Be forewarned: the Buddhist holidays of Asarna Bucha Day and Buddhist Lent fall on July 4 & 5 this year, but because they fall on a weekend, the days before and after will also become holidays making it a 4 day long weekend. So the usual alcohol ban may be extended for the full 4 days but nothing official has been announced. The Thai cabinet has already approved the 4 day long weekend.

While not officially announced or clarified at yesterday’s announcement, it’s expected that July 4-5 will see alcohol sales banned, as with every Buddhist holiday. If the holidays follow prior years, the additional days will see government offices closed. But the measures are subject to change, especially considering the current Covid-19 situation. An official announcement is expected in the next few days.

To complicate things, the 4 day holiday falls just 3 days after a possible, but unannounced, reopening of bars and nightlife in Thailand, which is still being deliberated by the Thai Government with a decision set for the Friday. The culture minister says that the cancelled “substitute” Songkran holidays, which were postponed in April, will come later in the year, possibly August or September. It’s likely these won’t see the usual wild water fights and parties but rather simply a substitute day off and closure of government offices.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

Thai citizens are being dangled a carrot – the chance to celebrate Songkran in July. Usually the annual water festival, traditionally the end of the dry season and the start of the wet season, is held on April 13. The event has become a big tourist magnet over the past decade as it’s morphed from traditional Buddhist festival into organised water fights in the streets of Bangkok and tourist towns.

This year it was cancelled as the country was busy being not busy; locked down in their homes instead of outside splashing water everywhere. But the government says they may still hold a Songkran festival in July instead IF the third phase of the easing of lockdown restrictions goes smoothly this month.

‘Phase 3’ started rolling out yesterday and opens up just about everything excepting bars and pubs, and some other entertainment venues. 16 business types and leisure activities resumed yesterday. The curfew has also been reduced to 11pm to 3am daily.

Phuket seems to be trailing behind the rest of the country with a ban on its beaches and airport still in place.

CCSA spokesman Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin says the Government might declare special public holidays in July to celebrate Songkran. The festival, apart from all the water splashing, is the biggest family get-together of the year when people head back ‘up country’ for large family celebrations. The festival is also the most dangerous time on Thailand’s roads each year.

Dr. Taweesin says the CCSA will assess the results of phase three relaxations this month, adding that…”if the Covid-19 situation improves satisfactorily and people strictly observe the basic guidelines of social distancing, regular hand washing and face mask wearing, it might ask the Government to declare special public holidays in July”.

We’re not sure what “improves satisfactorily” means given that there have no recorded local transmutations of Covid-19 for over a week. All the latest cases are from Thais repatriating on specially organised charter flights from overseas whereby all arrivals must spend 14 days in supervised quarantine.

There is still a state of emergency in effect until at least the end of the June which provides Thai PM Prayut and his appointed committee in the CCSA sweeping powers to address the Covid-19 situation in Thailand without consulting parliament.

This week in Pattaya, in any other year, there is a traditional celebration known as Wan Lai (the celebration after Songkran) – a week long wet-fest where Thai citizens and tourists come to Pattaya to enjoy post-Songkran on steroids.

In regular years the Pattaya festival draws hundreds of thousands of people from the world a truly unique festival/party, featuring dozens of concerts, events, water throwing, special vendors, shows, drinking (lots of drinking). There are also family gatherings and an overall feeling of positivity and energy for those who participate.

The provincial local source The Pattaya News reports… “It’s so big that it is impossible to travel in the city and taxis stop running as the streets fill with revelers celebrating in the back of pickup trucks and vehicles for miles. Even most of those who dislike the Songkran festival (and there are plenty, including those who leave the country for it) generally agree the final day is one wild party and can be a lot of fun.”

“Songkran Day in Pattaya is, even more than New Year’s Eve in December, the biggest party of the year.”

However due to the Covid-19 situation in Thailand, mass gatherings are now banned, and the laws in the Emergency Decree have cancelled events like Songkran and Wan Lai. Alcohol sales are also banned and beaches are closed along with every possible place people could have gathered or socialised.

The Thai Government has stated that they still plan to have a Songkran celebration later in the year and promised the Thai people they would still get their annual new year festival, although it will likely be dramatically different and would also depend on the improvement of the situation.

It is unlikely, even if there is a postponed Songkran in the late summer, that the usual millions of tourists will be able to come and enjoy it anyway.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News