Thai bars to close at 1am - yes, really!

john says:

What a pity.

I was looking forward to the girls pouring out of the gogos at 12, and the huge open air brothel that resulted. It would have been great for us sex tourists prepared to wait that little bit longer. A real flesh market in the open air. Prices would have to drop, because of a surplus of supply. We could have been back to 500 baht long time.

And when Thaksin & Purachai saw what was happening the stupid sods would bring in a curfew. Everybody off the streets at 12.30. What a bonanza, the girls would then be desparate to grab a farang pretty damn quick. Another downward push on prices.

And of course the real party animals who want to drink all night wouldn't come to Thailand. They would go to Cambodia or Vietnam or Singapore, so there would be less guys on the street, thereby lowering the demand side of the market.

Things would really have worked in our favour.

Oh well it was a fantasy of mine. Mind you, it could still happen. You never know.

Amazing Thailand, right?

kelake says:

Like many political decisions it must be framed in some kind of business context - just not for the bar owners and employees.

It's quite laudable if they set out to clean up Nana and the young girls selling themselves outside Starbucks. But to get at the root cause of such problems requires time, fortitude, and some intelligence. One must truly care about the people involved. Create opportunities. Lead by example. Provide alternatives. Educate.

It must be benefiting someone connected with the government because it isn't helping anyone else.

JR says:

Funny, ... they can enforce closing time but do they enforce the anti prostitution laws? More likely the current owners paid up a huge bribe to get the curfew extended ,they paid extra to ensure new competition won't get the same benefits.

I support Purachai Piemsomboon's Thai decency campaign. I hope Thaksin does us proud and kills off the opposition soon. ... do I mean this literally?

Anonymous says:

JR,
Just curious about one thing. If the Thai decency campaign succeeds and Toxin manages to drive out all those depraved farangs at bayonett point, how will Thailand make up for the loss of revenue?

By some estimates the tourism (i.e sex) industry is the single largest contributor to the GDP. That's right. The sleazy, skeazy, long nosed round eyed farang kee nok spend more money shagging your lasses than anything else your country has been able to come up with domestically or abroad

Errant says:

The air almost crackles with anticipation. JR looms above the keyboard, deep in thought, bent to the task.

Something's coming, something's definitely coming....

TANAI KWAI says:

Errant <=== one funny MF

(...)

YABS says:

bring it on I say
theres too many tourists in thailand
i you can now get to bed earlier rather than having to wait till 3 to get a cheap tirak

Siam says:

Yabs not everyone is a whoremonger though mate. Some like to go out later then 1am. Farnang like you making Thailand place it is to day. Sad.....

niall says:

I agree with the first post. Lets make it midnight closing. All the little lovelies will pile out on to the streets looking for a customer so thats the end of bar fines! Impromptu street parties will occur with vendors selling cheap cold beer, wooh hoo.

Would expect that within a couple of weeks big unofficial post bar party venues will be established in parks/wasteground/dead-end streets etc with food and music.

As long as the baht flows the fun never stops...

Dana says:

I agree with NIALL 100%. Put them in the street. No more bar fines. 95% of the bars don't have anything that qualifies as entertainment anyway. I like street shopping. It used to be the bars were the smart place to shop because you could see what you were getting. No more. With the cover- up policies it's a pig in a poke in the bars now. So might as well shop the street and save some serious baht.

YABS says:

SIAM
when thailand was good it consisted of sex tourists
and backpackers.
this made it an exotic and exciting destination.
both camps enjoying the scapism form the wests
mundabe reality. Then came the package tourists
who usually go to ibiza or majorca and then
we have benidorm style resorts with loud mouths everywhere. give me a backpacker or sex tourist anyday.
package tourists are the scum of the earth

Dana says:

I have taken some wonderful tours. Tours give you the most bang for your buck. My first trip to Thailand was an 8 day tour by a Melbourne based trekking tour company call The Adventure Center. Cost $410. No, that is not a misprint. Best decision I could have made. People who blanket statement that all tours are bad don't know what they are talking about. In particuar in the last 10 years the small group (my tour had 9 people) low budget trekking tours are simply fabulous and cheap and the BEST way to see the country.

YABS says:

trekking tours DANA are not mass market though are they!
I'm talking about the mass market all inclusive
thomson style holidays which the Amazing thailand
scheme has seemed to attract.
You got a good deal for your money. trekking tours will still ultimately attract the more adventurous
and intelligent being. The kiss me quick
first time out the west style tours don't and they also get ripped off.
The last few years has seen a great number of tattoed culturally insensitive yobs and even worse the two week holiday families who stay in
brash concrete jungle resorts without learning anything about thai culture or indeed contributing
financially to it!

mr peter says:

Trekking tours attract the the more intelligent? what's intelligent about going around one scruffy hilltribe doss hole to another just to gawp at the inhabitants and buy the odd overpriced piece of crap? I will never go on one of these embarassing jaunts. I'd like to know what sort of thai culture can be seen viewing these non thais, or when being dragged through some mosquito infested jungle come to that. Horrible. I'd like to know why the 'culturaly insensitive yobs' are any less deserving or how they do any more damage than backpackers or the eco friendly mob. I would have thought the last thing anyone concerned about the environment would want to do is to go trekking in the first place.-peter

Mr.Nobody says:

"Just curious about one thing. If the Thai decency campaign succeeds and Toxin manages to drive out all those depraved farangs at bayonett point, how will Thailand make up for the loss of revenue?

By some estimates the tourism (i.e sex) industry is the single largest contributor to the GDP. That's right. The sleazy, skeazy, long nosed round eyed farang kee nok spend more money shagging your lasses than anything else your country has been able to come up with domestically or abroad"

That is totally correct that Thailand will quickly collapse once sex industry is dead. Why? First, its just too far from Europe or US. Maybe not Australia but most of the money comes from Europe and US. Second, its because of their laws were foreigners are not allow to own the property. I mean what kind of moron would go to Thailand to do business if he can't own the property? And especially why bother to travel such long distances if Thailand has nothing to offer?
Sex industry will always be there.