Ridiculous Songkran

Songkran festival was absolutely insane. Me and Beth, being the most sensible people on the planet, decided to book a hotel on Khao San Road, the busiest place in Bangkok. The first night we arrived, a few people started spraying a little water, mostly the kids, but by the next morning things were very serious. The street for the next 5 days or so were lined with stalls for water pistols, protective glasses (oh how wrong we were to laugh in the beginning!!) and people charging 5baht to fill up your watergun with ice-cold water. The music was louder than ever, the streets got progressively more packed each day until you literally could not walk, and the party just did. not. stop. We had a room with a window overlooking the street, which was pretty cool to watch from, but made the whole experience very loud. One night when we refused to get wet, we lay on the bed while the room shook with the music and screams and we had to turn the TV up to max volume. The rooftop pool and bar was the saving grace of the hotel, a little haven from the madness. We did get into it headfirst on the first night, it was absolutely hilarious. Running about, spraying strangers, getting buckets of freezing water tipped over your head from behind, trying not to swallow too much as we were laughing and being attacked from every angle, getting covered in grey chalk mostly from younger Thais, doing lots of dancing and making lots of friends. But then Beth escaped for home under cover of dawn, and I was left with the issue of leaving in one piece with my rucksack. 
Luckily, I managed to use my feminine charms to get the hotel security man to escort me a secret, much drier, back-way to a main road. He took the job very seriously and even held his hand up to stop people spraying me, all the way to a taxi! It was very funny and much appreciated.

It felt a little bit strange suddenly being by myself after a month, and I missed Beth a lot, but I soon started to relax and feel content just observing what was around me. I sat on the floor in Bangkok train station with everyone else (bit of a kufuffle when everyone stood for the national anthem) watching little Thai kids playing with tourists, everyone smiley, and felt pretty comfortable. The 15hour journey was really pleasant! It was a sleeper train, so there are little compartments with two bunk beds in them and sliding doors, kind of what I imagine old style trains to be like. There's plenty of storage, and a little curtain round your bed for privacy.
Arriving in Chiang Mai by songthaew from the station, I got completely soaked. It was just as crazy there a Bangkok, and they have the benefit of the moat surrounding the Old Town, so water is readily available. The waterproof cover on my bag didn't quite stand up to it. Have spoken since to a few different Thai people about their views on the festival. A couple said that they stay away from it now, that it has evolved so much from its traditional values (of which I saw a little when I visited the temples) and is a bit too crazy. I have to say, I would probably agree if I knew more. People go nuts, chucking water on drivers of cars and motorbikes without care..this year apparently there were 300 deaths.

I had lunch in 'mad dog cafe', quite aptly named as there was a loud, yappy little thing running about. Spent about an hour playing with a lizard who kept appearing through the cracks in the wooden table, creeping slowly towards my plate of curry, freezing every now and then, then running away to hide when I moved my hand towards him. He didn't give up, and I accidentally encouraged the situation by giving him a piece of rice (I didn't think he'd eat it, it was nearly the size of his head), which prompted him to return with a friend.