2023 Songkran Festival: Thailand Exclusive Pokemon Events
Then Songkran festival between 13-15 April celebrated the traditional Thai new year. For 2023, things was pretty much back to normal. There were organized water battle at Silom Road, Khao San Road and other locations in Bangkok and throughout the Kingdom.
The water battle in the City Center had been well-organized and confined to specified areas. However, in the suburb, people did not really pay attention to the willingness of the intended opponent to play. Locals would set up tanks or other containers on the pavement and throw water quite discriminately. Some rode on the back of pick-up trucks and throw water left and right.
As I had been not partial to the water battle, I usually stayed at home and only ventured out by driving to protect myself from being soaked. The situation prevented me from playing Pokemon Go near my home during the Festival.
In 2023, there were 2 Thailand-exclusive events at shopping malls in the city. Usually, when I went to those city-center shopping malls for Pokemon events, I liked to use the BTS public transport to avoid congestion. However, walking to the BTS station and keeping myself dry was impossible during Songkran. Luckily, the traffic congestion improved during Songkran as many people went away for vacation; driving was not that bad.
The first is the April Splash Event (เมษาชุ่มฉ่ำ) at Icon Siam between 11-13 April 2023. It featured a physical PokeStop, a special research with bonus and a special Pokestop on 11 April. This was the first time that I went to Icon Siam Shopping Mall since shortly after the opening. Then, there were no PokeStop at all. Now, the venue featured a decent collection of Gyms and stops. The event was held on the main second floor terrace facing the river with lots of photo opportunity and enough space for the crowd moving around.
The postcard from the special Pokestop was much in demand as the event was announced very late and the time duration was so short. Besides many trainers had already left Bangkok for long vacation. Alas, the postcard was quite a disappoint as it only had a short name in Thai, making it not impressive for sending to friends abroad. The logo on the top left of the opened postcard was also cut off.
The second event, Pokemon Water Festival, was held at Central World, another maga shopping mall, in Ratcha Prasong between 13-16 April 2023. It was held in conjunction with the Pokemon Kids TV. The venue was wedged in a narrow space between the building and the skywalk, very much over shadowed by the water battle and concert in the main event area just around the corner.
There was a passport for games, shows, free stickers, and other activities for kids. For me, a decidedly older trainer, the event did not hold much attraction except the special Pokestop which I spent a lot of time collecting postcards for friends. The postcard was better designed than the first event - the event name was in English and the characters were well-centered. Still, descriptions would be highly appreciated to highlight the uniqueness.
In short, this Songkran was quite eventful. Events were a good re-introduction to the on-site walk and raid after the remote passes’ price hike. I would like to thank the organizers and hope that there will be more events next year.
Listed in the Being Thai page.
The water battle in the City Center had been well-organized and confined to specified areas. However, in the suburb, people did not really pay attention to the willingness of the intended opponent to play. Locals would set up tanks or other containers on the pavement and throw water quite discriminately. Some rode on the back of pick-up trucks and throw water left and right.
As I had been not partial to the water battle, I usually stayed at home and only ventured out by driving to protect myself from being soaked. The situation prevented me from playing Pokemon Go near my home during the Festival.
In 2023, there were 2 Thailand-exclusive events at shopping malls in the city. Usually, when I went to those city-center shopping malls for Pokemon events, I liked to use the BTS public transport to avoid congestion. However, walking to the BTS station and keeping myself dry was impossible during Songkran. Luckily, the traffic congestion improved during Songkran as many people went away for vacation; driving was not that bad.
The first is the April Splash Event (เมษาชุ่มฉ่ำ) at Icon Siam between 11-13 April 2023. It featured a physical PokeStop, a special research with bonus and a special Pokestop on 11 April. This was the first time that I went to Icon Siam Shopping Mall since shortly after the opening. Then, there were no PokeStop at all. Now, the venue featured a decent collection of Gyms and stops. The event was held on the main second floor terrace facing the river with lots of photo opportunity and enough space for the crowd moving around.
The postcard from the special Pokestop was much in demand as the event was announced very late and the time duration was so short. Besides many trainers had already left Bangkok for long vacation. Alas, the postcard was quite a disappoint as it only had a short name in Thai, making it not impressive for sending to friends abroad. The logo on the top left of the opened postcard was also cut off.
The second event, Pokemon Water Festival, was held at Central World, another maga shopping mall, in Ratcha Prasong between 13-16 April 2023. It was held in conjunction with the Pokemon Kids TV. The venue was wedged in a narrow space between the building and the skywalk, very much over shadowed by the water battle and concert in the main event area just around the corner.
There was a passport for games, shows, free stickers, and other activities for kids. For me, a decidedly older trainer, the event did not hold much attraction except the special Pokestop which I spent a lot of time collecting postcards for friends. The postcard was better designed than the first event - the event name was in English and the characters were well-centered. Still, descriptions would be highly appreciated to highlight the uniqueness.
In short, this Songkran was quite eventful. Events were a good re-introduction to the on-site walk and raid after the remote passes’ price hike. I would like to thank the organizers and hope that there will be more events next year.
Listed in the Being Thai page.
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