ventured out onto the Mekong, this time to visit the Pak Ou caves, which are filled with Buddha statues.

On the way, we stopped at a village where the residents make whiskey and weave textiles. Here is a woman working at the loom. You can see the variety of fabrics at the stall behind her.

And here is a bottle of Lao whiskey, which, for some reason, always seems to have something scary-looking in it. And here are a few little girls who we saw on the river. (There are so many cute kids here.)

This was a particularly appropriate time to visit the caves because it is the first day of the Lao New Year (Songkran). During this time, there are several traditions, including the washing of Buddha images, the results of which can bee seen in this photo. (Sorry for the bad lighting – it was a completely dark cave.)

Another tradition is the creation of sand stupas for good luck.

But the most well-known and most fun part of Songkran is the water festival, which involves people dousing one another with water for several days. Gangs of teenagers, often in matching shirts, ride around in the back of pick-up trucks throwing water at people in other vehicles and on the street.

The people on the street, with a ready supply of water are soaking everyone in sight and sometimes retaliating against the vehicles with talcum powder or ash, which makes for a messy day. (Notice the white puff in the picture below.)

But it’s not just for the teenagers; people of all ages get in on the action.

Some people foolishly try to protect themselves with an umbrella, which makes them an even more tempting target…… but most people just take it (with a little cringing).

I myself was walking down the street, dry as could be, when I spied a group of about ten guys with large buckets. I realized that there was no one else on the street and they were waiting for a target. I started laughing because I knew what was coming and knew that there was nothing I could do about it. One of the guys walked out into the street, wished me a “Happy New Year”, and slowly poured the entire bucket of water over my head. Free shower, anyone? Luckily, I had my camera in a Ziploc bag. (They are actually very nice here about not soaking your camera.)