I am in the process of planning a trip to thailand and Laos. I have booked flight with Eva Air out on 29 march 2007 returning on 13 April 2007. I hav just realised that this is Songkran. We were planning on 3 of the trip and have a few questions:
What is Bangkok like over Songkran, is everything open, or has everyone closed down left town?
Will transport to and from the airport be difficult?
Would we be better staying in Bangkok at the begining of the trip and trying to fly straight back to BKK airport from LP or Chiang Mai for our connection?

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly apprecuiated appreciated.

Songkran is a 3 day festival (April 13-15, though in 2005 it lasted till the 17th, 5 days) when anyone who ventures outside risks a good soaking. Offices shut, small shops often shut but big stores will often stay open. There is a big migration of people around this time as people go visit families out in the country.


I would make sure I as in Bangkok for your connection home in case anything unexpected happens.

I was in BKK last Songkran and had no problems.
We saw plenty of water fights, and out taxi got drenched a couple of times, but it was pretty easy to avoid the fray if you wanted.

We were in Bangkok during Songkran last year. Yes, we got wet -- it was fun the first day, but not after that. We kept our wallets and cameras savely tucked away in plastic bags. Our clothes -- they were soaked.

We had been in the city a full week before the start of the holiday, so we were able to see how deserted the streets, shops and markets had become. Some large markets, in Pratunam and Chinatown for example, were totally closed. However, we did have no trouble getting a taxi back to the airport. It was a quick trip -- the highway was empty.

If this is your first or only trip to Bangkok, I would suggest you adjust your schedule so you are able to see and do more.

kaneda: What do you mean by

"I would make sure I as in Bangkok for your connection home in case anything unexpected happens" ?

You sure have a lot of new posts over the past two weeks!

Aloha!

We were in Chiang Mai for Songkhran last year, and then came back through Bangkok for one day there. We were soaked in Chiang Mai but had decided to let that be part of the experience. It was, and we loved it for the one day we were there. Being a part of the hoopla around the moat was great fun, especially for my adolescent boys and their father! Bangkok the next day was fine. Some soaking happened to others but we decided to stay at the mall and hang out there. Driving back to the airport was a breeze!

Have fun!

OJudy has already given you the best advice: "adjust your schedule." To me that means change your travel plans and go at a differnt time. If none of this is sinking in yet, let me put it more bluntly: AVOID SONGKRAN AT ALL COSTS.
Capish?

The words "wet" and "soaked" do not do this Thai holiday justice. Thousands of people literally DIE during the course of this 3 - 7 day event.

"Wet" means water up to your knees in certain circumstances, and "soaked" means that you, your luggage and possibly everything in your luggage stand to be drenched through and through -- and there is no preventing it short of your not being there.

Anyone knowingly arriving or departing with luggage during Songkran is asking for trouble in my opinion. As much as I love Thailand (it is my favorite country in the world), I would pass up an all-expenses-paid week's stay in Bangkok if it meant being there during the week of Songkran.

Honesty. Songkran -- beyond the first day, perhaps -- is outrageously bad news.

So much depends on your point of view. We were willing to make it part of the Thai experience and as a result enjoyed ourselves immensely. We are drunken revelers and I admit we were well off the roads and back in our hotel by 4pm.

Our luggage was not soaked, and we were smart enough to leave all electronics back in the room. We were in Chiang Mai in the biggest day of Songkhran and I admit, did get wet the day prior. I admit, though, if we had not been "in the mood" for water play it would have ruined our experience.

If you can let your hair down and enjoy it I think you will be ok. If you have any questions at all about being able to do that, please change your travel dates. We did see some Westerners who were definitely not having a good time.

Happy decision making

Aside from the water issue, many of the shops and markets are closed. Some streets are absolutely empty! We really missed the activity and chaos -- which is what makes Bangkok so exciting.

One more thing to consider, we saw many young people filling their barrels and buckets with canal water and river water. Yuck!

hawaiiantraveller. I am always weary in case something does happen. A cancellation, travel trouble, whatever. If you miss your plane, even by ten minutes, you get an extended stay on your holiday till you can get another seat (which at certain times of year can be a week or more later).

I spent much of the last few days on a science site I had just joined and racked up 60+ posts there, as well as elsewhere. I took early retirement so will often be on the internet while watching TV (as now).

I agree entirely with Ladyhawk and recommend avoiding Thailand during the Songkran festival. I’ve lived in Thailand for many years and try my hardest to be out of the country at that time. What was once a lovely gentle religious festival has deteriorated into sheer lunacy dominated mostly by idiotic inconsiderate drunken Thai louts & yobs.
If you get a buzz from walking around the streets soaked, having your valuables ruined, having contaminated water thrown into your eyes & ears (causing infections) then go for it. Otherwise adjust your travel plans to miss Songkran.

Thank you everyone for your input. This has been extremely helpful as I am not sure that I relish the idea of the consatnt bombardment of water/flour etc. However our flights are booked and we fly out from BKK at mid-day on April 13Th. A couple of supplementatery questions. When does the chaos actually start? There seems to be conflicting information on the web. As we will just be travelling from hotel to airport on th 13th we should avoid most of the celebrations, but what about the 11th & 12th - will it be relaively normal on these days?