With effect from June 18 midnight, the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Bukit Kayu Hitam and Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Sadao have extended their operations to 24 hours.
Checkpoints at the new Bukit Kayu Hitam Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (CIQS) Complex. Image credit to placesandfoods.com.
However, the 24-hour operations are for a three-month trial period and involves only cargo, as well as trucks and heavy vehicles carrying goods. For more information, read here.
We have yet to see if the operations will last in the long run, or whether or not Malaysian tourists who drive into Thailand will be able to benefit from the 24-hour operations.
Currently, tourists will be able to drive into Thailand via the Bukit Kayu Hitam-Sadao border between 6am and 12am Malaysian time (18 hours daily).
The Thai Cabinet on February 12, 2019, announced a five-day Songkran festival holiday.
With this announcement, Songkran 2019 will officially be from April 12 to April 16, 2019.
Songkran 2019 is now a 5-day holiday. Photo credit to http://www.nationmultimedia.com
It is a 2-day extension from the regular April 13 to 15.
Traffic congestion is expected to happen as Thais will be going travelling back home to visit their families, so for those who have planned to celebrate Songkran 2019 in Thailand, please be prepared.
If you will be in Hatyai during Songkran, you may be interested in this Songkhla to-do list.
The Alcohol Control Committee (ACC) is mulling a ban on alcohol sales on April 13. If the resolution is approved, that would mean people who would like to indulge in alcohol on the Thai New Year will probably need to buy it earlier.
As of April 6, 2019, it seems the authority is still undecided whether to proceed with the ban of booze.
However, one thing that is ban during Songkran 2019, is foam parties, which in the past had reportedly caused several deaths and injuries by electrocution.
On top of that, one of the biggest annual Songkran parties at Bangkok’s famed Khaosan Road has also been cancelled to pave way for the Thai King’s coronation, which will be held from May 4 to 6, 2019.
I’m Ken, a passionate traveller from Sarawak on the exotic island of Borneo. Currently a teacher in a rural town in Southern Thailand, from time to time I share on this blog my experiences teaching the kids and living a laid-back lifestyle here. With its focus on all things Thailand, mrdefinite.net also features a handful of stories about my travel adventures in other Asian countries.
