Songkran Day: An Afternoon in Ao Luk

After our morning in Ban Tham Seua the volunteers and staff headed back to Ao Luk to spend the afternoon hanging out with the neighbours and experiencing the biggest water fight any of us had ever seen.





The first thing to do when back at base was to get a group photo. Little did the volunteers know but staff Laura and Kerry were prepared on the balcony with 2 great buckets of water. When the timing was right they chucked the water on top of the unsuspecting group of volunteers. This was a start to a very wet afternoon.



The main road through the whole town of Ao Luk was chocker block with people on the streets. Some had positioned themselves next to a hose or enormous bin and were throwing water at the passing vehicles. Others were driving around in the back of their trucks with buckets full of water that they were using to drench pedestrians with. Another favourite thing to do is to cover each other in talcon powder and use coloured dyes to make everything more colourful.



A few staff and volunteers walked up to the main part of town and couldnt believe the scene that met their eyes. The traffic in the road was bumper to bumper and the pavements were filled with people of all ages. It was loud, crazy, wet and a whole lot of fun. With the local communtiy taking great pleasure in soaking the 'farang' and covering our faces in powders of all colours. It was good to bump into students and spend time throwing buckets of water at each other.

Many of the volunteers spent the afternoon with our neighbours near base, where a passing water truck with a massive hose decided to stop and play for a majority of the afternoon.

All in all it was the best day and it made us wish that we could be a part of it every year. The celebrations lasted all day until the sun set, when no-one could remember what it felt like to be dry and people were falling asleep on their feet from all the excitment.

Songkran Day: An Afternoon in Ao Luk