One of Thailand's most important Buddhist holidays is Visakha Bucha, which falls on Friday, May 28 this year. Banks will be closed.

 

The bars will also probably close, but I just screwed up about L'Olivier, so I won't say anything definite about the bars until I have a chance to check and make sure.

I have now been told that the bars may open at their own discretion, but will not be allowed to sell alcohol.

 

Of course the police can still come around and order the bars to close Friday, but for now, that's the word.

The word I'm getting is in Bangkok the bars will be open and serving alcohol. In Pattaya I understand the bars will be open if they choose to be open, but at the moment I still don't know for sure whether they will be serving alcohol. I'll post the word once I have it.

The best I can tell you is I've been given several versions of what's going to happen Friday. The closest I can come to being accurate is the bars will be open at their own discretion. However, many will be closed. I'm getting too many conflicting versions as to whether alcohol will be served or not.

 

So, if you're in Pattaya you'll just have to go out and hope for the best.

 

I'm sorry I can't do better than this, but just about every bar at which I made inquiries had a different version of what to expect.

Ok, now the police have made it official. After I posted the above, the police came around to the bars ordering they all be closed Friday, May 28 in Pattaya.

 

That's typical. Most of the time the police wait until the last minute before ordering bars to close the next day and that's what they did this time too.

All of the banks in Central Festival Mall are open.

All of the banks in Central Festival Mall are open.

That's good. That means despite the fact that main branches are closed today, the mini-branches are open.

At least in Central, for sure.