Christmas in Thailand

shakeydude

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are travelling in SEA for 4 months and we are currently in Thailand. We are looking for somewhere good to spend Christmas. We have already done most the major Islands and were thinking of going to Chang Mai in the next few weeks. has anybody spent Christmas here or should we stay around the Islands???

All comments are appreciated

Shakeydude

TheNibbler

Haven't spent Christmas in Thailand but was there a few months ago. Chang Mai is a nice city but I'd say stick to the islands for Christmas. It's not often that you get to spend Christmas on the beach!

shakeydude

Cheers,

We have spent the last 3 weeks arsing around on the Islands and were just looking for something different. The islands remind me of Majorca, i didnt realise that there would be so much development.

Still nobidy has bad stories from Chang Mai

rabbitinlights

Im currently in Ko Tao but will be heading to Cambodia for Xmas and NYE, Ive heard from a few locals that alot of resorts/bungalows in thailand are already booked up around xmas and the price is much higher than now. So we are getting the hell out of here and gonna look for something a bit more remote!

S.

shakeydude

We are thinking along the same lines as yourself S, the Islands are pretty expensive and Chiang Mai should be a totally different Christmas. We should be in Laos for New Years and finish our trip in Cambodia, its all good

mrsmagoo

I haven't been there myself but my sister spent last Christmas in Vietnam (after coming from Thailand). If you want to know that it's Christmas and celebrate it in some way like at home then you won't find festivities in Vietnam (unless you look really hard).
Apparently Thailand is the most Christmassy place to be. Although you've a long while to wait there before it's Christmas.
I'd ask around/research about what you want to do on Christmas day and see what country could be good for celebrations.

Enjoy!

empirix

they don't celebrate Xmas in Thailand but the new years eve is huge there, a lot of the irish bars have a xmas dinner which you pre book a few weeks in advance and will be full of expats, can be a bit of a laugh, i went to the dubliner bar in bangkok for xmas, had a good time but it won't beat beat being at home, if i had to choose i would go to Phi Phi and just chill out, there is an irish bar now so they might od a dinner or something

empirix

empirix wrote:

they don't celebrate Xmas in Thailand but the new years eve is huge there, a lot of the irish bars have a xmas dinner which you pre book a few weeks in advance and will be full of expats, can be a bit of a laugh, i went to the dubliner bar in bangkok for xmas, had a good time but it won't beat beat being at home, if i had to choose i would go to Phi Phi and just chill out, there is an irish bar now so they might od a dinner or something

There is an irish bar in Angkor in Cambodia who also does a meal on Xmas day, be warned though Cambodia is more expensive than Thailand

dodgey69

i spent xmas 04 in Hanoi in vietnam,and it didnt feel like xmas at all, spent NY in Ho Chi min which wasnt great either. v few backpackers etc

Xmas 05 was spent in Ko Samui and had a great time,loads of travellers, proper dinner in Tropical Murphys(with live band playing), Islander pub did something similar. defo one of better spots to be even though it did nothing but last rain for 2 weeks over the xmas period

Ho chi min is off the beaten track and very quiet, only spent a few days there and defo wouldn recommend it for xmas

empirix

dodgey69 wrote:

i spent xmas 04 in Hanoi in vietnam,and it didnt feel like xmas at all, spent NY in Ho Chi min which wasnt great either. v few backpackers etc

Xmas 05 was spent in Ko Samui and had a great time,loads of travellers, proper dinner in Tropical Murphys(with live band playing), Islander pub did something similar. defo one of better spots to be even though it did nothing but last rain for 2 weeks over the xmas period

Ho chi min is off the beaten track and very quiet, only spent a few days there and defo wouldn recommend it for xmas

I was there too in Dec05, we were doing our nuts because it was raining on Phi Phi non stop, so we decided to head over to Phangnan for the full moon party in the hope of seeing some sun, damn monsoon was kicking inand a few bpackers drowned, decided to get the high speed catermeran back to Bangkok, possibly the worst decision ever, huge waves made this the most gruesome and scariest journey i have been on, was convinced the boat was going to go under, totally mad to sail in that weather. Funny looking back a year later:D

breadmonkey

dodgey69 wrote:

Ho chi min is off the beaten track and very quiet, only spent a few days there and defo wouldn recommend it for xmas

I would rather spend Christmas in a well than HCMC!

Spent last years xmas on Samui which was cool had a big sit down dinner on the beach, and then new years on Panyang. dont think you could go wrong with a similar plan

Spider_Baby

breadmonkey wrote:

I would rather spend Christmas in a well than HCMC!

...Is Hanoi any better??....
Gonna be there for Xmas and probably New Year...

breadmonkey

Spider_Baby wrote:

...Is Hanoi any better??....
Gonna be there for Xmas and probably New Year...

Emmmmm...Er... I preferred HCMC to Hanoi. Do you really have to be there for Xmas and new year?

killbillvol2

Hanoi or Saigon are going to be what you make of them at Christmas. It's a bit unreasonable to expect anywhere in SE Asia to be "Christmassy" tbh.

Given that Saigon has a large number of catholics there's going to be some sense of Christmas in a religious sense. I can't see the hard-working Vietnamese downing tools and going on the piss though!

As a previous poster mentioned a lot of westerners tend to head for the islands at that time of year so you probably won't have huge numbers in the big cities.

Two friends of mine live in Bangkok. The ex-pats celebrate Christmas among themselves but not in a big way.

(Personally I hate all the sh1te that goes with that time of year so being someplace where it was almost ignored would be great!)

Spider_Baby

breadmonkey wrote:

Emmmmm...Er... I preferred HCMC to Hanoi. Do you really have to be there for Xmas and new year?

Yep. I was in Vietnam before, only for 2 weeks in total, but loved it. Spent only 4 nights in Hanoi but really liked it, however it was peak season then. I just hope there are other backpackers around the place for Xmas. If its rubbish I'll move on for New Year, maybe Halong Bay.

killbillvol2

Spider_Baby wrote:

If its rubbish I'll move on for New Year, maybe Halong Bay.

Could be a good option. New Year's Eve on a boat. Nice. (Don't get too pissed and fall overboard though! ).

shakeydude

Hi,

Just for the record we ended up spending Christmas in Luang Prabang. Chiang Mai was a welcome respite from the Islands which we were very disappointed with but the place was really busy with the Flower Festival for the King, so LP beckoned. I have to say we were delighted with our choice, even though accom was nearly impossible to come by. LP rocks. Thanks for all the replies

Ho!Ho!Ho1

Shakeydude