Thailand

A New Year trip that began in a country in mourning

Thailand was an easy choice for a New Year trip from Dubai. For an Indian traveller, the visa-on-arrival process made the country particularly convenient, and that simplicity was part of the reason Pragati and I chose it.

We left Dubai on the night of 29 December 2016, taking the midnight flight to Bangkok. The flight was listed as 30 December, and that small detail became one of those travel-date quirks that is worth remembering. We had left one year behind and were heading towards a New Year in Thailand.

What we did not expect was that the country would be experiencing a very different kind of moment.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej had died in October 2016, aged 88. Thailand was still in a period of mourning when we arrived. The country had announced that New Year celebrations would be muted, and that changed the atmosphere of what we had imagined would be a festive trip.

Bangkok before the New Year

Our first few days were spent in Bangkok. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Bangkok, and began with some of the places we had come to see: Wat Arun, the Grand Palace and Wat Phra.

Bangkok had the energy I expected from a huge Asian city, but the mood around the New Year was different. On 31 December, after local sightseeing, we went towards CentralWorld, which was close enough to our hotel to walk to.

There were plenty of people around. It was clear that many wanted to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Yet the circumstances of the country meant that this was not going to be the kind of New Year’s Eve we had imagined.

There was no fireworks display and no countdown.

That absence became one of the strongest memories of the trip. We had travelled to Thailand specifically around New Year, expecting the excitement that normally comes with it. Instead, we found ourselves in a country still mourning its king. The contrast was striking: people were there, the desire to celebrate was there, but the celebration itself was deliberately subdued.

It was a reminder that travel is not simply about arriving at a destination with your own plans. You arrive in the middle of somebody else’s history too.

Floating through Bangkok

New Year’s Day gave us a completely different experience. We visited Wat Saphan Floating Market and Khlong Lad Mayom Floating Market, using Grab to get there.

The markets offered a different side of Bangkok from the monumental sights of the previous days. Instead of temples and grand buildings, the experience was much more connected to the city’s waterways and everyday life.

We also took a speed boat ride in the Bang Phrom River. Water became an unexpected theme of our Bangkok days. Later in the trip, we would spend even more time travelling by boat on the Chao Phraya River.

I remember these experiences not as a checklist of attractions, but as a way of seeing Bangkok differently. The city could be explored from roads, markets and temples, but the waterways gave it another character altogether.

Bangkok to Pattaya

On 3 January, we left Bangkok for Pattaya by bus from Bangkok Bus Terminal (Eastern). Pattaya was the second part of the trip, and we checked into the Courtyard by Marriott Pattaya.

There was local sightseeing and, naturally, water sports.

The most memorable episode was parasailing. Pragati could not do it, but we had already bought two tickets. Rather than let the second ticket go unused, I did something that still makes me smile: I went parasailing twice.

Sometimes travel produces memories because something went exactly as planned. Sometimes it produces them because the plan did not work for everyone and you improvise. This was definitely the second kind.

We also took a boat to Ko Lan and spent time on the beach. The island is a popular vacation destination, known for its beaches and natural surroundings. For us, it was simply another change of pace after the intensity of Bangkok.

Back to Bangkok

After Pattaya, we returned to Bangkok by bus and checked into the Novotel Bangkok Fenix Silom for the final part of the trip.

The last days were less about major sightseeing and more about experiencing the city at our own pace. We went shopping, spent time in Chinatown and visited the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, also known as Wat Khaek.

The temple was another interesting connection to the Indian presence in Thailand. We also ate at Saravana Bhavan in Bangkok, which gave us a familiar taste of home in the middle of an international trip.

And there was more time on the water. We took many speedboat rides on the Chao Phraya River, making the river one of the recurring experiences of our Bangkok stay.

Looking back

Thailand gave us many of the things we had expected from a holiday: Bangkok, beaches, water sports, markets, boats, shopping and a change of scene. But the memory that has stayed with me most strongly is something we could not have planned.

We had gone to Thailand for New Year because it was an easy destination for us to enter and seemed like a good place to welcome another year. Instead, we arrived only a couple of months after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and experienced a country in mourning.

Standing near CentralWorld on New Year’s Eve, surrounded by people who clearly wanted to celebrate but without the fireworks and countdown we had expected, was strangely memorable. It was not the New Year celebration we had travelled for, but it became the defining moment of the trip.

That is one of the things I have come to appreciate about travel. You can choose the country, the dates, the hotel and the flights. You cannot choose the historical moment into which you arrive.

Thailand was our New Year trip. But instead of remembering it for a spectacular countdown, I remember it for the silence that replaced one.