Songkran Festival!

Hey All! So today, Daniel and I got to experience the joy that is the first day of the Thai festival Songkran. I should mention a few things:
1) The temperature in Chiang Mai has been disgustingly hot and sunny, in the upper 90s since we arrived.
2) Songkran is a national holiday, the banks close, the post offices close, a lot of businesses close, etc. People take this holiday very, very seriously.
3) The city of Chiang Mai has several large and deep canals running through it.
4) Songkran is the week-long Festival of Water.

Imagine a city where every person standing outside is wet. Not just splashed, but dripping. It is virtually impossible to get from one place to another and remain dry. The streets are lined with children, teens, adults, and elderly, each bearing water guns of all sizes, buckets, bottles, hoses, etc. Every shop owner is armed, every corner is trapped. The streets are filled with water. There are pick-up trucks full of people carrying water in giant pails and throwing it at every bystander. There are bystanders throwing buckets from the canal at the motorists.
There are teams of people standing on different sides of the street who are at war with each other. This is going on for miles. It is the biggest nationwide water fight ever. No one is spared. I wish I could take photos to show you how amazing and wet it is, but its unsafe to take anything of value outside. I sit now and am making a puddle under the chair in the internet café. This week is a huge, fantastic, non-stop water party. Dan and I are armed and ready with a pail and two pump-action water guns. These are absolutely necessary in order to return retaliatory fire while attempting to run to dinner unscathed. (this was unfortunately unsuccessful, thanks to a man with a big pot of cold water who jumped out of us from behind some bushes).
Every man for himself!