Songkran Part IV: Red Woodstock

We had an early start as the party at her aunt’s place started fairly early. We got there around 8am and people were already there and many looked like they had already been drinking for awhile.

We had breakfast and then there was a wedding ceremony. I’m not sure what this ceremony was since the couple were already wearing wedding rings before today. I think they might have gotten married down in Bangkok and this was some sort of local party for those who couldn’t make it.

After that we jumped in the truck and headed back to Bangkok. It was pretty much smooth sailing all the way to Rangsit. We hopped out at Rangsit and caught a cab from there because the uncle needed to get back to Phetchabun early for a party and making it from Rangsit to my place would have added on another hour onto his trip (half hour there and back).

As the cab started rolling up to my street I saw that not only were the red shirts still there but they had consolidated all of their other rally points into this one main area. They had the whole area blocked off now. Instead of a few thousand people there are tens of thousands. It’s absolutely insane and I live smack dead in the center of it.

The taxi driver looked absolutely petrified as we rolled through the red shirt security check points. Thugish looking guys in black t-shirts and black pants wanting to know what we’re doing there. “I f*cking live here you asshat!!!! What are you doing here?” Well, that’s what I was thinking but what we said was “Uhm, my condo is on Soi 2.” We were allowed to pass but they’ve turned the place into a huge carnival. We could only get so far up the street before the road was consumed by vendors selling everything from red shirt paraphernalia to DVDs.

We had to get out of the taxi about two blocks from my soi and walk it from there. As we walked we passed showing stations, porta-potties, and people hawking every imaginable product. All the while every few feet there’s a massive speaker array blaring out some dude insanely shouting into a microphone on the stage at the end of the block.

What a joke. Now KFC is never going to deliver here.