Happy Thai New Year

Welcome. If I’ve posted this blog then it means that I have survived Songkran! Songkran is a one of a kind experience – the Thai equivalent of the running of the bulls or the tomato throwing festivals so famous in Europe. We live a few blocks away from the centre of the action along the moat. During the Songkran five day holiday there is a huge traffic jam in that area, mostly of utes with up to 15 people in the back throwing and spraying water from large bins. It's the iced water you have to watch out for! On the moat edge, buckets with rope do the job. It’s impossible to not get saturated. A bit of a departure from the original tradition of pouring water on the hands of your family elders to honour them..... At one point we passed through the middle of a road Rave Party with water cannons and Thai techno music - a scuffle broke out Thai kick boxing style so we hightailed out of there pretty quickly. Three volunteers working with the UN in Bangkok came up for the weekend, so the five of us walked the streets equipped with very small, inadequate water pistols. Lots of fun.

For a change of pace we spent Saturday up Doi Suthep mountain nearby. Most Buddhist Thais head to temples at New Year to make merit, and the Wat on the mountain top is the most sacred in the region. A very beautiful location and it was interesting to see their traditions. We then headed across to the nearby FORRU research nursery and on a bush walk back down the mountain, passing a number of waterfalls.

Yesterday I went to visit some Australian prisoners. Usually this requires a consular visit and safety checks. I found it quite straightforward: just a zoo ticket. I went to visit Simpson, Brian and Coco the koalas to give them news from home.

some of the locals

The week leading up to Songkran was great. I celebrated Easter Sunday at Chiang Mai Community Church, which has a very large and diverse multi-denominational congregation of around 400 – very dynamic with lots of different ministries. It’s across town but worth making the effort for on Sunday afternoons. I hope to make some friends and contacts through the church.

Last Wednesday the community nursery at Ban Mae Sa Mai was officially opened by the sponsoring organisations with great fanfare. Unfortunately the fluid concept of “Thai time” operated for the 6am traditional pig slaughter: my arrival at 8:30 was spot on. In between hearing the commotion and seeing the close up photos that the uni intern boys took I caught most of it. Moving right along.....there were some great moments of traditional Kmong tribal dancing along with ribbon cutting, tree planting, bird watching, and a trip up the mountain to see the planting sites (the 8 year old one has 60 different plant species regenerating under the 10m high closed canopy cover of the 20-odd planted species).

Some of the hill tribe kids at the nursery opening

This fortnight we’ll be busy running through socio-economic modelling with a guy from Uni of Qld, followed by four days of school education programs with an Australian international school in Singapore. Bit of an Aussie theme, but I don’t mind.
Sadly the timing of our home internet connection has coincided with the banning of YouTube by the Thai government due to a posting dishonouring the king. ABC on cable is sounding good.