SONGKRAN FESTIVAL

Dear Diary,

My family and I are having a brilliant holiday in Thailand. We arrived here in the City of Chiang Mai yesterday. We went out this morning for a walk. When we were in the street two small children ran by. They threw balloons filled with water at us! It was already warm outside, so the cold water felt good. The temperature reached 38 degrees Celsius today. It’s the hottest season of the year.

Today, the whole country is celebrating a festival called Songkran. It’s a festival of water, and it is a celebration of the New Year. In the traditional calendar of Thailand, a new year begins in the middle of spring.

I have learnt some things about Songkran. This festival is one of the most important festivals of the year in Thailand. Everyone celebrates, and everyone gets wet. In some places, lorries bring water in big tanks to towns and villages. People fill buckets from the water tanks and use them to pour water on everyone. They fill balloons with water and throw them at other people. Everyone gets wet.

The City of Chiang Mai is famous because it has the biggest Songkran festival of all. People stand along the streets. They have buckets full of water. They splash water on every person, car, motorbike, bicycle and lorry. It is impossible to stay dry.

People want to wash away the old year. They want to begin again with a clean new year. That’s why they throw water to celebrate the New Year. And on the first day of the year – the hottest time of the year – on a hot day, a water fight is a good way to cool off.

Tomorrow we are going to go on a long walk in the hills by the way.

Goodbye for now!

Write soon,

Best,

Mark