Wedding business thrives in Thailand.

Weddings have gone up a notch in Thailand thanks to a new generation of travel and wedding planners

Terri Roamer

Sages would say it was putting the cart before the horse, when in the enthusiasm of the moment we fumble the order and start where we should end.

So when people tell me they are in the honeymoon travel market, I wonder if they were in a hurry and skipped the wedding altogether.

As weddings precede honeymoons in the world of romance, we should start there. It’s a business segment that has been identified as a golden opportunity for Thailand’s travel planners to carve out a lucrative niche.

Honeymoons are by definition private, romantic and linked to a few very enchanting destinations where solitude is a premium. Thailand has many luxurious beach resorts that fit the bill competing head-on with the world’s best.

Of course, weddings can be as cozy as you please, but they are just as likely to be mega affairs where friends and relatives arrive by the droves to bankrupt the hapless parents for the rest of their lives.

If you asked me where Thailand really shines in the business of romance, then it has to be weddings.  Its event planners have successfully tapped the popular trend that ships a wedding and guests off shore in a grand manner usually reserved for movie stars.   

On a single auspicious day in Bombay, India, as many as 3,000 couples will tie the knot in elaborate expensive ceremonies that can almost take a week before the happy couple can embark on their honeymoon.

Just a few of them will transfer their elaborate wedding ceremonies to Thailand. Yet the wedding market from India alone is worth an estimated Bt550 million a year according to knowledgeable travel executives who watch this niche market with a keen interest.

The secret of success for those who serve this market is to remember by heart the auspicious days when weddings are considered blessed by good fortune. In India that sends thousands of couples and their parents into a flurry of activity to ensure they tie the knot in a manner guaranteed to keep relatives gossiping for decades.

India is the most outstanding example of success for Thailand’s wedding sector. Entire clans from urban India board chartered aircraft and book entire hotels for celebrations that can take a week or more in one of Thailand’s popular resorts.  It’s a nightmare and a dream come true all rolled up in one nerve wrecking week of bedlam for the hired travel planners.

I chatted with one who views the Indian wedding market as his rice bowl.

“It’s just amazing,” he explains over a coffee and that’s coming from an events planner who has worked the ropes of the some of the world’s biggest events to grace Asia.

“It’s not all plain sailing, there are the tedious negotiations on hotel rates, always the starting point that can take weeks and drive a wedding planner insane before hotel and customer reach a truce.”

Indian weddings are hands-on for the families, who take a personal interest in driving a hard bargain on rooms. It usually reaches a conclusion when the proverbial penny drops in the sales offices of five-star hotels. What you lose on the roundabouts you will gain on the swings.

At an average daily rate of US$90 for a top flight hotel Thailand, that’s the roundabouts for the tired sales team.  “Wow,” they might ask, “where do we go from here?”

Actually, it’s the bottom of the curve and from here it’s an amazing climb skyward in spending as the parents’ splash out on the wedding of the year as if they own a national bank. Perhaps they do, or perhaps the airline they will use to transport 500 or more guests on the VIP list.

“They take over entire resort hotels, batten down the property for daily feasts and entertainment that is out of this world in scope and budget,” the travel planner tells me.

“Is it worth the haggling over the room rate,” I ask, amazed at the effort and will power it takes to haggle a room rate to the bare earth.

“You bet. Any hotel that has a department set up to serve this market will keep the bottom line profit a secret. It’s just too good to be true, right off the revenue graph.”

So mega weddings in Thailand are fashionable for an elite segment of the Indian populace. They are flush with cash and ready to spend at five-star resorts.

But they are robust too. I recall disembarking from a Thai Airways International flight wondering why the aircraft was packed to the gills with expatriate Indians from all corners of the globe.

Bangkok’s airport was almost deserted in the aftermath of a particular nasty political upheaval that shook the country’s tourism to its core.  I had a question for one of the cheerful Indians as his group waited for their luggage to fall off the carousel.

“Did you think you might have to cancel your trip,” I asked.

“Not likely”, he answered. “We are here for a wedding, 400 of us travelling from all over the world for a week-long celebration in Hua Hin. Planned months in advance nothing is going to change it.”

They did ask their wedding planning a week earlier if there was any security hiccups and here they were ready to party in Thailand.

That scene is repeated around the year as Indian couples tie the knot at famous Thai resorts across Thailand.

Are we really up for this boom in off-shore wedding bookings, I thought, or is it just a fad; a lucky but short business curve?

My telephone rings. My daughter is on the line asking me if I am free to meet the wedding planner. Oh and also the party planner and as I have nothing to do at the weekend could I drop by a posh riverside hotel and chat with the hotel’s event department which is recommending a photographer and video crew?

She is getting married and like so many wedding celebrations in Thailand guests will be travelling from around the world to share the moment. I also suspect they will tack on a vacation at a beach resort as a suitable bonus for all the air miles spent getting here.

So I begin to learn first-hand about Thailand’s very sophisticated wedding services.  There are wedding planners who take the pain out of planning for the weary, budget shocked parents. They remind me of film directors on location eager to make it work with professional precision, prompting the stars and herding the support players so lean their lines according to script.

There is nothing for the family to worry about. Just enjoy the moment and be on cue.

Then there are the party planners who take over from the wedding planner for the entertainment component. It could involve a take-over of a disco, organising party themes, arranging bands and performances. They are a relatively new generation of experts who cut their teeth on corporate events and have moved to the wedding business as a sideline.  They will come with their floor plans, artist impressions of venue decoration and recommendations on a variety of entertainers. They appear to have an endless supply of artists, both Thais and foreigners, who specialise in dinner party gigs.

Whether the wedding is a cozy affair for less than 100 or a mega event that will attract up to a thousand, the same professional and tactical planning is applied.

Hotel sales teams play a vital role setting up the venue arranging rooms for make-up artists, take-a-break rooms and somewhere in the negotiations the concessions on free rooms for VIPs determined by the event’s budget.

On the sidelines, professional photographers and video crews are hired to record the beauty, romance and sheer family pride that is reflected in these special celebrations.  Photography and video shoots can cost from Bt90,000 to Bt200,000 depending on the scope of the project.

Wedding planners and party planners charge similar fees.

The bottom line indicates that Thailand is not the cheapest wedding destination, but it has depth, skills and a remarkable ability to deliver superb, unrivalled hospitality.

Nothing is too small for a wedding planner to handle.  We have 80 guests flying in from around the world. It requires a classy eight-course European menu specially created for the occasion by the bride and groom. Wines are selected for their significance in their romantic journey that will culminate in one of Thailand’s oldest churches, an impressive stain-glassed cathedral adjacent to Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River.

While most weddings, that wing in on international flights, are on a grand scale mostly requiring  grand buffet spreads, hotels that have earned their stars will welcome the opportunity to create a fine-dining experience European style for smaller weddings. 

“We love a challenge, creating something different to fulfill the bride and groom’s dreams,” the hotel chef tells me as I sip a glass of wine, while the younger guests head for a late-night theme party.

“That’s what we gave you today,” he says, hinting he had loved every minute of it from cooking to delivering a flawless dinner experience.

“If I had a hat as white and tall as yours,” I tell him,” I would take it off to you and everyone in your team that made this a perfect day.”

What more can you say, I am a happy customer, having experienced Thailand’s wedding business first-hand. Try as I might I can’t fault it.

Winning ways of wellness travel

Winning ways of wellness travel

Dipping a toe in a wealth of wellness through a Thai traditional massage

Terri Roamer

I am what they call a late convert to the world of wellness. To be precise I gingerly dip a toe and not much more into the waters of wellness tourism.  My expectations are rudimentary. Can I snooze through a soothing foot massage for 60 minutes after a fitness workout? 

That’s my sole criteria to judge the merits of the wellness tourism.

Fortunately for this multi-million dollar industry, I am not typical. Millions of leisure travellers annually weave a holiday around their wellness and health programmes without batting an eyelid.

They are not medical tourists seeking cosmetic surgery or re arranging their plumbing at a fraction of the cost at hospitals back home.

Wellness tourism is about enhancing a healthy status, delving into the world of new experiences. Possibly yoga or a new exotic body treatment figures on the menu dished up by a five-star spa usually on site at an equally luxurious hotel.

Thailand has it all whether you are a medical tourist heading for elective surgery or just striving to perfect a healthy lifestyle.

Actually, despite all the hype about medical tourism, surveys show wellness tourism is the more profitable business channel. It dwarfs medical tourism delivering revenues of US$120 billion while medical tourism just scrapes past US$50 billion a year.

Of course, medical tourism delivers an international address for corrective or elective medical treatments that often involve a post-treatment holiday. That can be a lucrative side business for hotels near hospitals or resorts.

Lumped together the treatment and holiday costs at one of Thailand’s top medical facilities are a fraction of the cost of a treatment alone in west Europe, North America or Australia.

Wellness tourism is an entirely different experience, geared to enhancing good health with touches of luxury and lifestyle features such as learning yoga exercises or taking a meditation course.

There are literally thousands of spas, wellness centres, and resorts that cater to travellers who are in the best of health and simply want to keep it that way when on holiday.  They will indulge in spa treatments and healthy diet plans. They are likely to dabble in yoga exercises, or look for health refreshing herbs that can set them on a journey to defy aging.

Wellness tourism covers all the popular destinations – Phuket, Samui Phuket, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.  Each destination will have its own spin on the wellness theme. It is called local content in the wellness trade where a location has a specific expertise that sets it apart from its wellness peers.

They could be resort havens that provide expert guidance on how to tweak a diet or pursue healthier lifestyles using traditional herbs. Some will specialise in yoga. There are even centres for alternative medicine and anti-aging clinics that mix and match modern and traditional medicine.

Wellness tourism is far from a being just a fad exploited by luxury resorts. Its popularity is seated firmly in a desire to build health and explore paths that can help us beat modern-day stress or stay ahead of the aging curve.

Usually, Thailand’s wellness products are associated with five-star resort luxury and a high degree of pampering bundled with a line-up of enticing and exotic treatments. But there are simpler versions too based on ancient arts, herbs and traditional medicine.

In fact surveys show that some of the most popular features of wellness tourism are in fact quite simple.

A global survey on wellness tourism showed a simple massage was the most sought after service. Around 76% of survey respondents opted for a massage, while the more exotic and expensive body treatments trailed with 50% and meditation or mind-body programmes at 45%.  Facial treatments gained 38% in the attention rating and exercise or fitness programmes 35%.

This is good news for Thai wellness as the core element is a traditional massage that unlike European disciplines does not require exotic oils or the need to disrobe and change to spa attire. 

Massage and herbal healing treatments are as old as the hills and many of the traditional massage techniques and associated herbs can be traced to the third century BC when Indian Brahmins and Buddhist monks first visited Thailand.

They introduced a holistic approach to healing known as Ayurveda, which is based on maintaining a balanced flow of energy through meridians in the body and includes massage and herbal remedies.

Chinese massage techniques, too, influenced the evolution of what is now the distinctive Thai traditional massage.  China passed on skills in acupressure and acupuncture.

Although the history of Thai traditional massage dates back to the  Khmer Empire, it flourished during the Sukhothai era and reached a pinnacle during Ayutthaya period, 14th to 18th centuries until the royal city was sacked by a Burmese army in 1767.

Today, the icon of Thailand’s famous traditional massage is Wat Wat Phra Chetuphon in Bangkok, popularly known Wat Pho. Here ancient traditions and skills were painstakingly revived over nearly two centuries. It required a painstaking reconstruction of the art and traditions as most of the literature and text books had long been destroyed in the fires that engulfed Ayutthaya.

Visitors to the temple can see inscriptions on the walls that describe royal drug remedies or visit the first royal dispensary where traditional massage and herbal treatments were revived.

In the early 1900s, Wat Pho established a massage school together with its homeopathic programme where a specific tradition in techniques developed linked to Ayurveda philosophy and yoga systems

Today, Wat Pho offers elaborate courses for would-be traditional Thai massage therapists and an internet site presents a variety of training programmes that are applicable to visitors. It has trained thousands of practitioners both locals and overseas visitors who want to pursue a life’s interest or begin a new career.

Wat Pho represents all that is authentic about Thai traditional massage; its simplicity and charm as well as ensuring centuries of learning can be passed on to a new generation.

Thai traditional massage is very simple in that the recipients remain clothed and no oils are applied in the technique. The massage is also performed on the ground or floor with the practitioners using their hands, elbows, knees, and feet.

Thanks to its simplicity we can all gently dip a toe into wellness without fear it will break the bank.

Of course there are many sophisticated elements in Thailand’s vast range of wellness tourism products. They come in all shapes and sizes from luxurious spas with exotic treatments that change by the season.

There are resorts that offer detox programmes, fasting, herbal medicine courses to purify and improve physical health.

But none quite deliver the history, traditions and know-how of a Wat Pho massage, or the opportunity to go to the next level and become a student of Thai traditional massage.

It will take you through the techniques of traditional Thai massage, known as nuat phaen boran, while looking at herbs and massage techniques that when combined create holistic treatments for the body and mind.

Wat Pho’s massage school and homeopathic programme is based on the school of thought that there are 10 energy lines radiating from the abdomen. This is where it differs from the massage traditions taught in North Thailand that focus on extremities.

Wat Pho’s school has offered a variety of programmes since 1955. There are now four broad areas of study presented on its website that offers training in traditional pharmacy, medical practice, midwifery and the Thai massage.

Courses covering massage techniques taught at the Wat Pho Thai Traditional Medical School vary from a five-week course covering 200 hours of study to shorter versions of 32 and 82 hours serving the requirements of professional and amateur massage. Actual courses can cost as much as Bt42,000 and that does not include the hostel costs at the Salaya campus known as Chetawan Health School.

It takes a genuine commitment to enrol, but there is no shortage of students prepared to embark on the lengthy course to gain professional accreditation.

That doesn’t leave the rest of us out of the loop. Wat Pho practitioners are to be found at most reputable spas or we can enjoy the authentic experience in the serene atmosphere of temple cloisters. While lacking the trappings of luxury, a Wat Pho massage more than makes up for it in authenticity and an environment of spiritual calm.   

Elaborating on wellness, Wat Pho style, an enthusiast wrote on the website this succinct shower of praise.

“Since 1955 it has been Thai massage Thai style. Forget the luxury, line up, next time dress in Thai pants and a top and get a real massage, partly painful, partly blissful, prodding, poking and stretching. Hooked?”  

Medical tourism’s magic formula

Travellers discover that taking time out for a medical while on holiday in Thailand pays off.

Terri Roamer

If you are looking for Thailand’s most resilient tourists the chances are they are enjoying a coffee, or a green tea, in a hospital reception lounge.

This is not the usual hospital waiting room by any means. The department’s brass plate will probably identify the plush five-star environment as a wellness or life and health centre.

Inside, the scent of jasmine, or some other soothing fragrance, is more likely to catch your attention than the customary antiseptic odour associated with hospitals.  Background music helps to enhance the calming atmosphere replacing the harsh announcements that order you queue for your medicine or wait for a number.

Welcome to the world of Thailand’s highly successful medical tourism business. In less than 10 years, medical visits have reached an annual 1.8 million and are rising by an impressive 10% a year. It has turned Thailand into a remarkably successful centre for a variety of medical treatments and heath checks.

Medical tourists travel year round and often take their families in tow for support. They recuperate after treatments by booking post-medical holidays and they apparently are unshaken by economic downturns, or political upheavals that worry the rest of us.

Many of them are in perfect health. They subscribe to preventative medicine, the annual check-up, or they want to improve their lifestyle through wellness programmes that will tweak diet or introduce exercises and spa treatments into their daily life.

They visit Thailand’s hospitals for annual check-ups, dental and corrective eye surgery as well as skin care. They may attend a hospital’s “life centre” to improve their diet, lose weight, or tone up their physique under the watchful eye of experts.

Even as other tourism segments faced challenges from global recession, or perceived security worries in Thailand, since 2008 medical tourism flourished, expanding to the point it now contributes revenue exceeding Bt150 billion annually for the country’s economy.

Not a bad performance for a sector that was largely unknown a decade ago. Today, medical tourism and the associated spa industry are probably the fastest growing segments in Thailand’s varied tourism business.

Let’s face it, medical tourism is surrounded by contradictory emotions. The last place most of us want to be on holiday is in a hospital.  But even that traditional argument weakens when hospitals create a relaxing, plush environment that has us all wondering whatever happened to the glaring white walls and drab green floor tiles?

Medical tourism brochures tell us how we can combine health care and travel. It might include a comprehensive annual check-up followed by a holiday in a luxury resort on one of Thailand’s white sandy beaches, well below the cost of just a health check back home.

Those who are heading for more serious corrective medicine can save 20 to 50% off the procedure costs by checking in one of Thailand’s 30 international hospitals, mostly located near major tourist destinations.

The savings are substantial. The bill for dental and eye care drops by 70%. Cardiac procedures such as heart by-pass surgery (US$130,000 in a US hospital) are a good 50 to 70% cheaper in Thailand (US$15,000 for a by-pass).

For ex-rugby or football players, a knee replacement procedure in the US costs US44,000, compared to US$10,000 in Thailand. Margin enough to combine the treatment with a week-long recuperation at the beach and still come out of it financially smiling.

Thailand’s medical tourism boom started with this tangible cost incentive, but it also embraces other advantages such as the gracious service of nursing staff on par to what guests enjoy in five-star hotels.

Treatments are executed without delay for both day patients and those admitted. Wait-lists are rare for most treatments and queues are short, a fact that always amazes medical tourists from the UK.

Bangkok’s top hospitals have centres for international visitors with language specific staff to assist in explaining the diagnosis and treatment.

Most international hospitals have specialised diagnostic and treatment centres such as heart, skin, oncology, orthopaedic and paediatric. Beyond the main stream international hospitals, there are specialised, smaller hospitals that concentrate on dermatology, eye care, gender realignment and plastic surgery.

At the top of the medical tourism tree are 15 international hospitals that have been accredited by the US-based Joint Commission International. Founded in the 1950s to raise the standard of US hospitals and healthcare services, it accredited 15,000 institutions before expanding into international accreditation in the 1990s. Worldwide there are now 140 hospitals that have met its stringent conditions.

JCI accredited hospitals are located in Bangkok, Nonthaburi province (adjacent to the Thai capital), Phuket, Pattaya and Chiang Mai. These international hospitals are the backbone of Thailand’s medical tourism and have successfully outpaced competition to gain an enviable lead in what is a very competitive business.

Overall, there are 200 hospitals in Thailand that have gained accreditation with various agencies other than JCI. The JCI hospitals are listed on the commission website with links to the individual hospital’s websites.

Thailand’s medical tourism success is based on three distinct advantages – cost incentives, high quality service and the support of sophisticated tourism industry offering an attractive recuperation options in destinations across the country.

Destinations that can support medical tourism with full travel services, air services, sophisticated shopping and a variety of accommodation options are Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Samui and Chiang Mai.

Apart from quality hotels located close to international hospitals these destinations offer self-catering apartments rented, on short one-week options,  or long-stay for a month or more at rates starting at Bt10,000 a week to Bt30,000 for a month. Usually, they are located within walking distances of international hospitals.

There are also clusters of boutique hotel specifically catering to medical tourists, while there are five-star hotels that offer promotional rates for medical tourists usually in the off peak months June to September.

These features have been successfully positioned as the country’s “health travel brand” giving Thailand a strong competitive edge to claim the accolade Asia’s leading medical tourism destination.

One of Thailand’s leading international hospitals calls medical tourists the “intentional travellers.”

They are not popping into a hospital as accidental visitors with an emergency on their plate. They plan their medical visits well in advance, check their insurance cover and tag on a holiday experience as a bonus.

But the fact is you could pop by unannounced if that was your inclination. The system works equally well for travellers who are already visiting the country. Perhaps on the spur of the moment they decide they have the time and cash to sign up for a bargain physical check-up, or to get their enamel tapped and prodded in a dental chair.

We hear it all the time: “Savings on dental work paid for this trip; unbelievable.” Or they tap a new pair of classy bifocals: “Got the eyes checked for a fraction of the cost back home. My holiday is a bonus.

There are also plenty of examples that show how speed and timely treatment is worth its weight in gold.

In the UK a resident notices a wonky mole; sensitive, itchy and changing colour. What will all the alarm bells on the dangers of tanning they worry it could be cancer. They make a doctor’s appointment and wait a month.  Their GP (general practitioner) refers them to a skin specialist at a nearby hospital. They wait another six months for an appointment.

Eventually, diagnosed with a common skin cancer the patient joins a queue for a minor operation that is ultimately scheduled eight months after the initial doctor’s appointment.

As this drama unfolds, a close friend is on a long-stay holiday in Thailand. Coincidentally, they too are worried about a suspect mole and they pop by the skin centre of one Bangkok’s top international hospitals.

It’s 0900 on a Tuesday, and not much to do other than go shopping in the rain. By 1000, the English speaking doctor examines the mole runs some tests and gives him the news that he has the identical cancer that afflicted his mate back in the UK.

The difference is that the long-stay tourist in Bangkok is all smiles on Wednesday of the same week after undergoing a successful minor operation. Three weeks later he returns to the UK and asks his mate if the appointment with the skin specialist has arrived in the mail. It hasn’t.

“You lucky so and so,” his mate declares when he hears that an unintentional medical traveller was treated speedily in Thailand and sent on his way to continue his holiday all within 48 hours.

“Done and dust in two days, and cost next to nothing; great service friendly nurses, what more can you ask. It’s magic,”   the happy traveller exclaims.

What more can you say, except to do the sums and work it out that if you have insurance cover, visiting a hospital while on holiday in Thailand is not such a bad gig after all.  

Loy Krathong heralds recovery

This year’s Loy Krathong has special significance for residents as it heralds a fresh start after months of battling floods.

Terri Roamer

Monsoon rains are over, the cool season beckons and millions of Thais across the nation celebrate the Loy Krathong Festival.

This year there is a difference. Thais from every walk of life are facing unprecedented flooding that threatens the economy across the vast central plains and even touches the capital, the commercial lifeline to a global economy.

On the full-moon night of the 12th lunar month, families and families gather on the banks of rivers and lakes to float miniature rafts crafted from banana tree trunks and leaves crafted in the shape of a lotus flower.

Decked out with candles, flowers and joss sticks, the delicate vessels are floated on the river currents or blown by the wind across still ponds.

This year, the 10 November festival has special meaning for Thai citizens. They are praying for a rebirth and the forgiveness of the water goddess for sins of omission and commission.

As they launch, these decorative, lotus shaped boats they will ponder over a devastating a flood unseen in the Land of Smiles for over 70 years.

Their thoughts will turn to the relatives and friends scattered throughout the country who sought refuge from the floods. Their prayers will be for a better future and a chance to rebuild their homes

They will touch the deeper significance of this festival. It conveys the hope that a simple gesture of floating a tiny raft guided by wind and water currents will cast aside past sins and herald a new beginning.

Celebrations in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces have been curtailed, or cancelled, as residents deal with a deep sadness, hidden behind smiles and a brave resolve that has been evident through the three-month crisis.

Out of respect for residents who are suffering the Tourism Authority of Thailand cancelled most of its Bangkok events related to the festival.

But there is always a silver lining to the worst tragedies and this is now evident in Ayutthaya, 70 km north of the capital, where the Loy Krathong festival literally opens the door to recovery and restoration.

For the residents of Ayutthaya the sight of hundreds of relief workers and supporters standing side-by-side to float Kratongs and mount a clean-up campaign indicates just one substantial heartening fact.

The water goddess has smiled and months of suffering will end soon.

Just a day ahead of the celebration the first tour group returned to the world heritage town to visit the historical temple sites. It was first credible indicator that better times are ahead for this former royal capital famed for its fabled temples and palace ruins. Protected and recognised as UNESCO World Heritage sites, teams from the Fine Arts Department will move in to begin restoration estimated to cost over Bt100 million.

With the arrival of the full moon night,10 November, town folk could mark the beginning of this massive clean-up that will continue for months to come to restore temples and historical ruins.

Tagged “We care for Ayutthaya” around 300 rolled up their sleeves to get the clean-up campaign rolling in earnest.

They face a monumental task over the next 12 months as over 500 temples will need to be restored as well as access roads. After seeing these priceless heritage sites inundated by metre deep water residents and relief workers are now committed to restoring their historical town brick-by-brick.

Loy Krathong has its roots in legend and references to another ancient royal capital, Sukhothai, 400 km north of Bangkok.

According to legend the festival was first celebrated in the 14^th century by members of the royal family resident in Sukhothai  as a gesture of worship to the water goddess, Phra Mae Khongkha .

They floated the decorative banana leaf boats to ask forgiveness for polluting life-sustaining rivers.

This act of floating the candle raft was symbolic of letting go of all grudges, anger and defilements, to allow for a fresh start to the new lunar year.

Today, Sukhothai remains one of the most popular venue to celebrate the festival against the backdrop of ancient temple ruins in the town’s World Heritage park.

 Sukhothai is a rewarding destination to visit anytime of the year, but shines with a romantic almost mystical ambience on special occasions such as Loy Krathong.

The town is close to two airports; the privately run airport of Bangkok Airways and the provincial airport in Phitsanulok.

There are two flights daily to Sukhothai’s airport and the visit can be combined with an interesting agro-tour at a site right next to the airport. Here, local residents show you how to plant rice, look after farm animals and tend to orchards. It is a valuable learning experience for visitors who want to understand rural life close-up as well as study Sukhothai’s heritage.

Venues to celebrate the festival.

Sukhothai Loy Krathong & Candle Festival 2011 Sukhothai province 8 to 10 November in Muang district;

Loy Krathong Sai Festival and Krathong Sai for the Kings Cup Contest 2011 will be held in Tak province 9 to 12 November;

Loy Krathong festival Mae Klong in Samut Songkram province,10 November at King Rama 2 Royal Garden, Amphawa district;

Lantern Festival, Colourful of Southern Cities in Songkhla province from 1 November to 28 February at Park of Hat Yai, Hat Yai district;

Yee Peng Festival Chiang Mai province, 8 to 11 November in Chang Klan Road, Chiang Mai Night Bazar and Muang district.

This is the northern version that has its origins in ancient Lanna heritage. One of its distinct features is the candle lanterns that rise in the sky on hot air trapped within the rice paper lantern. Thousands of them are launched during the full moon night.

Next year’s Loy Krathong Festival will be celebrated much later in the month, 28 November, 2012. Colour it in the diary now and plan details of a heritage tour that will take in world heritage towns with a memorable finale in Sukhothai to celebrate Loy Krathong on the full-moon night.

Winter in Thailand

Winter is just around the corner

Terri Roamer

What can you say about winter other than it is far away from Thailand’s shores. But is it?

One of the country’s tourism themes is an invitation to world roamers to sidle up to Thailand’s front door and ask if winter is playing this week.

It doesn’t take long to suss out the country’s weather patterns a media colleague once told me shortly after I landed in a sweltering, humid Bangkok for the first time. 

Initially I thought someone was steam ironing my shirt, on the go, as I walked to the airport’s taxi ranks.

“Is it like this all the time,” I asked.

“There are three seasons here; hot, very hot and scorching,” my gracious host explained over a cold beer a few hours later in an equally chilled hotel lobby. He was pretty close, too, but after decades of acclimatising to life in the Thai capital I concede there could be a case for arguing a winter of sorts exists after all.

It’s all very relative mind you. An office worker in Alaska would call winter in Thailand a heat wave. But as the years of residence pile up that seasonal slide of the mercury slither encased in my wall thermometer prompts a search party for a light winter jacket.

Speed is the essence to grasp a Thailand winter and wring out a great holiday experience. Bets are off on predicting how long the cold snap will last, so having your plans in place in October is vital.

An eye on the weather vane helps to judge the moment. There are usually a few tell-tale signs that winter is just around the corner. One is the change in direction of the prevailing wind that by late October swings from the southwest to settle into a steady refreshingly cool breeze from the Northeast.

It’s this seasonal wind that carries the cool air off China’s vast chilly plains. It brings with it cloudless blue skies, misty mornings and even a slight relief from the usual soaring midday temperatures.

As long as that the Northeast wind prevails, the morning temperatures even in sultry Bangkok will drop to 15 to 18 degree centigrade with a substantial decline in humidity to boot. The record for Bangkok residents is around 10 degrees on a very chilly morning that had us all shivering on our doorsteps wondering if this was global warming in reverse.

Based on past form, the cold snap should bear down on North Thailand slipping south to Bangkok by November. Then it is up to nature whether we are still donning our fashionable winter togs come December.

There is only one direction to take to appreciate Thailand’s soft and gentle version of winter.  North Thailand is the spot, a region that attracts less than 20% of all the visitors to the country. That should be enough to gain the attention of spirited roamers who seek new travel experiences.

Close to the northern borders with neighbouring Laos or Myanmar there are national parks spanning mountain ranges that rise to around 1,800 2,200 metres, their peaks covered in morning mist and cloud cover.  At camps sites at around 600 to 800 metres high you will find a light frost lingering on the leaves of trees and the grass around your tent.

In these hilly regions of North Thailand temperatures drop to single digits, just a notch or two from freezing and rising to 12 to 15 degrees as the day wears on towards noon. Evenings cool off quickly, making it an enjoyable experience to dine at al fresco on the terrace of a road side restaurant, or at a national park camp site.

Ask any office worker in Bangkok what winter means and they talk about a trip to the far north village of Pai in Mae Hong Son province where they can wander through quaint streets, lined with timber shop houses, in their North Face jackets edged by a designer scarves and topped off by equally bizarre fur-lined hats. Calf-high boots complete the pose. It’s a fashion statement, a chance to wear stuff that sits in the closet for 51 weeks of the year.

During the chilly months of December and January, Pai’s boutique hotels and quirky guest houses are packed with visitors. Evening entertainment focuses on the walking street that at dusk transforms into a wonderland of trinkets and a thousand ways to rhyme Pai on T-shirts and souvenirs. It’s the ultimate tinsel town, but it’s fun, Thai style. The trick is to blend in and go with the flow to enjoy a Pai in the sky experience.

Pai has its critics who say it is overdone, crowded and divorced from the real world of far north Thailand living. They are right, but it can also be charming and the fun young Thai travellers are having rubs off on the rest of us. It has a quality to fascinate and that makes lolling around a coffee shop with an Espresso and a chocolate brownie watching life go by very entertaining.

Pai town is set next to the fast flowing Pai river, the longest river in Mae Hong Son province that has its source in the Huay Nam Dang national park to the north of the village.  The river flows through Pai’s emerald green valley a patchwork of market gardening and paddy, surrounded by mountains some of them over 2,000 metres high.

Apart from the nightly winter fashion parade, Pai is good spot to go trekking or test your skills at white water rafting. You can explore waterfalls and hot springs and there riverside camp sites where you pitch your own or rent a tent for a couple of nights.

The 134 km trip from Chiang Mai takes about six hours by mini buses that ply the mountain road, 1095, through switch-back bends over forested ridges affording spectacular views of fast flowing rivers far below. Pai stands just 2 km off the highway, 111 km short of the province’s main town of Mae Hong Son.

The tiny village is also the proud of owner of an airport with a brand new terminal to welcome visitors who take the short 20-minute hop from Chiang Mai on a tiny commuter aircraft that operates under Nok Mini colours. There are three flights daily in the high season, but as long as the runway remains 700 metres long only a 12-seat aircraft can land safely.

Pai is a perfect fit for motor cycle enthusiasts who will love the challenging mountain route to test riding skills. During the winter season motor cycle clubs organise tours around Mae Hong Son province with a stop in Pai.

One option is to bike from Chiang Mai on a grand circular route that covers both Pai and Mae Hong Son returning via Khun Yuam on highway 108. At the village’s single junction there is a small resort overlooking a teak forest, where the tour turns off to follow the back road 1263 that eventually winds its way to Thailand’s highest mountain Doi Inthanon at 2565 metres.  There are alpine trees and wild flowers associated with a temperate climate growing on these steep mountain slopes.  Doi Inthanon has camp sites and chalet-style accommodation at a remarkable royal project that pioneers the cultivation of fruits and flowers that prosper in cool climates.

From here the circular tour of winter villages comes to a close in Chiang Mai entering the town via highway 108

Another of my favourites is Nan a provincial town that nestles in a valley surrounded by mountains close to the far northeast border with Laos and just the spot to enjoy a winter chill. It’s as remote as it gets for a Thailand destination. Sure it has a daily bus service and even daily flights from Bangkok’s on a partner airline of Nok Air.

But surrounded entirely by mountains, the Nan valley is a cul-de-sac unless you fancy a rough and ready four-wheel drive through the back door checkpoint to Laos and Luang Prabang.

If you are determined to chill out and pace yourself, Nan is just the ticket. The town stands on the picturesque Nan River, the scene of spectacular traditional boat races at the close of the Buddhist lent in October.

Nan surprised me with is exquisite temples all in walking distance in the town’s centre. You can spend hours photographing the various architectural details including older chapels and a temple library built from teak.

It’s easy to relax and sip a coffee and soak up the town’s atmosphere while you plan a motor cycle trip to Nan’s fascinating weaving villages or Si Nan National Park where you can camp on the edge of a ridge at 1,400 metres and experience a morning sea mist. It is quite eerie to wake up and peep out of your tent to see a vast valley covered in mist with just the blue peaks peeping through.

There is even a frost on the camp site grass and you will need your winter woollies for the first few hours of the day and evening.

It was the one time that I really loved camping in Thailand. The tent site commanded the best views I have seen in the land. It was a prime site, envy of those who booked the bungalows, close to the park’s single restaurant and very secure in earshot of the park’s headquarters.

Tents can be rented for a Bt300 a night. But this is one time when you can unroll your own lightweight tent, park your motor bike and enjoy a perfect camp site on the edge of the mist. That’s what winter is all about in Thailand. Capturing the moment to shiver, perhaps skipping a cold shower and sleeping under the stars to wake up to a sea of mist covering peaks all the way to Laos.