Koh Samui takes a battering, readies for Songkran
Mother Nature has really dealt Asia a tough hand these past few months/years. Unseasonal flooding has killed at least 45 people in Thailand's southern provinces.
Damaged roads left thousands of residents cut off from rescue teams for almost a week. Some airports have been closed and in the worst affected provinces of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani, hospitals had to be evacuated when floodwaters swept through wards. (trust.org)
Also worrying is the damage that the tourism industry has taken in places like Koh Samui, where infrastructure damage has reportedly topped 1 billion baht, according to the Bangkok Post.
Tourism in 11 southern Thai provinces has been severely hit by recent heavy floods with damage to infrastructure on Koh Samui alone estimated at more than one billion baht, said the Tourism Association of Koh Samui.
Samui was hardest-hit by storms and flooding but a lot of the damaged infrastructure is expected to be repaired and be ready for tourists before the Songkran festival. (Bangkok Post)
It couldn't have come at a worse time, with most of the Samui hotels gearing up for the infamous Songkran Festival. I actually spent Songkran on Samui once year and had a blast. Assurances have been made by local authorities that Samui is indeed back on its feet and ready and willing to welcome the throngs of tourists who had planned to flock to the island for the holiday season.
Bannasat Ruangjan, the association's president, said hotel room reservations for the upcoming Songkran Festival were now about 50% of all available rooms, down from 70% before the floods covered the southern island.
We just want to tell them that Samui is safe for travel right now," he said. "Although we hoteliers have faced many negative factors, we have to encourage ourselves and business must go on." (Bangkok Post)
This year's Songkran festival is April 13-15. The best place to experience the sheer madness of it all is Chiang Mai, although any of the islands, Phuket especially if you can get hold of a pickup trip, make for decent alternatives. Travelfish has a great post up about tips for Songkran. The one tip I would give people for the festival is to be extra, super careful on motorbikes, because so many people will be drunk-driving and folks have a tendency to hurl buckets of water at motorbike riders as they pass by. Hopefully the road-death toll will be kept down this year, but it's usually the same old story. Stay safe!
