A Salute to Bangkok's Latest Endangered Species: Phone Booths (Photos)
By Chayanit Itthipongmaetee
Staff Reporter


Vendors and street sweepers store their goods in phone stalls Thursday around Phadung Dao and Charoen Krung roads in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — Red and blue they stand in plexiglass and aluminum and plastic, abandoned and overlooked by eyes accustomed to ignoring them.

Many bear the marks of vandalism; many are broken. But as wandering through parts of Bangkok on Thursday found, the ubiquitous and familiar structures of line-based telephony have found new purposes.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1457255597


-- Khaosod English 2016-03-07

Their purpose always seemed to me to be to block what little sidewalk there is in Bangkok. Always a wonder to see them right in the middle of an entire sidewalk section.

The ones on Sukhumvit 21 on the corner to Soi Cowboy were used for cooking(!) before dismantled and taken away last year And the street vendors using them where banned, but now slowly creeping back. Let's see how the city will handle this returning tide.

Good riddance. They are used as toilets for taxi/tuk/-tuk drivers or accommodation for beggars, drunks and backpackers.

I want to buy the one from soi Nana and Rama 4.

I was walking down the street with my 16 yr old daughter and as we approached a phone booth she sent me a text. What's that thing dad? I said it's a telephone darling where people call and speak to each other even over long distances. She texted me back and said, old people, all they have to do is meet at a coffee shop and text each other.

In my city in the YUK (Preston) they're trying to sell them as retail outlets - coffee, souvenirs !

Even if they haul them off sure they won't cut the bolts on the pavements away properly. Another hazard, getting a rusty bolt through the foot.

Here you go. Now who does one apply to for compensation when this spike busts through your plugger?