This is one of my favourite and most cringey travel stories. Be kind! We were dumb 20 year olds. 😂

We arrived in Bangkok, Thailand from Chennai, India on the 29th March 2016. We spent some time in Bangkok before travelling to Pai. It was there that we heard about Songkran – the traditional Thai New Year festival. It is typically celebrated with hectic water fights, symbolic religious traditions and cleansing/renewal activities.

I remember fellow travellers gawking at us  – what do you mean you don’t know about Songkran!? Isn’t that what you came here for!? But alas, Aimee and I were flying by the seat of our pants and coming up to 2.5 years of international travel. We had no clue what was happening and where. We simply showed up!

We returned to Bangkok on the 12th to experience Songkran! We booked online (Hostelworld) at a hostel called “Cow Hostel Khaosan” for 240baht/night.

We arrived very early in the morning, packs on our front and back, tired and stumbling through the streets. Finally! We found the hostel! We pushed in via the unlocked door to find an empty reception area. No staff to be seen. Assuming it was way too early, we “de-bagged” and setup camp on the couches. We fell asleep and woke up late-morning (10am?). Strange, still no staff! Travellers were filing in and out, and we were confused.

We waited another hour.

Well-seasoned due to working in a handful of hostels, Aimee and I made the obnoxious decision to check ourselves in. We had already paid afterall! We walked through the dorms, some beds made and some not. We found a room that matched our booking and unloaded our bags.

We wanted to go the ‘right way’ about it, so we returned to the front desk to write a note about the situation. By now, a couple more backpackers had made their way through. Seeing us, they asked “do you work here?” … Why not? We met a bloke from Boston who we informed about the staff-less situation – he joined us eagerly, taking on the pretend title of “colleague”.

For the next couple of hours, we got to work greeting and chatting away to new arrivals – online bookings, walk-ins, the lot. We designated beds, gave hostel-tours, wrote down who had paid and who was owing. We explained to each and every person what the deal was: “up to you if you want to try somewhere else” we shrugged. All the while, thinking reception staff should arrive at some point or other to take care of the rest!

By now, we were anxious to get amongst the action. It was nearing the time of Songkran after all! We left the hostel, all the trust in the world re: our belongings and the random people we had just housed. We danced through the streets as we were sprayed with hoses and doused with buckets of water. We had a joyous time, drinking Chang beer and frolicking like mad women.

We returned to the hostel in the evening, reuniting with OUR guests.

Oh, fuck. Still no staff.

By the next day, we knew only two things:
1. The hostel was in our care temporarily.
2. It was to be the base of a street water war!

After an afternoon in the main plaza taking in the festivities, we were water-guns-ablazing!

We planted ourselves at the reception area, got the water hoses pumping and filled up every reciprocal we could find. People passing by were met with shrieks and flowing water. We bought blocks of ice that were being pulled through the streets on carts. Hostel guests were grouped outside the entry way, using a large esky to scoop icy water. Hollering, shouting, laughing.

Fuelled by Chang and Singh beers available at the nearby 7/11, we were having an absolute ball! The family who owned the restaurant next door laughed and clapped us on, as children darted around the streets, determined to take us down with their own water guns and buckets of ice.

According to my travel journal, we attempted to sell our icy water to passing travellers to fund our 7/11 trips: “5 baht! 5 baht!”. According to my travel journal, we managed to buy one beer with the proceeds.

Now. I’ll be honest, I can’t remember the following day, except for the fact that no staff ever arrived. How did this happen?! Why did nobody say anything?! What were the neighbours thinking (the next-door restaurant, neighbouring shops)?!

Looking back, it is such a wild situation. The absolute audacity! And the pure naivety as well, we truly did think the staff were just running on Thai-time or perhaps even popping in when we weren’t there. I guess we were comforted by the fact that people were obviously staying there when we arrived. Nobody seemed worried or concerned.

All I know is:

Songkran was fucking incredible.

I lost my Canon camera, and with it so many of our photos from India, Thailand and Songkran. I left it at reception and it was stolen. Unsurprisingly, we weren’t locking the front door. I clearly got too comfortable and as a result, my camera was gone after surviving almost 2.5 years of chaotic travel. Note: we also did not have mobile phones during the bulk of our travels.

We were kicked out by the police in the early hours of the 15th April  – which was our original check-out date anyway – as noted in my journal. I remember waking up and being told to get out. I believe we were told the owner had abandoned the hostel? We gathered our things and were led outside. We showed the police our note with the check-ins. I honestly can’t remember their response, we were just told we couldn’t stay there any longer – very fair. They were very kind, considering. We passed the hostel the next day and it was all locked up.

I believe we stayed one more night at another hostel (staffed!) with our Boston friend and a couple of other kicked-out hostel guests. Then we were off to our next Workaway – which as luck would have it, was another hostel gig, this time in Koh Samui.

This one though, we actually WERE the staff!