Another Alcohol Ban?

Post by **Jockey** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 5:03 pm

Fame!

Post by **lomuamart** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 5:50 pm

That article made me chuckle. And, of course, it'll be the same this coming weekend.

Post by **Vital Spark** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:35 pm

Golly gosh.

If I thought that my thoughts were going to be published on another website, I would have put more thought into it.

I've never heard of this site and have no idea of the hits it gets, but it'll be interesting to see if the readership of HHAD increases or has increased over the past few days due to the plug.

Do you think that the powers that be that enforce these crazy laws actually read any of these reports? I very much doubt it...

VS

Post by **sandman67** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:25 pm

here's a thought...

Is the Mayor elected or appointed ?

Well..... maybe all you whose businesses are slammed by the ban, whilst the Thai MIB protected bars stay open, maybe a little lobbying or gentle persuasion of Thai staff and friends is in order......

Another thought....were the Tourism Ministry asleep when this went through ?

Or are they so dumb they think the stated reason of stopping lobbying parties logically fits with an alcohol ban affecting tourists and ex-pats who cant vote and poor buggers on holiday would just accept it and come back here again ?

Errrr why dont you just ban lobbying/voting parties? Or is that just too bloody simple for you?

I love this country but sometimes its insanity just gets me wound up.

Post by **DawnHRD** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:59 am

Sandman - personal view not moddy view here -

Has it not occurred to you yet, that farangs have no lobbying rights here? Those businesses affected are not 'owned' by farang, by & large; they are owned by Thai partners, who usually don't like to make waves.

The govt & MiB don't give a damn whether the expat community or tourists are unhappy about losing some drinking days. They certainly aren't going to do a U-turn on the policy if the farang community get a petition/protest together. Might give them some amusement & entertainment, though

As you said, the tourists will come back anyway, so it hardly affects the tourist dollar.

Best idea is what everyone is already doing: Find somewhere that serves (albeit in coffee cups), stock up at home, or abstain.

Post by **buksida** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:38 am

The authorities, municipality, police, politicians and even tourism board simply don't give a flying f*** about what foreigners say or think in their country.

Sad but true.

Post by **webmaster** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:45 am

buksida wrote: The authorities, municipality, police, politicians and even tourism board simply don't give a flying f*** about what foreigners say or think in their country.

Sad but true.

Post by **dtaai-maai** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:09 pm

buksida wrote: The authorities, municipality, police, politicians and even tourism board simply don't give a flying f*** about what foreigners say or think in their country.

Sad but true.

I agree.

Perhaps we in the Great West could learn something from them for a change?

Post by **Norseman** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:07 am

Well said D.M.
Perhaps the management of Man.City could teach our great leaders how to do it.

Post by **HHTel** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:45 am

Doesn't affect tourism..... Perlease... wake up!

Met a group of 4 last Friday who arrived here for Christmas and New Year. Didn't know what was going on and after this wonderful idea by the government/mib was explained to them, and noted that coming weekend would be the same, caught a taxi back to BKK for flight to Malaysia. Not the first time they'd been to LOS but said it's got worse every year and they definately won't be back again. How many more like that?

Post by **redzonerocker** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:19 am

HHTel wrote:Doesn't affect tourism..... Perlease... wake up!

Met a group of 4 last Friday who arrived here for Christmas and New Year. Didn't know what was going on and after this wonderful idea by the government/mib was explained to them, and noted that coming weekend would be the same, caught a taxi back to BKK for flight to Malaysia. Not the first time they'd been to LOS but said it's got worse every year and they definately won't be back again. How many more like that?

maybe if they had done a little more research they would have known about the elections & subsequent alcohol bans?
seems a bit of a kneejerk reaction to me.
i agree its bad timing but it has been well publicised for a long while now & it is only a couple of days.
there are ways around the ban if you're that desperate for a drink, as has been posted by other members here.

Post by **Rider** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:31 am

But thats the think Redzone, Thailand is an act-on-impulse kind of place. We expats might know a thing or two to get around the law but the casual traveler and visitor might not.
People who come here don't like to be told what to do and have laws imposed on them like this. Repeat business is/was the lifeblood of the tourist industry. This does not bode well for the entertainment/tourist industry.

Post by **redzonerocker** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 3:40 am

very true rider, but the tourists in question seem to be regular visitors to los?
i agree the thais don't quite grasp the rule of repeat business & their impulsive nature is sometimes baffling.
the rules & regs are a bit of a grey area, all & any are quite liable to change at the drop of a hat & generally they're dependant on who happens to be in charge on the particular day

i doubt much will change on that score over the coming years

happy days

Post by **DawnHRD** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:26 am

Quite honestly, HHTel & Rider, I don't think there's many tourists who would go to BKK & take a flight to a whole other country because they found out there was an alcohol ban in force for a couple of days. It seems rather excessive, doesn't it, put as simply as that?

I doubt that many would even decide not to return (though they might choose their dates more carefully).

As for tourists not knowing where to drink, they probably wouldn't need to if they'd become a regular in one of the eating/drinking places. As I posted, I was offered beer when I'd ordered soda last week in one of these places. I'm sure a lot of them got served alcohol in opaque cups/mugs.

Post by **Wanderlust** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:24 am

Dawn,
Much as I agree it is an over reaction to fly to another country because of the ban, I think it is highly unlikely that many tourists would actually find one of the places serving booze in coffee cups, especially as the vast majority of bars in the centre were closed and it was only the odd restaurant (from what I can gather) that were doing this. I can imagine a decent percentage of the tourists (maybe 40-50%) choosing another destination in the future - imagine if you had saved up for a lovely pre-Christmas break, arriving 14th Dec and returning 24th - you would be pretty cheesed off from the word go, not even being able to get a glass of wine with a meal for 5/6 days of that. And even worse if no one explained the reason properly - I can't imagine many tourists would go to the trouble of researching a holiday destination to that extent, and even then the pre-election ban was a surprise to even expats. The TAT motto should be changed to 'shooting oneself in the foot a speciality''