EPIC 3 official SONGKRAN events in 3 days! BANGKOK Thailand - VLOGUMENTARY
[Music] Someone on YouTube yesterday said, "Ivy, you have a beautiful smile. Do not force the muscles to hide it. There it [Music] happened. Over the years, I've experienced many celebrations around the world, but nothing comes close to the atmosphere of the Thai New Year celebration, Sran. What makes Sran special is that
it's a 3-day water festival celebrated with a countrywide water fight. Now that might not sound like fun to a lot of people, but when you put the water with the humidity, the celebration with the Thai people and culture, it really becomes a magical, I'd say almost spiritual combination. This time, Ivy and I have returned to Sran on a much more exploratory note. So, join us in this
episode while we venture into the second and third days of our second Song. We were so tired. We're both tired. We're run down. Day two, we're tired. Ivy's just fallen asleep. We traveled 10,000 km over a 36-hour period to spend six nights in Bangkok. Three of which
were specifically focused on Sran. We'd thrown ourselves into an epic day one of Sran, but the reality was that we needed to rest. However, we had our plan. So, we need to get to Salad Dang, and that was to visit one official Sran event for each of the three days of Scran 2025. Today, we changed things up a
little bit, and we decided that we would visit the Big Sea at Central World, and probably take it easy there. So, today we're going to go to the Big Sea, which is the other place that I used to see on YouTube. But as is often the case with traveling, especially over the Sonrram period, you can't always be sure your plans will work. You need to just go with the flow and see where you end up. And that's exactly what we did on day two of our Songrown adventures. We always have this is we get a bit lost.
Day one had been beyond our expectations. Both Ivy and I agreed that we didn't think anything would live up to what we experienced in 2024. However, we were wrong. Already this songran was far better than we expected. But with us both being so exhausted, I had resigned myself to the fact that that was the peak. That day two and certainly day
three could not possibly live up to the standard that had already been set. I was wrong. In this episode, we visit Central World where we have to make a diversion and I take my daughter to Silon Road at nighttime and then we conclude our Sonran 2025 with a revisit to Cowsan Road during a thunderstorm which just made the people of the land of smiles smile even more. I am soaked again. We've not even had a motorbike.
[Applause] [Music] One of the key things to know about traveling around Bangkok is that you're traveling around a very busy city and everything takes time. So I booked us a hotel right in the center, one stop away from Siam station, which is the main station. The hotel was called the Quarter. The place was called
Ratatouille, and it was possibly one of my favorite locations that we've stayed at in Bangkok. I really like this place, Ratatouille, in as much as one, it was beautifully safe. two, we were down a very clean side street and then we were just on the main road at the main junction. We were two to three minute
walk to the BTS station. Everything that we needed was within about a 2 to 3 minute radius of where we were staying. So even though we were in the center of Bangkok, one stop away from the main station where you can get to pretty much anywhere from there. It's still extremely challenging
moving around, walking up the steps, going through the escalators, the humidity, and it was an overcast couple of days for Sonran, which made it much more doable. How are you, Iv? High five. We both wildly overslept. I didn't think we would sleep, but we did really oversleep. We'd lost a day and a half
sleep and move forward 6 hours in time. No matter how many extra hours in bed you allow, no matter how much you take it easy, you still don't recover from jet lag for a few days. And we were absolutely beaten. But we both knew that we were doing the best we could. We were sleeping as much as we could and we just needed to work through it. Sonran is
what we were here for and we were going to enjoy ourselves. One of the things I really wanted to do on this trip was to use much more public transport. Up first, I think this is the BTS. So, we can only do one line on this at the moment with our tickets. The BTS map is easy to understand in comparison with say the London Underground map. I
don't know how to do that. But I kept making mistakes. So, we focused on the BTS and I really wanted to catch a bus at some point. I just feel that for traveling around and with Ivy, it really is a good thing to learn how to use different sort of metro systems, train systems, public transport systems in different countries. And our first stop on day two
was at Siam Paragon. Such a beautiful set of shopping malls. We always like to have a little walk around this place. It's far beyond anything that we see in the United Kingdom. These shopping malls are absolutely stunning and what they do for the Song Crown events are absolutely [Music] beautiful. These places can be really quite dizzying and we were walking around in a days. It was very surreal
but in a very beautiful way. We sort of know where we're going now. We sort of know what to expect. We had a look
around the art exhibition in San Paragon. We knew we didn't need to go through all the different floors. We then decided, let's take our walk down to Central World. Now, Central World is
another amazing mall and it's actually in between two train stations. So, you have to walk there. It's about a 10 to 15 minute walk on the skywalk. Usually, we get lost. Usually, we have a problem with the humidity. And usually, by the time we even find it, if we can find it, we're exhausted. Again, this was the
first time where I felt we knew where we were going. We knew what to expect. We could take it easy and the walk was easy. And we were finally at Central World, which was the home of the Big Sea, which I had seen so many times on YouTube, which I'd seen last year, and which I really wanted to visit with [Music] Ivy. There was also one thing that we hadn't done, and that was to pour water on Buddha. [Music] We've walked around a lot. We're hungry. And I know where I want to go and eat some food. I remember it from last time.
Day two. We finally found where we are. Hold on. This is Central World. There is the big sea. This is another place. And for 2 years, I've been wanting to hang out here on Sran day. So, with my lovely daughter, we're doing it. All right. The first thing we need to do is get some water pistols and some food. I was quite
surprised because there weren't many tourists around this place and we kind of stand out. So, wherever we go, we're constantly being shot. I think they get you cuz of your smile. I think this is going to be a little bit mayhem. And it was. I knew I was hungry. We needed to get food. The food court
that was there last year was no longer there. The big sea was no longer happening like it had. Central World had changed and it was a massive event. You needed tickets to get in and we didn't have tickets. So, we were kind of stuck. We decided that we would try and cross the road and go to a KFC, which is what Ivy said she would like to eat. However,
it was just too much to get across there. So, we ended up walking down a side road. We just kept walking for ages until eventually we found a sushi place. We spent more money than we wanted to spend. We ate some sushi, but I could at least tell that Ivy was feeling better. And then we decided to go back up to Central World and spend some time there.
We definitely felt better having now had some food inside us. The sun came out. The sun has come out. The atmosphere was really good. We found a lovely little place where Thai people were saying their [Music] prayers. And I often feel that these little moments, they sort of touch Ivy in a way that I want her to sort of have feelings. It's not just all water fights when we're there. We enjoy these little
moments. But when we went back to Central World, we sort of realized that we're on the outside of the main event. So I said to Ivy, "Do you want to stay here or do you want to go somewhere else?" And she said, "Sill on road at nighttime." Now this really made me happy. However, it felt a bit strange
all of a sudden being in the tuk tuk saying goodbye to Central World, goodbye to the big sea, that wasn't happening. And I'd been I'd had that in my head for a year that that's somewhere we would be spending time. So to be saying goodbye and heading to Silon Road somewhere we've already visited seemed kind of surreal but you know how a change in the scenery can change the atmosphere very clearly this felt like the right thing for us to be doing. Are we here? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. And when we arrived at Sylon Road, it had that atmosphere that we were looking for. This felt like the right kind of place for us to be at. And what I really like about Sylon Road is that because it's down one long road with the BTS train system running above, when the train comes by and with all the people in it, it creates a sort of a sound, a reverberation that's like that's reminiscent of being in this sort of urban industrial landscape. And you know that just a few steps down the way, you're going to be entering into an atmosphere that's, as I've said before, is like spiritual. This is happy. I'm taking a
[Music] beating. I can honestly say I've never had anywhere where I just accept I'm down to one GoPro. That is it. There's nothing I can do. It's just so I am I might as well have just jumped in a river and we are just going in now. London, Berlin, New York, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Iba. I've been to many events around the world in 30 years and I can honestly say that nothing has an energy that matches something.
[Music] With the neon signage and set against an industrial backdrop, Silon Road was like being in a Wesley Snipes meets Ridley Scott movie [Music] scene in 2023. The UNESCO designated Sran in Thailand as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. And that is exactly what it is. It's ceremony mixed with family, culture, and tradition. And it's what it creates that's worthy of the worldwide recognition. And the atmosphere is so different to anything that I would experience in England. It means that I
can walk around these crazy amazing places with my daughter and feel entirely safe. And when you're in the middle of it, it is entirely disorientating and liberating. I think this is the last stage now. Great out of 10. 10. It has to be, doesn't it? I give
it a 10. I need to film. I needed to film because it's a continual flow of color, of lights, things I've not seen. We finish the event, then there's the tuk tuk, then there's the journey home on the tuk tuk. Then when we get back to the hotel, there's the hotel, there's the restaurants around the area, there's the pool, there's the sunset, there's the sunrise. It's an entire stream of visual, emotional, physical, and mental stimulation.
[Music] The Sun Crown Walk in a neon soaked rooftop pool and with the lights of the S2O festival in the background, we took a swim. Then we went out to get some food. The fun just continued even when we're having dinner. And eventually we went back to our hotel. Had a good night's sleep. If I'm honest,
I didn't even want to go out on this day. Ivy, this is breakfast. It was overcast. Ivy and I were finally able to spend some time in our room relaxing. How you can live like it? We really wanted to spend some time at the swimming pool, but every time we went out there, I saw that Ivy just fell asleep. Got Red Bull Extra. I need this
today. It's It's strong. And then it started to [Music] rain. Top tip for Sonran because everything gets wet and you get the old uh power supply wet. If you tape everything up, you just remove it when you get when it's time. It should be
dry. And when it comes to iPhones, these are the speakers. I don't think that is a mic. So, provided you just put a little bit still. We Hello you know. Swipe
up and it's protected. I guess a few moments of rain forced us to relax and I was questioning do we really need to go out today? Is there going to be any celebration if it's raining? We've had two amazing days, but the rain stopped and we decided we're here. We've made this effort. We should at least go out and see what we find. Son day three. We're going to see if we can get ourselves some new shirts. Now, I should have known Sran doesn't stop on day three anyway, and it certainly doesn't stop because of rain. All right, so we're
going to go and get some food first, are we? Oh, here we go. For three days, these guys squirted us with water every single time we left our hotel. And every single time, I told them to get Ivy. Happy Sun Crown.
We had a smile and a laugh every single time we walked by these funny guys. Like to try and catch a bus. I really wanted to catch a bus this trip. He got me. It's so hot. I know. I know. I know. Of course, it doesn't stop. Everywhere we went, we were under attack.
[Music] Five stops to Mo Chit and then we catch a shuttle bus from there. Next station, Moit. I think our favorite market. The plan was that we were going to catch a BTS and then a shuttle bus to Sonam Lang and then we would walk to Kan Road from there. But when we saw this park at Mochit, we decided to have a little walk around here. I love these sort of places. What I liked about the park was
that there was no smoking, no drinking, no riding bikes. It's a place to exercise or it's a place to relax. Hello birdie. Super humid and there's been a
little bit of thunder. It smells so lovely. Happy song. And it looked like even the birds were having their own water festival. [Music] Have we been to this park before? This is the Lumpini Park. I don't know if this is Lumpini Park or not. While we were walking around, we saw this woman was feeding the squirrels and she saw that Ivy was watching and she invited Ivy to have a go. Now, I know was Ivy's
dad. Ivy is really stepping outside her comfort zone doing this. And I was so pleased that she was like, I'm going to do this because it was such a beautiful thing to witness. [Music] Yay. Come on.
Oh, [Music] amazing. Look at that. Come on. Don't be scared. Here's a squirrel. A amazing. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I just
got scared. I was going to like jump on the fork. Jump on the fork. Good girl. Bye. You're very cool. After an amazing little detour, it was time to get back on track and onto our main journey to catch the bus. So, the bike riders down
there, can you see them? They just told us we need to catch the number three bus from this side. Excellent. It is really hot. It is boiling. And I should have known that this crazy change in the humidity was building up to something because for the last couple of days, it had been a lot cooler than usual. Very doable for us. But all of a sudden, there was a little bit of rain and boom, the humidity was unbelievable. Number three.
Look at the speed. My daughter types. Texting your friends. Oh, texting my mom. Oh, and say say what's happening with your mom today, Ivy. It's my mom's birthday today. How
old is your mom? 50 years old. And we weren't even sure whether we should come to Thailand this year because it's your mom's 50th birthday. But your mom said, "Go and enjoy yourself." What do you want to say to your mom? Happy birthday. Mom's been great. Mom has supported you coming here. We tried to catch a bus,
but we waited half an hour. It was really hard to understand it all. We eventually just said, "We're going to get a cab and we're just going to go straight to Kan Road. [Music] So, we bought ourselves another water pistol, and this time I wanted to strap a GoPro camera to it. For a year, I'd been thinking of creative ways of filming these water fights, but we got there a bit late. It was overcast, and we weren't expecting what we were about to encounter within the next 20 or 30 minutes. All right, Ivy, you are ready
to rock and roll. You can do me. All right. All right. All right. And under much different weather conditions than when we were here last year, we were finally heading back to Cowsan Road and really had no idea how epic this night would [Music] be. We just sort of went with the flow of people. We asked where's the entrance and someone said down there. So we just followed the crowds down the road.
Thank you. Thank you. I saw on Reddit people said like, "Why do so many people vlog in Thailand?" I've been a cameraman for 30 years and there is no better place I've ever been to than Thailand where people waving at the camera for people saying, "Hello, welcome." So that's why as this vlogger At my age, I got to be a bit careful. I nearly slip up. I am probably soaked and still being shot by that guy there. So, we just kept walking down this road and the more we walked, the more we got shot and the more it rained. It's
properly raining. And the more it rained, the more of an atmosphere was created. Yeah, I love that. I love that. [Music] We've been going completely the wrong way. We got to walk all the way back.
We weren't going the wrong way. It's down here. Oh, thank you. It's really wet. How are you doing? Are you okay? I hope everyone's okay cuz this is intense. First time I've been cold in Thailand. And finally, after half an hour of walking and with an intense storm now very clearly above us, we found the entrance to Kowan Road and Thailand once again put on an amazing show for us. Welcome to Kowan Road. Upon entering Kowsan Road, we
completed our mission of visiting three official Sran events in 3 days and it was concluded with beautiful chaos in Kan Road. [Music] When Ivy and I started this journey 3 years ago, I wanted to show her different countries, cultures, currencies, religions, food, and people. And it was the smile in the land of smiles that attracted me to Thailand.
And if I'm true to myself, I guess I wanted to show my daughter the celebration that is people and life. And to be there as her dad and to see her smile while she experienced it for the first time. I feel I've done that. And before we left Cows Road, there was one more thing that I wanted to do. We needed to take a break and it
just so happened that we were outside the club that had been so amazing the year before and seeing everyone dancing, I asked the staff if we could come in to dry off and charge our batteries. Before we knew it, I was taking Ivy to our first nightclub in Kan Road, Thailand. And as with many things we do in Thailand, it was a moment I think she'll remember for the rest of her life. Heat
[Music] up here. Now the time is a bit older, we can do slightly different things. And this unplanned diversion was the ultimate destination for our journey that had taken us over 10,000 kilometers and through 3 days of the most amazing New Year celebrations in Thailand. And it was the perfect way for us to say goodbye to Sran for 2025. And as I said last time, I don't know when, but we will be back.
And as I said before, it's just a constant stream. Before we knew it, we were in the most pimped out tuk tuk racing from Kan Road to Ratatouille. And it was like being on a roller coaster.
Just an amazing experience once again. Uh-huh. Energy. Energy. [Music] [Music] We've talked a lot in this lift. I It's the end of Song Cran. Three nights. What have you
thought of it? All three days. Each for different reasons. Each for different reasons. It's just been amazing, hasn't it? I thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed it. So, what are we doing? And there's the Sonaran walk. I never expected to be filming anymore because but we've just had an amazing meal. Ivy, it's the last day. Sran's over. Give me your overall feelings.
Yeah. What have you thought of it? really I really like it. Each day has been really good but really and good for different reasons and overall it was nice and I really liked it and it was worth it. We've spent like nearly a month in Bangkok, you and I. What do you like about Bangkok? It's just really fun. There's loads of stuff to do. Most of the time it's really cool. I I just
enjoy it. Welcome to Thailand. You've been watching Thai Adventures Sran season 2 episode 2. Stay tuned for
the next episode where Ivy and I finally catch up on some sleep and spend a couple more days in the beautiful Bangkok. And I talk through everything that we learned on this whistle stop tour from London to Bangkok. And if you like these videos, please like, comment, subscribe, share, share again, watch again, and thank you so very much for 10,000 subscribers. Peace.
2025-05-10 01:51
