Silom Night Market

[Guest whall]

I hope the people they booted out have another place so they can make some money. Bummer.

[vinapu]

Bottom line unless there is a Thai national on this board which I don't think there is , it is none of our business how the Thais manage their streets and sidewalks . We all have our own opinions and I am sure none of them are factored into the decisions of whether Thais are allowed to make a living selling stuff to tourists.

 

I agree a  lot of it could be termed junk but there are some things worth buying and over the years I have brought back things to friends that they enjoyed .  Right now I am looking at 3 watches that have kept time perfectly for years and even some jewelers have mistaken for the real thing.

 

I much prefer this type of streets to pristine perfect streets of some Asian countries .  Anyways if they start cleaning up the streets from vendors where will we go for that fabulous street food?

while I agree with your post I think , since it's our money that is spend  on those two great streets in question , it is our business how those are managed. All sellers were Thais but most shoppers were not.

 

Reading this thread made me realizing how I missed those crowded sidewalks. 

[vinapu]

There was sidewalk-vendor food sold on Silom near DJ Station, at the intersection with Sala Daeng and also near Soi Convent

still salivating at thought of their banana pancakes

[Alexx]

On Sukhumvit Road more so than on Silom Road, you actually still find pretty much the same variety of products being sold on the sidewalk. What I mean is this: Before the cleanup, there were Viagra/Cialis stalls back to back. Now the space they can occupy is much more limited, so they need to be more economical with it. Instead of seeing five Viagra and four porn stalls on a a stretch of sidewalk, now you only see one of each. That actually makes things easier, if anything.

[Guest Promsak]

the phrases "Bangkok's "tessakit" officers" and "enforcing these rules" usually only occur together in a sentence with a couple of other key words!

 

bkkguy

I've only ever seen the tekksakij scam farang, only farang, out of 2000 baht for dropping litter. They have no power to fine people and must call a real policeman to enforce a fine.

 

Just stand and watch them.

If you don't believe me, search the Bangkok Post archives for an interview with the head of the Bangkok administration explaining the function of these so called officers.

Thais love the word 'officer' and even a bank teller is an officer.

[tamtam]

As far as I understand from all the posts here, Bangkok will still be crowded with sidewalk stalls selling all the not-so-necessary things those vendors in Silom used to sell to farangs at more or less inflated prices. I was hoping I could find Transparent season 3 and maybe  Looking the movie . There was this lady in Silom who for some reason had all these gay themed movies for sale. New and old, even movies you cant find online.

[ChristianPFC]

delete triple posting due to computer problem

[ChristianPFC]

delete

[ChristianPFC]

Not just Silom market, market on Pratunam and Ratchadamri sidewalks is gone as well. And moving van stations from Victory monument worked, I had a look today and found vast, empty areas (wonder for how long they will stay empty and what will go in there).

 

I appreciate the freedom to walk on a wide sidewalk, and not having to be in the slow train making its way between the stalls. Why on earth do you have to sell and buy clothes or souvenirs on the sidewalk?

[ChristianPFC]

Not just Silom market, market on Pratunam sidewalks is gone as well. And moving van stations from Victory monument worked, I had a look today and found vast, empty areas (wonder for how long they will stay empty and what will go in there).

 

I appreciate the freedom to walk on a wide sidewalk, and not having to be in the slow train making its way between the stalls. Why on earth do you have to sell and buy clothes or souvenirs on the sidewalk?

[Guest FossilGay]

Yes being Chinese, one of my favourite food is that sinfully good pig offal soup in Silom. I know it sounds repulsive...

 

They say you are what you eat.

[Guest FossilGay]

Why on earth do you have to sell and buy clothes or souvenirs on the sidewalk?

 

Good question, CPFC.  My guess is to capture the pedestrian traffic.  But I agree they are a nuisance.  I'd rather shop at a market where all the stalls are together and I can browse and shop in comfort.

[Guest Promsak]

delete triple posting due to computer problem

Due to operator problem!

[pong]

some hopefully explaiing facts then, though I did not read all above

1.Patpong IS an private road/street, as there are many such in BKK and indeed TH. Thats why ''anything goes'' there. How it looks like has nothing to do with it. I thinlk thiw was already just printyed in the oldest LP or other guidebook from 30/33 yrs ago.

2.most of those vendors were not Thai anyway, but Burmese-though I assume a lot of them were more the ''inbetweens'' not caring too much about borders/ID. All those sudden empathic cries about poor souls are also quite wrong: it must have been a ''job'' that paid off well

3.the first big such market moved out was near to the SaranRom park and there the ''original'' dirty DVDs etc were openly on sale-just rummage, some stands even had them neatly organised in ''farang/TH/JPN/ etc. All sold for 20 bt/each and some 6 for 100. They all had large signs in Thai with ''P'' on it (thats letter poh-for por). I had some BelAMi's from there that all worked well and still do.

 Our dear Chris-tian has reported this market, which mostly offered 2nd hd stuff (had also some nice shirts for just 35 bt/3 for 100) moved to a new place just over the river from the southern Thai/Sapan Phut nite-market, but I 've never been there (yet). Others mention other parts of it have moved to the old SaiThai BUSterminal space in faraway Pinklao. Conveniently for you there is also an only in TH advertising M2M place there (@pinklao).

[steveboy]

Not just Silom market, market on Pratunam sidewalks is gone as well. And moving van stations from Victory monument worked, I had a look today and found vast, empty areas (wonder for how long they will stay empty and what will go in there).

 

I appreciate the freedom to walk on a wide sidewalk, and not having to be in the slow train making its way between the stalls. Why on earth do you have to sell and buy clothes or souvenirs on the sidewalk?

 

I agree.  And it is not only businesses who encroach on sidewalks but private people as well, putting plants, chairs there. 

Staying at Babylon, I like to walk from there to everywhere else for miles.  No soon did they nicely paved the streets close to it a few years ago, the sidewalks immediately filled up with junk, including utility poles that block the walk.  So one has to do much walking on the street, with motorcycles, cars passing by, while the sidewalks are resting places for plants, chairs, tables, stalls, etc.  I always wished to have a huge vacuum that could suck all that up and leave a clean street.   Of course I also feel bad for the modest people who make a living in this encroached space, while I am just a tourist who wants to walk comfortably.

[Guest Hutchison]

I agree.  And it is not only businesses who encroach on sidewalks but private people as well, putting plants, chairs there. 

Staying at Babylon, I like to walk from there to everywhere else for miles.  No soon did they nicely paved the streets close to it a few years ago, the sidewalks immediately filled up with junk, including utility poles that block the walk.  So one has to do much walking on the street, with motorcycles, cars passing by, while the sidewalks are resting places for plants, chairs, tables, stalls, etc.  I always wished to have a huge vacuum that could suck all that up and leave a clean street.   Of course I also feel bad for the modest people who make a living in this encroached space, while I am just a tourist who wants to walk comfortably.

Totally Agree!  I also love to walk around BKK. If there is one wish I have, that could be fulfilled, it's that every BKK street had a safe pedestrian foot path 1 metre wide which was policed to keep it clear of stalls, poles, letter boxes, and motorcys and so on.....However. I am just a humble farang and visitor and as the real powers-that-be never walk, but ride in chauffeured vehicles, I'm afraid this will never happen.  I had a narrow miss from being hit by a motorcycle walking around the corner of the Ibis Hotel Sathorn into Soi Ngam Duplee (C-PFC would know it), opposite the Malaysia Hotel. There is no path there, so you must dodge the traffic and at peak hour that small road is difficult to cross. Why didn't the Ibis include a side walk when they built a few years ago? Because they weren't made to- even though their own guests need it.  Oh wishes and dreams......

[TMax]

Wouldn't have thought there was a need to stop it altogether but just limit the number of stalls, my only gripe with them was getting stuck behind tourists whilst they stopped and blocked any way of getting past them. Maybe allow a zone or path for people to walk down.

[Guest Hutchison]

Or limit the street stalls to weekends only.

[Guest FossilGay]

...my only gripe with them was getting stuck behind tourists whilst they stopped and blocked any way of getting past them. Maybe allow a zone or path for people to walk down.

 

Not only for us tourists and resident retirees, but thousands of ordinary Thai people and workers who use the pavements everyday.  The stalls create potholes and cracks on the pavements, making them even more difficult to maintain and walk on.

[bkkguy]

delete triple posting due to computer problem

 

Due to operator problem!

 

in computer support parlance this is the class of errors generally known as PEBKAC though sometimes also reported as ID-10-T errors

 

bkkguy

[DivineMadman]

Just to add some diversity to the opinions here, I've never minded the street vendors.  I'm seldom in a rush, don't mind crowds and to me it's part of the joyous, chaotic, overflowing fabric of the city.  I miss the the flower market, to name just one lost gem.   Much of the same drive to "modernize" and clear the sidewalks leads to things like the clearing out of the community at the Mahakan Fort, one of those quirky Bangkok places that are fun to visit and explore and sit and chat with locals, and will all too soon be gone.  I don't think Old Town Hanoi would be nearly as fun if the sidewalks were cleared.  

[Guest ryanasia]

Wouldn't have thought there was a need to stop it altogether but just limit the number of stalls, my only gripe with them was getting stuck behind tourists whilst they stopped and blocked any way of getting past them. Maybe allow a zone or path for people to walk down.

 

Thailand doesn't do moderation very well. If you let some booths in then others would slip in and you would be back to how it was in short time. That is just how it is here. Now what they need to do is try to keep these sidewalks from becoming nothing more than freeway lanes for motorbikes.

[ChristianPFC]

PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair)

ID-10-T error (idiot error)

 

If you want to know exactly, my internet connection is unreliable, and while it looked like connection was broken, it was still there, but I had to do something (clicking "send" again) to find out whether I have connection or not.

 

I had a narrow miss from being hit by a motorcycle walking around the corner of the Ibis Hotel Sathorn into Soi Ngam Duplee (C-PFC would know it), opposite the Malaysia Hotel. There is no path there, so you must dodge the traffic and at peak hour that small road is difficult to cross. Why didn't the Ibis include a side walk when they built a few years ago? Because they weren't made to- even though their own guests need it.  Oh wishes and dreams......

 

I often bypass that corner by going through Ibis hotel. That reduces a T-junction with traffic from three sides to two simple crossings.

[Guest Promsak]

also reported as ID-10-T errors

 

bkkguy

Love it!

[anddy]

further to my post about Patpong being private property, here is the history of it, taken from the highly recommended book

 

22 WALKS IN BANGKOK

by Kenneth Barrett

available at Asia Books in Bangkok or Amazon

 

 

 

 

There are those cynics amongst us (and shame upon them!) who

declare that Bangrak, the Village of Love, is so named because the

red-light district of Patpong lies at its heart. whatever reputation

Patpong has for debauchery, it is nonetheless a village, and it grew

in the same unplanned way that characterises so much of Bangkok.

Poon Pat was a Chinese immigrant from Hainan Island who in the

early twentieth century was working as a rice buyer for a company

in Bangkok. Part of Poon pat's territory included the Ban Moh district

in Saraburi Province, to the north of Bangkok, and looking into

the rice yields there, he realised there was something odd about the

soil. During the monsoon rains, erosion would often reveal what the

farmers called white earth, laying a metre or so berow the topsoil.

Nothing would grow on or near the white earth, and new topsoil

had to be shovelled back over it before rice seeds could be planted.

Poon Pat took a sample back to Bangkok, where it was found to

be almost pure calcium carbonate, a mineral that is necessary for

the production of Portland cement. At that time cement for siam's

roads and buildings had to be imported, and so the discovery was

of great value. In recognition of his service to the nation, Rama

vt bestowed upon Poon Pat the title Luang patpongse panit, the

"luang" roughly equivalent to viscount and with the "panit"

signifying the title had been conferred for services to commerce. poon pat

adopted Patpongse (the "se" is silent) as his new Thai family name

and quickly adapted to the life of nobility.

Directly after the end of world !(/ar rr, poon patpongse purchased

an undeveloped plot of land that lay between Silom and surawong

roads. The only building of any significance on the plot was a teak

building that had been occupied by the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank,

and which had been taken over by the occupying ]apanese in r94r

for use as their military police headquarters. poon patpongse had

been looking for a large plot to use as the family compound, and he

paid 59,ooo baht for the land, which had been used for fruit grow_

ing. Deciding to cut a six-metre wide driveway from Surawong into

the property, Poon Patpongse handed the job over to his son Udom,

and took the family away on holiday to Hua Hin. udom had studied

at the London School of Economics directly before the war, and later

at the University of 4.,[innesota, and he sensed a business opportunity'

He doubled the size of the road and drove it through to Silom,

envisaging a district where offices could be built to accommodate

the Western companies that were coming into Siam during the

restructuring that was taking place following the war. By this time

siam was Thailand, a constitutional monarchy, and was eager to take

its place in the new world order. w'hen his father had calmed down

he saw Udom's logic. Finance was raised to build shophouses at the

Surawong end ofthe road, and then Udom put the next part ofhis

plan into action. Familiar with the Western way of doing business,

and knowing they distrusted time-honoured Asian practices such

as key money, a large upfront deposit that the landlord puts in the

bank to earn interest, he sought out potential tenants and offered

them straight Western-style rental deals. Companies began moving

in, notably airlines, as Bangkok began to emerge as a destination

and as a staging post for other Asian cities. News bureaux, shipping

lines and the US Information Service all opened offices here, and a

|apanese man named Mizutoni opened the first restaurant, Mizu.

The Vietnam War changed everything. Udom saw that the

American GIs who were stationed in Bangkok, or passing through,

were going to be looking for somewhere to spend their R&R dollars.

He started offering leases to'Western businessmen to open bars and

nightclubs. New Petchburi Road became the centre for bordellos

and massage parlours, while Patpong quickly became a lively area

for bars catering both for the local businessmen and the military.

Only in the late r96os with the opening of the Grand Prix Cocktail

Lounge & Bar did Patpong start to emerge as Bangkok's premier

red-light district. Taking over the premises from a barbershop, this

was the first bar in Bangkok to feature girls dancing go-Bo, clad only

in bikinis, if that. Like all great ideas in Bangkok, it wasn't lonely

for long.

Patpong's glory days were the 1970s and 1980s, for after the GIs

had left the reputation of the place kept on spreading and the tourists

and tired businessmen took their place. When the street market

was opened in the early r99os (being a private thoroughfare

the road can close whenever it wants to) the area lost much of its

raunchy quality and a lot of that business moved to Nana Plaza and

to Soi Cowboy. Today, open-fronted bars and music outlets cater

for bemused tourists and shoppers, while many of the go-go bars

with their semi-nude girls remain half-empty (or so I am reliably

informed). But if you wander along Patpong in the daytime, admittedly

not the best time to look at the place, you will see Udom's

shophouses still standing. Seldom can a property investment anywhere

have paid off quite so handsomely. Oh, and Mizu is still there,

unchanged since the day it opened, and, I sometimes have my suspicions,

still with the original staff.