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I had to go down to Lower Sukhumvit to grab dinner real quick before picking up the evening shift at work and managed to mostly avoid getting hit, but not entirely. Saw some old, old Muslim dude's caretaker wheel him out into the street trying to get to dinner or something (they were a bit dressed up) and people just went to town on him - primarily Thais, but in a foreign area full of bars so everyone is agrro as gently caress. I've got people in town related to work and we can't just close, so you just try to avoid having to go meet someone. As Sheep-Goats said, it's fun at first, but it gets really, really old when you live here long-term. Even my local family all just leave the country every year for a week on vacation. It's one of those holidays that would be great if it were like in New Orleans and you could go to it, but when it's everywhere it's a bit of a pain. I will say that Songkran in the rural countryside can still be charming, but anywhere there's a big city or tourists it can be brutal.
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Apr 14, 2016 13:00
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Dressed up in a wheelchair and he still got plastered? Man that's rough. I assume the hot Thai weather would just evaporate everyone in no time but if they still do it at night like Chinese New Year fireworks at night then it's just ridiculous. Oh and man jetstar is such a cheapskate airline. Passengers aren't allowed to bring in fast food cups and forced to buy onboard drinks
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Apr 14, 2016 13:08
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We were on our way to Chinatown Ina tuktuk and got stuck behind a car while it was parking. This gave someone enough time to fill an entire bucket and then empty it on us just as we started to move again. A big bucket. Probably 3-5 gallons based on the size. Chinatown is an assault to the senses.
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Apr 14, 2016 13:20
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Go eat at that famous roast pork place for dinner. I forgot the name but it's easy to search on Google. It's Chinese style roast pork but with a Thai twist
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Apr 14, 2016 13:34
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ReindeerF posted:I will say that Songkran in the rural countryside can still be charming, but anywhere there's a big city or tourists it can be brutal. My experience of Songkran in the rural countryside is a week of every villager waking up at 5am to start blasting their obnoxiously huge sound system, the first Chang is opened around 6.30 and then the Lao Kao comes out after lunch. Everyone's sloppy drunk by mid-morning in the baking loving heat, and nobody seems to understand why I don't want to drink a Chang with my breakfast. There's half a day of visiting the elders and doing the gentle water-pouring, which is actually pretty nice, but the rest of the time seems to be focused on getting absolutely obliterated on cheap booze. I spent one night there this year, and that was plenty enough. Although, we went out with some dudes while they were hunting for snakes and found one rat snake and three cobras which was pretty fun. I'll have to dig up the snake photos tomorrow, but have some pictures of haze and rice fields for now. http://imgur.com/a/YnoF9
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Apr 14, 2016 16:58
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My third Songkran I was headed to get on a bus to get out of town on and really didn't want to spend the trip soaked so I would cough like I was sick and beg people off with my hand. Worked for about 4 out of 6 possible Thais with buckets on very short walk which is better than I expected but worse than I had hoped. This was about ten years ago too, at the time there were still stories in the news about "is Songkran going too far" and occasional some crusty old weirdo would advise you to just avoid certain parts of town and you'd be okay. Every culture has its cathartic holiday where a few of our usual strictures are dissolved (whereas most of our holidays are the opposite of that and focused on family and tradition and the like). We do Halloween where kids are expected to be pushy and teens are expected to terrorize younger kids and mildly vandalize property (or they were, now a lot of kids don't even walk anywhere, the just go back and forth to mom's SUV which then drives another 40 feet to the next house and the teen boys, true avatars of Halloween, are home pumping out two loads an hour to porn on their phone) and there's a break from Christendom. Songkran has turned into Thai Halloween where you use talc to grope people an chuck buckets of water on people driving motorbikes and put out the barbecue (sort of by accident) of anyone setting up for lunch rush on the sidewalk. The problem with "you just dry off in the heat" is that if you're outside you're constantly getting doused and it's only when you get inside to some AC that maybe you'll be left alone. If you're dumb enough to have a widow rolled down while you drive around though someone will absolutely throw a bucket of water into your car. I sat in a restaurant that had a view of a bus stop and every time one of the cheap no AC busses pulled up an army of hooligans would start hurling water in through the open windows, which, of course, you can't close lest you braise yourself to death as the bus goes along. raton fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Apr 14, 2016 |
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Apr 14, 2016 17:22
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I bought a can of Leo from some Uni students yesterday - they were selling it from a cooler by the side of the road on the craziest waterfight street. The guy who sold it to me said I could have all the free beer I wanted if I brought them some girls to party with.  E: also, kids from the age of around 8-12 are the worst Songkranners. Everyone else is cool and splashes you and pours cold water down your back, those little bastard's eyes light up when they see the farang and they go in for the kill Songkran is fun every year, but only for a day. After that I've got poo poo to do, and it's not fun having to waterproof all my valuables and worry about an ice-cube in the eye every time I'm not in the car. I drove a super long way around to the supermarket today to try and avoid getting splashed, only to almost make it and then get passed by a pickup with a water barrel 
Bardeh fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Apr 14, 2016 |
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Apr 14, 2016 17:34
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Some people just go to the temple and release some fish and carry some sand around.
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Apr 14, 2016 17:43
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Hey thread! Another motorbiking tip from Vietnam! Lock your loving helmet. Or always always always take it with you. Just lost one on a quiet street because I got casual about leaving it on the mirror. Oh, and don't stay at the Apollo Hotel/Motel/Guesthouse/Hostel in Da Nang. It's loving garbage. Any one have any decent things about Da Nang? Because so far besides the splurge meal of tapas, this place sucks. Beach is nice though.
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Apr 14, 2016 18:13
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Nice helmets are gonna get stolen all the time of course. Also if you've got a bike, why aren't you staying in Hoi An? That's where you wanna be.
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Apr 14, 2016 18:27
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Sheep-Goats posted:Also Songkran used to be a quiet respectful kind of ceremony where granma would drip a little water on your head and put some of that talc on your face and whatever. The bedlam is kind of a recent add on. In most of the larger Thai expat enclaves (LA, Hong Kong, whatever) it retains more of its roots. Huh, since 20-30 years ago, when I was a child, it was always like this. Make me wonder how far back those prim-and-proper Songkrans were.
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Apr 14, 2016 19:08
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FortMan posted:Huh, since 20-30 years ago, when I was a child, it was always like this. Make me wonder how far back those prim-and-proper Songkrans were. Where did you grow up? Bangkok?
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Apr 14, 2016 20:16
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I've managed to avoid it so far since I've been taking a master's course all week and I'm on the outskirts of the city. There was one family many a bucket between my class and the BTS station on Wednesday, so I quickly whipped out my laptop to act as a metaphorical shield. This actually worked well enough since it was the middle of the afternoon and they weren't completely hammered yet. They still attacked my shoes though.
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Apr 15, 2016 00:58
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Songkran seems like one of those things that would be fun for approximately 15 minutes, though I do enjoy day drinking. Dilemma.
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Apr 15, 2016 01:08
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air- posted:Nice helmets are gonna get stolen all the time of course. What makes you say that? Hoi An was nice and very worth a visit but I can't see any particular bike connection to the place.
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Apr 15, 2016 01:46
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So do people throw water at you day and night for 3 days? Man I guess I got lucky with Songkran in Hong Kong. There's the ultra chill blessing by the local head abbot, a parade and palanquin across town while bystanders splash water at you during the afternoon. It's a super tight Thai community so everyone is more chill i guess.
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Apr 15, 2016 03:00
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It really depends on where you are. Where I live, I haven't seen much beyond a few trucks of exhausted people heading home and that lone family with a bucket near the BTS stairs on Wednesday. I have seen a bunch of cars coming down the road covered in powder and water stains though.
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Apr 15, 2016 03:40
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FaceEater posted:What makes you say that? Hoi An was nice and very worth a visit but I can't see any particular bike connection to the place. Point being I don't get why you wouldn't ride a few minutes to Hoi An and stay there. More accommodation options, more travelers around, you're closer to the beach. Da Nang doesn't have much going on.
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Apr 15, 2016 03:52
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Sheep-Goats posted:Where did you grow up? Bangkok? Chiang Mai. Well, when I mean "always like this" I mean people-getting-drunk-and-do-silly-things and get-on-pickup-truck-and-throw-water-at-people parts. The stages and stuffs are added later. As for drought, well, I'm not playing anymore myself, but I can't really fault people wanting to have some cooling fun in this temperature, either.
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Apr 15, 2016 04:11
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OK. I'm just going off of what people have told me obviously, I won't be saying what I was saying so readily any more. People from Korat have told me it's changed a lot. As for the drought the impact from water fights is so incredibly minimal next to agricultural demands that you might as well not worry about. It's symbolically bad but, like, there are a hundred thousand things you could do that would have a bigger impact on water availability. There was a big drought in California recently and they made people not water their lawns so much. This has almost zero impact on water usage in the state (I think the almond orchards use 70% of all the water lol), although it's just rich assholes growing plants that don't belong in that environment to begin with and not a unique cultural thing so in that case I'm fine with telling them that yes, they will have to bear a slightly yellow lawn for the summer. raton fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Apr 15, 2016 |
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Apr 15, 2016 05:18
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I thought i would be happy in Singapore for the weekend but the metro is getting a little old and a little slow. It's lunch hour in downtown Singapore yet the next train is 6 minutes. I'm grumpy
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Apr 15, 2016 05:23
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caberham posted:I thought i would be happy in Singapore for the weekend but the metro is getting a little old and a little slow. Geez what a backwards shithole
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Apr 15, 2016 05:38
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http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/04/the-joyful-splashing-of-thailands-songkran-water-festival/478290/ Personally I wouldn't swim in the moat, hope those kids are OK.
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Apr 15, 2016 06:46
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FaceEater posted:Any one have any decent things about Da Nang? Because so far besides the splurge meal of tapas, this place sucks. Beach is nice though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW1AqDhUZ_o
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Apr 15, 2016 07:20
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air- posted:Point being I don't get why you wouldn't ride a few minutes to Hoi An and stay there. More accommodation options, more travelers around, you're closer to the beach. Da Nang doesn't have much going on. Ahhh I got ya. I'd already spent three nights there and am making my way northbound and got lazy on the way out of town and just called it a day in Da Nang. Been here for 36 hours, leaving in the morning. Had some really good mi quang tom thit (noodles with shrimp and pork) for lunch today, and a greasy pile of egg and beef for breakfast. Can't say I'm eating poorly. Also, the Czech brewery restaurant in town made me quite happy with fresh dark beer. Even though the restaurant itself kinda smelled like wet dog despite being a white tablecloth type joint? Very odd. ReindeerF posted:Da Nang was the place where I finally got fed up with Vietnam and hightailed it on to China, heh. I have sworn more inside my motorcycle helmet here in a month of riding than I had in a year of it back in the States. Either about being ripped off/attempted to be ripped off, or cut off, or someone doing some dumb poo poo on the roads, or whatever the gently caress else. I can see why people get sick of this place. But then I meet some rad people that want to either help or chat or whatever, and poo poo's cool again. The ratio of assholes and gouging (not bad, just the standard foreigner thing, it's the principle that irks me a bit sometimes) seems to be higher here than elsewhere, but once you get to know a couple people, they can be deeper and warmer than elsewhere. It is a mystery. /generalizing Ally McBeal Wiki fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Apr 15, 2016 |
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Apr 15, 2016 12:40
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Yeah the touts/gouging is one part of SEA that gets old real fast. At least you've got the ride over the Hai Van Pass coming up shortly. Make sure to have bun bo hue while in Hue! I had some at a stall in one of the markets first thing in the morning and it was mindblowing. I'll have to dig up where I ate. Will you head to Phong Nha? I hear some great things about the ride between there and Khe Sanh.
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Apr 15, 2016 13:16
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Just ran around the nature reserve and reservoir in Singapore. It's hot as hell but the proximity to the city and being in an actual muddy jungle trail rocks. Singapore is the fun getaway. Sure it's squeaky clean and pricier than its neighbors but it's also no nonsense. Except the airport. If you come in after 12am you are boned. The public transportation stops running and the hotel coaches run sporadically causing you to wait for 2 hours. I managed to split the cab with 2 other people so it wasn't as pricey. Didn't have internet until I was in the city or else I would have ordered a uber. How's uber in Vietnam?
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Apr 15, 2016 13:33
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FaceEater posted:Any one have any decent things about Da Nang? Because so far besides the splurge meal of tapas, this place sucks. Beach is nice though. It was definitely my least favorite place in Vietnam. Two of my friends had their phones stolen, and I got chased by a prostitute down a street. Would not recommend. Hoi An was awesome. Just go there.
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Apr 15, 2016 14:02
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air- posted:Will you head to Phong Nha? I hear some great things about the ride between there and Khe Sanh. This wasn't directed at me, but I'm heading down to Phong Nha tomorrow. I've heard great things about the caves there, hopefully it lives up to hype.
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Apr 15, 2016 14:14
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Quandary posted:This wasn't directed at me, but I'm heading down to Phong Nha tomorrow. I've heard great things about the caves there, hopefully it lives up to hype. Dark Cave. I can't say anything more.
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Apr 15, 2016 14:17
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caberham posted:Just ran around the nature reserve and reservoir in Singapore. It's hot as hell but the proximity to the city and being in an actual muddy jungle trail rocks. Why arnt you in OT
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Apr 15, 2016 15:24
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My hands smell like durian and I don't have line SEA chat sorry
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Apr 15, 2016 15:35
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"Singapore is the fun getaway." Leaving that there for posterity.
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Apr 16, 2016 00:45
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FaceEater posted:Here's some health advice in SEA: A work colleague of mine went to Vanuatu and scraped his calf against a boat as he got out of the ocean. The small cut scabbed up and later on he went for a hike. Next thing he knows he's being flown back home and put into an induced coma for 3 weeks. His leg is being actively eaten by who knows what bacteria and he's in intensive care. Almost loses the leg but massive grafts take okay and he's now back at work. Quickest weight-loss program he's ever been on, and his leg looks like it's been pressed against a red-hot grill. Take that poo poo seriously.
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Apr 16, 2016 03:10
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Man walked one subway station and I'm about to pass out from the heat. I need a parasol. Or shade
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Apr 16, 2016 06:17
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air- posted:Dark Cave. I can't say anything more. Did this today, gently caress that is a cool cave. I've been in tons of caves in Vietnam but none of then are even comparable.
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Apr 16, 2016 12:15
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air- posted:Yeah the touts/gouging is one part of SEA that gets old real fast. At least you've got the ride over the Hai Van Pass coming up shortly. Make sure to have bun bo hue while in Hue! I had some at a stall in one of the markets first thing in the morning and it was mindblowing. I'll have to dig up where I ate. Please do find it. Stoked to be in Hue. Already digging it more than Da Nang. Yes will hit Phong Na. No doubt. Everyone keeps pointing me there so I'd be dumb to skip it. Protip: take the Hai Van Pass between Da Nang and Hue, but it is really lovely and bumpy along Q49 after the pass if you opt to skip Highway 1 like I did today. Poor Minsk suspension took a beating today.
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Apr 16, 2016 15:27
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Can I ask what your experience of the Minsk is? Like cost to buy, how much to fill a tank, how far it goes, how often you have to swear at it/pray to the machine gods to get it running in the morning? As a motorbike trip in SEA becomes more and more realistic, I think I should start getting idea of what's what
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Apr 16, 2016 15:32
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caberham posted:Man walked one subway station and I'm about to pass out from the heat. I need a parasol. Or shade How long are you in Singapore for??
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Apr 16, 2016 15:45
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Singapore was poo poo for me, because everyone speaks (sortof) English and everything was super loving expensive. Also, drunk upper middle bogans at Clark Quay. May as well just stay at home E: but if someone wanted a sanitised version of asia I would absolutely recommend it Negligent fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Apr 16, 2016 |
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Apr 16, 2016 16:13
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