Say Goodbye to Night Market Vendors on Silom Road

[webfact]

Say Goodbye to Night Market Vendors on Silom Road
By Sasiwan Mokkhasen
Staff Reporter


Street stalls at Silom night market. Photo: Tourism Authority of Thailand

BANGKOK — Silom Road’s famous Night Market was given a death sentence Thursday, as it was named the next target of City Hall’s ongoing cleanliness and order campaign.

Nearly 600 vendors currently permitted to sell their wares on the sidewalks of Silom Road at night have until the end of the month to clear out, Vallop Suwandee of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said Thursday. Stalls located inside small lanes off the main road, such as the those on Patpong, will still be allowed.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1463113196


-- Khaosod English 2016-05-13

[Scouse Twoccer]

Of course vendors will be "allowed" to continue their activities in Patpong. Patpong's main soi and it's Soi 2 is private land owned by the Patpong family and off limits to BMA's street trading regulations.

[ezzra]

Well, they had a long good run and made money, time now to reclaim the footpath back to the

pedestrians, what's more, that the taxi and tuk-tuk mafia that is operating from around there

will be gone I hope.....

[Stan7444]

Thank God and good ridden. Too long an impediment to foot traffic on Silom Rd. Now will not be able to even squeeze by on Patpong 1 or 2.

[Renzo]

Great news. Can Sukhumvit Rd please be next - or at least one side of the pavement cleared!!!

[kblaze]

I'll probably still walk on the street just out of habit..

[soalbundy]

it will last a week

[Merylhighground]

Step by Step the sterilisation of Bangkok until it morphs into Singapore is becoming reality.....

While I agree with the sentiments given above that the pavements, or lack of, are a pain in the backside, these 'markets' give a lot of colour to Bangkok which we will miss when they are all gone....

Edited May 13, 2016 by Merylhighground

[craigt3365]

As long as they don't completely take over the sidewalks, then these things are fine. I didn't like the Silom market. But if you went there, you knew what you were getting into.

Yes, sad they'd shut this down.

[tagalong]

Yes! Good riddance.. One cannot walk there any night it is outright impossible...Yes!..Good riddance..

[Merylhighground]

You can walk there but I agree it can be a tedious task.

I used to like weaving through the rabble from the Silom side, sitting at a convenient outside 'rack', having a few beers once seated comfortably then watching the unfolding scene.

The hot, sweaty tourists wandering dazed through the chaos, the braver actually trying to haggle with some of Bangkok's more hardened Costermongers, the even braver trying to return or exchange goods bought on a previous occasion, only to be met with a polite but unmoveable nolle prosequi from a firm, smiling stall holder, sphinx-like resistance to all threats of police, legal action, bad press on Trip Advisor ;

Equally hot, frowning 'locals' fighting their way to their favourite bars or places of work, scowling at the 'pesky tourists'...all made for a colourful scene.

Was a great people watching spot.

Shame....

[WishWashMan]

Well, they had a long good run and made money, time now to reclaim the footpath back to the

pedestrians, what's more, that the taxi and tuk-tuk mafia that is operating from around there

will be gone I hope.....

Surely didnt money selling product. The 8th wonder of the world is Did they make money or was it just a hobby?

[gemguy]

I will miss the nostalgic aspect of their presence ....but I will not miss them all that much.

When they have been cleared out and the sidewalks are free and uncluttered maybe I will leisurely run down the sidewalks of Silom with unrestrained joy in celebration of my new found freedom......lol

Cheers

[facthailand]

Fer Chrissakes! Tha Prachan amulet market, Pak Klong Talat flower market, the food corner on Sukhumvit, TAT just wants 'quality' tourists shopping in BKK malls.

Yeah, it can be inconvenient to walk in the street but, I tell you, you'll miss it when it's gone. Not all small 'corruption' and 'kickbacks' are bad. People have to make a living.

The street scene is what makes BKK an attractive, interesting, exciting place to travel.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Step by Step the sterilisation of Bangkok until it morphs into Singapore is becoming reality.....

While I agree with the sentiments given above that the pavements, or lack of, are a pain in the backside, these 'markets' give a lot of colour to Bangkok which we will miss when they are all gone....

Ah you are right. But no kicking and screaming, from (The Yes Junta Farangs) group in TV, until they start cleaning up the street whores and bargirls decreasing the odds of marriage to 1 in a million. NO BARS+NO GIRLFRIENDS+NO WIFES=NO FARANGS.Simple but effective equation. Edited May 13, 2016 by Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere

[Trouble]

I too will miss the street vendors somewhat as it does make a colorful street scene. However like everything else they let it get too out of hand to the point one needed to use the street to get somewhere. If they had only just limited it to one side of the sidewalk then maybe it would have been possible to enjoy the scene and move along the sidewalk at the same time. It just became an impossible place to be at times. I don't think I will miss it. Patpong will still be there.

[Merylhighground]

Step by Step the sterilisation of Bangkok until it morphs into Singapore is becoming reality.....

While I agree with the sentiments given above that the pavements, or lack of, are a pain in the backside, these 'markets' give a lot of colour to Bangkok which we will miss when they are all gone....

Ah you are right. But no kicking and screaming, from (The Yes Junta Farangs) group in TV, until they start cleaning up the street whores and bargirls decreasing the odds of marriage to 1 in a million. NO BARS+NO GIRLFRIENDS+NO WIFES=NO FARANGS.Simple but effective equation.

I agree but don't like to politicise everything that happens in Thailand.

If anything, this sterilisation I speak of began long before the Junta under the Thaksin regime when his lot began to bleat on about 'quality tourists, coming for the temples/culture' and nonsense like that.

[rocketboybkk]

Isn't Thailand losing its charm with all the street vendors being cleared up?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[berybert]

Bangkoks main problem has always been pavements. Where there are none you don't have markets.

Where you have pavements you have markets. The stall holders take no prisoners. They don't consider pavements to be for pedestrians but for shoppers.

Personally I would let them have the inside lane of the road. That is normally stuffed up with parked cars and taxis that shouldn't be there.

[Kabula]

No one ever talks about all the job losses with all these closures and how the loss of income impacts the families and the future potential for an increase in crime.

[berybert]

No one ever talks about all the job losses with all these closures and how the loss of income impacts the families and the future potential for an increase in crime.

Many of them are breaking the law selling counterfeit goods on land they don't own nor have paid to occupy.

[Thian]

Step by Step the sterilisation of Bangkok until it morphs into Singapore is becoming reality.....

While I agree with the sentiments given above that the pavements, or lack of, are a pain in the backside, these 'markets' give a lot of colour to Bangkok which we will miss when they are all gone....

Well prices in Singapore are almost the same as BKK anyway so we can expect almost the same quality and hygiene.

These markets have ruined it for themselves by not keeping the walkways free and safe. Now it's time for another system.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Its funny to see fireigners come here and complain these and those about their home country then praise a Junta government for changing their paradise into a clone of that they fled.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Step by Step the sterilisation of Bangkok until it morphs into Singapore is becoming reality.....

While I agree with the sentiments given above that the pavements, or lack of, are a pain in the backside, these 'markets' give a lot of colour to Bangkok which we will miss when they are all gone....

Ah you are right. But no kicking and screaming, from (The Yes Junta Farangs) group in TV, until they start cleaning up the street whores and bargirls decreasing the odds of marriage to 1 in a million.

NO BARS+NO GIRLFRIENDS+NO WIFES=NO FARANGS.Simple but effective equation.

I agree but don't like to politicise everything that happens in Thailand.

If anything, this sterilisation I speak of began long before the Junta under the Thaksin regime when his lot began to bleat on about 'quality tourists, coming for the temples/culture' and nonsense like that.

At least Thaksin was foreigner friendly and the quality tourist were farangs not chinese. Remember Thai Elite? Visa on arrival?

[Lannig]

Its funny to see fireigners come here and complain these and those about their home country then praise a Junta government for changing their paradise into a clone of that they fled.

I couldn't have said it better

This is yet another move towards a Thailand with no cheap and tasty street food, only KFCs and expensive restaurants, no cheap clothing, only shiny malls with brand outlets, no bars, no places for fun and/or sex, no easy people always eager to have a good time together, no more of this gentle wilderness ... a place as boring as Singapore indeed.

Not something I'm dreaming of.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Lannig

[berybert]

Its funny to see fireigners come here and complain these and those about their home country then praise a Junta government for changing their paradise into a clone of that they fled.

I couldn't have said it better

This is yet another move towards a Thailand with no cheap and tasty street food, only KFCs and expensive restaurants, no cheap clothing, only shiny malls with brand outlets, no bars, no places for fun and/or sex, no easy people always eager to have a good time together, no more of this gentle wilderness ... a place as boring as Singapore indeed.

Not something I'm dreaming of.

You are of course 100% wrong. There are hundreds if not thousands of markets all over Bangkok. There doesn't need to be a market on every inch of pavement Bangkok has to offer.

[WishWashMan]

Isn't Thailand losing its charm with all the street vendors being cleared up?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People dont come to LOS to hang with street vendors........................hahaha.

[dageurreotype]

At least Thaksin was foreigner friendly and the quality tourist were farangs not chinese. Remember Thai Elite? Visa on arrival?

Foreigner friendly??? His first move was to raise the Retirement deposit to 800k from 200, and then rigidly enforce the stupid as fck 90 report, which report had largely been ignored for being, stupid as fck. Not to mention yet another enthusiastic rout of 'nominees' (funny, when you think about it now), driving many farang out of the country and putting the wind up those locals in places upon which their livelihoods depend 'What will we do now? All the rubber trees are gone *sigh*). Just for starters. What are you on?

[geriatrickid]

Step by Step the sterilisation of Bangkok until it morphs into Singapore is becoming reality.....

While I agree with the sentiments given above that the pavements, or lack of, are a pain in the backside, these 'markets' give a lot of colour to Bangkok which we will miss when they are all gone....

No need for the melodrama. The Silom vendors for the most part sold the same goods, block after block. How are counterfeit products, or the bogus viagra and cialis products colourful?n How many stalls selling the same chinese sourced crap does Bangkok need? As has been pointed out several times already, there are hundreds of legit markets all over the city. Those vendors are licensed and pay the taxes that in turn generate the revenue to keep the markets clean and serviced. The vendors on Silom are not paying any local taxes. Instead they freeload off of the businesses who do.

Isn't Thailand losing its charm with all the street vendors being cleared up?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please. The vendors will still be around. This is one heavily congested street with pedestrian traffic that keeps increasing. Something has to give. People are being forced into the streets and the Silom stalls are a public safety hazard.

No one ever talks about all the job losses with all these closures and how the loss of income impacts the families and the future potential for an increase in crime.

When drug pushers are arrested, there is a job loss. You refer to "future" potential for an increase in crime. If you know anything about the structure of the Silom vendors, they are part. of a criminal enterprise. The bribes and fees they pay has benefited organized crime and fostered corruption. Selling counterfeit goods is a crime. Selling bogus drugs that cun poison people is a crime. Not paying taxes and not having an appropriate business license is a crime. Acting as a facility to launder drug money is a crime. Providing cover for street criminals is a crime.(In case you didn't know, some of the stall vendors are an integral part of the sophisticated pickpocket and mugging activity that is endemic to that area.) Now please tell me how the criminal activity would get worse?

[Merylhighground]

Step by Step the sterilisation of Bangkok until it morphs into Singapore is becoming reality.....

While I agree with the sentiments given above that the pavements, or lack of, are a pain in the backside, these 'markets' give a lot of colour to Bangkok which we will miss when they are all gone....

No need for the melodrama. The Silom vendors for the most part sold the same goods, block after block. How are counterfeit products, or the bogus viagra and cialis products colourful?n How many stalls selling the same chinese sourced crap does Bangkok need? As has been pointed out several times already, there are hundreds of legit markets all over the city. Those vendors are licensed and pay the taxes that in turn generate the revenue to keep the markets clean and serviced. The vendors on Silom are not paying any local taxes. Instead they freeload off of the businesses who do.

I didn't mention anything about the goods, nor do I give a toss about who pays what to whom, more about the undeniable fact that the Silom markets have become very much a part of the local colour in that area and their loss will be felt in that area, but I suppose, being an upstanding pillar of society you only buy your bogus viagra from a 'fully licensed, tax paying non-criminal' market.

You make some strong claims without a shred of evidence to back them up....sounds more like 'expat' gossip to me.

Selling counterfeit goods is a crime. Selling bogus drugs that cun poison people is a crime. Not paying taxes and not having an appropriate business license is a crime. Acting as a facility to launder drug money is a crime. Providing cover for street criminals is a crime.(In case you didn't know, some of the stall vendors are an integral part of the sophisticated pickpocket and mugging activity that is endemic to that area.)

Again, I'd love some evidence to back up your claims here, without it, it all just reads like more worthless bar stool prattle....

Edited May 15, 2016 by Merylhighground