# Christmas Dinner



## Donaldxr (May 10, 2009)

Hey guys, I was given the task of organizing a group dinner with some friends. There are about 10 of us. My plans are to head out to one of the big malls(Siam Paragon & Central World area). Can anyone give me an idea of the chaos that I may be headed into? We just want to eat together at any of the restaurants there. I know that on a typical weekend, the restaurants are packed. We can handle a queue, but is it going to be anything extraordinarily crazy like 4-5 hours?

Anyone have experience with this? Maybe from last Christmas?

Thank you.


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2009)

Never gone out to eat in Bangkok at Christmas time, sorry - but in Chiang Mai I never noticed it being any different to other times of the year. Perhaps slightly more busy, but seeing as nearly all tourists in town eat out every day all year anyway, the restaurants have plenty of capacity. 

That applies to the big Chiang Mai malls too - Thais don't bother with any special Christmas celebrations, unless invited by farangs!


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## blue eyes (Aug 17, 2009)

I would think that it would not be any differant then any other day.Unless you go to a farang type restaurant that is advertising for a Christmas meal.


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## Donaldxr (May 10, 2009)

Thanks for the responses. I guess I'll share with you guys my experience from last night. Just in case someone is wondering about this next year.

Anyways, we went to Central World for dinner. We left home around 5pm. There was normal traffic, nothing crazy(Ram to Central).

Central World was PACKED. I mean, I swear the place was a full capacity. Escalators were flowing with people and they even opened all the emergency exits for normal use. Walking around with a group of 10 required lots of herding. It wasn't that my friends liked to wander off, it was just so crowded that they would be out of sight if there was just 1 meter between any of us. I would believe that if it wasn't a weekend, there would be around 25% less people.

Restaurant availability was surprisingly decent. Some restaurants were full with moderate wait time and some were actually empty(Hi-So Thai restaurants).

The only problem was getting home. Friday night traffic is already bad enough. Add a big holiday such as Christmas and you have a nightmare at hand. We also tried taking the BTS to another area to catch a bus. Don't even think about it. Mo Chit station was jam packed. Even if you have a BTS card, you have to fight through the crowd AND wait in line to get through the machines. I can't imagine how crowded the trains were. I think next year, I'll stay closer to home. 

Happy Holidays.


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2009)

Thanks, must say I'm a bit surprised - only 2% or so of Thais are Christian, so one wonders what was going on. Perhaps all of the 2% decided to head for Central World at the same time 

You didn't say if they were mainly Thai, or whether there were a lot of farangs out and about.

Weekends in the malls are usually chaos, it's true. Can't see the attraction of the places myself!


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2009)

frogblogger said:


> Thanks, must say I'm a bit surprised - only 2% or so of Thais are Christian, so one wonders what was going on. Perhaps all of the 2% decided to head for Central World at the same time
> 
> You didn't say if they were mainly Thai, or whether there were a lot of farangs out and about.
> 
> Weekends in the malls are usually chaos, it's true. Can't see the attraction of the places myself!


In Bangkok they seem to celebrate every religions' holiday as if it were their own, and also all the new years for good measure.  They even have Christmas music in the underground, but for sure Christmas in BKK is big. Plus there are at least three big new year holidays, the end Dec Christian one the Chinese and of course Songcran, plus of course the royal holidays. PS Don Glad you evening went well, sounds like it was great.


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2009)

Any excuse eh?  Funnily enough my wife was chatting to her sister in Bangkok this morning, and sis mentioned Central World in passing... about how it was completely packed out yesterday.


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