Alcohol sales ban tightened for Asanha Bucha, Lent

[Essaybloke]

Although Thailand is a secular society, the sale of alcoholic drinks is banned at department stores, convenience stores and entertainment venues on Buddhist national holidays.

 

So it's not a secular society. Why not just get honest and say "I believe in this religious practice, and therefore I will force you to conform to my beliefs. Which I demand you respect." 

 

(By the way, we are strictly secular).

  

[Woodsie888]

3 hours ago, Tengtai said:

If someone absolutely need to drink alcohol this weekend go to 7-11 and by a 6 pack Leo or 2, sit at home and get drunk. What's the problem? Thailand is a Buddhist country and we are guests in the country so we just have to take the bad with the good.  

Another person who doesn't understand what a guest is. Most of us aren't guests of Thailand.

[ukrules]

Is this actually a law ? I don't think it is.

[Phuket Man]

3 hours ago, Tengtai said:

If someone absolutely need to drink alcohol this weekend go to 7-11 and by a 6 pack Leo or 2, sit at home and get drunk. What's the problem? Thailand is a Buddhist country and we are guests in the country so we just have to take the bad with the good.  

And most of the so called Buddhists will be getting drunk as usual Friday and Saturday while the poor sods who have saved all year for a holiday will not.

[thailand49]

So I should be safe on the roads??

[Essaybloke]

3 hours ago, Tengtai said:

If someone absolutely need to drink alcohol this weekend go to 7-11 and by a 6 pack Leo or 2, sit at home and get drunk. What's the problem? Thailand is a Buddhist country and we are guests in the country so we just have to take the bad with the good.  

You are missing the point. I do not 'need' to go get alcohol, it's the idea that because someone holds totally unsubstantiated supernatural beliefs that they force me to obey, even though I completely reject those beliefs for very good, rational reasons- that's the point. 

 

It's like bules in Aceh, Indonesia saying (when they brutalise religious dissent with public floggings), "Oh well we're guests in the country so take the bad with the good."

 

That's intellectually lazy and fundamentally unethical and dishonest!

 

?

[Phuket Man]

2 minutes ago, thailand49 said:

So I should be safe on the roads??

errrrrrr. no!

[MaxYakov]

8 hours ago, meechai said:

The very least this country could offer its populace is Freedom OF Religion

 

If some want to be Buddhist be Buddhist...follow the precepts/rules what ever

 

If some want to be Christians,Muslims etc carry on follow

 

If your a good Buddhist do you need a law to restrain you from drink?

Do the Muslims need a law to outlaw food sales during Ramadan periods of fasting etc?

 

Come on Thailand you continue to disallow any real freedoms.

Que the "I would never go back to a nanny state folks" ?

The country does offer Freedom of Religion. It's The Free Market it has trouble with. Have you tried to buy (pay for) some imported ice cream lately?

[brewsterbudgen]

Theses alcohol 'bans' are very shaddy, as mentioned buying alcohol on these buddhist days is still possible in large thai restaurants and your mom and pop style store, marinas etc
 
There seems to be little  no worry about drinking from 'coffee' mugs in falang or small thai resatuarants.
 
I feel these bans are more to related to the sex industry, as these establishments are closed full stop (even if you want to play pool and drink fanta)
 
Now being a buddhist country and where prostitution is illegal (although everyone is aware whats going on just dont admit to it)
 
Its easier and thais wont lose face; to impose an alcohol ban and thus subsequently killing the sex industry for those couple of days and therefore Buddha is now appeased.

Massage parlours and soapies remain open, so I'm not sure your theory is correct.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[poohy]

5 hours ago, Tengtai said:

If someone absolutely need to drink alcohol this weekend go to 7-11 and by a 6 pack Leo or 2, sit at home and get drunk. What's the problem? Thailand is a Buddhist country and we are guests in the country so we just have to take the bad with the good.  

There a fair few  Buddhist who dont give damn and want a drink as well you ..........!

[KhunFred]

Although Thailand is a secular society, the sale of alcoholic drinks is banned at department stores, convenience stores and entertainment venues on Buddhist national holidays.

Yep...certainly sounds secular to me. ?

 

 

 

[sanemax]

2 hours ago, Jorgendk said:

My 14 year old daughter is planning to go to the temple with her friends on Friday, and then after that they come home and have a party where they drink some alcohol.

 

I have just told her, that she can do it, but in my mind she should know that she is faking.

 

n  Going to temple to show she is a good Buda-girl, and at the same time planning to go back and drink alcohol.

 

But I suppose that is 'The Thai way' of doing things.

Alcohol consumption is allowed , just the selling of it is banned

[tropo]

10 hours ago, Rinrada said:

"The ban goes onto effect at 12.01am on Friday and remains in place through midnight Sunday."....surely.. depends on how you read it...should be midnight on Saturday...or is it a sam wan event...Dont want to confuse any tourist especially if they are sober..chai...

They started off well with 12.01 am on Friday, and then messed it up with an ambiguous "midnight"... should have said 12.01 am on Sunday, or better yet, used 24 hour time.... or given us an extra 2 minutes to buy alcohol from 11:59 pm on Saturday.

[helloagain]

10 hours ago, Aachen said:

through midnight Saturday...

 

Does that include Roxanne bar rawai whi seem a law unto them selves. Owner has a ciusin in tge police

[GaryAdriaenssens]

I am really scared now1 It's one of the most heaviest regulations ever enforced on this planet.....  TIT!!

[MartinBangkok]

9 hours ago, Yann55 said:

 

Just like the rest of the world, in case you didn't notice.

 

Brainwashing is universal, it's only the washing powder that varies. Same for superstitions : only the idols change, while the mental subservience remains the same.

 

Brainwashing can be blatant (China under Mao) or insidious (The West under Hollywood, the mainstream media, religious institutions, and the school curricula), but the result is very much the same : individuals are groomed to believe that what they think is the truth, that these thoughts are theirs, and that other approaches are wrong.

 

In other words the typical attitude of the TVF poster, especially when busy judging Thai (or Chinese, or Japanese, or Indian etc) people, their beliefs, and their customs.

 

By the age of 9-10 the societies we grow up in have already shaped our basic perspective and opinions. All societies do that. Throughout adolescence, we then develop our 'personality' by grabbing thoughts and opinions around us, thus forming what we call our 'self' even though it's really just an aggregate of acquired stuff. Once in a blue moon, we do create something and it becomes part of us, but the sum of our creations is peanuts compared to the massive weight of outside influences.

 

In this context, to develop a truly personal view and interpretation of the world around us requires decades of efforts, tremendous perseverance (a very un-human quality), luck (because the traps are innumerable) and assistance (trap #1 because who can you really trust?). First of all it requires realizing that what I call 'me' is not really me, and what I call my 'thoughts and opinions' are just a bunch of acquired tastes which have very little, if anything, to do with my real essence.

 

This liberation of the true self from the illusory world we bathe in is, by the way, at the core of the Buddha's teaching. And not only him but all the enlightened individuals who appeared on this planet throughout history. That their teachings are later distorted to the point of being unrecognizable is what history tells us, but if we learn to approach their legacy with open eyes and open ears, then we find that their essential message is still alive, and still helpful. To name just a few well-known ones : Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Lao-Tse, Kong-Foo-Tse, Chouang-Tse, Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Jesus-Christ, and Muhammad. But there were many others, in many different cultures, all pursuing the same original goal.

 

Jeremy, when you lash out at Thais for being 'brainwashed and superstitious', you are reproducing a behaviour that belongs to Westerners as a whole and is the result of colonization, missionarism, post-colonization, and the bizarre notion that we are somehow superior to other races, other cultures, and non-Western people in general.

 

 

 

 

Nice try Yann55

All it takes to find ones real self, and understanding of the world, is a well functioning brain.

You seem like a smart person. But when you claim that westernes have a bizarre superiority notion, it shows you have understood nothing. I come from a western country and I was, and am, shocked to find that the people who have that notion are Thais, Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.

 

We certainly don't have it in my home country - which is Norway.

 

And sorry to say it, but the brainwashing process going on in Thailand sanctioned by the elite, the army, the education system, the government and others that cannot be mentioned is massive with massive results. 

If you try living next to a thai school (any age group) for a year, which I did, you'll get the general idea.

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by MartinBangkok
Spelling. Addition

[MartinBangkok]

12 hours ago, worgeordie said:

I can imagine a lot of bar flies will be shaking at this announcement,

what to do,get some stock in,drink at home.

regards worgeordie

I started reading this thread at 23.05 pm. Now I am on my second Chang after rushing to nearest 7/11 to stock up (10 minutes walk each way). Thanks Thai Visa.

And yes, I am a slow drinker.

[ukrules]

6 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

 

when is 12.01 am? never heard of such time

 

have heard of 12.01 pm

 

and 00.01 am

 

but 12.01 am beats me, maybe just after santa clause has vanished upt the chimney

 

Quoted so historians can see how dumb people really were back in this day and age...

[lamyai3]

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Massage parlours and soapies remain open, so I'm not sure your theory is correct.

Bet they'll serve beer in there too. 

[duanebigsby]

6 hours ago, Jorgendk said:

My 14 year old daughter is planning to go to the temple with her friends on Friday, and then after that they come home and have a party where they drink some alcohol.

 

I have just told her, that she can do it, but in my mind she should know that she is faking.

 

n  Going to temple to show she is a good Buda-girl, and at the same time planning to go back and drink alcohol.

 

But I suppose that is 'The Thai way' of doing things.

Not sure if allowing a 14 year old and her friends to have an alcohol drinking party is something I would do, temple hipocrasy or not.

[ZeVonderBearz]

10 hours ago, Tengtai said:

If someone absolutely need to drink alcohol this weekend go to 7-11 and by a 6 pack Leo or 2, sit at home and get drunk. What's the problem? Thailand is a Buddhist country and we are guests in the country so we just have to take the bad with the good.  

Hold on a second, pal. The article clearly states Thailand is secular. That means it is not affiliated with any religion and all are welcomed to practice as they please. The blanket ban on alcohol is because of the Buddishts and means Thailand is not  secular. Even the UK, officially Christian, does not make it's  non Jesus loving citizens obey Christmas or Easter. Pull your head from the sand it's buried in. 

Edited July 26, 2018 by ZeVonderBearz

[Damrongsak]

14 hours ago, Thailand said:

And mom & pop stores will also comply with the ban.

They don't have those imported day/Date watches.

[Elkski]

16 hours ago, BestB said:

Awaiting line and sms messages tonight with “ miss you” “want see you” ???

I'm kit sure I get this?  You will have gals wanting to visit your known liquor stocks?

[bristolgeoff]

buy the day before and coffee cups work too.just another budda thing holidays.thais will drink at home or in the village.after the temple of course

[Prairieboy]

An archaic rule!  Bring on the weed!

[peter48]

17 hours ago, BestB said:

It’s not like alcohol

is exclusive to Thailand only. Surely tourist can manage 2 days without alcohol and in worse case scenario can always drink from hotel mini bar, though admittedly price would be little more than 7-11, so can only hope extra $1 on a bottle of beer will not break their budget and ruin the holiday 

Not the point why restrict holiday  freedoms of  thousands of global tourists in restaurants etc in Thailand for their holidays. Also surely it includes all day Friday as well  if its from 12.00 AM??  

[Prairieboy]

3 minutes ago, peter48 said:

Not the point why restrict holiday  freedoms of  thousands of global tourists in restaurants etc in Thailand for their holidays. Also surely it includes all day Friday as well  if its from 12.00 AM??  

I believe it is more to do with the fact that the bars are closed so there is no access to the pool tables and the 'ladies' who work in and frequent the bars.  A true two-day dry spell for the sex tourists!

[peter48]

1 minute ago, Prairieboy said:

I believe it is more to do with the fact that the bars are closed so there is no access to the pool tables and the 'ladies' who work in and frequent the bars.  A true two-day dry spell for the sex tourists!

Yes but all tourists of all ages  including Chinese and many others  in all Thai resorts are being affected not just guys going in such bars who are only a subset of the massive Tourist industry. Its a great mistake and in most countries outside the strict Muslim ones unusual. By all means close girl bars but everywhere else as in international hotels and restaurants seems very strict.  

[a977]

14 hours ago, AsiaHand said:

W**der bar 2 on #2 street Pattaya will still be serving the same.

Would have been not now that you posted address, you can be sure BJ will be paying a visit. Big mouth

[Lake Palmer]

Today seems to be stricter than other Buddhist days regarding alcohol. I remember it too well from last year.

Even the town's local mama papa stores wouldn't sell it to me.

After 2 hours of riding my bike in the rain I finally found a small village that sold me some.

I remembered to stock up this year, though there's still a very gloomy thought that it could run out before midnight tomorrow..