I was out tonight and regardless of what anyone is saying, there are more tourists than ever. But as has been said...the faces are changing. From Pratu Thapae (where there is some sort of festival going on) all the way to Pratu Chiang Mai was a complete traffic jam and there were people all over the streets. I could not help but notice, however, that places like Pizza e Vino, the Spanish Restaurant a few doors down, the massage shops on the same block were all without a single customer at about 20:30. Even Art Cafe only had a handful of patrons. Yet when we went to the Grandview Hotel for the buffet lunch the other day, we could not get a table. There were about 6 tour buses out front with Asian tourists. We had to leave and go elsewhere.

So the old indicators of how many tourists are around are no longer valid as the new tourists in Thailand are looking for value for their money (i.e. buffets, etc.) and sadly good business like the above mentioned are sitting empty. I do feel for the farang business owners and Thai business owners who have in the past catered to Western tourists, who have worked hard to establish their businesses. But clearly there is a change in the air. On the other end of the spectrum are the wealthy Asian tourists spending their time (and money) over at the new Central. Last night I took my kid to play at the children's play area. All of the expensive Japanese style buffet restaurants (minimum 400 Baht+ per person) were absolutely packed with Asians. In the 2 hours I was there reading and having coffee while I waited for my kid, I counted about 12 farangs in there. Changing times for sure.

All the dirt-cheap Thai restaurants that I frequent are full of Chinese every day and I see them buying snacks on the street from rolling carts and noodle stalls. My guess is that these are the places most of them are spending their money and who can blame them? It is probably not too different from home.

A lot of the Thai restaurants that usually cater to the natives are doing much better than they were when mostly Western tourists were coming here.