Songkran

Today was Songkran, the New Year’s celebration for not only the Thai people, but the people in Laos, Cambodia, and Nepal, among others. In Thailand, the streets are turned into a three day long ice cold water fight. People go back to their home villages to celebrate with family, and friends. Some expats who have been around for a long time mark it as a time to get out of the country and take a vacation to avoid the chaos in the streets. Not only is there a guarantee that you will be soaked by celebrating locals as well as farangs, but you might also have chalk smeared on your face as you walk down the street, as chalk is something that monks use to bless people.

For years, I have looked forward to being in Thailand for Songkran. Given everything I have heard, I know it would be something that would get tiresome year after year, butI wanted to see it at least once. My phone is waterproof. I have plenty of clothes that I can get wet. I was really looking forward to seeing the festival.

Alas, this year won’t be the year. Because of COVID, the Thai government has postponed the holiday.

So, today, the streets looked the same way that it has looked for the past month… not exceptionally busy. At around two in the afternoon a big storm came through with lightning, thunder, and heavy downpour. It happened again around half past seven in the evening. I guess it was nature’s way of having a non-government sanctioned water fight.

Despite the government damper on revelry, I expected a lot of my street vendors to be closed for the day. I was wrong. So wrong. Everyone was out there as usual, peddling their foodstuffs as if it was just a normal day. There was literally nothing different. I bet if this happened in America, people would still be taking their holiday at least. Crazy.

In addition to the postponement of Songkran and the curfew, the Thai government has also stopped the sales of alcohol from April 10 until April 20. I think this was done for a couple of reasons. First of all, the majority of people who have violated the curfew have been drunk, especially up in Chianti’s Mai. Second, I think they want to cut off party supplies for people who want to celebrate Songkran by having home gatherings.

For those of you who know me well, you know that as of the last couple of years I don’t drink nearly as much as I used to. When I heard about the country being dry for the next 10 days, I thought long hand hard about getting myself at least a couple beers. If they put a halt on the sales of sparkling water, I’d be royally screwed though.

Besides my anti-climactic Songkran, the only drama in my 25 square meter world comes back around to the whole visa issue.

Every day things are different. I read that they extended tourist visas until April 30 automatically, but I’m not sure if my already extended visa qualifies. The US Embassy has stopped writing visa extension request letters. So I have a couple of options right now. Since my current visa expires on April 24, I can try to go into the immigration office to get another extension before it runs out. This has no guaranteed outcome. It could just mean that I would be on their radar as someone who might overstay their visa. Because of the paperwork, they would know what my address is here in Bangkok and how to find me/find out if I have left the country or not. On the other hand, they could just approve the extension.

My next option would be to wait and see if they make automatic extensions again once it gets closer to April 30. There’s no guarantee anything will happen with this either. If they don’t extend visas again, I can’t plead ignorance. I would simply be overstaying. However, it does mean that I would stay off of their radar until I leave Thailand.

My third option is that I literally just ignore the whole thing and knowingly overstay my visa, which means I’ll get dinged 20,000 baht ($611.05) on my way out of the country. It is certainly the most expensive way to go, but I’m definitely off of their radar until I leave.

When I took off on this trip, I had no idea that I would be dealing with all of this. But, really, what else would I be doing? I would be sitting at home in Cambridge paying $180 per month in cable bills, at least a hundred dollars a week in food, and it would be cold. Of course, the way my life looks right now, looking for visa information, holed up in a 25 square meter condo, and eating more fruit than most people would think is humanly possible, isn’t ideal by any stretch of the imagination. It is kind of an adventure.

Apparently one of my college friends told her daughter that I was in Thailand, and she asked why I was all of the way over there instead of at home. My friend’s response was that I was living my life and that I wasn’t letting COVID stop me from doing what I want to do. As much as that is a little true, the world has other plans. Although I am here, I’m not able to do what I want to be doing. My knives are still unused since January. I’m not learning a whole lot of technique. I do learn little things about street food, but I’m not so sure how applicable they are to being used in America.

It’s funny. We’re almost halfway through April. It’s pretty amazing how simultaneously fast and slow it all goes. Before I know it, I’ll be back in the States trying to figure out my life once again. I had better get all the fruit I can now while I can get it.

And, finally, Greg, there should be a live action Thundercats movie made because someone out there needs to cast Zack Galifianakis as Snarf. And Michael Bay should be kept away from it because there shouldn’t be conventional explosions in the movie. Get someone like Guillermo del Toro to direct it and make it stupid dark.

That’s all I have to say about that.