Happy New Year!

One year ago, we moved to Thailand! It's hard to believe we've been here a year already. We really enjoy living here.

Patrick took off some time from work, but we didn't go anywhere. Well, we did go one place -- we spent the first weekend of vacation at the Oriental Hotel, one of the top ten hotels on the planet. It was everything you could imagine it to be! We had high tea as a belated birthday celebration for Patrick, then spent the rest of our time lounging about, reading books, and just enjoying each other's company.




After our luxury weekend, we picked up our new little buddy and enjoyed spending more time together. During the first three months of this year, Patrick flew to the U.S. three times and Nepal twice, while Jennifer flew to the U.S. once and Bangladesh three times. We were very content to stay home!


We're just coming out of the celebration of Songkran, the Thai New Year. Actually, many cultures in this part of the world -- including Cambodia and Bangladesh -- celebrate the beginning of a new year around this time, when the the sun moves from Aries into Taurus, just as the hottest time of the year begins. In Thailand, the new year celebrations encompass five days and include "Elder's Day" on 13 April and "Family Day" on 14 April.

There are lots of traditional ways to ring in the new year properly. Many people make sure that they get out first thing in the morning to offer food to the Buddhist monks who come through the neighborhood. This is a sure way to make merit and bring blessings for the new year. Similarly, people buy and release captive birds and fish and bathe images of the Buddha with scented water.

Water plays a big part of the most visible part of modern Songkran celebrations. Traditionally, people gently sprinkled each other with water and smeared a paste of water and talc on their faces. This was a blessing -- and a way to cool off in the heat. Sprinkling and splashing water was also thought to bring on plenty of rainfall in the new year. Today, however, the gentle sprinkling has turned into all-out water wars. It can be fun if you're into it, but it can also be really annoying if all you want is to get to the grocery store.

This year we went to Thonglor, a neighborhood about 40 blocks down from our own, to walk around and enjoy the Songkran atmosphere. Our neighborhood, with its bars, nightclubs, massage parlors and "massage parlors," got really rowdy. Thonglor -- where all of the hip young Thais spend their time -- was much quieter and more polite. People are always happy to splash foreigners, but the revelers in Thonglor were gentle with us and careful not to splash Sarawat (who wasn't really into it).


All in all, a great way to finish off our first year in Thailand and start the next!