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Bangkok No Fun any more



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 1st, 2006, 04:04 PM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
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Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more


http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/0...kokletter.html

A long wooden table obstructs the entrance to Silom Soi 2, a narrow
pedestrian alley lined with gay bars a few blocks from Bangkok's
once-infamous red light district, Patpong. I'm going to D.J. Station, a
local club where gays and straights alike gyrate to earsplitting
rhythms on the cramped dance floor. Four burly men in jeans and
T-shirts slouching at one end of the table point to a prominent sign
written in Thai and ungrammatical English. No one under 20 can enter
the soi (street) and everyone must present valid ID, which for
non-Thais constitutes an original passport (no photocopies) or a
driver's license.

Obviously over 20, I'm excluded from the ID formalities. "Have fun
Auntie," one of the bouncers mutters in Thai as he waves me through the
barricade, probably not realizing I understand him. A politer version
of the ID checking process is repeated outside D.J.'s, where once again
I'm whisked through. However, my 20-year-old Thai-English companion's
valid British driver's license receives lengthy scrutiny before he is
allowed inside.

Increasingly, going out on the town in Bangkok has become more of a
hassle than checking in for an international flight. At least after
clearing airport security and passport control, passengers can look
forward to a smooth trip. But once inside the dwindling number of
international-standard Bangkok night spots, patrons still face a
potentially bumpy ride.

In early 2001 the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began
a "social order" campaign to clean up the country's risqué image and
also to halt the supposed moral decay of its youth. (Mr. Thaksin
dissolved Parliament on Feb. 24 and is acting as caretaker prime
minister until new elections on April 2.) The two local
English-language publications - The Nation and The Bangkok Post -
periodically posit that the crackdown was inspired by unnamed prominent
politicians who couldn't control their own pampered offspring.
Long-ignored 1981 legislation outlining entertainment licensing
categories was resuscitated, and contrary to the normally laissez-faire
Thai attitude toward lawfulness, the regulations began to be enforced.

To change Bangkok's decades-old reputation as a 24-hour party center,
in 2002 the Thaksin government created three "entertainment zones" in
which drinking and dancing were allowed until 2 a.m. (According to one
club owner, four years later nobody knows the precise boundaries
because the zoning law was never made official.) Outside these zones,
dancing was illegal and closing times were 1 a.m.

Of the trio of late-night zones, only Patpong would be familiar to
visitors. Significantly cleaned up over the last five years, the strip
is naughty only in so far as sanitized parodies of sex shows and hordes
of stall vendors selling overpriced tourist schlock could be considered
salacious. Apart from the long-running bar Tapas (Silom Soi 4) and D.J.
Station, nothing in the Patpong area qualifies as a trendy dance club.

The second zone is Royal City Avenue, known as R.C.A., a strip of
youth-oriented venues in central Bangkok catering primarily to Thais.
Recently clubs like the huge concrete Astra have started to attract a
crowd of expatriates in their 20's by importing hip D.J.'s (Amnesia
Ibiza, Goldie and others). Even so, one night at the 15-year-old Zouk
bar in Singapore provides more real action and excitement than you'd
find in an entire week on R.C.A. The third zone, Ratchadapisek, is a
four-lane suburban road popular with Thai businessmen seeking the kind
of entertainment available at lavish multistoried massage parlors with
names like Love Boat and Colonze.

At first, club owners and customers didn't take the new laws seriously.
After all, this was Bangkok, where the police hung out drinking with
foreigners until dawn and a few hundred surreptitious baht resolved
most official problems. Besides, why would authorities undermine the
urbane club scene developing in the Sukhumvit area? That scene was
catalyzed by the 1999 opening of Q Bar, a "New York-style" lounge on
Soi 11, followed by the raucous Ministry of Sound (Soi 12), the
ultrachic Bed Supperclub (Soi 11) and the luxuriant Mystique (Soi 31).
Elsewhere, new hotel bars like 87 (at the Conrad), Tantra (Pan Pacific)
and Met Bar (Metropolitan) offered additional cosmopolitan choices.

But nothing deflates a thriving club scene like repeated unheralded
visits by a local constabulary intent on upholding "social order." And
that is exactly what has been happening over the last four years.
Sometimes the raiding police are accompanied by local TV crews. Exits
are barred, music grinds to sudden silence, lights flash on. Confused
and scared patrons who a moment before were partying down are suddenly
confronted by brown-uniformed police officers who demand to see their
ID's, frisk them or occasionally force them to urinate in a cup to test
for drug use. The raids often last far beyond the 1 or 2 a.m. closing
hours. They have rarely netted any violators.

But these attempts to regulate Thai teenagers' behavior have severely
limited the nocturnal activities of over-20 clubbers and have of course
been devastating for the clubs they frequent. Ministry of Sound, Tantra
and Mystique have closed, and 87 is dead. Only Q Bar and Bed Supperclub
remain active, and David Jacobson, co-owner of Q Bar, says that they
survive partly because no new international investors will risk coming
onto such an unpredictable club scene to provide competition. "Bangkok
is a dead town," he said. "It was one of the most fun places in Asia."
In March Q Bar is opening a branch in Singapore where it can stay open
24/7, though closing hour will be 4 a.m.

Even Kurt Wachtveitl, general manager of the Oriental Hotel for 38
years, weighed in on local night life in a Jan. 13 interview in The
Bangkok Post: "Wealthy people like to spend their money on things they
enjoy, and they spend a lot of money. But they don't want to go to bed
early! If Bangkok continues to be the kind of city that begins to look
sleepy after midnight, it will be wasting all its advantages to the
upscale foreign visitors. They'll go to Beijing, Shanghai and now
Singapore."

Far from cleaning up the city's image, the social order campaign has
spawned a sordid - and unregulated - after-hours scene that unfolds
on steamy sidewalks and dark alleys behind second-story black-curtained
windows. "You can't suppress people," David Jacobson said. "They want
to have a good time. It's human nature."

An hour at smoky and cacophonic D.J. Station satisfies my dancing
urges. Not ready to call it a night, however, I decamp to Rain Tree Pub
& Restauant, a tiny bar near Victory Monument where Thai folksingers
croon 1970's melodies known as "songs for life." I adore these rapidly
vanishing examples of traditional Thai life and am having a fabulous
time. Nonetheless, promptly at 1 a.m. the lights come on, the band
packs up, and I'm out on the streets of Bangkok, all dressed up with no
place to go.

  #2  
Old March 1st, 2006, 07:34 PM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more

These are security formalities. Now is different from the past. It is
troublesome and it has become a hassle problem.


"none" wrote in message
oups.com...

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/0...kokletter.html

A long wooden table obstructs the entrance to Silom Soi 2, a narrow
pedestrian alley lined with gay bars a few blocks from Bangkok's
once-infamous red light district, Patpong. I'm going to D.J. Station, a
local club where gays and straights alike gyrate to earsplitting
rhythms on the cramped dance floor. Four burly men in jeans and
T-shirts slouching at one end of the table point to a prominent sign
written in Thai and ungrammatical English. No one under 20 can enter
the soi (street) and everyone must present valid ID, which for
non-Thais constitutes an original passport (no photocopies) or a
driver's license.

Obviously over 20, I'm excluded from the ID formalities. "Have fun
Auntie," one of the bouncers mutters in Thai as he waves me through the
barricade, probably not realizing I understand him. A politer version
of the ID checking process is repeated outside D.J.'s, where once again
I'm whisked through. However, my 20-year-old Thai-English companion's
valid British driver's license receives lengthy scrutiny before he is
allowed inside.

Increasingly, going out on the town in Bangkok has become more of a
hassle than checking in for an international flight. At least after
clearing airport security and passport control, passengers can look
forward to a smooth trip. But once inside the dwindling number of
international-standard Bangkok night spots, patrons still face a
potentially bumpy ride.

In early 2001 the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began
a "social order" campaign to clean up the country's risqué image and
also to halt the supposed moral decay of its youth. (Mr. Thaksin
dissolved Parliament on Feb. 24 and is acting as caretaker prime
minister until new elections on April 2.) The two local
English-language publications - The Nation and The Bangkok Post -
periodically posit that the crackdown was inspired by unnamed prominent
politicians who couldn't control their own pampered offspring.
Long-ignored 1981 legislation outlining entertainment licensing
categories was resuscitated, and contrary to the normally laissez-faire
Thai attitude toward lawfulness, the regulations began to be enforced.

To change Bangkok's decades-old reputation as a 24-hour party center,
in 2002 the Thaksin government created three "entertainment zones" in
which drinking and dancing were allowed until 2 a.m. (According to one
club owner, four years later nobody knows the precise boundaries
because the zoning law was never made official.) Outside these zones,
dancing was illegal and closing times were 1 a.m.

Of the trio of late-night zones, only Patpong would be familiar to
visitors. Significantly cleaned up over the last five years, the strip
is naughty only in so far as sanitized parodies of sex shows and hordes
of stall vendors selling overpriced tourist schlock could be considered
salacious. Apart from the long-running bar Tapas (Silom Soi 4) and D.J.
Station, nothing in the Patpong area qualifies as a trendy dance club.

The second zone is Royal City Avenue, known as R.C.A., a strip of
youth-oriented venues in central Bangkok catering primarily to Thais.
Recently clubs like the huge concrete Astra have started to attract a
crowd of expatriates in their 20's by importing hip D.J.'s (Amnesia
Ibiza, Goldie and others). Even so, one night at the 15-year-old Zouk
bar in Singapore provides more real action and excitement than you'd
find in an entire week on R.C.A. The third zone, Ratchadapisek, is a
four-lane suburban road popular with Thai businessmen seeking the kind
of entertainment available at lavish multistoried massage parlors with
names like Love Boat and Colonze.

At first, club owners and customers didn't take the new laws seriously.
After all, this was Bangkok, where the police hung out drinking with
foreigners until dawn and a few hundred surreptitious baht resolved
most official problems. Besides, why would authorities undermine the
urbane club scene developing in the Sukhumvit area? That scene was
catalyzed by the 1999 opening of Q Bar, a "New York-style" lounge on
Soi 11, followed by the raucous Ministry of Sound (Soi 12), the
ultrachic Bed Supperclub (Soi 11) and the luxuriant Mystique (Soi 31).
Elsewhere, new hotel bars like 87 (at the Conrad), Tantra (Pan Pacific)
and Met Bar (Metropolitan) offered additional cosmopolitan choices.

But nothing deflates a thriving club scene like repeated unheralded
visits by a local constabulary intent on upholding "social order." And
that is exactly what has been happening over the last four years.
Sometimes the raiding police are accompanied by local TV crews. Exits
are barred, music grinds to sudden silence, lights flash on. Confused
and scared patrons who a moment before were partying down are suddenly
confronted by brown-uniformed police officers who demand to see their
ID's, frisk them or occasionally force them to urinate in a cup to test
for drug use. The raids often last far beyond the 1 or 2 a.m. closing
hours. They have rarely netted any violators.

But these attempts to regulate Thai teenagers' behavior have severely
limited the nocturnal activities of over-20 clubbers and have of course
been devastating for the clubs they frequent. Ministry of Sound, Tantra
and Mystique have closed, and 87 is dead. Only Q Bar and Bed Supperclub
remain active, and David Jacobson, co-owner of Q Bar, says that they
survive partly because no new international investors will risk coming
onto such an unpredictable club scene to provide competition. "Bangkok
is a dead town," he said. "It was one of the most fun places in Asia."
In March Q Bar is opening a branch in Singapore where it can stay open
24/7, though closing hour will be 4 a.m.

Even Kurt Wachtveitl, general manager of the Oriental Hotel for 38
years, weighed in on local night life in a Jan. 13 interview in The
Bangkok Post: "Wealthy people like to spend their money on things they
enjoy, and they spend a lot of money. But they don't want to go to bed
early! If Bangkok continues to be the kind of city that begins to look
sleepy after midnight, it will be wasting all its advantages to the
upscale foreign visitors. They'll go to Beijing, Shanghai and now
Singapore."

Far from cleaning up the city's image, the social order campaign has
spawned a sordid - and unregulated - after-hours scene that unfolds
on steamy sidewalks and dark alleys behind second-story black-curtained
windows. "You can't suppress people," David Jacobson said. "They want
to have a good time. It's human nature."

An hour at smoky and cacophonic D.J. Station satisfies my dancing
urges. Not ready to call it a night, however, I decamp to Rain Tree Pub
& Restauant, a tiny bar near Victory Monument where Thai folksingers
croon 1970's melodies known as "songs for life." I adore these rapidly
vanishing examples of traditional Thai life and am having a fabulous
time. Nonetheless, promptly at 1 a.m. the lights come on, the band
packs up, and I'm out on the streets of Bangkok, all dressed up with no
place to go.


  #3  
Old March 7th, 2006, 02:50 PM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more

Refer to:

http://www.SnapTheRoom.com/

Mr. Free Notes

"none" wrote in message
oups.com...

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/0...kokletter.html

A long wooden table obstructs the entrance to Silom Soi 2, a narrow
pedestrian alley lined with gay bars a few blocks from Bangkok's
once-infamous red light district, Patpong. I'm going to D.J. Station, a
local club where gays and straights alike gyrate to earsplitting
rhythms on the cramped dance floor. Four burly men in jeans and
T-shirts slouching at one end of the table point to a prominent sign
written in Thai and ungrammatical English. No one under 20 can enter
the soi (street) and everyone must present valid ID, which for
non-Thais constitutes an original passport (no photocopies) or a
driver's license.

Obviously over 20, I'm excluded from the ID formalities. "Have fun
Auntie," one of the bouncers mutters in Thai as he waves me through the
barricade, probably not realizing I understand him. A politer version
of the ID checking process is repeated outside D.J.'s, where once again
I'm whisked through. However, my 20-year-old Thai-English companion's
valid British driver's license receives lengthy scrutiny before he is
allowed inside.

Increasingly, going out on the town in Bangkok has become more of a
hassle than checking in for an international flight. At least after
clearing airport security and passport control, passengers can look
forward to a smooth trip. But once inside the dwindling number of
international-standard Bangkok night spots, patrons still face a
potentially bumpy ride.

In early 2001 the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began
a "social order" campaign to clean up the country's risqué image and
also to halt the supposed moral decay of its youth. (Mr. Thaksin
dissolved Parliament on Feb. 24 and is acting as caretaker prime
minister until new elections on April 2.) The two local
English-language publications - The Nation and The Bangkok Post -
periodically posit that the crackdown was inspired by unnamed prominent
politicians who couldn't control their own pampered offspring.
Long-ignored 1981 legislation outlining entertainment licensing
categories was resuscitated, and contrary to the normally laissez-faire
Thai attitude toward lawfulness, the regulations began to be enforced.

To change Bangkok's decades-old reputation as a 24-hour party center,
in 2002 the Thaksin government created three "entertainment zones" in
which drinking and dancing were allowed until 2 a.m. (According to one
club owner, four years later nobody knows the precise boundaries
because the zoning law was never made official.) Outside these zones,
dancing was illegal and closing times were 1 a.m.

Of the trio of late-night zones, only Patpong would be familiar to
visitors. Significantly cleaned up over the last five years, the strip
is naughty only in so far as sanitized parodies of sex shows and hordes
of stall vendors selling overpriced tourist schlock could be considered
salacious. Apart from the long-running bar Tapas (Silom Soi 4) and D.J.
Station, nothing in the Patpong area qualifies as a trendy dance club.

The second zone is Royal City Avenue, known as R.C.A., a strip of
youth-oriented venues in central Bangkok catering primarily to Thais.
Recently clubs like the huge concrete Astra have started to attract a
crowd of expatriates in their 20's by importing hip D.J.'s (Amnesia
Ibiza, Goldie and others). Even so, one night at the 15-year-old Zouk
bar in Singapore provides more real action and excitement than you'd
find in an entire week on R.C.A. The third zone, Ratchadapisek, is a
four-lane suburban road popular with Thai businessmen seeking the kind
of entertainment available at lavish multistoried massage parlors with
names like Love Boat and Colonze.

At first, club owners and customers didn't take the new laws seriously.
After all, this was Bangkok, where the police hung out drinking with
foreigners until dawn and a few hundred surreptitious baht resolved
most official problems. Besides, why would authorities undermine the
urbane club scene developing in the Sukhumvit area? That scene was
catalyzed by the 1999 opening of Q Bar, a "New York-style" lounge on
Soi 11, followed by the raucous Ministry of Sound (Soi 12), the
ultrachic Bed Supperclub (Soi 11) and the luxuriant Mystique (Soi 31).
Elsewhere, new hotel bars like 87 (at the Conrad), Tantra (Pan Pacific)
and Met Bar (Metropolitan) offered additional cosmopolitan choices.

But nothing deflates a thriving club scene like repeated unheralded
visits by a local constabulary intent on upholding "social order." And
that is exactly what has been happening over the last four years.
Sometimes the raiding police are accompanied by local TV crews. Exits
are barred, music grinds to sudden silence, lights flash on. Confused
and scared patrons who a moment before were partying down are suddenly
confronted by brown-uniformed police officers who demand to see their
ID's, frisk them or occasionally force them to urinate in a cup to test
for drug use. The raids often last far beyond the 1 or 2 a.m. closing
hours. They have rarely netted any violators.

But these attempts to regulate Thai teenagers' behavior have severely
limited the nocturnal activities of over-20 clubbers and have of course
been devastating for the clubs they frequent. Ministry of Sound, Tantra
and Mystique have closed, and 87 is dead. Only Q Bar and Bed Supperclub
remain active, and David Jacobson, co-owner of Q Bar, says that they
survive partly because no new international investors will risk coming
onto such an unpredictable club scene to provide competition. "Bangkok
is a dead town," he said. "It was one of the most fun places in Asia."
In March Q Bar is opening a branch in Singapore where it can stay open
24/7, though closing hour will be 4 a.m.

Even Kurt Wachtveitl, general manager of the Oriental Hotel for 38
years, weighed in on local night life in a Jan. 13 interview in The
Bangkok Post: "Wealthy people like to spend their money on things they
enjoy, and they spend a lot of money. But they don't want to go to bed
early! If Bangkok continues to be the kind of city that begins to look
sleepy after midnight, it will be wasting all its advantages to the
upscale foreign visitors. They'll go to Beijing, Shanghai and now
Singapore."

Far from cleaning up the city's image, the social order campaign has
spawned a sordid - and unregulated - after-hours scene that unfolds
on steamy sidewalks and dark alleys behind second-story black-curtained
windows. "You can't suppress people," David Jacobson said. "They want
to have a good time. It's human nature."

An hour at smoky and cacophonic D.J. Station satisfies my dancing
urges. Not ready to call it a night, however, I decamp to Rain Tree Pub
& Restauant, a tiny bar near Victory Monument where Thai folksingers
croon 1970's melodies known as "songs for life." I adore these rapidly
vanishing examples of traditional Thai life and am having a fabulous
time. Nonetheless, promptly at 1 a.m. the lights come on, the band
packs up, and I'm out on the streets of Bangkok, all dressed up with no
place to go.



  #4  
Old March 7th, 2006, 07:56 PM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more

I wonder if Prime Minister Thaksin's recent unpopularity
in Bangkok has something to do with his government's
devastation of the entertainment industry there.

A lot of Thais were making a living out of it. And
I can imagine that many of them are not happy about
loosing their incomes as a result of his government's
actions.

  #5  
Old March 7th, 2006, 11:00 PM posted to rec.travel.asia
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more

On 7 Mar 2006 10:56:42 -0800, "Dan" wrote:

I wonder if Prime Minister Thaksin's recent unpopularity
in Bangkok has something to do with his government's
devastation of the entertainment industry there.

A lot of Thais were making a living out of it. And
I can imagine that many of them are not happy about
loosing their incomes as a result of his government's
actions.


What devastation? Where are your references??
Moving closing hours to midnight(ish) from the previous Two(ish) which
was a change from the previous to THAT Four(ish) has had little
effect so far as far as anyone can tell; other than the johns are
getting drunk a bit earlier than before.
The prostitutes are probably making about the same money and the rest
of your tourist industry has likely seen no change at all. The johns
still have to eat, have to travel, and have to have some place to
stay.

If Shinwatra could eliminate the prostitution industry totally he
would have to be considered a saint; but as it is, they, in all
likelyhood, have too much power for to be eliminated.

But one can hope.


  #6  
Old March 8th, 2006, 08:01 AM posted to rec.travel.asia
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more


Slim wrote:
On 7 Mar 2006 10:56:42 -0800, "Dan" wrote:

I wonder if Prime Minister Thaksin's recent unpopularity
in Bangkok has something to do with his government's
devastation of the entertainment industry there.

A lot of Thais were making a living out of it. And
I can imagine that many of them are not happy about
loosing their incomes as a result of his government's
actions.


What devastation? Where are your references??
Moving closing hours to midnight(ish) from the previous Two(ish) which
was a change from the previous to THAT Four(ish) has had little
effect so far as far as anyone can tell; other than the johns are
getting drunk a bit earlier than before.
The prostitutes are probably making about the same money and the rest
of your tourist industry has likely seen no change at all. The johns
still have to eat, have to travel, and have to have some place to
stay.

If Shinwatra could eliminate the prostitution industry totally he
would have to be considered a saint; but as it is, they, in all
likelyhood, have too much power for to be eliminated.

But one can hope.


While I have a big problem with the noise the out doors
and some in doors bars make, I have no problem with the
prostitution. There needs to be some place on earth
where people can go and have sex all they want. Thailand
was built on the backs of their woman, now they want to
shun them. And those like you who come to Thailand
the first thing you want to do is turn it into the place
you came from. If you don't like Thailand as it is, you
can move.

I would love to see regulation on the noise, that all
go go bars must be in doors and cannot be heard out
side, or that out side bars must keep the sound level
down to community standards. As if they get three
calls on noise in one month they can be closed down
for a week, first offense, to permanent closure after.

Except for the prostitutes on the streets yelling "heyo
way you go" and yelling to customers, no one would
even know of their existance. Putting all this indoors
would acheive the goals without changing the character
of Thailand.

If Thaksin actually gave a crap about the kids then he
would do something about the noise, not the prostitutes.
Thais would quickly put walls and sound insulation
around their out doors go go bars if they could be closed
for too much noise.

  #7  
Old March 9th, 2006, 01:23 AM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more

He's trying to make clean new image of Thailand and it's unfortunate that
the people do not realise it. As a biz man he is trying to change the facade
of his country into an economic power in SEA region. Selling Shin Corp is
nothing more than good biz sense and it's a pity that the people do not
realise the true implications. OK, maybe he makes a good chunk of money out
of it, but so what?

Is Thailand going to depend on the sex trade and the drugs trade forever.?
Thanksin is trying to change this and get the people to rely on the
manufacturing and IT sector but the people are not ready. That's the
problem. The people are just not ready. They don't have the thinking power
that he has and the vision that he has.

Yes, his vision differs much from that of the neighbours down south. There
is no protectionism. All is based on performance and self-reliance and this
is where a strong nation stands on its own two feet. No fear of outside
playmakers the like of Soros. Let Soros come, he says, and I'll wipe him
out.

The Thai people just do not realise how much he has done for Thailand's
economic future and a place in the sun, standing with honour.

So, Thai people, cease your protests for you do not know what you are
doing!!! Appreciate Thanksin(intended).


"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
I wonder if Prime Minister Thaksin's recent unpopularity
in Bangkok has something to do with his government's
devastation of the entertainment industry there.

A lot of Thais were making a living out of it. And
I can imagine that many of them are not happy about
loosing their incomes as a result of his government's
actions.



  #8  
Old March 9th, 2006, 05:52 AM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more


Touche' wrote:
He's trying to make clean new image of Thailand and it's unfortunate that
the people do not realise it. As a biz man he is trying to change the facade
of his country into an economic power in SEA region. Selling Shin Corp is
nothing more than good biz sense and it's a pity that the people do not
realise the true implications. OK, maybe he makes a good chunk of money out
of it, but so what?

Is Thailand going to depend on the sex trade and the drugs trade forever.?



No, but until it sakes off its third world ways, it is the best
excuse for someone from the USA to spend some 20
to 30 hours on a plane, or someone from Europe to
spend a little less time on a plane to come to a third world
country. To come into Bangkok that is as smelly as London
or LA, in smog. You can go to Puerto Rico if you want to
see a beautiful country side and ocean views. Thailand
until recently has had the reputation of party central.
Of course when you come here (now) you find it is very
unwise to smoke pot, and prostitution is on the books
illegal. There is always the danger of a volunteer cop
asking you if you want pot, or underage girls, if you bite
you find yourself in a very bad jail situation. You now
need to ask the girls if they are of legal age.

In Hong Kong (unless thigs have changed) you can
start a business in one day, you just go in get a license
and you are in bussiness. Third world mentality
countries as Thailand and India make it as hard as
possible to start a business, especially for foreigners.


Thanksin is trying to change this and get the people to rely on the
manufacturing and IT sector but the people are not ready.


Thailand is a monopoly driven hell hole for business. To start
a business (unless you are from the USA) you have to have
7 thai owners along with you. Most get around this illegally
by going to a lawyer, and having 7 of his buddies sign their
shares over to you, but if you are found out, you are out of
business. To get a phone, you have to first get a line, which
may take 3 or more weeks, then you have to get a phone
number. When I tried they kept saying bock full, bock full,
in other words they had no lines because they were all taken
in the box in my area. To get any drugs in Thailand you have to
use the Siam brand because that is all there is, it is a
total monopoly. The phone system is one monopoly, the
the internet is a monopoly, and all just buy from that one.



That's the
problem. The people are just not ready. They don't have the thinking power
that he has and the vision that he has.

Yes, his vision differs much from that of the neighbours down south. There
is no protectionism. All is based on performance and self-reliance and this
is where a strong nation stands on its own two feet. No fear of outside
playmakers the like of Soros. Let Soros come, he says, and I'll wipe him
out.

The Thai people just do not realise how much he has done for Thailand's
economic future and a place in the sun, standing with honour.

So, Thai people, cease your protests for you do not know what you are
doing!!! Appreciate Thanksin(intended).



Please, if you marry a thai your children are then foreigners.
If you are not Thai you have to go out of the country every
2 to 3 months, or you cannot go out of the country
without their permission. As a foreigner you never have
a secure existance, no matter if you marry a thai have
children, start a business and hire a 1000 thais. At
the whim of the state you can be kicked out of Thailand
and your visa denied. That is why Thailand will never be
anything but a third world nation, unless it changes this.
No one in their right mind is going to invenst in this
type of situation. You cannot even own the land under
your business.





"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
I wonder if Prime Minister Thaksin's recent unpopularity
in Bangkok has something to do with his government's
devastation of the entertainment industry there.

A lot of Thais were making a living out of it. And
I can imagine that many of them are not happy about
loosing their incomes as a result of his government's
actions.


  #9  
Old March 9th, 2006, 07:24 AM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more

This is very true.

And first off let me say it was a joy scrolling that long ass article 3
or 4 times. Snippy snippy please. Nevermind that the original poster is
probably pasting an article copied from somewhere else. It lost its
USENET post feel about 4 paragraphs in.

Secondly, I don't have a clue what the original poster is talking
about, there's dancing til 2am all over BKK, from way down past Ekemai
to Siam plaza area, Sukhumvit of course, all over. Soi Nana, Soi
Cowboy... the go go bars.. When Ministry of Sound closed its doors in
2003, my mates from the UK opened up a new UK style D&B / Trance /
variety club right smack dab in the middle of RCA. They named it
Kinetic BKK and it had 5 floors of entertainment and alcohol. Nobody
bothered to tell these guys that only Thai music for Thai young people
would fly on RCA and the club folded in under a year after tens of
thousands of US dollars were pumped into it. Only the pervs (teleung!)
go down to Patpong unless things have changed. Katoey Land.

What was my point? Oh yeah.... the hype about Taksin "cleaning up
Bangkok" is chang poop. Only thing that guy is interested in cleaning
is Thai wallets of their hard earned Baht. (Hello Hatari) The sex
trade in Bangkok has Taksin to thank for affordable mobile phone
service, so the girls can call the guys and text message them "I come
see you in room. I bring sister" .



Sawadee khrap

  #10  
Old March 12th, 2006, 03:50 AM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia,soc.culture.malaysia,soc.culture.singapore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bangkok No Fun any more


wrote:

You are so wrong on so many things it's hard to know where to start.

Thailand is a monopoly driven hell hole for business. To start
a business (unless you are from the USA) you have to have
7 thai owners along with you.


The US has an Amity treaty that allows this. The US is *not* the only
country with an Amity treaty.

Most get around this illegally
by going to a lawyer, and having 7 of his buddies sign their
shares over to you, but if you are found out, you are out of
business.


If you do business illegally in *ANY* country you run the risk of
losing it all.

To get a phone, you have to first get a line, which
may take 3 or more weeks, then you have to get a phone
number.


Wrong, wrong and wrong. In most places lines already exist if you want
a land line. But few people do. You can get a cell phone in minutes.

When I tried they kept saying bock full, bock full,
in other words they had no lines because they were all taken
in the box in my area. To get any drugs in Thailand you have to
use the Siam brand because that is all there is, it is a
total monopoly.


Wrong again. I get name brand drugs like Celebrex at any normal
pharmacy.

The phone system is one monopoly, the
the internet is a monopoly, and all just buy from that one.


There are a large number of ISPs.

So, Thai people, cease your protests for you do not know what you are
doing!!! Appreciate Thanksin(intended).



Please, if you marry a thai your children are then foreigners.


Completely wrong. All children of a Thai citizen are Thai citizens.

If you are not Thai you have to go out of the country every
2 to 3 months, or you cannot go out of the country
without their permission.


Now I understand your problem. You are a visa runner. You don't have
legal permission to live in Thailand. I don't have to leave the country
regularly but I have no problem leaving the country whenever I want.
It's a matter of having the correct visa.

a foreigner you never have
a secure existance, no matter if you marry a thai have
children, start a business and hire a 1000 thais. At
the whim of the state you can be kicked out of Thailand
and your visa denied.


Really? Of course that's technically possible anywhere, but perhaps
you'd like to enlighten us about someone who was married to a Thai and
had children and started a business and was kicked out "on a whim".

That is why Thailand will never be
anything but a third world nation, unless it changes this.
No one in their right mind is going to invenst in this
type of situation. You cannot even own the land under
your business.


Yes you can if it is a legally registered business with Thai partners.

 




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