Each year I would try to visit Thailand during the end of the year so that I am able to source for a Thai calendar, planner and even a diary. In my opinion, the best place to find these selection of calendars would be at B2S bookstores which are available in most Central Shopping complexes in Thailand.
When I first started to visit Thailand regularly starting about 10 years ago, the calendars are really kinda of boring featuring the typical scenery and printed on paper that is hard to write on it. I am the kind of person who usually prefer to write important reminders and appointments on my calendar…. a physical calendar instead of an electronic one.
The Thai calendar is very useful if you are Buddhist because it contains important Buddhist observation dates (average about one day in a week), important Buddhist days like Magha Puja, Asalha Puja and Wesak Day. What you can do is after buying the calendar, you can then go back and write the public holidays of your country on the calendar.
But this year, I find that beautifully designed calendars are emerging….almost like my favourite calendars from Kaison.
B2S stores have started selling planning tools such as calendars, diaries, organizers and planners extensively. As of now, some SE-ED stores have the calendars but some don’t. Still, the picture above is taken from a SE-ED store that had begun selling the beautiful design calendars. I like that some of the calendars are featuring very colourful and beautiful drawings of places of interest, food and temples.
Above is B2S store that have already begin selling calendars, diaries and planners. There is a beautiful calendar series of the late King Bhumibol, the 9th king of Thailand:
Below is what I meant by beautifully painted calendars. Below is the one with popular temples in Thailand:
There are also the Chinese style calendars…. in desktop size which is the first time I am seeing. The pocket version (left side) are sold for 28 baht. You can get a similar size ones for 10 baht from Chinatown Yaowarat (street peddlers would start to sell them already). Of course, the quality would be very much different.
Still, I seldom see these paid calendars on desktops of government offices or customer services. Mostly I would see desktop calendars that are distributed for free from banks such as Bangkok Bank and Kasikorbank. Reason being is it could be due to the fact that the calendars from the banks are quite creative in their designs and the usability is good. That is, there is available space to write things down on the calendar.
The paid calendars are catching up in usability, ie good space given to write, material enables one to write on it and colourful design. Still, I am curious to see what the banks would be featuring as their theme for next year…
