seks

We will be in Chiang Mai during the week of Songkran. Overnight sleeper train from Bangkok and Airbnb in CM already booked.

From what I see in youtube vids, I guess we should bring super soakers and goggles? Will we get soaked too when we are minding our own business eating street food?

transpac

Yes, and Yes.

You can buy water canons here.

Should be a wild 7-day weekend.

Plato90s

Buy super soakers locally if you want to join. If you're out in public in tourist sites, participation will be involuntary.

Bring good quality goggles of your own - options are more limited locally and tend to be overpriced for lesser quality.

If you have dry-bags already, that's a good idea so you can have a dry towel on hand. If not, gallon freezer bag is good.

EmailKid

There's a reason expats living in Thailand leave the country for this period @:-)

timster

I have done SK in CM. Yes it was wildly wet. I mean they have a canal running down the main strip - CM is just made for water fights !! We had a car so we could at least crawl along the main streets and watch the 'fun' without getting wet.

The best bet as in other parts of Thailand during SK is to be in a big resort style hotel, or a big apartment complex (with your typical mini mart and restaurant on site), or somewhere like the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew Hotel where we stayed. Not quite up to the 4 star standard it claims. But it has the advantage of being attached to a mid-size shopping complex, which means you can be self-sufficient without leaving the place for 3 days. You can sit in the Black Canyon coffee shop and watch the mayhem outside.

But the better bet is to stay / get of the country altogether during SK.

goodeats21

Seems to me the OP is excited for Songkran, not trying to escape.

I haven't experienced it in CM, but as a rule, you are liable to get soaked about any time. But if you are sitting at a restaurant eating, you will be mostly left alone. Would still probably be at risk of collateral damage, depending on how close to the street you are.

It is a lot of fun, and quite a unique experience. Have a blast!

Diplomatico

If you go outside, you will get wet. Unfortunately, participation is not voluntary and I suggest you put your wallet and cell phone in sealed plastic sandwich bags if you are going out of your hotel during daylight hours.

As someone else mentioned, Chiang Mai has a moat that rings the Old City section; many people fill their super soakers with moat water, which is far from bacteria-free and has been known to cause eye infections so the goggles are a must down in that area.

Like many others who live here, I'll be finding a nice hotel room in either Vietnam or Malaysia that week. @:-)

timster

You could be right. Perhaps I'm biased but when I first read it I interpreted it as 'oops what have we done ... we didn't check the dates and now we've got an Airbnb that we can't unbook so how do we make the best of it without getting wet'.

In hindsight I probably read too much into it ! But that's the only way I would come to be in CM in an Airbnb during SK.

But if it's an Airbnb in a big apartment complex with facilities, so you don't have to go out much, it might be OK. Having said that, Thailand is cracking down on Airbnb, particularly in apartment buildings.

RoamingGeek

I am actually going to go back there specifically to experience songkran. I find it encouraging that it water fights are so prevalent that people flee the country. Then again some of my fondest memories of my childhood were the block wide water fights we had.

seks

Why is that?

In additional to CM, we are booked for Airbnb in Hua Hin, and Bangkok.

transpac

I'm not sure what is meant by "Thailand is cracking down on AirBNB..." exactly but Thailand is the hub of crackdowns with nary a day going by without various authorities cracking down on something.

That said, I have seen news reports and posts on Thai social media that many condominium juristic persons (essentially a board of owners) have been very proactive in trying to ban temporary stays, perhaps for obvious reasons (security, noise, destruction). And some tax authorities are taking an interest in the income generated avoiding VAT and other forms of taxation.

Some companies also buy up condos on the secondary market and then offer them up for very short-term rentals. This upsets longer-term tenants.

If/when the "authorities" move against tourists - I haven't seen such a thing to date - or tenants start to employ muscle to hassle tourists, using AirBnB should be uneventful?

Massive growth in 2017 may end up drawing the attention of the "authorities"?

Thais spread their wings in travel, Airbnb finds

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business...ts-thai-growth

ft101

I'm not sure, but I also seem to recall there is some law against renting non-hotel rooms for less than "x" days. Owners may be using this as ammunition for their stance, even if it's never been enforced by the authorities in the past.

timster

Yes, that's what I was referring to. To a large extent condo committees (of owners) can set/enforce their own rules, including those against short-term stays, if they wish. But the hotel industry are also agitating for short term stays to be subject to the same hotel registration rules as hotels.
All in all, similar to the issues that 'disruptive technologies' like AirBNB have also experienced in other countries.
There have been reports of signs in English and Thai in condo blocks in tourist cities like Pattaya saying that short term stays are illegal and that they should be reported to condo management. I somewhat doubt this is widespread. Athough I can imagine Airbnb stayers pushing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour in Pattaya !
I have stayed in several Thai condo blocks with a company that owns multiple (but not all) apartments and advertises on Booking.com for example. There are Thai Airbnb operators who have similar setups, where they own more than one apartment. If one arrangement is acceptable and the other isn't, the distinction may be rather blurred. But maybe the former are following (more of ?) the rules.

Diplomatico

My condo association in CM will not rent for less than a 30 day period. According to the Juristic Manager it's a licensing thing with the authorities, i.e., nightly or weekly rentals require a hotel license.

Plato90s

Yeah, crackdowns are very randomly "effective".

I do, however, enjoy the rise of AirBnB in Thailand. When traveling as part of a large group, it's extremely nice to be able to book an entire residence. Even booking multiple adjacent hotel rooms isn't the same as being able to share a house. Phuket has a (rising) number of very nicely built locales that are already timeshares/split-ownership which are now coming on market as AirBnB. It means a group would be able to rent out the whole place, hire a couple of drivers (avoiding the local taxi mafia), pay for cook/maid service, and still end up saving substantial sums compared to a resort hotel.

I sympathize with people in condo/apartment buildings objecting to short-term renters coming in/out all throughout the month though. That really should be more closely regulated.