Visit Thailand! Celebrate Songkran With The Locals

I’ve visited Thailand many times over the last two decades and in this 6-minute article, I want to give you the base for the trip of a lifetime.

Songkran is the Thai New Year celebration that takes place on the 13th of April each year. It’s so popular with tourists and the Thai people that it’s now a five-day festival from the 12th of April to the 16th of April.

The name Songkran comes from the movement of the sun from one position to another in the zodiac. Songkran is also known as the water festival because the Thai people throw water over each other to cleanse themselves of any sins from the previous year ready for a clean slate in the coming year.

Water is everywhere hence the term water festival which is super refreshing in the heat, to be honest. It’s basically a five-day license to walk around with a water pistol and not get in any kind of trouble. The majority of people you pass will have a water pistol and to be honest, it’s one of the most enjoyable festivals I’ve ever been to.

So, those five days for the water festival are what you want to plan your trip around. I’d suggest Patong Beach in Phuket is the best place to enjoy it but it’s a national celebration so you’ll witness it wherever you go in Thailand. If you do decide to go for Patong Beach then the main strip is called Bangla Road. Phuket is a must-see when you visit Thailand and whilst you’re there you can hop over to Koh Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island) for a couple of days which is where the movie The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. It’s a lovely quiet paradise island where you can get away from the hustle and bustle of Patong Beach.

Another thing Thailand is famous for is the Full Moon Parties which take place on Haad Rin Beach on Koh Phangan. It’s good to experience it but the problem is hotels on the island make you book 4 to 5 nights and there’s not much else going on besides the Full Moon Party during one night of your stay. The better option is to stay on the neighboring island of Koh Samui and just get one of the many speedboats over to Koh Phangan on the night of the full moon party. Speedboats are running back and forth between the islands all night. Koh Samui has a lot more to offer and the main beaches are Chaweng Beach and Lamai Beach.

The other place you will visit is Bangkok because that’s your route in and out of the country. There are lots of beautiful temples to visit, two huge shopping malls (Siam Paragon & Central World) but most importantly you have to experience one of the floating markets. Damnoen Saduak is the most popular but others include Amphawa, Khlong Lat Mayom, and Taling Chan.

There you have it folks. I’ve just given you all the ingredients to experience the best Thailand has to offer. Apparently, Chiang Mai is another must-see place in Thailand but it’s located in the very northern part of the country which is why I haven’t made it there yet. Everything I’ve talked about is south of Bangkok. Guessing you’ll need a minimum of 3 weeks to really enjoy everything I’ve written about above and let us just recap quickly…

• (3 Days) Arrive in Bangkok. Stay there for a few days and recover from your flight and see the sights of the city.
• (4 Days) Fly to Phuket from Bangkok or there’s an overnight train if you really want to experience seeing all the different parts of the country as you head down south. Stay in Patong Beach, find your bearings, and enjoy what Thailand's biggest island has to offer.
• (3 Days) Get a boat over to Koh Phi Phi and enjoy doing nothing and absolute paradise for a few days.
• (6 Days) Get a boat back to Patong Beach and experience the Water Festival and everything else the area has to offer.
• (5 Days) Fly to Koh Samui. Get a boat over to Koh Phangan on the night of the Full Moon Party. Enjoy everything Samui Island has to offer.
• (2 Days) Fly back to Bangkok and experience whatever you can before flying back home to reality. As soon as you get home you’ll start thinking about planning another trip to Asia and don’t worry I’ve got you covered - Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, or Vietnam, I’ve done them all ;-)

A few other things to mention…

• A direct flight from London to Bangkok takes around 12 hours. Personally, that’s too long in the air for me so I like to break it up by flying to the middle east which makes it two 7-hour flights with a 2-hour stop in the middle.
• Make sure you use Trip Advisor when looking at hotels. Trip Advisor is a great tool because you can search for hotels on the map in the area you want to visit and then it tells you where each hotel ranks. Finding a hotel with a decent rank and reading the reviews on Trip Advisor can really help you pick out a beauty. Just bear in mind every hotel will have some sort of bad review because there’s always one grumpy person who’s never satisfied even if satisfaction slapped them in the face.
• Make sure you check the relevant visa requirements for your country. What I love about the UK passport is it pretty much grants you 30 days of access to any country without needing a visa.
• Check the COVID requirements for Thailand well before you start booking stuff. It’s most likely you’ll need to fill out some sort of health declaration form before you fly and provide a negative COVID test when you arrive in Thailand.

So that’s a wrap folks! You have everything you need to plan the trip of a lifetime to one of Asia’s most beautiful destinations. This is just the first of many travel articles I’m going to write as I’ve been to - Canada, Las Vegas, The Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Prague, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Spain, Germany, France, Turkey, Bulgaria & Greece.

So add me to your email list so you’ll get notified whenever I publish an article. Add this to your travel articles list and when you’re ready to experience Thailand make sure you have a quick read of it again to help you plan the trip of a lifetime.

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I’m only just getting started and the best is yet to come so stay tuned, stay safe and I’ll catch you next time. If you haven’t read my Hello article yet then check it out below. Peace.

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© Kris Talks Life - Article #1 in my ‘Travel’ series