Bar Situation for November 14, 15, and 16

[Gaybutton]

As many of you know, the funeral ceremonies for HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana will take place from Friday, November 14 through Sunday, November 16.

 

Many have been asking whether the bars will be open. Again, as many of you know, quite often the final word from the police is not given until midnight the night before, but the latest information I have is that the Thai government has declared those three days as an official mourning period. The government will not close the bars, but has "requested" that the bars "tone down" the entertainment during that period. That's all anyone has been told at this point.

 

In other words, as it stands at the time of this post, it's up to each individual bar as to whether they will be open and also up to each individual bar as to whether alcohol will be served.

 

Again, bear in mind that this information can change at any moment, but this is the latest. If anything changes, I'll certainly post as soon as I know.

[Guest]

Crazy Dragon has said it will be closed all 3 days.

[Gaybutton]

Crazy Dragon has said it will be closed all 3 days.

 

If either of us gets a chance to ask additional bar owners, let's do that and get it posted so that everyone will know what to expect.

 

If anyone can help us out with reliable information for Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket, that would also be greatly appreciated.

[Gaybutton]

I just received some information from the owner of the La Cage bar, in Sunee Plaza. He says he can't get a definitive answer at this point, but from what he is hearing so far he expects to be closed the 14th, 15th, and 16th.

 

He also says the White Night buffet restaurant will be open, but will not be serving alcohol.

 

In other words, not even the bar owners have anything official at this point. However, based on the rumblings, I have a feeling the bars are going to end up closed.

 

Those of you in Thailand on a holiday might be well served to make your weekend "arrangements" in advance.

 

Look at the bright side. If the bars do end up closing, but you are able to make whatever advance arrangements you wish with a potential young gentleman companion, you'll save about 1500 baht in off fees and buy-drink-for-boy fees.

 

I also expect that liquor will not be sold, even in stores, during that time period. Those of you who enjoy an occasional schnapps (for medicinal purposes only, of course) might want to do a little shopping within the next couple of days, before liquor sales are shut down.

____________________

 

We have two threads going about the bar situation, so I shut down one thread and rearranged things so that all relevant posts will appear only on this thread, to avoid any confusion.

 

This just in, from Oogleman:

 

I have been asking some owners by email and phone. Nobody is sure yet. Only rumours that some may be open with no alcohol.

[PattayaMale]

I have a friend coming to Pattaya Nov. 13 - 18. He had planned that time and got tickets months ago.

 

While I understand the reason the government may want to restrict entertainment, it is too bad announcements could not have been made a long time ago when people might have had a chance to change their plans

[Guest buaseng]

While I understand the reason the government may want to restrict entertainment, it is too bad announcements could not have been made a long time ago when people might have had a chance to change their plans

As a regular contributor and, as I understand it, an expat you should be well aware that the Thai Government and the BIB are not at all concerned or interested in the views of farangs or tourist visitors when they are deciding on bar or entertainment closures/restrictions and the inconvenience, and possibly loss of money, that such declarations cause.

[Gaybutton]

I agree with Buaseng's post. As far as I can tell, those who make these decisions do not even factor in anything at all about tourists and revenue losses for the entertainment venues, both gay and straight. This has been an extremely difficult year for just about any form of business that caters to tourists, especially foreign tourists, in Pattaya. There have been numerous mandatory closings throughout the year for this holiday, that election, this religious ceremony, etc.

 

Couple that with certain monetary demands on certain venues from certain members of the local constabulary and now there is even more of a problem for the businesses. Considering that Pattaya is a city whose life blood literally depends on foreign tourism, it often seems as if the officials do everything they can to undermine tourists from wanting to come to Pattaya at all.

 

One of the biggest resentments is these absurd closing hours of 1:00am. Why? Then there are the numerous raids that had been occurring at Sunee Plaza. The police seem virtually helpless to do anything about the lady-boy prostitutes along Beach Road. Every week there is at least one story about a tourist being pick-pocketed. You can't ride a baht bus without worrying about whether someone is going to try to pick your pocket. Then there are the bag snatchings and gold chain snatchings, to the point that it is nearly insane to even wear jewelery of any kind while in Pattaya. Simply trying to cross a street on foot is worth your life.

 

Stores put barriers on the streets in front of their shops so that nobody can park there. For the life of me I can't figure out why they do that. How does a car parked in the street in front of their store hurt their business in any way? How are people who drive supposed to even get to their store if they can't park there? What gives them the right in the first place to put barriers in a public street? Who knows? Maybe the law permits it. I've never heard of any authorities telling any of these stores not to barrier the parking zones. I've never heard of any police fining any of these stores for doing that.

 

On top of all that, you have a number of baht bus drivers that try to cheat their customers and/or treat them like scum. Worse yet, gang violence has gotten out of control. Have a look at this story from the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS:

 

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000007734

 

That sort of brutality by street gangs is becoming more and more common. Just a few years ago gang violence was virtually unheard of in Pattaya. Thankfully most of it occurs when the majority of people are usually asleep in the wee hours of the morning, but why should tourists have to be frightened of gangs? Why can't the police seem to be able to do much of anything about it? Why, if you happen to be out from about 1:30am to 6:30am do you have to be afraid there's a good chance that you might not make it back to your room in one piece or without having been robbed or caught in gang crossfire? These gangs will attack people for the slightest provocation. Simply making eye contact with gang members can end up costing you your life. One poor guy was attacked about a week or so ago. He's still in a coma. He was carrying no ID, so the police have no idea who he even is. Apparently nobody associated with wherever he was staying has thus far bothered to call the police to alert them that one of their tenants has gone missing for several days.

 

Pattaya can't bring the flooding problems under control during torrential rain storms that have been occurring almost daily. Road construction sits idle for months, and then when work finally begins again they pick high season to do it, but invariably any road construction takes forever to complete. In many cases by the time they complete it, the work was so shoddy that the same streets that were repaired are filled with potholes again.

 

Traffic is getting worse and worse. A trip that used to take me ten minutes now takes thirty to forty minutes, and that's if I'm lucky. Tremendous amounts of traffic, and few places to park. There are times when you have to park so far from where you're trying to go that you still end up taking a taxi. Less than a week ago I was going to join a friend for dinner at the White Night. Big mistake and bad timing. It was raining rather heavily and traffic literally snarled. If you were driving there was no way to get out of it. Normally it would take me about fifteen minutes to get from my house to the White Night. That day it took an hour and forty-five minutes! By the time I could get out of the traffic I couldn't just turn around and go home. I would have ended up in a traffic jam just as bad going the opposite direction. So, I pressed on to the White Night.

 

Then you have the people who don't mind double parking and sometimes even triple parking on major thoroughfares even during rush hour. They park like that with virtual impunity, especially if it's raining. When it's raining, you're not going to find police out there enforcing traffic laws (are there any?) or enforcing anything else. They seem to become totally invisible when the weather is bad.

 

Other than that, everything is just ginger peachy. All of this, and more, adds to the problems faced by businesses.

 

But you know something? Despite all these problems, and plenty more I didn't even list, I still would rather be here in Pattaya than anywhere else on Earth.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

GB, I am sure will have the tourists fighting for seats on a plane to come here.

[Guest MonkeySee]

As the saying goes, "This is Thailand." The royal family is the number one priority and I guess making a living comes second? Our western mentality is quite different but as you say, "Despite all these problems, and plenty more I didn't even list, I still would rather be here in Pattaya than anywhere else on Earth."

[Gaybutton]

GB, I am sure will have the tourists fighting for seats on a plane to come here.

 

Would you prefer that I lie to them?

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Would you prefer that I lie to them?

 

 

Did you ever hear, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything."?

[Gaybutton]

Did you ever hear, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything."?

 

Yes, but I don't agree that the above cliché applies. The problems I wrote about do exist and I see no reason not to discuss them. To me, not discussing them at all would be much the same as burying one's head in the sand. I also said, and meant, that despite those problems I'd rather be here in Pattaya than anywhere else on earth.

 

[Guest Steve1903]

"If you cant say anything nice say nothing at all"

 

Going on that theory the scam artists would have easy pickings with the new meat as they come through the airport. After all, if nobody is warning anyone to what goes on then everyone will have to find out the hard way.

[Guest MonkeySee]

I agree with Buaseng's post. As far as I can tell, those who make these decisions do not even factor in anything at all about tourists and revenue losses for the entertainment venues, both gay and straight. This has been an extremely difficult year for just about any form of business that caters to tourists, especially foreign tourists, in Pattaya. There have been numerous mandatory closings throughout the year for this holiday, that election, this religious ceremony, etc.

 

Couple that with certain monetary demands on certain venues from certain members of the local constabulary and now there is even more of a problem for the businesses. Considering that Pattaya is a city whose life blood literally depends on foreign tourism, it often seems as if the officials do everything they can to undermine tourists from wanting to come to Pattaya at all.

 

One of the biggest resentments is these absurd closing hours of 1:00am. Why? Then there are the numerous raids that had been occurring at Sunee Plaza. The police seem virtually helpless to do anything about the lady-boy prostitutes along Beach Road. Every week there is at least one story about a tourist being pick-pocketed. You can't ride a baht bus without worrying about whether someone is going to try to pick your pocket. Then there are the bag snatchings and gold chain snatchings, to the point that it is nearly insane to even wear jewelery of any kind while in Pattaya. Simply trying to cross a street on foot is worth your life.

 

Stores put barriers on the streets in front of their shops so that nobody can park there. For the life of me I can't figure out why they do that. How does a car parked in the street in front of their store hurt their business in any way? How are people who drive supposed to even get to their store if they can't park there? What gives them the right in the first place to put barriers in a public street? Who knows? Maybe the law permits it. I've never heard of any authorities telling any of these stores not to barrier the parking zones. I've never heard of any police fining any of these stores for doing that.

 

On top of all that, you have a number of baht bus drivers that try to cheat their customers and/or treat them like scum. Worse yet, gang violence has gotten out of control. Have a look at this story from the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS:

 

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000007734

 

That sort of brutality by street gangs is becoming more and more common. Just a few years ago gang violence was virtually unheard of in Pattaya. Thankfully most of it occurs when the majority of people are usually asleep in the wee hours of the morning, but why should tourists have to be frightened of gangs? Why can't the police seem to be able to do much of anything about it? Why, if you happen to be out from about 1:30am to 6:30am do you have to be afraid there's a good chance that you might not make it back to your room in one piece or without having been robbed or caught in gang crossfire? These gangs will attack people for the slightest provocation. Simply making eye contact with gang members can end up costing you your life. One poor guy was attacked about a week or so ago. He's still in a coma. He was carrying no ID, so the police have no idea who he even is. Apparently nobody associated with wherever he was staying has thus far bothered to call the police to alert them that one of their tenants has gone missing for several days.

 

Pattaya can't bring the flooding problems under control during torrential rain storms that have been occurring almost daily. Road construction sits idle for months, and then when work finally begins again they pick high season to do it, but invariably any road construction takes forever to complete. In many cases by the time they complete it, the work was so shoddy that the same streets that were repaired are filled with potholes again.

 

Traffic is getting worse and worse. A trip that used to take me ten minutes now takes thirty to forty minutes, and that's if I'm lucky. Tremendous amounts of traffic, and few places to park. There are times when you have to park so far from where you're trying to go that you still end up taking a taxi. Less than a week ago I was going to join a friend for dinner at the White Night. Big mistake and bad timing. It was raining rather heavily and traffic literally snarled. If you were driving there was no way to get out of it. Normally it would take me about fifteen minutes to get from my house to the White Night. That day it took an hour and forty-five minutes! By the time I could get out of the traffic I couldn't just turn around and go home. I would have ended up in a traffic jam just as bad going the opposite direction. So, I pressed on to the White Night.

 

Then you have the people who don't mind double parking and sometimes even triple parking on major thoroughfares even during rush hour. They park like that with virtual impunity, especially if it's raining. When it's raining, you're not going to find police out there enforcing traffic laws (are there any?) or enforcing anything else. They seem to become totally invisible when the weather is bad.

 

Other than that, everything is just ginger peachy. All of this, and more, adds to the problems faced by businesses.

 

But you know something? Despite all these problems, and plenty more I didn't even list, I still would rather be here in Pattaya than anywhere else on Earth.

 

Oh Pattaya, our little piece of heaven on earth!

 

[paulsf]

I am in Bangkok now, headed for Pattaya tomorrow. I was talking to a couple of boys last night and they said the bars and clubs would be closed on Saturday night only. They werent happy because it's a big night. But they again, they werent sure it was only going to be a one night closing either. There does seem to be a bit of confusion here as to what is going to happen over the weekend.

[Guest gwm4sian]

Stores put barriers on the streets in front of their shops so that nobody can park there. For the life of me I can't figure out why they do that. How does a car parked in the street in front of their store hurt their business in any way? How are people who drive supposed to even get to their store if they can't park there? What gives them the right in the first place to put barriers in a public street? Who knows? Maybe the law permits it. I've never heard of any authorities telling any of these stores not to barrier the parking zones. I've never heard of any police fining any of these stores for doing that.

 

Madame Jim likes to park in front of Boyz Boyz Boyz, and the staff there use barriers to reserve a place for him opposite Panorame.

 

Before now I have watched the BIB come round in a pickup, load up the barrier and drive it away.

 

Yes, it is not allowed to block the road and reserve places you think.

 

But no, next day the self same barrier is back, after suitable tea money has been paid.

[Gaybutton]

But no, next day the self same barrier is back, after suitable tea money has been paid.

 

Actually Jim is one of the few who has every right to do that. You see, that is not a public street. That street is privately owned.

 

[Guest lester1]

After Gaybutton's industrial strength, marathon length, PhD thesis on what is wrong with Pattaya, it is hard to disagree with anything he writes. As is always the case with threads like this, it immediately throws up new questions. Here are a few:-

1. With regard to roads, drainage and potholes, it occurs to me that here in the UK a local council responsible for road upkeep would have a squad of engineers and workers on their payroll, who drive around in council logo-ed vehicles whose job it is to fix problems according to the demands of the council themselves. Does Pattaya city hall have such a workforce or are all repair contracts given over to private contractors.

2. To what degree in Thailand are the police responsible to the council of the area in which they work.

Do the BIB simply police national laws, leaving local ones to others. Are there two types of police operating in pattaya.

3. The feeling of mine is that local pattaya politicians have many agendas, and fairly low down on the list is to the service of the community. They seem to come from either a social or business elite, and dont seem to be motivated, or at least not completely, to an unbiased term of office devoted to public service and good management. Now this is true of politicians everywhere, and I am comfortable with a certain amount of deviousness when it comes to doing their job, BUT this leads to two further points.

4. There seems to be no pressure group or political opposition who have a formalised roll capable of a watching brief of how council duties are performed. Its obvious that the press in Pattaya, who elsewhere would be able to act as a safeguard/pressure forum, have no interest in sticking their heads above the wall and getting in politicians faces.

5. Local politicians seem to get where they are because of who they are and who they know, and not because of what they have done professionally. In other words, what sort of training do they have to run complex local government departments. Again, true of politicians everywhere, but there would be a civil service of engineers, administrators, lawyers, and professional managers, salaried and with little political loyalty, whose job it would be to run the offices of these politicians, certainly in the western world. Is it true in Pattaya?

6. A simple question:- how educated and qualified are the people who find themselves at the top of the tree of local government.

 

Now it would not surprise me to have two types of people who disagree with me. There would be those who say 'this is Thailand', as if that is sufficient explanation. Next would be the thinkers who argue that its wrong to bring western ideas to a complicated and different Asian society that runs to the beat of a different drum. My response to that is that several areas of infrastructure in Pattaya are so clearly falling apart that perhaps a new way of looking things might not be a bad idea. Add to that is that like it or not, with tourists, western business concerns, the proximity of major industry, ports, and airports, Pattaya is now more of an international city than ever before and needs to start acting like it.

[Guest]

I spoke to the owner of Villa Rouge and he said they would be closed for the 3 days.

[Guest gwm4sian]

Actually Jim is one of the few who has every right to do that. You see, that is not a public street. That street is privately owned.

 

If that is the case, I don't understand why the BIB insist on taking the barrier away and charging tea money- but then again, there's a lot I don't understand, especially about Thailand!

 

[Guest Geezer]

I’ve been told when repairs are needed the street is private property. When the BIB (Boys In Brown) want something it's public.

[Guest]

The police came around last night with the paper. All bars must be closed on Nov 15th. On Nov 14 and 16 they can open but no alcohol, shows or music. This was in Pattaya and not sure if all areas got the notice. I spoke to a few people who said that several bars in Boyztown will remain open but no booze. I will be curious to see if the bars on Walking Street close.

[Guest joseph44]

If that is the case, I don't understand why the BIB insist on taking the barrier away and charging tea money- but then again, there's a lot I don't understand, especially about Thailand!

GWM, this has nothing to do with 'not understanding' Thailand, because it isn't hard to understand this country. What's hard to understand is that some people pretend to be more than others, just because of the fact that they run a (successful) business.

But ok, since BoyzTown is private owned..........(and this is addressed to the owners of BT):is it maybe possible to take care of some kind of proper security at both entrances of BoyzTown? Is it possible, to repair the street near the Family Mart, so that we can enter BoyzTown with dry feet? Have you ever thought of building a roof, to create a kind of BoyzTown Plaza? Shouldn't be a problem if you're the owner.

Oh and, this is also addressed to the 'private owners' of BoyzTown: please tell the other entrepeneurs in BoyzTown that they are actually owners of the street, because they think that the City Hall is.

 

Enjoy your 3-day holiday.

 

 

[paulsf]

I'm in Bangkok tonight and just came in from dinner. Most of the clubs have their flashing lights turned off and the music is toned down. But you can still hear it from outside. Otherwise it appears as business as usual.