Food Hawkers To Stop On February 2nd.

[peter991]

Heavens above. What is happening to my beloved Thailand? First bird flu, next a ban on street vendors and possibly all Bars closing at midnight.

Tourists visit Thailand for a variety of reasons. I come to soak up the culture and part of that is eating real Thai food.

I find Thailand a very safe and friendly destination but if Bangkok becomes another boring city (like Canberra) I will either stay in Australia or find somewhere else in Asia to holiday.

[Moving]

If it comes to pass that the street vendors go I will miss them. I can't disagree that some could use a little cleaning up and that they often do get in the way of those of us that are in a hurry. However, I will never begrude anyone's attempts at trying to make a honest living. I wish them luck.

I think that this issue, like a bad piece of barbequed chicken", will pass.

And, although I am a bit removed from a six year old I do enjoy a few "bugs" now and then to augment my beer.

[A. BOOZER]

Pigs will start flying on Feb 3rd also.

I do hope not, Avian Flu is bad enough!

[Dove]

Me think lawyers can become politicians, doctors too but businessmen should keep out of the political scene. If this man keeps on running Thailand there may be an end to peace. Doesn't he know when to stop and realize that he creating more chaos now which is counter productive. If the hawkers are chased away where are the lower income going to buy food from, what are the tourist coming to see.

If the tourist would like to see sanitary and orderly hawkers then skip Bangkok and go to Singapore.

[Tomyum]

My first posting. I've been reading but not posting until now. This topic is one I have a passion for.

A little disruption to flow of footpath traffic is a very small price to pay for such a great differentiator from other Asian countries and for great food, prices, aromas as well as souveniers, knick-knacks being available everywhere. This truly is part of the charm and attraction of Bangkok/Thailand.

Why don't WE ALL write a physical letter, and post it by traditional MAIL, to Thaksin and tell him how this will harm tourism - which is true. We all know that's his biggest worry and that he'll protect that at all costs.

[Miggers]

I'm a newie too, reading for the past few weeks. Sitting on the fence, outside LOS, from a tourist POV this is what farang like to see, from an expat POV maybe they become a nuisance?

[Membrane]

My two cents: THIS PISSES ME OFF!

Leave Thailand alone! I like it just the way it is--er--was!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

My two cents: THIS PISSES ME OFF!

Leave Thailand alone! I like it just the way it is--er--was!

What about a compromise...leave the food stalls and ban the motorbikes.

[Up2U]

Marto

7-Eleven. May be they will start the business with crispy roaches and grasshoppers. Really - the street hawkers are one part of Thailand charm - even if they are sometimes nuisance

I try to keep her out of 7-11 - all those packets of crisps (chips if you're a septic) and other snacks - fattening and over-priced. Fried grasshoppers are sooooo much healthier !!

[12call]

The Hawkers were only off the steets for 1 day just to give them abit of a kick in the backside.99% of these vendors have clean and well organised area's.The health police should close the dirty and unclean vendors so that they MUST come into line with the rest.

[otherstuff1957]

I, for one, will miss them! I really like those grasshoppers, not to mention the crepe things. Yes, they do block the sidewalk, but they are very convenient AND if they are banned, what are they going to do for a living? The street venders are hardworking independent small businesspeople. They may not be a large part of the economy, but they are certainly doing their best with relatively limited resources. I hope to see them back soon.

[pal78]

I try to keep her out of 7-11 - all those packets of crisps (chips if you're a septic) and other snacks - fattening and over-priced. Fried grasshoppers are sooooo much healthier !!

Perhaps not. They are killed with DDT.

[marto]

Perhaps not. They are killed with DDT.

BAN THE GRASSHOPPERS!

[cdnvic]

I think alot of people are getting all excited over nothing. Vendors aren't going to dissapear from all the streets, just a few areas. Those who are saying they will miss the food, culture, blah blah blah... need to widen their circle a bit. There is one thing this country will never have is a shortage of food stalls.

Some of them are rather rude in setting up so that you have to walk out into traffic to get around them. Yes I know they have to make a living. So do I, but I don't use the excuse to put a toll booth on our soi.. If they had been a bit more considerate in the first place the complaints wouldn't have been so vocal and they'd still be alright.

Besides, how often to regulations actually get enforced here? Isn't that a common message in alot of threads? I can't believe people would actually pack up and leave a country over a couple of food stalls and the constant moaning about bars closing early... that's getting really really old...

Oh, and the bars will never close at midnight. Not that I've ever had a problem getting beer at 4am anyways....

cv

[pal78]

Perhaps not. They are killed with DDT.

BAN THE GRASSHOPPERS!

Nah, that's extreme. Just let people know the truth and give them the choice to eat or not eat them.

[cdnvic]

Perhaps not. They are killed with DDT.

BAN THE GRASSHOPPERS!

Nah, that's extreme. Just let people know the truth and give them the choice to eat or not eat them.

Since they're not squashed, how did people think they were killed?

Trapped humanely and clubbed over the head with an ityy-bitty stick?

Electrocuted?

Sniped by a .009mm Remington "Locust Gun"?

I wouldn't go near those things. At least cooking can kill birdflu... DDT is forever

[pal78]

Perhaps not. They are killed with DDT.

BAN THE GRASSHOPPERS!

Nah, that's extreme. Just let people know the truth and give them the choice to eat or not eat them.

Since they're not squashed, how did people think they were killed?

Trapped humanely and clubbed over the head with an ityy-bitty stick?

Electrocuted?

Sniped by a .009mm Remington "Locust Gun"?

I wouldn't go near those things. At least cooking can kill birdflu... DDT is forever

Yeah, I know. DDT sucks. But at least I can choose to eat the thing or not eat it. I can't do much about it if the guy standing beside me at the bus stop lights up a fag though. But that's a different subject.

Anyway perhaps the solution is to ban DDT, it has a major impact on the environment too. Maybe they can let the little hoppers die of old age or something?

[wolf5370]

Aren't there any free range grasshoppers? You know some little guy looking through bushes for grasshopper who have just died of natural causes?

Seriously, I thought they were cooked alive. Dumped straight in to a sizling wok full of boiling oil.

As soon as "areas are set up for these vendors" - rather than using the pavements/streets, we all know what will happen. The same that happens to the bike-taxis. The mafia moves in and the vendors have to pay protection money on top of their license and pitch fees. The vendors will not be able to compete with filthy cafes or illegal 'unsited' vendors, and either pack up shop (unlikely), become illegal vendors themselves (most likely) or feed us yesterday's reheats to save costs. So, extra money for the bad guys, no impact on the street hjawkers and an increase in food poisoning. Sounds brilliant!

[kukunut]

For the government to tell farmers to stop raising chickens in the backyard is to tell them to stop raising their families in a manner they and thousands of others across Asia have been doing for thousands of years.

But, hey, nothing is beyond Boss Thaksin, right?

In the S.E.A. country of Singapore, it's government can tell the people to do anything that the government wants and nary a whimper nor protest will be raised.

Any such intent to protest, will be tolerated in Indonesia, Malaysia and other nations but certainly not Singapore.

On the topic of zoned hawking. In Singapore, the hawkers are gathered in centralized locations, and they pay protection money to only one gang. Their government. No one else gets it.

What's new?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I try to keep her out of 7-11  -  all those packets of crisps (chips if you're a septic) and other snacks - fattening and over-priced. Fried grasshoppers are sooooo much healthier !!

Perhaps not. They are killed with DDT.

DDT flavor....I'll try to give them up.

[Jeepz]

DDT and humans. Hmmm, I seem to remember movie clips of people sitting in bleachers being sprayed with clouds of DDT back in the fifties. Purportedly did them no harm. They didn't fall over and croak anyway.

DDT got a bad rap in the book Silent Spring. Like any chemical compound, it has to be used appropriately. That includes where it is applied and how much is used. The American (and some others) tendency of "if a little is good, a lot is better" caused the problem with DDT and thinning egg shells for certain wild birds. It wasn't shown, as far as I know, as a health hazard to humans, just birds.

So, while I might not choose to eat grasshoppers, it would not be because they were whacked with DDT. The DDT phobia is basically an urban legend, much like the "don't throw rice at a wedding" thing. Based on krap-trap psuedo-doodoo science/moldy green thinking. [Note: DDT is the best way of getting rid of malaria causing mosquitos, but US won't fund it, thus contributing to hundreds of thousands of deaths in Africa and other malaria impacted areas.]

Jeepz

[Arnold]

Really is a good idea to use the sidewalks for walking. Except for the food wagons, and I dont think they are effected, a ban on the T-shirt hawkers and the other cronies is more than welcome.