Thursday 26 March 2026

Good morning Bangkok. It's Thursday and we're at 29-35°C (84-95°F) with cloudy skies, the AQI is projected to fluctuate between 74 and 83 throughout the day. Chiang Mai is hitting 40°C. The SET surged 47.52 points yesterday to close at 1,457.91, its biggest single-day gain in weeks, on renewed optimism about the Middle East situation. Gold dropped further to ฿67,900-68,100, now down ฿8,400 from its peak six days ago. Diesel at ฿32.94, benzene at ฿48.84. The Motor Show opened yesterday. Thailand Travel Fair is happening right now at QSNCC. Songkran is 18 days away. Let's get into it.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has coordinated with six airlines to cut domestic airfares by 15-30% for the Songkran holiday period (April 10-15). The six carriers are Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air, and Thai VietJet. Together they're offering discounted fares on 11 round-trip routes covering 191 flights and 29,685 seats. Routes include Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai, Koh Samui, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Krabi, Trang, Nakhon Phanom, Udon Thani, and Ubon Ratchathani. The CAAT acknowledged that jet fuel prices have jumped over 100% compared to February 2026, but the Songkran fare-cut campaign will proceed anyway. Most cheap tickets for the holiday have already been sold out, so act fast. Direct flights between Thailand and Europe are still operating normally with rerouted flight paths, and CAAT recommended considering China as an alternative transit hub for cheaper international fares.

Bottom line: If you're still planning a Songkran trip and haven't booked flights yet, today is the day. Bangkok to Chiang Mai should top out around ฿3,500 instead of the usual ฿5,000-8,000 Songkran peak. Check airline websites directly, not just aggregators. Combine this with the 20-40% hotel discounts we covered yesterday and you're looking at a genuinely affordable Songkran trip even in a crisis year. One important note: you need your original passport for domestic flights (not just a copy or Thai driving license). Make sure the name on your booking matches your passport exactly, including middle names and hyphens. Airlines charge correction fees and the systems are strict.

While Bangkok still has fuel (with occasional queues), the situation in the provinces has deteriorated sharply. Always Pattaya reports that in Chiang Rai, there are currently no open petrol stations at all. Drivers are arriving at stations with mats and blankets, waiting overnight for deliveries that may or may not come. Green price signs mean fuel is available; red means try again later. Some stations are limiting benzine purchases to ฿500 per vehicle. Meanwhile, Thai authorities have issued an official Songkran travel warning: if you're planning a road trip, make sure you have enough fuel to reach your destination and to return. On several major highways, vehicles are running dry mid-journey. A 4.5-magnitude earthquake was also felt from Myanmar (690 km from Mae Hong Son), adding to the general unease in the North.

Bottom line: This is the story that affects daily life more than any headline about geopolitics. If you're planning to drive anywhere outside Bangkok for Songkran, this is a real risk factor. The government says supply is stable but distribution is broken, which is a polite way of saying "there's fuel somewhere, just not where you need it." Consider flying instead (see story 1). If you must drive, fill up every chance you get, carry extra water and snacks in case you're stuck, and plan your route around confirmed open stations. The fuel apps are unreliable. Call the station before you drive to it.

A one-Michelin-star Thai restaurant that describes its philosophy as 80% local ingredients, 20% chef's creativity. Located on Charoenkrung Road in the Talat Noi neighborhood (one of Bangkok's most interesting old-quarter areas, full of crumbling colonial buildings, street art, and hipster cafes), 80/20 has reinvented itself from a casual tapas spot into a proper tasting menu destination with an open kitchen counter and a fermentation room at the entrance that tells you these chefs do the hard work themselves. Chef Thav Phouthavong leads the kitchen with a Lao-Thai approach: the seasonal 15-course tasting menu features traditional Thai techniques with Lao influences that make it distinct from every other Thai fine dining restaurant in the city. Think crispy pork belly with fermented chili sauce, smoked goby fish with fermented coconut cream, and Thai curry served the way it was meant to be: paired with aromatic Yasothon jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan. The space is industrial-loft meets Thai murals. Not fancy. Not stuffy. The kind of place where you might sit next to someone from the antique shop down the road. The tasting menu runs ฿3,500++ with a wine pairing at ฿1,400. 4.5 stars on Tripadvisor with 167 reviews, and on Google 4.5 with 523 reivews.

TIP: Book the counter seats facing the open kitchen for the full experience. The fermented Thai rice wine (sato) is house-made and worth trying. Go on a weeknight for a calmer atmosphere. Charoenkrung is a great neighborhood to explore before dinner: walk through Talat Noi's lanes, check out the street art, grab a coffee at La Cabra or one of the neighborhood's independent cafes, then head to 80/20 for dinner.

26 March 1953: Dr. Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio, a disease that had paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children worldwide. It took him seven years of research. 73 years later, Thailand's government is trying to solve a fuel distribution crisis in real time, and it's taking considerably longer than seven years' worth of patience to explain to a driver in Chiang Rai why there's no diesel at any station in the province. Sometimes the hardest problems aren't scientific. They're logistical.

See you tomorrow morning.

— Devon

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