For a number of years, icy cold water in some water-play locations has made Songkran a shockingly chilly experience. Large buckets of water are cooled down by steeping large ice-bags in them. This year the risk of ice-bagging has spread quickly through the water-soaked sois. This is how it starts:
Water soaks into the bag around the ice-blocks inside. When an unsuspecting victim approaches, the bag is quickly hoisted up onto their shoulders and they are held in place while the ice chills them to the bone. They have been ice-bagged!
By the time you realise an ice-bagger is nearby, it may already be too late.
Next time you’re out celebrating the Songkran Festival, keep your wits about you – the ice-baggers could be sneaking up behind you at any moment…..
Alasdair McLeod 