Thai Election Forces 2-weekend Booze Ban

[george]

Thai election forces 2-weekend booze ban

BANGKOK: -- No alcohol will be served to expats, tourists or local residents in bars and restaurants over the next two weekends nationwide due to the oncoming election.

The first dry days will be 14, 15 and 16 December, pre-election days for a few million Thais who registered to vote early.

Thaivisa has been informed that no alcohol is allowed to be served nationwide between Friday 14th at 6pm until Sunday 16th at midnight.

Elections on the 23rd will mean no alcohol will be sold from 6pm on the 22nd till midnight on the 23rd of December.

Practically this means two or three dry days in the two weekends ahead, although some tourist areas tend to be lenient once it's past 7pm on election day.

Please be aware that local rules could apply. Big hotels are not likely to be affected.

--thaivisa.com 2007-12-13

[rennie45]

So it's off to Tesco tomorrow evening to stock up...

[pointofview]

Unsuspecting visiting tourists will be surely amaized! Thing is a lot of countrys have elections but dont ban alcohol. This will be a right pain for people on their 2 week vacations - especially if they catch both ends.

Edited December 12, 2007 by pointofview

[Martin]

"So it's off to Tesco tomorrow evening to stock up."

They've got a marketing opportunity to sell hip flasks, too, I guess.

[Arkady]

Unsuspecting visiting tourists will be surely amaized! Thing is a lot of countrys have elections but dont ban alcohol. This will be a right pain for people on their 2 week vacations - especially if they catch both ends.

This is really over the top. One dry day on the main election day can arguably be tolerated and might even prevent a few drunked bums from going out and shooting a poling station but this really messes up tourists and owners of pubs and restaurants.

[pointofview]

Unsuspecting visiting tourists will be surely amaized! Thing is a lot of countrys have elections but dont ban alcohol. This will be a right pain for people on their 2 week vacations - especially if they catch both ends.

This is really over the top. One dry day on the main election day can arguably be tolerated and might even prevent a few drunked bums from going out and shooting a poling station but this really messes up tourists and owners of pubs and restaurants.

Just goes to show how these people fear the masses

[astral]

So it's off to Tesco tomorrow evening to stock up...

Make sure you go when they are open to sell booze.............

[Asianatic]

We are in Patong during both weekends for holiday, to have fun and we were ready to leave our Euro's in Thailand by having good times. We do NOT have to vote for these [admin edit] so I can't get it why we (tourists) have to suffer too ?

What a brilliant idea again !!! Specially during peak season.

Edited December 12, 2007 by george
Language

[pjallittle]

When you read between the lines, this is obviously "much ado about nothing" in terms of genuine impact on tourists. If Big Hotels are not likely to be affected, I seriously doubt that the average tourist will feel that their Thailand experience will have been significantly dampened.

[onnut]

clever aint they! oh well, what can you do? I think I will just stock up at home and take the next couple of weekends easy.

I really feel sorry for the bar owners though, it could run into the hundreds of thousands in losses for some of them. imagine how much a large bar like robin hood or Molly's could make if they could stay open.

[Tony Clifton]

Please post back and tell us all how you got plastered anyway on those days.

[Basil B]

These Elections are getting far too frequent, presume the problem is that they are using a proportional representation voting system and mush of the time many of the voters are so intoxicated they would have have problems counting to 3...

To be serious I assume that only Thai people can vote so why not allow some bars (and hotel bars) to open in tourist areas as long as they serve people with non Thai ID.

BB

[shawndoc]

I figure this will be enforced the same as most laws in the tourist areas. The bars will operate as usual, maybe pouring beer into cups instead of handing out bottles, and they'll have runners set up to let them know when the police are in the area and alter business only until the police leave.

Same as how most of the shops selling bootlegs work.

[Tafia]

There seems to be some criticism of how the Thais are unable to remain sober for the election and have to have this order imposed on them.

It seems from some posts that some expats are unable to manage a few days without drink as well as those they criticise.

I doubt whether this will have much impact on tourists other than those on 'boozy' trips who are hel_l bent on getting pissed at every given opportunity.

A few days sobriety wont do anyone much harm!

[astral]

This will certainly be good for the pre-Christmas tourist trade........

[dotcom]

I think we should send Sargent Wallop to investigate.

Seriously it's not "What were they thinking?" It's "Are they capable of thinking?"

[astral]

It would appear that your average Thai is not responsible enough to stay sober until he/she casts their vote.

My guess is that it is to stop them being bribed by a drink or five...................

See this thread for more details.

Another example of an imature electoral society.

[cclub75]

If I do remember, in april 2006 for the general elections, we didn't have this system of "pre-election days".

Is it new ? Can you confirm ?

By the way, what is the source of this news (ban on 2 week ends) ?

Edited December 12, 2007 by cclub75

[torrenova]

The ban or proposed ban this weekend seems a very late afterthought as there are some major events scheduled this weekend. Think LOSO at Xcyte in Pattaya ?

This lunacy has got to stop. Close a couple of days in August and we'll swallow it. Close 5 or 6 days in December and you're screwing with people's lives.

[george]

If I do remember, in april 2006 for the general elections, we didn't have this system of "pre-election days".

There was no general elections in 2006.

[Pundi64]

I don't drink so no big deal, but i guess for the boozers in the forum, they are about to cut their throats -

[wpcoe]

George, what was the source of info for the original post? I mentioned it casually to a Jomtien bar owner last night (the 12th) and neither he nor his Thai manager knew anything about it. If they haven't been informed 48 hours before the event, that seems to be a tightly held secret. Will the BiB will be out and about today (the 13th) to advise bar and restaurant owners?

[ilyushin]

Can you imagine? Gotta stay at home and get smashed during the holidays or go on a vacation.

I don't have a problem with the ban, but I'm sure others will.

[gjones]

my local serves me in a mug with the rest of the locals - so what!

[hyperdimension]

It doesn't say that we are forbidden to consume alcohol. It only says no alcohol will be "served" or "sold".

This means it is okay to drink our own alcohol, and to drink it regardless of the location.

It's a bit like the time-of-day restriction on alcohol sales. You can't buy alcohol before 11am or between 2pm and 5pm, but you can consume it any time of the day.

If we had left bottles of whisky with our name on it at a bar or club that were purchased on a date prior to the 14th of December 2007, can we consume them?

Would any bars or clubs allow BYO?

Edited December 12, 2007 by hyperdimension

[brahmburgers]

might be an opportunity for some to give their bodies a break from having to process all that fermented sugar.

It's been shown that drinking alcohol actually starves the body and brain of needed water.

Raise a glass of water to your health! .....whether you can find healthy drinking water - is another story.

[GezT]

There seems to be some criticism of how the Thais are unable to remain sober for the election and have to have this order imposed on them.

It seems from some posts that some expats are unable to manage a few days without drink as well as those they criticise.

I doubt whether this will have much impact on tourists other than those on 'boozy' trips who are hel_l bent on getting pissed at every given opportunity.

A few days sobriety wont do anyone much harm!

You sound to me like a tea-total bible basher who would have fitted right in during the medievil times in England operating the "Ducking Stool".

The majority of expats I know don't drink during the week or maybe 'have a few after golf' and look forward to the weekend to get out and socialise with friends and watch the live sport we have so much of on TV.

I have two good friends here at the moment from the UK with their Thai family's (Seperate groups) who have been coming here years and are still amazed at the alcohol ban during election periods, their wives I am talking about.

With regards to tourists, I was sitting outside Gullivers, north Pattaya last night around 5-ish having a beer, there was five or six tables occupied by groups of tourists who had wandered in after coming of the beach, obviously heading back to their hotel's. One of the waitresses who knows me came over with a number of slips of paper in her hand with various way's of explaining why there was an alcohol ban this weekend, when the election is not until next weekend written on them. She told me (In near perfect English) her boss had asked her to get a note written to explain the situation in order to give to the staff to show customers as this was going "To be a big problem".

I left Gullivers about 7.30 with a few more tables occupied and as I looked around I didn't see one "Boozy table" with people "hel_l bent on getting pissed" on them.

Lighten up slick and get a life!

[lioness]

About Torrenova's comment " screwing with people's lives"

They are talking about a 2 weekend ban on alcohol, nothing stopping you stocking up the fridge beforehand.

This is a childish, immature outlook, god forbid you should ever have to face a serious issue.

In retrospect 2 weekends without alcohol might even save a few lives, road accidents, alcohol related abuse etc etc

Grow up.

[KireB]

There seems to be some criticism of how the Thais are unable to remain sober for the election and have to have this order imposed on them.

It seems from some posts that some expats are unable to manage a few days without drink as well as those they criticise.

I doubt whether this will have much impact on tourists other than those on 'boozy' trips who are hel_l bent on getting pissed at every given opportunity.

A few days sobriety wont do anyone much harm!

Duhh....... It's not about having a drink or not! It's about a having a choice!

These measures were taken by a North-Korean-look-a-like government.

It's childish and patronizing!

As for tourists, they will laugh about this and glad they are not Thai!

Idiocracy! What's next? No milk at breakfast?

[Pundi64]

Thai election forces 2-weekend booze ban

BANGKOK: -- No alcohol will be served to expats, tourists or local residents in bars and restaurants over the next two weekends nationwide due to the oncoming election.

The first dry days will be 14, 15 and 16 December, pre-election days for a few million Thais who registered to vote early.

Thaivisa has been informed that no alcohol is allowed to be served nationwide between Friday 14th at 6pm until Sunday 16th at midnight.

Elections on the 23rd will mean no alcohol will be sold from 6pm on the 22nd till midnight on the 23rd of December.

Practically this means two or three dry days in the two weekends ahead, although some tourist areas tend to be lenient once it's past 7pm on election day.

Please be aware that local rules could apply. Big hotels are not likely to be affected.

--thaivisa.com 2007-12-13

Great I feel alot safe driving on those two weekends.