According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand Khon Kaen Office, Songkran is NOT for Farangs

Songkran, Thai New Year, is right around the corner and the Tourism Authority has had a mini-marketing blitz on Facebook.  And, today, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Khon Kaen Office, added some scans of brochures and photos of past Songkran celebrations.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Songkran Brochure I

The problem, once again with the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Khon Kaen, is that the scans are primarily in the Thai Language.  Of the 4 pages, there is one-half page in English with a listing of events, but no specific times.  Completely worthless unless one wants to sit where an event may happen to be all day getting soaking wet.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Songkran Brochure II

The details of the events are only in the Thai language and since they scanned and basically an image, one cannot copy and paste and use Google translator (as bad as it is) to get an idea of what is going on and when.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Songkran Brochure III

I asked both the main Tourism Authority of Thailand and also the Tourism Authority of Thailand Khon Kaen office what day and time did the Songkran Festival parade start and where was the starting location.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Songkran Brochure IV

Both informed me that is starting at Bueng Kaen Nakhon and ending on Sri Chan Road on 13 April.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand office in Khon Kaen added that it will start at 1000.  Neither told me exactly where the starting point is and Bueng Kaen Nakhon is a lake that has a circumference of 4 kilometers.  Thanks a lot!

Again, this shows that the Tourism Authority of Thailand really doesn’t want foreigners (Farangs) participating despite the fact that we spend millions and millions of Thai baht in Thailand during events like these.

One would think that up here in Isaan, the Tourism Authority of Thailand would also market to the local Farang Expats unless they are counting on the wives to fill them in with the details. Or, maybe they know that the expats usually lock their doors for two weeks and avoid the insanity and crazy driving and just read the daily death tolls.

Regardless, it would be nice to have the details of the events in English and what would really be nice would be to have some maps showing exactly where the events are to be located.

But, I guess that is too much work for the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Tags: bueng farangs isaan kaen nakhon khon kaen khonkaen new year songkran TAT Thai tourism authority of thailand