Killing the Khaosan goose

[sanemax]

12 minutes ago, car720 said:

If Thailand doesn't want it then why do they sell it?  

To make money , I suppose .

Why else do people sell things ?

[sanemax]

26 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

Don't have money or much drive for sex anymore. 

You are getting to be rather insulting , I suggest that you stop with the condescending manner

[sanemax]

34 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

 But if you wish to speak poorly of young people who congregate in a certain place, before seeing the wilds of Asia, please continue. 

KSR the "wilds of Asia" ?

Full of young western backpackers , getting drunk and all going of to Koh Phan Gan and then to Pai to take drugs and get drunk , all with their i phones and grab a taxi and maps .

   Call that "wild" ?

A bunch of rich gap year students , trying to grow their hair long , sitting on the kurb in KSR , taking selfies and posting them on facebook and showing all their family back home how wild they are and how they are "slumming it" .

   Try back-pcking around China & Pakistan with no guide book or map and often sleeping under the stars..................then come back and tell me how "wild" you all are ?

[mok199]

1 hour ago, tropo said:

My comment was directed specifically at this comment you made:

 

Mok199 said:

Quote: 

"well then ...they will have empty malls"

 

They won't have empty malls. Of course, you don't know this because you're busy visiting "natural well kept, respected beaches and parks" and nowhere near these very busy malls.

 

You have a good day sir. Don't forget to slap on the sunscreen and wear a hat.

our family are now mall rats as the beaches are so bad ,we go almost everyday to one but,if you live in pattaya please go to our new( 4 yr old harbor mall) it is beside food land( I counted over 20 closed and boarded up failed buisnesses),or to our new central which has about 10 boarded up....busy does not always relate to sales ( remember the air con is free)....I wish Thailand could find a BALANCE between great beaches and new water parks and malls..but in Pattaya ( I live here) we have 9 malls ,and 2 very poorly maintained beaches,and one over priced water park,and very poor air from the traffic and tour buses...people go to malls now to relax in the cool a/c,eat at the food court, escape the filthy air pollution from the tour buses that create the chaos and destroy our beaches...see you at the mall..have a good one

Edited August 11, 2018 by mok199
speliings

[tropo]

4 minutes ago, mok199 said:

our family are now mall rats as the beaches are so bad ,we go almost everyday to one but,if you live in pattaya please go to our new( 4 yr old harbor mall) it is beside food land( I counted over 20 closed and boarded up failed buisnesses),or to our new central which has about 10 boarded up....busy does not always relate to sales ( remember the air con is free)....I wish Thailand could find a BALANCE between great beaches and new water parks and malls..but in Pattaya ( I live here) we have 9 malls ,and 2 very poorly maintained beaches,and one over priced water park,and very poor air from the traffic and tour buses...people go to malls now to escape the poor air...

I'm well aware of Harbor Mall, but that's no proof of your premise that if Khaosan disappears off the face of the earth, that empty malls will follow. 

 

You're grasping at straws to back up your earlier irrelevant comment. Considering we are talking about tourists, there is only one complete mall that serves that market, and it's doing quite well. Perhaps you can guess which one I'm referring to. The others are shopping centers hardly comparable to Terminal 21, MBK and Paragon in BKK. Harbor Mall was never geared toward the tourist market. Terminal 21 in Pattaya set to open later this year will be very busy. Mark my words.

 

Your comment that people go to malls to escape poor air is absurd. One of the main reasons, besides shopping and restaurants, is to enjoy air conditioning in a very hot country.

[oztaurus]

10 hours ago, sanemax said:

There are a lot more tourists/holidaymakers coming to Thailand these days .

A good few years ago, Thailand was prominently a destination for dollar a day backpackers and they all converged on KSR , backpackers walking abound looking for dives to stay in and spending as little money as possible .

   Tourists, (not back-packers) dont come to Thailand to go to KSR and have 30 Baht noodles on the street .

   The shopping malls are mainly aimed at local Thais and the richer foreigners , back-packers dont tend to go shopping in malls

 .... and once they have been here as backpackers, as they get jobs, settle down and raise families, they come back to Thailand and stay in nicer hotels and spend more money in different places.

Khaosan is the "gateway drug" to Thailand - once you have Thailand in your blood you will keep coming back.

Kill Khaosan and the backpackers will go to the next place and that country will reap the benefits of the seeds it sowed during those gap years

[burningup]

1 minute ago, oztaurus said:

 .... and once they have been here as backpackers, as they get jobs, settle down and raise families, they come back to Thailand and stay in nicer hotels and spend more money in different places.

Khaosan is the "gateway drug" to Thailand - once you have Thailand in your blood you will keep coming back.

Kill Khaosan and the backpackers will go to the next place and that country will reap the benefits of the seeds it sowed during those gap years

There is no next place. Nowhere has KSR or even close. They will go to chiang mai where the long suffering expats will see a further bump in the hundreds of thousands already there! 

[wvavin]

What is there to talk about unless there is a global collective effort to boycott this place!

[mok199]

1 hour ago, tropo said:

I'm well aware of Harbor Mall, but that's no proof of your premise that if Khaosan disappears off the face of the earth, that empty malls will follow. 

 

You're grasping at straws to back up your earlier irrelevant comment. Considering we are talking about tourists, there is only one complete mall that serves that market, and it's doing quite well. Perhaps you can guess which one I'm referring to. The others are shopping centers hardly comparable to Terminal 21, MBK and Paragon in BKK. Harbor Mall was never geared toward the tourist market. Terminal 21 in Pattaya set to open later this year will be very busy. Mark my words.

 

Your comment that people go to malls to escape poor air is absurd. One of the main reasons, besides shopping and restaurants, is to enjoy air conditioning in a very hot country.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz but we have the most honest taxi drivers in the world..

Edited August 11, 2018 by mok199
s

[notmyself]

20 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

This whole episode is one of the stupidest public-policy fiascoes I have ever seen, and coming from someone who lives in Thailand, that says a lot.

 

Fundamentally, this is the difference between a military government which farms out policy to the bureaucracy and an elected government; the bureaucracy merely sees that the 'rules' aren't being followed and thus things must be changed/fixed while an elected person who communicates with their constituents would see hundreds/thousands of peoples' livelihoods and a prime tourist area. And, the elected person would leave it alone.

 

Khao San road is a tourist attraction in and of itself and has been for literally decades; just about every backpacker (millions of them, literally!) for the last 50 years has stayed there for at least a night, and it has been the 'gateway' to Thailand all that time. The reason for its popularity has been because it is a lively place; there is always something going on; hey bureaucrats, tourists, especially young tourists, like that. If you remove that which gives life to the place and turn it into just another stretch of concrete, people won't go anymore. Duh!

 

Bureaucrats simply looked at the place and, taking their cue from the Junta, saw that laws were not being followed and embarked on a fun-killing process. Why? Because it was there. Allowing bureaucrats (and I would bet huge amounts that the final decision-makers never even went there) to decide things like this leads to a sterile, non-fun environment that follows all the rules to the detriment of humanity and isn't "Sanook".

 

Khao San road wasn't broken. Khao San road isn't broken. Khao San road is "Sanook!"

 

Stop trying to "fix" what isn't broken or you will certainly ruin one of Thailand's greatest tourist attractions.

 

 

 

Yep. Reminds me of the EU.

 

 

[yellowboat]

16 hours ago, sanemax said:

KSR the "wilds of Asia" ?

Full of young western backpackers , getting drunk and all going of to Koh Phan Gan and then to Pai to take drugs and get drunk , all with their i phones and grab a taxi and maps .

   Call that "wild" ?

A bunch of rich gap year students , trying to grow their hair long , sitting on the kurb in KSR , taking selfies and posting them on facebook and showing all their family back home how wild they are and how they are "slumming it" .

   Try back-pcking around China & Pakistan with no guide book or map and often sleeping under the stars..................then come back and tell me how "wild" you all are ?

Oh spare us your holiday. heroics.   Some of us did those things in China in the 80's, and we were working.  We had schedules to keep, parts to find, orders to fill, product to inspect.  We slept in train stations or factory floors because hotels were full or non existent.  No buses were available.  You waved money to get people to stop.   Sorry,  NOT impressed at all

 

You DICTATE how people have fun ?   You fit right in with modern day Thailand. 

 

Your attitude is resonating.   Many a young person prefers Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Laos.  I think they should just bypass Thailand all together.    If you and Thailand do not want them, they should go where they are welcomed.  That is what I hear on my travels

 

Edited August 12, 2018 by yellowboat

[dinsdale]

On 8/11/2018 at 10:22 AM, Rally123 said:

Fake news. The authorities are just clearing the sellers off of the footpaths and smartening up the area.

And which way is that, please tell? You must know a lot of Thais  to be of that opinion.

I'll tell you which way. CHINA.?

[ttrd]

On ‎8‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 3:28 AM, BestB said:

Have to admire the thainess, first they killed it and now they want to hear opinions and ideas to revive it . 

 

Absolutely brilliant way of thinking

NOT allowed to bring people behind on the pick-up - allowed...

NOT allowed to smoke on the Beach - allowed...

NOT allowed With street vendors on Khaosan Road - allowed...

 

Left, right, left, right, left, right....

[The manic]

On 8/11/2018 at 1:59 AM, sanemax said:

Thailand does "get it" , you dont understand that Thailand doesnt want it .

Thailand doesnt want dirty streets and dirty back-packers drinking buckets on the streets until morning time .

   Some people may indeed want "raw" , Thailand doesnt want that

You don't speak for Thais. Repeatedly many Thais have said they do not want lower Suk and areas like KSR reduce to a characterless bland areas devoid of stalls and enterprising ,hard working vendors. Thai people work, eat and trade in such places.  Now the unelected authoritarian bullies are about to destroy the Silom eating culture.  Its a tragedy.  The whole world is watching. The poor suffer. 

Edited August 13, 2018 by The manic

[The manic]

18 hours ago, ttrd said:

NOT allowed to bring people behind on the pick-up - allowed...

NOT allowed to smoke on the Beach - allowed...

NOT allowed With street vendors on Khaosan Road - allowed...

 

Left, right, left, right, left, right....

It's not Thainess. It's the idiocy of military mindset all over the world which favours order over freedom, conformity of spontaneity. 

[Small Joke]

Somebody upset somebody. 

Or

Somebody wants the land. 

Everything else is smoke n mirrors.

Wait and see. 

[Kiwisailor]

On 8/12/2018 at 12:35 AM, burningup said:

There is no next place. Nowhere has KSR or even close.

Try Bui Vien walking street in Pham Ngu Lau district, Vietnam. 

[5633572526]

On 8/11/2018 at 6:59 AM, sanemax said:

Thailand does "get it" , you dont understand that Thailand doesnt want it .

Thailand doesnt want dirty streets and dirty back-packers drinking buckets on the streets until morning time .

   Some people may indeed want "raw" , Thailand doesnt want that

What Thailand wants is tourist cash and not to have there people homeless and begging in the streets. Anything done to reduce tourist numbers and take away income from their people is a huge mistake and this government does not “get it”

[The manic]

On 8/11/2018 at 3:30 AM, sanemax said:

There are a lot more tourists/holidaymakers coming to Thailand these days .

A good few years ago, Thailand was prominently a destination for dollar a day backpackers and they all converged on KSR , backpackers walking abound looking for dives to stay in and spending as little money as possible .

   Tourists, (not back-packers) dont come to Thailand to go to KSR and have 30 Baht noodles on the street .

   The shopping malls are mainly aimed at local Thais and the richer foreigners , back-packers dont tend to go shopping in malls

Simply not true. The backpackers around the KSR were young and wealthy long term travellers which is how Banglampoo became so wealthy. At one time there were no hotels there. Western money has poured into the area for decades. The KSR has already been sanitised,  pedestrianised, cleaned up, gentrified, tamed etc. The last thing it needs is unelected officials doing further damage.

[The manic]

On 8/14/2018 at 4:15 AM, Kiwisailor said:

Try Bui Vien walking street in Pham Ngu Lau district, Vietnam. 

Pham Ngu in Hanoi closes at 10 pm. Although there are some backer tourists it is a mainly Vietnamese area unlike the KSR. Bui Vien in Saigon has similarities and has a more free wheeling style than the current KSR. It's more like KSR used to be. No filth in uniforms, no state bullies, people smoke dope and inhale NO2 freely. Good hotels are cheap.  The mix of travellers in BV is different. Regular travellers equal back packers. The decisions made about about the KSR have not been made by locals but by thugs with guns and uniforms who are ruining Thailand. The tiny elite will not suffer but the majority of the people are suffering 

[JemJem]

On 8/11/2018 at 6:34 AM, cyberfarang said:

Thailand like many other countries is trying to take it`s tourism industry upmarket. Whereas during the past there were options for both the higher end tourists and for those on budgeted holidays, big business is now muscling in and phasing out budgeted tourism in Thailand. It`s all about big business that wants control and the lion`s share of profits from tourism. Street vendors, local bars, privately owned guest houses and drinking establishments are for them considered bad for business that are taking profits out of the controls of companies. Similar has happened in London over the last 25 years as it has in other countries.

 

Everything now is becoming commercialised, with laws and policies created or used to benefit big business that are deliberately pushing out the small people from the tourist industries. This is what this is all about and I speak from experience.

I think you are right.

 

I consider myself lucky that I lived my twenties in the 1990's (most of it in Thailand), when everything was a lot more fun and relaxed.

[wotsdermatter]

On 8/10/2018 at 7:43 PM, rooster59 said:

While most of the 30-million annual visitors are foreign, not all choose to stay in the area’s hostels, guesthouses and hotels.

If there are 30-million annual visitors, how could they all stay in the accommodation provided in the area?  Of course, they could always double up on the sleeping facilities, i.e. beds, cots, etc.  However, if I recall correctly, have not been to Khao San Road for a few years, there is a police station nearby which could handle the overflow.  'nuf sed.

[monnington]

On 8/11/2018 at 1:01 AM, mok199 said:

well then ...they will have empty malls and beaches filled with power boats to shuttle the budget tour Chinese and Indians to and from once beautiful prestine islands,  .. the diversity of travelers and expats in over...now it is just a steady flow of budget tourists as Thailand is just a cheap'' holiday machine''..and Thailand owns this absolute F%^k up

Khaosan is an attraction, ive lived in thailand for years and i rarely go but when friends visit ist just somewhere they want to experience, alot fo thai people make their living from khaosan. alot of upset locals and tourists alike, it makes no sense

[lamyai3]

14 hours ago, wotsdermatter said:

If there are 30-million annual visitors, how could they all stay in the accommodation provided in the area?  Of course, they could always double up on the sleeping facilities, i.e. beds, cots, etc.  However, if I recall correctly, have not been to Khao San Road for a few years, there is a police station nearby which could handle the overflow.  'nuf sed.

30 million refers to the total number of visitors to the country. Doubt if figures are available for Khaosan, but it'd be a small fraction of this.