Bangkok street food gets a taste as govt unveils 12 progressive policies

[johnarth]

actions speak louder than words are they relying on the strong baht to do all this?

[Spock]

Thai street food is great. Maybe traders need education and facilities regarding garbage disposal etc but I would hate to lose Thai street food stalls. There has to be a better solution than just closing them down.

[Jack P]

Progressive rhetoric, so familiar.

 

“low-income people access to mortgage loans so they can buy houses. ”

 

Hooking the poor who are at a high risk of default into a long periods of debt instead of letting them have the discipline of living within their means. And at the same time inflating prices. What could go wrong?

 

“State welfare coverage will be expanded to include support for pregnant mothers, infants and young students whosefamilies are struggling...”

 

There’s not enough poor people, let’s incentivise them to have more kids they cannot afford at the expense of more sensible people.

 

All these ideas are turning the West into bankrupt nations, perpetually in a national debt cycle passed from one generation to the next.

 

Why emulate this folly?

[varun]

2 hours ago, DrTuner said:

That tissue system works very well, how else are you supposed to make sure you got a seat when you come back with your food tray?

 

Of course in here it wouldn't work as Somchai/Nok would just park their arse on where ever, reserved or not. One of the many reasons I don't go to food courts.

The way the civilized world works is that you're NOT supposed to make sure that you have a seat.

Once you get your food tray, you scope out the available tables of your own accord.

 

If all tables are taken, you can ask politely somebody if somebody is sitting on an empty seat next to them.

Choping holds up tables by the people getting their food.

In that time others could have sit down and probably finished their meal.

It is because of this dog-in-the-manger attitude that I completely and utterly despise Singapore.

The most common excuse used by Singaporeans is that the hawker center infrastructure can't keep up with peak time demand,

which is why they have to resort to choping - horseshit.

Lunch time peak hours in food courts are very similar across major Asian cities - 

Hong Kong has a population density very close to Singapore, but this sort of thing is non-existent.

It's down to culture.

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by varun

[ttrd]

RE - This appears to reverse the stance adopted by the previous junta-backed government, which resulted in several popular street-food areas in the capital being cleared of vendors, the stated aim being to free crowded footpaths for commuters. 

 

* When basic research, basic impact assessments and risk analysis shines with their absence, it usually and not surprisingly ends up having to reverse the poorly thought-out changes - an never ending story and Thailand in a nutshell … 

Edited July 22, 2019 by ttrd

[essox essox]

8 hours ago, Blue bruce said:

So much talk, so little action

always same same.......

[Thai Home Baan]

9 hours ago, Date Masamune said:

Force them into “Hawker Centres” ala Singapore with proper sanitation.

I believe Data, you have not understood the economics of such Hawker Centers in Singapore and the hardship it brings to locals opposing to the forms of street classical food which encouraged food creativity in the old days much existing in Penang, Johor as well as the non qualitative aspects.  I will not like seeing Thailand falling into the same facet as Singapore

[spidermike007]

The government has listed improving people’s living standards among 12 priorities in a formal policy statement.

 

This is a rather extraordinary claim, coming from this administration, which seems to have gone out of it's way for the past five years, to NOT address the welfare of the common man. If only two or three of these things were really and truly addressed, it could have an impact on the quality of life for the average person. In my opinion, this is just another example of Prayuth's daily declarations, proclamations, and promises. Let us hope there is something behind it. I sure would be pleasantly surprised! 

Edited July 22, 2019 by spidermike007

[OffshoreMig]

Some of which are a positive step forward but it would be nice if thailand could implement an 888 Eight hour day: eight hour work, 8 hour rest and eight hours sleep. and a 40 hours week - Two days a week off plus annual leave and public holidays and overtime payments with a minimum hourly rate.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

I agree with many other comments on things like plastic use and letting street food back under strict hygiene and area control.

 

What is not mentioned is the ridiculous situation on visas. The ability to change the law by top government officials without parliamentary approval, the rules changing from person to person, officer to officer or minute to minute at different immigration offices, consulars and embassies must stop too.

 

Of course I'm barking up the wrong mango tree...????

 

 

 

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

2 hours ago, OffshoreMig said:

Some of which are a positive step forward but it would be nice if thailand could implement an 888 Eight hour day: eight hour work, 8 hour rest and eight hours sleep. and a 40 hours week - Two days a week off plus annual leave and public holidays and overtime payments with a minimum hourly rate.

What is needed is an hourly rate starting at 40 baht.

 

[Date Masamune]

8 hours ago, Thai Home Baan said:

I believe Data, you have not understood the economics of such Hawker Centers in Singapore and the hardship it brings to locals opposing to the forms of street classical food which encouraged food creativity in the old days much existing in Penang, Johor as well as the non qualitative aspects.  I will not like seeing Thailand falling into the same facet as Singapore

And Singapore used to be Malarial. No reason foods carts, culinary creativity and vendors can't coexist with pedestrians, organized, and hopefully sanitary. All of Khao San Road is to be redeveloped in such a way according to the news.

 

How about forgetting about anarchy, idealism of  a past, which wasn't that really great for "locals" in a non-qualitative way anyway? 

 

Join the team, jump on the bandwagon and come in for the big win! The sooner people put this "street food" nonsense behind us the better. Nobody really wants to be a street person.

[ttrd]

9 hours ago, OffshoreMig said:

Some of which are a positive step forward but it would be nice if thailand could implement an 888 Eight hour day: eight hour work, 8 hour rest and eight hours sleep. and a 40 hours week - Two days a week off plus annual leave and public holidays and overtime payments with a minimum hourly rate.

Then you can be sure it will be a significant decline when it comes to tourists and all the expats will be long gone seeking places similar to how Thailand is today … 

[Moo 2]

Street vendors must be kicking themselves if they voted for this government and others will follow.

Remember, in Thailand, if you don't work you don't eat, Social Security is only what people know

by reading international News.

 

[RtotheC]

On 7/22/2019 at 2:39 PM, Date Masamune said:

Whatever it’s called we can’t have pavements, footpaths and sidewalks blocked anymore by illegal vendors. Washing disused in buckets. No toilets. Dropping food everywhere to attract vermin. A think of the past. Bangkok is not the third world. The adventure of “street food” best left to other countries.
 

You're right. We should turn Bangkok into the very societies most of us have sought to escape. 

 

 

[Date Masamune]

Sarcasm noted. A mischaracterization of what I have been posting. If we use our noggins, no reason culinary inventiveness and low priced fare served “al fresco” cannot be sanitary and orderly .

[Date Masamune]

A double post

[mtls2005]

On 7/22/2019 at 1:53 PM, varun said:

The last thing Thailand needs is sterile Singapore-style hawker centers.

 

You do realize that every single mall here, from the smallest to the largest has an indoor food court, which for the most part are clean and offer an essentially hawker-style experience?

 

 

[DrTuner]

8 hours ago, Date Masamune said:

If we use our noggins, no reason culinary inventiveness and low priced fare served “al fresco” cannot be sanitary and orderly .

If we use our eyes though we'll notice how the pots and pans and cutlery are cleaned, not to mention the cook's hands. But true, there's no reason why it couldn't be sanitary, except the all pervasive maibpenrai.

[lamyai3]

On 7/22/2019 at 7:57 PM, Thai Home Baan said:

I believe Data, you have not understood the economics of such Hawker Centers in Singapore and the hardship it brings to locals opposing to the forms of street classical food which encouraged food creativity in the old days much existing in Penang, Johor as well as the non qualitative aspects.  I will not like seeing Thailand falling into the same facet as Singapore

Not to mention how sterile such places are... and I don't mean sanitary. 

[lamyai3]

On 7/23/2019 at 4:21 AM, Date Masamune said:

And Singapore used to be Malarial. No reason foods carts, culinary creativity and vendors can't coexist with pedestrians, organized, and hopefully sanitary. All of Khao San Road is to be redeveloped in such a way according to the news.

 

How about forgetting about anarchy, idealism of  a past, which wasn't that really great for "locals" in a non-qualitative way anyway? 

 

Join the team, jump on the bandwagon and come in for the big win! The sooner people put this "street food" nonsense behind us the better. Nobody really wants to be a street person.

Khaosan road has been effectively pedestrianised for decades. People flock there looking for street food, cheap digs and the vibrant culture of vendors of all kinds.

 

Anarchy? If you're referring to pavement encroachment, electricity syphoning and non payment of taxes maybe, but that's always been situation normal in Thailand, encouraged and colluded in by the cops. "Idealism of a past" is a different story and is a major part of the rise in nationalism and xenophobia here.

 

Your last paragraph bears no relation to reality. Street vendors want freedom to make a living, residents want affordable food at close quarters, and tourists love the street food culture and are demanding to know where the hell it's gone. 

[DrTuner]

4 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

Not to mention how sterile such places are... and I don't mean sanitary. 

I've never really subscribed to that sterile SG image. They are clean, sure, but it's still Asia under a thin veneer of civility. Dig a bit and it's still SEA, with all it's quirks, pluses and minuses. 

[Johnnyngai]

On 7/22/2019 at 2:09 AM, DrTuner said:

Not really. Basically a concrete slab with sticks and a roof, water pipes, electricity and wastewater. It's the rents that the landlords would extort from the hawkers. Welcome to Thailaaan!

For us, " concrete slab with sticks and a roof, water pipes, electricity and wastewater " is not much $. 

For a developing country such as Thailand where the minimum wage is 300baht,  it is much $. 

[Ketyo]

Sounds like good stuff.

 

Let's hope Chanocha has realised that he shouldn't block poor people from earning a decent living and getting a decent education..... and that the number one goal of a PM is NOT to control the people in the name of orderliness and to keep them in a child-like, disempowered state .... in spite of his military training.