songkran!

This year we decided to up the ante with Songkran. In the past years we've just gone with the average tuk-tuk truck. This year we went big, we rented a real truck. 

We actually couldn't find a tuk-tuk. It's quite a bit harder to catch them from our new place, so Rocky went out on his scooter to bring one back. It true Smart form, he decided to think outside the box, or perhaps just inside of a much bigger, more exciting box. I only wish I had a recording of him trying to explain to the driver what he wanted to hire him to do. I'm not sure you could google image a picture of this:

We wasted no time in filling up a baby pool, also known as Violet's second home, and throwing it in the back. You might think we did this to contain the kids and keep them entertained, nope it was to refill our water guns. 

Get your Songkran priorities straight.

How many kids can you fit in the back of a truck? Legally? As many as you want. In Thailand the only safety law requires the driver to wear a seatbelt. 

Don't worry, Mom, Winston and Scout were relegated to ride in the van behind the truck. Violet's still dealing with some water trauma issues after her 8 week old Songkran debut. Since Winston played Songkran safe, he is guaranteed to love water but not be nearly as tough as his sister, right? I'm just hoping he won't try to scramble out of the bath tub every time I wash his hair. 

When they were stopped at a traffic light, I tried to take some pictures only to get slammed in the face by Abe. Well done, everyone's fair game on Songkran. 

I sent Rocky out to run an errand on his scooter and it took him 15 minutes to go 100 yards because he got caught in a huge water party. The people around him kept wiping clay all over his helmet visor, and then dumping ice cold water on his head. Bucket after ice cold bucket. 

On his way home he saw a bus stopped at a red light. The lights have timers and usually start their countdown around 180 seconds. The buses have no AC, so the windows are always open. It was full of people and as soon as it stopped at the red light, a man went up next to it and started spraying inside the windows with a water hose. He just kept spraying up and down the packed bus for the next 180 seconds. I bet those people sure loved Songkran. 

Some bad cell phone pics, that don't do Songkran justice,

We made our annual stop at this kids friendly water party. I got stuck on Violet duty in the bouncy house. Someone was spraying a hose over the wall, with all the toddlers inside I'm sure the constant flow of water was to dilute the urine level--which even with 8 inches of standing water, was still strong.

We drove home in the van. The perfect Songkran vehicle for six adults and ten kids. It also works well as for the ol' drive by sneak attack. We sure nailed a lot of kids and unsuspecting elderly people. 

That was a joke. We only got people if they were engaging in water activities or carrying umbrellas. Or if they just looked like they needed to cool off a little. 

Another great Songkran. E already has several new plans in the works for next year. Until then we'll  suffer through the rest of hot season. Is there even a difference between 100 and 120 degrees F? I can't tell you, I haven't left my house in 10 days.