Happy Thai New Year!
Or as we say here: สวัสดีปีใหม่ 🎉
It’s mid-April, which means it’s the hottest and most humid time of the year, and it also means Songkran, the Thai new year. The word comes from Sanskrit and means “astrological passage”, a kind of transformation and change. The festival coincides with the rise of Aries in the zodiac and aligns with the new year of many Southeast Asian calendars, rooted in the Buddhist/Hindu solar calendar. It’s also a Hindu harvest festival marking the arrival of spring, celebrated across India under various names.
The festival has always had a water component. What used to be a gentle pouring of water over an elder’s hands has evolved into the world’s most enthusiastic and thoroughly drenching water fight, staged across Bangkok and cities throughout the country. The hubby and I participated in “playing water,” as it’s called in Thai, for a few years before the pandemic, but now we avoid it like the plague and head out of town. This year, we landed in Hua Hin and had a lovely time wriggling our toes in the soft warm sand.
This Songkran also marks my 15-year anniversary of living in Bangkok. It's hard to believe it’s been that long since April 2011 when I said goodbye to everything familiar and stepped into a great unknown. Those years have been life-changing, and continue to be.
I recently came across a description of some Thai mindset principles that are deeply embedded in the culture here. I think my appreciation of them, and my attempt to actually live by them, has led to real peace in my life. Life here revolves around the idea of social harmony and these are all components of that:
Jai yen : Literally “cool heart”. It's emotional control, calm over chaos, patience as power.
Sanuk : Fun, yes, but more than that. It’s finding joy in everything, playfulness with purpose, daily laughter. Energy that attracts others.
Kreng jai : It’s untranslatable, honestly. It means a deep consideration for others, an awareness beyond yourself, a genuine reluctance to inconvenience anyone. Thinking before speaking. Reading the room.
Mai pen rai : It means “no worries”, more or less. But it isn’t giving up. It’s choosing peace over stress, conserving emotional energy, and accepting that not everything has to be a fight.
Nam jai : This is generosity of spirit. It’s giving without expectation, help offered gladly and willingly. Quiet hospitality as instinct. The people who have the least often share the most.
Sabai sabai : Ease in being and comfort with the present moment. Not rushing, not forcing, not proving. Relaxed confidence, being over doing. As a wise friend once told me: “Be the river, not the rock.” That advice has never steered me wrong.
A few other things I've been thinking about lately:
1. Alan Watts is one of my favorite philosophers and I’ve spent countless hours with his lectures. The design duo After Skool often pairs animation with his voice, and this line recently stuck with me: “By replacing fear of the unknown with curiosity, we open ourselves up to an infinite stream of possibility. We can let fear rule our lives or we can become childlike with curiosity, pushing our boundaries, leaping out of our comfort zones, and accepting what life puts before us.” Yes, a thousand times yes.
2.This article is a fun piece about how Bangkok’s public aerobics became a viral sensation in Lumphini Park. I used to work directly on the park at Abdulrahim Place, and colleagues would join the aerobics sessions a few times a week.
3. Moby's Play (1999) was one of the seminal albums of my young adult life. A recent Coachella performance of “Natural Blues” featuring Jacob Lusk was glorious and transcendent.
4. Bangkok might be underwater by the end of this century, plus it’s already getting unbearably hot, as The Nation explains in this video. Come visit while you can. Someone once wrote that you need to visit Thailand at least once before you die, just to remember you’re alive. At this time of year, the heat and humidity will certainly do that, though it might feel like it’s going to finish the job first.
