What's with the government's obsession with closing the street markets ?

[fish fingers]

Just heard Klong thom night market is gone!

Soi 38 is going soon...

any others?

Bangkok is losing its soul under Prayuth.. what is he up to..

just makes me very sad to see all these wonderful vibrant communities get destroyed

Edited August 29, 2015 by Crossy
Topic title edited to be within forum rules

[mogandave]

I will not miss them

[slapout]

Many of these markets are squatters on public property and encroach on private properety owned by merchants trying to make a living for their family.

Give them an inch and they take a mile. Same with vehicle rental offices, push cart venders, etc they have no onsite parking so they take public parking which property owningt /renting, merchants depend on for potential customers to come into their bonified business.

[connda]

What fun is power if you don't get to use it. Thailand is definitely starting to turn into something different than it use to be, and that tend to affect those with the least. Wish Burma would get it's act together and start establishing farang friendly tourist cities.

[SGX]

Government not earning anything .

[BKKdreaming]

I was at Klong Thom today and everything is off the public streets ,

even the area across the street that was full of street sellers at the first crackdown in March is now gone ,

There was supposed to be another place somewhere that they were going to be sent ( re-education camp ? ) but I never found out where it was .

Really makes it boring........ but its the "NEW" Thailand

[Laza 45]

They want it to be sanitized just like Singapore.. more $$ from big spending tourists.. they do not realize that they kill the soul that is Thailand's major attraction.. lol...

[connda]

I was at Klong Thom today and everything is off the public streets ,

even the area across the street that was full of street sellers at the first crackdown in March is now gone ,

There was supposed to be another place somewhere that they were going to be sent ( re-education camp ? ) but I never found out where it was .

Really makes it boring........ but its the "NEW" Thailand

Maybe TAT can spin that:

Welcome to The New Thailand:

Less color, Less diversity, Boring as hell

(and - shhhhh! - more out of work, poor Thais unable to make a living due to the 'clean-up' of Thai society.)

Personally, I liked 'old' Thailand 100% better. If I wasn't married to a Thai, I'd be looking for friendlier and more interesting places to live, where folks are encouraged to be entrepreneurial and self-reliant. I now considering moving here years ago as a mistake. One decision in life that's hard to take back when you have a Thai family that depends on you, but a life in a country where 'the powers to be' make living here as difficult as possible for foreigners who seem to be barely tolerated any longer, and have the social status of Water Buffalo at best, imho -- at least my family understands who butters the bread. It's one of those things in life I'd like to take back. C'est la vie. It can always get worse.

Edited August 29, 2015 by connda

[SGX]

wow, you really should appreciate the life you have and can lead. my older brother had bad accident now a quad , he cant do anything. should i continue??

maybe you should say It can always get better.

[ozyjon]

Personally, I liked 'old' Thailand 100% better. If I wasn't married to a Thai, I'd be looking for friendlier and more interesting places to live, where folks are encouraged to be entrepreneurial and self-reliant. I now considering moving here years ago as a mistake. One decision in life that's hard to take back when you have a Thai family that depends on you, but a life in a country where 'the powers to be' make living here as difficult as possible for foreigners who seem to be barely tolerated any longer, and have the social status of Water Buffalo at best, imho -- at least my family understands who butters the bread. It's one of those things in life I'd like to take back. C'est la vie. It can always get worse.

Hey Connda (thank you)

Do you realize you have made (written) the perfect answer to the age old question

'' I want to move to Thailand ''

'' going to live in Thailand forever ''

or

'' i have no money, i'm in my 30's and with my girlfriend want to

go liberate the locals by teaching them English, i have no diploma

but that's ok, there will be a welcome party waiting for me at the

airport because i will be their savior, now where are my rose

coloured glasses. ''

You know where i'm going with this....

let me read it again,,,, priceless.

[seancbk]

I was at Klong Thom today and everything is off the public streets ,

even the area across the street that was full of street sellers at the first crackdown in March is now gone ,

There was supposed to be another place somewhere that they were going to be sent ( re-education camp ? ) but I never found out where it was .

Really makes it boring........ but its the "NEW" Thailand

Google Rot Fai Market Ratchada

That is where the action is.

[thailandforumaddict]

If your life is so awful with street sellers that are some of the most important things that tourists like in this country, why not going back home where I guess your street are perfectly clean ?

<3

Many of these markets are squatters on public property and encroach on private properety owned by merchants trying to make a living for their family.

Give them an inch and they take a mile. Same with vehicle rental offices, push cart venders, etc they have no onsite parking so they take public parking which property owningt /renting, merchants depend on for potential customers to come into their bonified business.

[SoiBiker]

Not everything is the government's fault - Soi 38 is closing because the landowners want to redevelop the area.

[thailandforumaddict]

Exactly !!!

They want it to be sanitized just like Singapore.. more $$ from big spending tourists.. they do not realize that they kill the soul that is Thailand's major attraction.. lol...

[connda]

Not everything is the government's fault - Soi 38 is closing because the landowners want to redevelop the area.

That will keep up until the next financial meltdown. Maybe 2017 will look like 2007: half built sky-trains going nowhere and a lot of half-built construction projects looking to crumble into dust over the next decade.

Let's just say I don't see Thailand being considered part of the 'developed world' until way after my life-time.

Edited August 29, 2015 by connda

[bil2054]

Not everything is the government's fault - Soi 38 is closing because the landowners want to redevelop the area.

That will keep up until the next financial meltdown. Maybe 2017 will look like 2007: half built sky-trains going nowhere and a lot of half-built construction projects looking to crumble into dust over the next decade.

Let's just say I don't see Thailand being considered part of the 'developed world' until way after my life-time.

I had wondered about all those abandoned construction projects. It would seem that entrepreneurial types with a bit of spare cash could take some of those and complete the buildings.

Anyone have an idea why they don't? Is it like the folks "selling" houses that seemingly would rather let them rot into the ground than take one baht less than their 500% inflated notion of what they think they are worth?

I just had the thought, one of those completed buildings might be a decent venue for some of the displaced street markets. How to finance the idea? Haven't gone that far.

Edited August 29, 2015 by bil2054

[SoiBiker]

I'd imagine a building that's been left exposed to the elements in a half-finished state for the best part of two decades probably isn't that simple to deal with.

[Doc46]

wow, you really should appreciate the life you have and can lead. my older brother had bad accident now a quad , he cant do anything. should i continue??

maybe you should say It can always get better.

Nah don't say anything ,,,,Your Poor brother has got nothing to do with this,,,,

[duckmandon]

They want it to be sanitized just like Singapore.. more $$ from big spending tourists.. they do not realize that they kill the soul that is Thailand's major attraction.. lol...

And what is wrong with having a clean city. More $$$$ is better for the economy & brings better tourists in. BTW what soul? There are still organised markets where these vendors rent space not just set up where they feel like it to anoy & obstruct the general public. These illegal street vendors contribute nothing & leave behind rubbish & stench of rotting food etc. for someone else to clean up.

[gk10002000]

It is typical big city versus rural village mentality. And of course modern developers want, or think they want nice modern stores, with steady rent paying occupants. Hopefully, Bangkok and other cities can find some happy medium, but I doubt it. I hear the vendor spaces are hotly contested and the "mafia" really squeezes some or many of them. I would like to think that some dedicated areas every few blocks apart could be created or allocated, but that is rare in big cities.

[IMA_FARANG]

They want to turn Bangkok into another <deleted> Singapore, a "rich people's" tourist trap city with no character to it.

[ericthai]

Not everything is the government's fault - Soi 38 is closing because the landowners want to redevelop the area.

That will keep up until the next financial meltdown. Maybe 2017 will look like 2007: half built sky-trains going nowhere and a lot of half-built construction projects looking to crumble into dust over the next decade.

Let's just say I don't see Thailand being considered part of the 'developed world' until way after my life-time.

I had wondered about all those abandoned construction projects. It would seem that entrepreneurial types with a bit of spare cash could take some of those and complete the buildings.

Anyone have an idea why they don't? Is it like the folks "selling" houses that seemingly would rather let them rot into the ground than take one baht less than their 500% inflated notion of what they think they are worth?

I just had the thought, one of those completed buildings might be a decent venue for some of the displaced street markets. How to finance the idea? Haven't gone that far.

because most if not all of those building are unsafe. They cannot be fixed up economically so they would need to be torn down and start over which it's costly to do that too.

[millwall_fan]

Not everything is the government's fault - Soi 38 is closing because the landowners want to redevelop the area.

You just don't get it, do you? The landowners are the government: it was to restore the power of these landowners that the army was instructed to sieze power.

They want it to be sanitized just like Singapore.. more $$ from big spending tourists.. they do not realize that they kill the soul that is Thailand's major attraction.. lol...

And what is wrong with having a clean city. More $$$$ is better for the economy & brings better tourists in. BTW what soul? There are still organised markets where these vendors rent space not just set up where they feel like it to anoy & obstruct the general public. These illegal street vendors contribute nothing & leave behind rubbish & stench of rotting food etc. for someone else to clean up.

Street vendors are on the street for a reason: because uncontrolled capitalism permits the rich landowners to charge exorbitant rents that are outside the reach of the street vendors who are there to serve food and victuals to the overwhelming majority of Thais who earn 300 Baht a day or less and for whom the difference between a meal costing 35 Baht or 40 Baht is significant.

You guys are lucky that the ethnic Thais are so gentle and placid: almost anywhere else they would rise up and overthrow the Elite. The inequalities of wealth in this country are lamentable.

BTW: who are the 'better tourists'? Rich ones who spend their money on fancy hotels owned by the rich or less affluent ones who stay in guest houses owned and run by Thais?

[SoiBiker]

What do you mean, restore the power of these landowners?

They own the land. They don't need the army's permission to choose what they do with it.

Take off the tinfoil hat, dude.

[millwall_fan]

What do you mean, restore the power of these landowners?

They own the land. They don't need the army's permission to choose what they do with it.

Take off the tinfoil hat, dude.

And therein lies the problem.

Take off your blinkers 'dude'

[SoiBiker]

So they had a coup just so they could close down a small night market and build some condos. Even though there was nothing stopping them doing so anyway?

Absurd.

[Lorn]

I was at Klong Thom today and everything is off the public streets ,

even the area across the street that was full of street sellers at the first crackdown in March is now gone ,

There was supposed to be another place somewhere that they were going to be sent ( re-education camp ? ) but I never found out where it was .

Really makes it boring........ but its the "NEW" Thailand

Google Rot Fai Market Ratchada

That is where the action is.

Went there last week. Awful place full of chinese rip offs. No soul whatsoever.

[millwall_fan]

So they had a coup just so they could close down a small night market and build some condos. Even though there was nothing stopping them doing so anyway?

Absurd.

That would be to over simplify it, but the coup was mounted in order to restore power to the Elite and remove what small rights the poor had gained in the previous 16 years or so. If they could have closed down theses markets previously why didn't they? And there is a residential building boom going on in Bangkok at the moment - the only sector of the Thai economy that is thriving. Why would that be do you think?

[SoiBiker]

If they could have closed down theses markets previously why didn't they?

The previous owner passed away recently. Their family have different plans for the land.

Seriously, not everything is to do with the government.

[Howitzer]

Many of these markets are squatters on public property and encroach on private properety owned by merchants trying to make a living for their family.

Give them an inch and they take a mile. Same with vehicle rental offices, push cart venders, etc they have no onsite parking so they take public parking which property owningt /renting, merchants depend on for potential customers to come into their bonified business.

The question is why have these property owners allowed them to use their space for so long.