Under dark thunderous skies, high winds and mountainous seas swept up the Andaman Sea toward Bangladesh before veering into Gulf of Martaban. There the full force of Tropical Cyclone Nargis threw a wall of water onto the low lying and unprotected Burmese villages of the Irrawaddy Delta. Millions of people in the coastal settlements took the full force of the storm with thousands of people swept away with their homes and livestock. Whole villages disappeared.  A week after the cyclone it was estimated that up to 100,000 people may have perished, with 2 million severely affected.   

Unaware of the tragedy that had been inflicted on the people of the Irrawaddy Delta we travelled that day in torrential rain to the Burmese border town of Myawadi. Our route over the 1000 metre high mountains in a battered old local minibus was spectacular because of the scenery and breathtaking because of the dash and verve of our driver making full use of the twisting turning mountain road.
  
We were travelling in Thailand on a one month tourist visas. So we had to leave Thailand for a few hours and return to get another one month visa.  The immigration officers in Mae Sot, Thailand were polite and efficient. Their Burmese counterparts were smiling, welcoming and friendly, but said nothing about the cyclone that had just wreaked such havoc. As we walked back across the Thai Myanmar Friendship Bridge in the rain we were warmly greeted by the Burmese people going back and forward across the border.

By the following Tuesday the scale of the disaster was emerging and reports in the Bangkok Post newspaper were of 22,464 dead, 41,054 missing and up to 2 million homeless. The Thai government immediately sent aid to Burma with the King of Thailand also sending aid worth €30,000 in trucks over the Mae Sot bridge, the only land route open after the cyclone.  There were also reports of aid flowing in from India and China, with Indonesia sending €1 million worth of aid.  The Burmese authorities had managed to repair important bridges to allow aid to flow into the stricken area and were dropping supplies by helicopter.

As the week progressed there were reports of frustration amongst the western donor nations over the Burmese government reluctance to allow foreign aid workers to accompany the international aid flights waiting at Bangkok airport.  Meanwhile a limited relief effort was underway, supported by UNICEF field teams and international relief workers, including British experts, who were already working in Burma.  However the scale of the devastation was vast with roads and bridges washed away and waterways polluted with the rotting corpses of people and animals. Inevitably the aid went first to those areas on the periphery where the people could be reached, whilst those in the most affected areas still waited, hungry and thirsty.  An illustration of the difficulties was the sinking of a Red Cross cargo boat carrying relief supplies to one of the worst affected areas. It hit a submerged tree and sank rapidly leaving the International Red Cross relief workers to swim to safety.

With the monsoon season starting, heavy rains and lack of adequate shelter will add to the misery of the people of the Irrawaddy Delta. High winds will make boat trips and helicopter flights hazardous, slowing the relief effort. Lack of food because of ruined crops and lost stored supplies and poor sanitation will also combine to increase the disease risk.  The relief efforts are also hampered by the reluctance of the Myanmar Military Government to engage with countries critical of their regime and accept the aid and the foreign relief workers who could help distribute the relief supplies.

At local level people in Thailand are donating cash and supplies to their local pagodas to be sent to the Tamaya Buddhist Monastery in Mae Sot.  From there it will be distributed in Burma.                     

I was momentarily stunned when a bucket of cold water slammed into my chest. As water trickled down my legs my assailant cheerily wished me happy new year. Slowly regaining my sense of perspective and humour another bucket of water deluged my head, delivered by another grinning youth offering new year salutations.  I realised that the whole street was awash with water. Hoses swept over laughing motorcyclists, duals between frolickers in the back of pickup trucks were fought with buckets of water and pedestrians retaliated with large volume water pistols.  Given that the temperature was 42oC in the shade being doused with ice cold water was a blessing, after the initial shock. 

This was the festival of Songkran, or Thai New Year. It is celebrated in Laos and Cambodia as well but the good folks of Chiang Mai have taken an ancient religious rite and transformed it into an exuberant water fest free for all that lasts three days. The city authorities even provide pumps to take the water from the moats around the city walls to provide the revellers with more ammunition!  No one is excluded. Even bewildered visitors like us were soaked and soon joined in throwing buckets of water back.

The idea of ritual washing was to wash away the sins of the previous year.  Having someone else wash away your sins from the back of a passing pickup truck was an entirely new concept for us. 

The older more traditional significance of Songkran has not been lost however. On the first day houses are cleaned and scrubbed and Buddha images are symbolically cleaned to re-assert the faith.  We saw Buddha images from the major temples being paraded on floats. 

Food is prepared on the second day to give to the monks. Sand is built into tall piles, like stupas, and festooned with prayer flags. The sand is later spread out over the courtyard of the pagoda to replace the sand carried out on the soles of monks and worshipers over the preceding year.

People promenade in new clothes on the third day and visit the pagoda in the morning with offerings of food and new robes for the monks. Later in the day the young visit their elders and show respect by sprinkling water over the elder’s left shoulder.

Having sustained thorough dousings on the first two days we were a bit confused when sincere looking younger people approached us and ceremoniously sprinkled water on our left shoulders. It was only later we realised the honour they were bestowing on us.    

Pictures of Chiang Mai