Two days of water wars from the back of a pick-up with the village-in-laws in the lady-Thai's village, Nong Prajak and other war zones in Udon, and in the Mekong at Nong Khai. Days to suspend your judgment and cynicism, to open your heart, to be a part of the community,.. and to be able to pee anytime, anywhere.
Splendid.

I am happy to report that I did not see one negative incident in NK during the holiday,just clean happy fun!Drove all around the city each day and although there was plenty of water bring splashed around,everyone but the little kids were very selective about who the dowsed!

I repeat my thought from a past post:I think it is a reflection of the community as a whole as far as politeness and friendliness is concerned!I have not found a friendlier place to live in Thailand than Nong Khai!

I've only been in Thailand for one Songkran, and it was more than enough. My wife thought it was lots of fun for her and the kids in the parents ville. That thought left a few days ago when some damn drunk on a motorbike ran over her 5 year old son in front of her parents house. He is in the hospital with brain injury that may or may not require surgery to relieve the pressure, but looking just a little bit better. The wife has not slept in about 3 days for more than a few minutes. He has extremly painfully headaches that keep him awake and until just recently unable to eat anything. I have listened to him just say "dep, dep, dep" and cry over the phone and that just tears my heart up. It is almost impossible for me to get back home at present. I tried to talk with the doctor, but as luck would have it the ting tonk phone picked that time to drop the call, and drop the call, and drop the call. The good news is that he can finally eat a little and has started sleeping for longer than 10 minutes. This is a good sign, but he has a long way to go before he is in the clear.

The boys in brown did come and take the drunk away, he is from another village.

I didn't have much use for Songkran before, I have none now.

My prayers are with you for a full recovery for your son. If you need any help from the Udon end, please feel to pm me.

I am deeply sorry to hear about the incident. I can only have a prayer for him; and hope that he recovers quickly.

Even though we observe NK songkran as civil anf friendly,alcohol is ever evident at all the tables and water spots throughout the town ,with obvious teenager drinking!

That is why,I told our daughter no when her friends from school wanted her to go ''play'' Songkran with them!I would only let her go if we were there to watchover the situation and no alcohol,driving around in the back of P/Us or riding on M/B's would be permitted.

She didn't seem to disappointed after the first moment of disappointment,as we have good family communication and she understands our concerns!

I have been to Thailand at Songkran before, at the tourist spots. Here at an Issan village, it felt different. The day started with a gathering of four generations at her Grandma’s place to pay respect to her; to give her gifts, and of course to pour water on her. Sweet.
Then to go around and do the same to the bones of many deceased relatives, including in her case of her father and a sister.
On the roads of Udon and Nong Khai, I found people to be respectful, and nothing more serious than water, warm and cold, thrown at us. Occasionally some white ponder was put on my face, but only after a Swadi Ka and my acceptance. We spent a fortune on chunks of ice, but had no powder.
Some of us at the back of the pick-up had a few beers, but my brother-in-law who was driving did not have any. I would think that most of the drivers were quite sober because otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to handle the traffic densities. I saw only one obviously drunks on the roadside, a westerner.
OK, I will be bored and cynical in a year or two.

This didn’t happen in Udon or NK, bit I had a rather unpleasant experience during Song Kran. I got doused with a burning liquid of some sort. We had gone to Amnat Charoen to celebrate with family. And I was impressed by the pure joy; I have never seen so many people of all ages having so much fun. We decided to come home early and join in the fun in Udon. On the way back, we took a side trip to the Kum Khao Dinosaur Museum (which I highly recommend, if you’re into dinosaurs). While walking to the car in the parking lot, I got blindsided with a full bucket of water in the face from a passing pickup. Now, I don’t mind getting wet, that’s part of the fun. As I turned to give the perpetrators a thumbs up for a good shot, my eyes started stinging badly and I was momentarily blinded. I started to run after the scoundrels with the idea of hauling them out of their pickup and giving them a sound thrashing before turning them over to the authorities. (Old instincts from my youth as a Philadelphia Street Kid). Fortunately, discretion (or old age) took over and I retreated and followed my wife’s advice and washed out my eyes. They were red and stinging the rest of the day, but no apparent long-term damage.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they had merely filled up at one of the local streams with some water laden with E. Coli or God knows what else. We noticed many villagers doing just that along the way. Good reason to shower after participating in water fights. Or, worst case, they had a stash of pepper water that they were saving for a hapless farang.

In any event. It seems like bad form to hurl water at an unarmed noncombatant, who obviously is not carrying a water pistol or bucket, especially in a parking lot. I have been impressed by the discretion shown by most of the folks. I was even asked permission by a teenager before he put some white liquid on my face. Looking forward to next year's celebration!

My thanks to those well-wishers. Young son is now out of hospital and at home. He still sufers from headaches, but not severe. Has to return tomorrow for follow up work. Hopefully my wife will finally fall asleep, preferable in the house. It was an ordeal, my wife moved him from Udon Hospital when it became apparent that they were not doing enough. I was really afraid they were both going to end up sharing a hospital room, but as she says, "Have to strong" and strong she is (puts up with me). I told her to not ride motorbike, her only mode of transportation, until she was fully rested and obviously not to take young son. Mom and dad also stepped in and said leave motorbike at their house until rested. Why is it I have a feeling the motorbike will be completly out of fuel when she gets it back?

Thanks again for your prayers and well wishes.