thailand is in the middle of their songkran celebration - which is the thai new year - and party animals that we are we had to get into the middle of it. so we loaded up the family in the car and headed for the moat. actually, we headed out to find parking and then made our way to the moat. now, we had been warned that it was a bit of a moist celebration, but we weren't exactly prepared for the soaking we got.

we left the rear windows to the car open intentionally so the kids could get a sample of the party.

our first taste of the trouble to come.

#2 recieved a shampoo - no joke. they wet, applied shampoo, lathered and rinsed. we were very glad they didn't give a hair cut, too.

when we finally made it to the moat, here's what we saw. and the real water fight began.

the first thing we did was hop in one of these little jobs - it's a tuk-tuk, with the top taken off.

and it was decked out with it's own barrel of water and a few smaller buckets so we could throw it on those in the beds of trucks, other tuk-tuks, and people just standing on the sidewalk. the only problem with this scenario is that there was so much water being thrown in at us we could barely manage to throw any water out. i think farangs - (a)in a topless tuk-tuk (b)that is not moving at all - are really sitting targets. and one other important thing about this water - it was ice water, freezing cold ice water.

after an hour in the tuk-tuk we were ready to head home. but we still had about an hour to walk to get back to the car.

as we were walking we were able to get some good pics of the water fight on the other side of the moat.

those folks aren't fishing, they are gathering water to hurl on to the people in the trucks, tuk-tuks, and riding on motorbikes.

as we were making our way around the moat, the man and the kids found the energy to conquer the walls of the old city.

our camera's both took a beating during this outing. we tried to protect them in plastic bags, but still they got a little damp. so, the pictures end here. and niether of us captured the stupidest thing i've done since arriving in thailand.

the man and the kids had gone to get drinks and i was waiting on the sidewalk when a truck pulled over. and out climbed some lovely young people with a container of red water - it looked more like red koolaid - and they wanted me to take a drink. having read somewhere something about it being rude not to and added to the fact that i just really, really want to be liked, my knee jerk reaction was okay, sure, give me some of that. it took me no time at all to notice that my only option was to drink from the straws that were in the container. it took a very small sip for me to realize this was a tad bit whole heck of a lot stronger than red water or even koolaid. and they were absolutely tickled that i partook of what was probably some roofie laden cocktail.

and thus ended our first songkran. fun was had by all and we are all completely exhausted.

#3 has declared it the second best holiday ever. coming in right after his birthday.