Travel Tales from Asia

Many countries celebrate special holidays and Thailand is one of them, though they celebrate not only public holidays, but a few private ones as well. Public holidays are generally on New Year’s Day which is January 1st. People enjoy their holidays and visitors to Thailand experience new types of celebrations. The start of the Gregorian and solar year is celebrated on this day. The Buddhist day is on February 3rd and the 6th of April marks the Chakri Memorial Day.

The Songkran Festival is a three day holiday which starts on April 13th till the 15th. This is one of their big holidays where everyone takes time off to celebrate. The festivals in May are the Vesak, The Royal Ploughing Ceremony and the Coronation Day. Vassa and Asalha Puja are in July while in August the HM the Queen’s birthday is celebrated with great pomp and splendor. Tribute is paid to King Chulalongkom, who passed away in October 1910 and is still remembered on Chulalongkom Day, with love and affection by the people of Thailand.

In December, some of the major holidays are Constitution Day, New Year’s Eve and HM, the King’s birthday. Though these holidays last only for a day, they are celebrated with great importance by the people of Thailand. Everyone who lives in Thailand celebrates on these days. It would be worthwhile for you to plan your vacation during any of these holidays to learn more about their traditions and observe how other people in the world celebrate. You may have a wonderful time experiencing new type of celebrations and even want to join in the festivities.

The Government observes a few national days though many people may not be able to enjoy these days as holidays. Apart from these days, there are several more days marked on the calendar that are not mentioned in this article. Many have stopped observing these holidays though they are still traditionally followed by some. Some of these are the National Agriculture Day, Duanwu Festival, Chinese New Year and Valentine Day. All the places may not be closed on certain holidays though some people may want to celebrate on those days.

It may be interesting if you take time to try and pronounce these local names for each one of the holidays before you visit Thailand. Perhaps you could take the trouble to memorize a few of the names in their language. The locals are very impressed when you speak in their language or mention one of their Thailand holidays by the native name. Festivals about with plenty of food, music and dancing and the activities vary from one place to another. It is an enjoyable experience to witness something different, when travelling to other destinations on vacation.

After traveling to Bangkok, I went down to Phuket. Phuket is the big beach resort area in Thailand. It is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Asia and is filled with big hotels, resorts, beaches, bars, restaurants. and much more. There is some great diving here and they even filmed a James Bond movie here.

After being in Bangkok for awhile, I needed a break for the beach. I’d heard a lot about this area so I figured I would test it out. Normally, I prefer more off the beaten path destinations but everyone was raving about Phuket. You can’t hate a place you’ve never been so I thought I would try it out. I looked for some good Phuket hotels and finally settled on a place just south of Patong beach. Patong beach is where all the action is and I didn’t want to be surrounded by drunks and sexpats for my whole time there so I decided to get a place just south and then travel there. Better to only visit the craziness than live in it.

I spent my time in Phuket doing what I wanted- sitting on the beach. I thought the beaches and water were very nice. But they were very crowded with people and it was hard to get some “peace and quiet.” One thing I really hated were all the hawkers trying to sell me something every five minutes. If you go to some of the beaches on the southern part of the island, it’s a bit nicer, quieter, and with less hawkers. I ended up going down there for a few days to avoid the crowds.

One of the big activities to do here is to go diving. There seems to be a dive shop on every corner here- it’s like Starbucks! It was hard picking which one was good or bad but I just used the hotel’s advice. I ended up going to a dive shop on Patong and learning how to dive. I’d never dove before so I was a bit nervous. But after my first dive, I can see why everyone loves it. I’m hooked. I didn’t have time this trip but next time I am going to get my PADI. I’ve heard that many of the Phuket accommodation booking sites do a combo where you can do a dive/hotel package so I am going to look into that. But then again, I also heard it was better to do that in Ko Tao. Thoughts?

Overall, I liked Phuket but I’m not 100% sure I’d go back. With nicer and quieter beaches elsewhere in country, Thailand has a lot more to offer.