Trips Outside Bangkok 2 - Surin Elephant Festival

[davejones]

Following on from my previous thread (http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/576733-trips-outside-bangkok-the-river-kwai/), I thought I'd do a write-up of a trip I took last November to the Surin Elephant Festival, as some on here might fancy going this year.

To get to Surin we took the 5.45am train from Hua Longphong train station, and arrived in Surin just after noon. Cost if 389 baht for 2nd class aircon carriage, although sleeper trains and 3rd class trains are also available. The aircon was on super cool and I was about the only person in the carriage with just a t-shirt. Everyone else had jumpers and jackets, as they obviously knew how cold it was going to be. Cold doesn't usually bother me but I was shivering for parts of the journey and had to get up and spend some time in the warm area outside the carriage. It really was that cold.

The elephant festival lasted 2-3 hours and was very entertaining. The elephants played football, painted, danced, etc and all the elephants (around 200) got together for a grand finale. I didn't have a camcorder at the time but managed to record this one short clip on my camera...

This year's festival takes place on Saturday 17th November. The night before there is usually an elephant feeding that you can watch. You can buy tickets from local hotels and even book them in advance at the hotel and pick them up when you get there. We stayed at the Majestic Hotel, which is near the bus station, but you need to book ahead, as the hotel will be full during the festival. Cost for a room is usually 900 baht, although it may be a little extra during the festival. It's 3* are handy location. They have free wifi as well. And a swimming pool.

Next I'm planning to go to Chiang Mai and Pattaya. Any pattaya tips from the regular TV posters? Going with gf, so no bargirl suggestions needed.

[SantiSuk]

Suggestion: Add the Ubon candle festival to your itinerary. Full moon in July, so it often happens during the week. Hotels get booked out, so reserve well in advance, or stay in Sisaket and get the train.

[davejones]

Suggestion: Add the Ubon candle festival to your itinerary. Full moon in July, so it often happens during the week. Hotels get booked out, so reserve well in advance, or stay in Sisaket and get the train.

I'll add that to my list, but just missed it, so another 11 months to wait. I have plenty of time though. LOL.