Hey all. Planning to travel to thailand March 16th (departing from Minneapolis) to April 4th. I was curious about the current issue with the Thanksin and what not, especially the big rally that is supposed to happen on March 14th. I have family that live there and it's funny that half of them say its not an issue, and the other half strongly urge that I don't travel at this time. My plan is to stay March 18-20 in Bangkok with my family there, and then travel up north to Chiang mai. Also, is Phu ket safe right now?

Any advice would be great!

You will be fine, even during the sonkrang riots of last year, you were perfectly safe as long as you were not actually at the riots.

So you don't think there will be any issues with the airport shutting down or anything like that?

No i don't think there will be any issues that involve tourists getting in or out of the country. IF there will be any problems it will stay contained to central bangkok (ratchadanoen, victory monument, sanam luang), the rest of bangkok and thailand will be perfectly safe.

Edited March 2, 201016 yr by eldar1

No i don't think there will be any issues that involve tourists getting in or out of the country. IF there will be any problems it will stay contained to central bangkok (ratchadanoen, victory monument, sanam luang), the rest of bangkok and thailand will be perfectly safe.

Do'nt worry you can get free riot insurance from the Thai govt.

Ur main concerns ought to be ur travel insurance. If ur home country advises not to travel and u do, ur insurance cover maybe void. 

If the airport is blocked it's likely ur insurance will claim civil unrest and ur not covered. I've read that Thailand has taken out insurtance cover usd$10k, but I have no details. 

Safety on the streets -- u'd have to be very unlucky to be injured by a bomb. The mob isn't going to attack foreigners but best avoid if u come accross them cos Thai often resort to home made firearms or bombs in these circumstances.  

wrt Chiang Mai -- air pollution from buring of fields.  Now I'm Maesalong, no problems. But u ought to be aware that CM and CR might have poor air quality necessitating a change in plans.   

^ No government is advising against travel to Thailand. Every government has a standing travel advisory, as they do about just about any country in the world. It says things like don't go to the deep South, and don't go walk around demonstrations. But don't take my word for it, go to the travel advisory site of your government and look it up.

Do be advised that it's the hot and (very) dry season especially in Central, Northern and North Eastern parts of the country. It will get REALLY hot, and indeed like the poster above says, the air quality in the North suffers during March. Very dry, hazy and not many good views. So the South is better (still very hot, but at least not dry and hazy)

Edited March 3, 201016 yr by WinnieTheKhwai

My flight will land in BKK March 17th at midnight. With the protest being on March 14th, Will i run into any issues? Would it still be safe to fly down or should I wait?

Thanks.

I am facing the same situation as you. I am travelling to Bangkok during march. Let's hope everything is peaceful and fine.

bump from anyone currently in thailand that could give a better idea of the "protest"?

bump

Don't they speak English in Minnesota any longer ???

At the moment everything is quiet and perfectly normal in Bangkok. You can bump as much as you want but I don’t think anybody will be able to tell what the situation will be on midnight on March 17.

The answer why you are getting hardly any replies is that us expats are rather tired of having to tell you newbie tourists hundreds and hundreds of times that any protest in Bangkok is perfectly safe for foreign tourists.

The only protest planned is for one on March 14 at a park in Bangkok. Nothing to do with any airport, Phuket, shopping centers etc... Not exactly much to worry about! Pack your bags and get to Bkk - you'll love it, nothing different

I thought it was the 12th!

Much ado about nothing.

The answer why you are getting hardly any replies is that us expats are rather tired of having to tell you newbie tourists hundreds and hundreds of times that any protest in Bangkok is perfectly safe for foreign tourists.

The only protest planned is for one on March 14 at a park in Bangkok. Nothing to do with any airport, Phuket, shopping centers etc... Not exactly much to worry about! Pack your bags and get to Bkk - you'll love it, nothing different

I suggest if they have so many questions they stay home, where mum can do their laundry.

I will be blocking the exit doors at the airport.

bump

I am holding a protest about the protest care to join.

"I thought it was the 12th!"

the 12th of never!

as someone who travels quite frequently between the US and Thailand, i can assure everyone who is concerned that you will NOT incur any difficulties and your vacation will go off without a hitch. and if it's any consolation, i arrive back home in Thailand on the night of the 16th. i'm not concerned one bit...

My 73yo mum is visiting from Aus. She's off to Chiang Mai for a week, then arriving back in Bkk (Hua Lamphong central station) on the 14th and then flying back to Aus about 2 weeks later.

I'm not at concerned about her safety. She may be inconvenienced a little with her tourist activities around Bkk, although we went to the Grand Palace (next to Sanam Luang where they plan to protest) and there were no problems yet. I wouldn't think about going there next weekend though.

Overall, I doubt that it is going to be dangerous here, or that they will close down the airport or other areas away from old Bangkok area, but no one really knows what will happen after the 14th ... or even up to the 14th.

Im arriving on the 18th and have given it ZERO thought suggest OP does the same.

No worries come on over

Come on over. However dont pack yr red t-shirt

The family and I are actually leaving Thailand on 9 March for 10 days; the dates were dictated by SAS's excellent Business Class airfares. Not sure if someone kicking over someone elses noodle stall in Sanam Luang on [insert D-Day date from those suggested by the government] will make the news where we are headed but see you all when we get back I guess.