The thai new year approaches.  Walking the street of chiang mai, we find ourselves at the epicenter of Thailand's water-filled celebration.   Thousands line the moat that envelops the city's "old town".  Traffic crawls slowly  down the crowded street, a friendly war in process as the rowdy inhabitants of pick-up truck beds feud in aqueous glee with the bucket-armed population spanning the moat's extensive length.  50-somethings clad with super-soaker guns chase after 5-year-old tricksters; the young ones are laughing ecstatically, with such freedom and beauty, their joyful victory known by an empty bucket in hand and a soaked target.  Nobody cares much for vanity on these days...nor for any semblance of mature pretension.  In the streets, an electric current surges erratically...the charge of unleashed, ageless childhood; the cleansing spirit of water; the fear of being sprayed unexpectedly (a fear that subsides only upon complete saturation); and the beautiful liminality with which a country's population welcomes in the new year--the next chapter--with mischievous, loving, child-like enthusiasm.  All adds to the texture of Songkran, an event that draws thousands from all over the world into this small city, the jewel of of Thailand's North.  It's charming magnetism is undeniable.