Never done this... How’s the atmosphere in BKK?

Hmm... just like any other day? I didn't notice any perceptible differences for either Xmas or New Year's, other than some token ornaments.

Wierdest thing was visiting Bang Pa In (sp?) summer palace with Xmas music being piped through the sound system.

The Thais love to have fun (สนุก sanuk) and they DO celebrate New Year's Eve when we do. (Along with the their tradtional new year celebration in April สงกรานต์ Songkran and Chinese New Year too! They officially adopted Jan 1 as New Year's Day in 1940.) There's a big, splashy celebration like New York's Times Square around Central World Plaza in Bangkok. Here are some pictures (http://2bangkok.com/news05zf.shtml). That's where people will be gathering this year to celebrate the arrival of the year 2550. :D

Never done this... How’s the atmosphere in BKK? The atmosphere will be warm and balmy, but people here do not go crazy for New Year's Eve.
The Thai/Buddhist new year is celebrated at a different time of year and in different ways.
(Their new year is in mid-April, and is celebrated with water fights in the streets of BKK, for three days ... really.)

On New Year's Eve in BKK, there will be huge crowds in the streets in the Chitlom shopping district.
Nothing really special, just tons of people milling around.
Crowds of Thai people are remarkably polite and well-behaved.
There will be crowds in the nightlife areas of Patpong, Nana, Cowboy and others.
There will certainly be crowds in the young-and-hip foreigner bars, but I am no longer either so no details on that from me.

The main warning for visitors to BKK over the Christmas-New Year holiday is the possible surcharge on your hotel bill for compulsory gala dinner.
Many medium to large hotels -- but not all -- arrange a banquet meal on those days.
Maybe/maybe not something you would choose for yourself, if you had the choice.
But you have no choice if staying in that hotel on that night.
The cost of the dinner -- usually 1-3,000 baht -- will be added to your room bill.

You do have the choice of eating it, or not.

If you have specific questions you are welcome to send me email or private message.

- Peter

This thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=617966), started less than a month ago and active less than three weeks ago, raised pretty much the same issue. You'll find a good discussion there.

Hmm... just like any other day? I didn't notice any perceptible differences for either Xmas or New Year's, other than some token ornaments.

Where were you? There are fireworks all over the city at midnight! Large crowds gather for countdown to New Year's at Central World Plaza, a large party mainly for Thais is held at the National Stadium, the Riverside hotel district is overflowing (good luck getting across Saphan Taksin after 6:00pm), and the nightlife areas are packed to the gills. On New Year's Day itself, temples and other culture sites are packed, not just with tourists but also with throngs of Thais making merits-- visiting some large number (7, or 9, or 12, or 15, I can't remember) of significant temples on New Year's is considered a Buddhist merit and will bring good things in the coming year. Just try getting into that many in a day.

New Year's is the ultra-super-maxi peak of Bangkok's peak tourist season. Be aware that many hotels have minimum-stay periods for the time including New Year's.

Where were you? There are fireworks all over the city at midnight! Large crowds gather for countdown to New Year's at Central World Plaza, a large party mainly for Thais is held at the National Stadium, the Riverside hotel district is overflowing (good luck getting across Saphan Taksin after 6:00pm), and the nightlife areas are packed to the gills. On New Year's Day itself, temples and other culture sites are packed, not just with tourists but also with throngs of Thais making merits-- visiting some large number (7, or 9, or 12, or 15, I can't remember) of significant temples on New Year's is considered a Buddhist merit and will bring good things in the coming year. Just try getting into that many in a day.

New Year's is the ultra-super-maxi peak of Bangkok's peak tourist season. Be aware that many hotels have minimum-stay periods for the time including New Year's.

I did notice a lot more people about. However, I tended to stay away from large gatherings of people at midnight. But, the sheer number of decorations and festivities was a little disappointing. Seriously, though, I was expecting something like Chinese New Year in HKG.