For a break from your everyday routine, you might try a 6 hour drive northeast of Bangkok to the Isaan region of Thailand for a celebration of Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year. We had the chance to visit friends there last week and join in the festivities of a small town, and it was truly like stepping into another world. It gave us a new perspective on our cozy lives of beds and indoor plumbing!
theirs is the house on the right
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ticky rice soaking to be prepared later in the day
Songkran is the most celebrated Thai holiday, and just about everyone goes 'home', which usually means back to the home of their parents. Traditionally, water was poured out as a blessing (particularly to the elderly) on this holiday, and it has evolved over time into an enormous country-wide water fight. People ride in the backs of trucks (sometimes 15 or 20 people squeezed in) with a huge barrel of water and douse passing trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, etc. And people station themselves on the side of the road and use water hoses, bottles, cups, buckets- whatever will hold water- to the same purpose.
Asa gets his gun ready for some water play
Our time upcountry included dancing in the streets for hours (to deafeningly loud Isaan music, with people throwing water constantly), watching traditional Thai dance, visiting a park where crocodiles roam free (so we hear; thankfully, we didn't see!), walking through rice fields, and eating mangoes right off the tree. The children did extremely well with all of the stimulation, sleeping with pulsing karaoke through a loudspeaker right outside the window much of the night (open, with no screens), eating little but rice, egg and fruit for 3 days, chasing ducks and chickens and getting LOTS of attention. Emmy really disliked the water play; having wet clothes is not her cup of tea. But other than that, all was well. Here are some of our favorite pictures (I apologize that there are so many; it was hard to narrow them down)...
this fellow is being carried (with much revelry) to the temple to enter the monkhood
And here are our precious friends who were so gracious to invite us into their lives for a few days. They live in Bangkok and have a roadside satay stand (so yummy!) at the Sky Train station nearest to us. Tim got to know Pii Niam (the wife) when he was in language school (he was a frequent lunch customer), and we have since spent a great deal of time together as families; in fact, they call us "little brother and sister". It is a privilege to have the opportunity to know them and to share with them our lives and our hope in God, while learning so much from them.
Our visit was to Pii Niam's husband's hometown, where they know everyone. They showed us the house where he was born, and we walked in the fields that housed elephants and water buffalo when he was a child. Quite an adventure for us city folk!
We said our goodbyes on Friday to our dear friends and teammates, Andrew and Becky. By now they're winging their way to America, where they will spend the next several years in seminary. It was a sweet but sad goodbye, and our office was filled with people, a testament to all of their faithful work over the last two years. This "So long, farewell" refrain is a common one in our world, as we come to love people we work with and then say goodbye...a transient business, missions! It's one of the hardest aspects for me personally. But we do thank God for the wonderful people we get to know, including Andrew and Becky and those that have come and gone before them. We're preparing for lots of transition as we adjust to their being gone, then our team leader's family being gone over the summer, then in August it will be our turn to head to the States for a while.
