As Christmas and New Year fade into memory, I am reminded of a wonderfully off-the-wall Bangkok Christmas in 2008, as well as the tranquil ushering in of the western world’s New Year in 2010.
It’s Thailand: Let’s Party!
Despite Thailand being over 90% Buddhist, you don’t have to ask a Thai person twice to get dressed up, make decorations and generally go all out to have the best party. Ever. Since the previous one…
Christmas is no exception, although it is celebrated without any mention whatsoever of the religious basis for the holiday, making for a rather unique celebration.
In fact, Christmas is not a holiday in Thailand and many foreigners fall over themselves in amazement when they discover that they do, in fact, have to work on Christmas day. Not everyone is so unfortunate, though: the school where I was teaching at the time let me off the hook!
My friend Kerri and I had only been in the country for two months when we celebrated our first Thai Christmas – although not as unaccustomed to a sun-drenched festive period as some of our northern hemisphere counterparts, we were equally unprepared for the Thai yuletide zeal.
Venturing to the world-famous Siam Paragon luxury shopping centre for Christmas lunch was spectacular: the centre’s staff went all out, with parades of people in penguin and polar bear suits, marching bands and even Santa’s sleigh (hidden beneath the jolly trimmings was one of those shopping centre siblings of the golf cart and airport buggy) taking wide-eyed kids on a whirl through the centre!
Camping: the best way to start a new year
I was privileged to enjoy a refreshing start to 2010 with Kerri and her English boyfriend Stevie (now her fiancé – congratulations guys!) as well as our friend Christian and his girlfriend.
The rest of the gang were all living in Chantaburi in eastern Thailand, near the border with Cambodia, so I hopped in a minibus and headed out of the big smoke for a more rural, relaxing setting.
While Thais celebrate their New Year with the Songkran water festival from 13 to 15 April, they celebrate the western New Year with equal fervour and we spent New Year’s Eve in the midst of quite a riot of a party in Chantaburi’s headline nightclub.
On New Year’s Day, however, we all hopped on scooters and zipped to the coast, where we camped on the beach for two nights.
During the first day there were quite a few people on the beach, many of whom were taking part in some favourite Thai customs: chief amongst these being cheesy photo poses and swimming in the ocean fully clothed (and when I say fully clothed, I’m talking jeans and closed shoes!).
In Thai culture – much as in Victorian England – white skin has become a sign of wealth and status, as it shows that a person does not work in the fields under the hot sun to earn a living. Because of this, many Thais are loath to spend even the smallest amount of time in the baking heat of the day.
Thai hospitality: second to none
That night about eight Thai families were also camping at the beach and we were treated to some of Thailand’s legendary hospitality (not for the first, or last, time).
Quite possibly the only thing that matches the Thais’ penchant for bright colours and revelry is the way in which they welcome you to their country – and just like anywhere else, the further you stray off the beaten track, the more pronounced this becomes.
Whilst I was collecting firewood, one man dragged me over to his friends to share a drink with them (alright, so I may have been skiving off my duties somewhat, but I couldn’t be rude!) – overcoming the language barrier by simply naming the football teams we supported and then laughing at the other guys’ teams’ obvious ineptitude.
Similarly, that evening the family camping next to us came over after supper carrying two plates laden with food – their leftovers, apparently, that these skinny ‘farang’ (foreigners) obviously needed more than they did – never mind the fact that we had just stuffed ourselves full of our own wonderful braai!
This happens all the time in Thailand and people genuinely want you to come and share their food and drinks and engage in the hilarious “I don’t speak English, you don’t speak Thai” version of charades, which inevitably ends in a raucous chorus of joyful laughter.
Starry, starry night
As we settled down on that first night I congratulated myself on a highly cunning plan: while the others slept in tents, I strung my hammock up between two trees right on the edge of the sand and cocooned myself in a mosquito net-tent.
The next day, most of the other people packed up and drifted off in stages, so the next night we had the entire beach all to ourselves. Sitting there under the stars, I was reminded of camping at home in Botswana, where you can see millions of stars that are normally blotted out by light pollution in cities and towns.
Wherever you are in the world, I hope you have had the chance to sit under starry skies this festive season. If not, I hope that you enjoyed the party!
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