First day of new street vending rules on Silom Rd.

[kingalfred]

Picking on the Thai little and ordinary people. Where are the crackdowns on Thai big men, money launderers, banker, inside traders, Thai business hustlers, and bribe takers? A bust of a guy selling fish balls from a stall for poaching on the road sends a poor message about the seriousness of these crackdowns and the true intentions of the government which seems to be making the elite's lives easier.

oh dear. Some really dont know what goes on here.

[Johnniey]

I for one, enjoy the hawker, food stall environment found all around Thailand. What I do not like is trying to navigate

an area like this where it's simply impossible to move.

I just hope they strike a good balance between our ability to move around and allowing the vendors to operate. I would

never like to see Thailand go down the road of banning them all.

Agreed.

A lot of poor people make their living on the streets.

Forcing them off might have unintended consequences.

moreover, a lot of not so poor people make their living from those poor people...

btw, seriously, apart from the corruption issues associated about rent pays, etc,........ many of those vendors are anything but poor!!

and who are they mostly? Yes the RTP.

tit for tit revenge. The army using their power to hurt the police under the pretence they are cleaning up the country

[PokerFace]

All this has done along Sukhumvit is provide another lane for the motorcycles!! I've come closer to getting hit on the sidewalk more times since they cleared the street vendors than in the last 20 years I have been here.

[NoshowJones]

I for one, enjoy the hawker, food stall environment found all around Thailand. What I do not like is trying to navigate

an area like this where it's simply impossible to move.

I just hope they strike a good balance between our ability to move around and allowing the vendors to operate. I would

never like to see Thailand go down the road of banning them all.

The way I see it, the answer is to allow the vendors to have their stalls on one side of the sidewalk (pavement) which would also allow plenty of room for foot traffic. But, the more vendors, the more tea money for certain people, which is why they will all soon be back.

[NoshowJones]

i dont getthe hours.

the vendors are allowed when theres lot of foot traffic. 7pm onwards.

but not when theres little traffic.......................lol. funny stuff.

You have got this right as far as Sukhumvit between Soi 3 and Asok is concerned.

[recycled]

I for one, enjoy the hawker, food stall environment found all around Thailand. What I do not like is trying to navigate

an area like this where it's simply impossible to move.

I just hope they strike a good balance between our ability to move around and allowing the vendors to operate. I would

never like to see Thailand go down the road of banning them all.

Agreed.

A lot of poor people make their living on the streets.

Forcing them off might have unintended consequences.

I wouldn't loose any sleep over it, Thais don't give a crap about one another full stop and none have the fortitude to stand up for themselves. Silly little country with silly little people.

[NoshowJones]

I agree with the issue of blocked streets, that is not pleasant for everyone - Thais included. But I have a Thai friend with a food stall near Thong Lo, and she makes up to 3,000 baht every day, six days a week. Tell me that isn't good money for a Thai person. And it's incredibly hard work; up at 2am, off to the market to get supplies, prep time and all for a tiny food stall. Hats off to hard work. And I would not like Thailand to emulate Singapore where they banned street traders and created the sanitized hawker stall culture. Street food IS Thai culture, and I think the majority would like to see that remain.

I agree entirely, but the sidewalks must always leave room for foot traffic, not like the odd number Sois in Sukhumvit during the evening.

[FredNL]

I agree entirely, but the sidewalks must always leave room for foot traffic, not like the odd number Sois in Sukhumvit during the evening.

There you can find there African drugdealers and their whores. Last Friday there was one African hooker promoting herself saying "NO have Aids and Ebola"....

Let them clean up that part of Sukhumvit. Those Africans are a disgrace for Bangkok.

[smutcakes]

I fully expect this to be as successful as all the other 'issues' that have been solved. (i.e not at all)

[NoshowJones]

I agree entirely, but the sidewalks must always leave room for foot traffic, not like the odd number Sois in Sukhumvit during the evening.

There you can find there African drugdealers and their whores. Last Friday there was one African hooker promoting herself saying "NO have Aids and Ebola"....

Let them clean up that part of Sukhumvit. Those Africans are a disgrace for Bangkok.

[/quote. I am referring to people being able to walk on the sidewalk, prostitutes, whether you like them or not, do not cause anywhere near the obstructions caused by vendors when they are on both sides of the sidewalk.

[Bluespunk]

In days of Yore,

And long before

The BTS was invented

Silom Road was walkable,

And really quite stalkable...

Easy to find what was intended

The food was tasty

The mood was hasty

Sois 1-6 abuzz

In days of yore and long before the BTS was invented.

Now the food has fuzz

The air full of guzz

Rats and cockroaches infested!!

Totally off topic, but would a "Poetry" or "Limerick" Thread be considered by TV Members and Moderators?

And would there be some sort of "crapometre" so we could rate them.

Say starting from

"hell no"

leading to

"<deleted>"

and so on till it gets to

"just about tolerable".

[Bluespunk]

So that's why there was a bunch of coppers sat in the shade outside o'reilys today.

O'reilys?? I went there last week but it had another name suddenly so we didn't go in.

Could be.

Haven't drunk there for years so didn't pay much attention to the sign.

Where o'reilys used to be then.

Still had bunch of the BIB sat in shade there though.

[talisman01]

There was no discernible change to the hawker stalls on either side of Silom road last night

[bigwhitewarrior]

I for one, enjoy the hawker, food stall environment found all around Thailand. What I do not like is trying to navigate

an area like this where it's simply impossible to move.

I just hope they strike a good balance between our ability to move around and allowing the vendors to operate. I would

never like to see Thailand go down the road of banning them all.

Agreed.

A lot of poor people make their living on the streets.

Forcing them off might have unintended consequences.

moreover, a lot of not so poor people make their living from those poor people...

btw, seriously, apart from the corruption issues associated about rent pays, etc,........ many of those vendors are anything but poor!!

mystery to me if they make money. i just dont see a lot of business going on.

you got rent , boys to build and tear down the stall, people to run the stall, is their that much money to spread around?

I'm glad you out a coma between the words rent and boys ;-)

[rak sa_ngop]

So that's why there was a bunch of coppers sat in the shade outside o'reilys today.

O'reilys?? I went there last week but it had another name suddenly so we didn't go in.

Could be.

Haven't drunk there for years so didn't pay much attention to the sign.

Where o'reilys used to be then.

Still had bunch of the BIB sat in shade there though.

The guys you see sitting around Silom Road are not actually policemen but thetsakit. I do not know what powers they have as compared to real policemen, but you will notice that they do not carry guns.

Seems an incredible waste of manpower resources to have about 50 of these officials hanging round Silom road all day. I bet all they are doing is trying to work out how they are going to get enough money for their next bottle of Red.

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

I think many will agree that part of the charm of Bkk is the street vendors but it is clearly way out of control. I doubt that many people consider having to walk on the street in order to get anywhere in a timely manner is charming, especially in a culture where pedestrians are considered targets by drivers that have no accountability if they run you over.

The problem with the vendors, as well as the taxi and others, is that all of the sidewalks and roads have been sold by the BIB to these vendors and ripoff taxi's for their own benefit and at the expense and detriment of the rest of the society.

I doubt one baht of any of these proceeds goes to taxes just straight into the pockets of corrupt cops and Gov't officials.

Regulate and tax the vendors and keep the sidewalks open so people can walk safely on them (except for how dangerous they are by design ie. holes, cracks telephone poles and advertising signs etc. right in the middle of them).

Get rid of all the extortion taxi's from the streets. No good comes from these parasites. They overcharge their customers, try to extort the hotels and businesses they plant themselves down in front of, and they create traffic jams on every soi by taking up space that they are not entitled too.

[Sviss Geez]

Same same in Soi Cowboy.

Taxi block 4 of the 6 lanes.

After the coup, all taxi was cleared to just 1 lane.

Now, back to business as usual. Block all 4 lanes again.

Soi Cowboy barely has one lane of traffic, certainly not 6 lanes. I think you're lost.

[ToddinChonburi]

I am glad to see this there are way to many places through out Thailand were the restaurants have taken over the side walks and you have to walk in the street. motorbikes and car could careless about walkers. they will run you down.

[Searat7]

Many police are still stationed along Silom Rd. to keep sidewalks clear during the day. What a waste of manpower although I wonder where they would be otherwise. It would be much more economical to have 2 pickup trucks patrolling the designated area. Should they find anyone breaking the rules they could confiscate the metal parts of their booth which I have seen them do before here a few years ago.

[samtam]

I fully expect this to be as successful as all the other 'issues' that have been solved. (i.e not at all)

Slowly, but surely the vendors are reappearing:

Silom Road @ 3 pm 15 January. Plus ca TIT...and the pavement is quite literally disappearing, (both spacially and physically with broken tiles etc).

Edited January 16, 2015 by samtam

[edgarfriendly]

All mouth - Zero action

(unless its ripping someone off, or covering up another rape/murder)

[nisakiman]

moreover, a lot of not so poor people make their living from those poor people...

btw, seriously, apart from the corruption issues associated about rent pays, etc,........ many of those vendors are anything but poor!!

mystery to me if they make money. i just dont see a lot of business going on.

you got rent , boys to build and tear down the stall, people to run the stall, is their that much money to spread around?

My wife was in hospital at Sanam Pao for a couple of days earlier this week, and I would nip down to the street for a ciggy every now and then so got to see the street vendors near the hospital operating. There seemed to be two or three shifts - as one stall packed up, another would take its place. I saw the women who sold clothing packing up after the morning, and they were putting all their gear into pretty new cars. One of them was collected by her husband, and they loaded the stuff into a Honda Accord still on red plates. So it seemed to me that they were doing very nicely out of their street trading enterprises. And good luck to them.