BKK Observations: The Day and Days After....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Wife and I were out and around BKK for much of the day. Saw the following:

 

--For much of the day, especially considering it was a "national holiday," the Skytrain was VERY crowded -- presumably with lots of people headed toward the river for purpose of viewing the King's procession.

 

--At least in the morning, I passed by a couple of the non-Nana plaza individual "adult" shops in lower Sukhumvit, and to my surprise, they were open, with the business doors closed, but the girls sitting outside the same as usual, except all clad in black clothes.

 

--Tonight when we got home, my wife turned on our Happy Home Cable TV and, to her horror, discovered that all the normal non-Thai TV channels (Universal, NHK, News Asia, etc)  had been taken off the air, and EVERY single one of the Thai channels that was still being shown was showing the official government feed of ....

 

--The wife also mentioned that it had been announced somewhere (she wasnt' clear) that all the normal Thai TV lakorns are OFF THE AIR until further notice. A quite pleasant side effect of a sad time.

 

--Again, away from places like Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy, the bar scene situation seemed mixed. One big farang pub in our neighborhood closed Thursday night and remained closed all Friday. But nearby that business, there were several other smaller bars and bar-restaurants that remained open, and were serving alcohol, and even had their regular signboards out advertising it.

 

--We were passing thru Victory Monument in the afternoon, and, oddly, saw BMA workers removing the images of the King and Queen that long were shown there on the monument itself. By the time we left, the former image spaces were simply blank, so I don't know if they were changing the images, leaving them blank, or later going to put up something new.

 

 

--

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, one of the news reports I saw this morning said a lot of flights in and out of Suvarnabhumi were showing up as canceled. No explanation of why in the brief news report...

 

Anyone know anything about that, why, and if correct, how long it's going to persist?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Wow, an interesting news report in the BKK Post website regarding television tonight:

 

Local channels can return to their own programming after midnight.

 

But once they do, for the coming 30 days, they're not supposed to show programming with any element of  "entertainment", joy, impoliteness, violence, dancing, or overly expressed emotion.  (That would indeed seem to rule out lakorns).

 

The article also says the same rule would apply to "imported" programs, which of course the local authorities have no ability to control, other than to perhaps take off the air, as Happy Home Cable appears to have done with all their "imported" channels.

 

Be interesting to see how this plays out during the coming month.

[khunpin]

So, actually nothing new. Even a few bars on Soi Cowboy were reported to open tonight. At the market near my room (5 BTS stations from Asok) they sold alcohol as on every normal day. Only the music volume has been turned down to a more "communicative" level.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

[KhunBENQ]

34 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

BTW, one of the news reports I saw this morning said a lot of flights in and out of Suvarnabhumi were showing up as canceled. No explanation of why in the brief news report...

 

Anyone know anything about that, why, and if correct, how long it's going to persist?

I can only comment from the armchair and it does not correlate with the usual sources (flightstats.com).

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByAirport.do

For my provincial airport I use this:

http://dca.aviation.go.th/fis/flight.php?fromday=&today=&airport=TUK&chack=go

Not a single flight cancelled. Not a single relevant delay, some flights early.

A well know blogger (Richard Barrow) also reports business as usual at Suvarnabhumi).

 

Maybe this news is what Prayut fears/warns as "false rumors".

It would be easy to hit tourism ar this time by false information/hoaxes,

Edited October 14, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

I can only comment from the armchair and it does not correlate with the usual sources (flightstats.com).

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByAirport.do

 

 

Don't know. But the report I mentioned above was made Friday morning by one of our mods in the official TV thread on updates, closures, etc.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Another thing I haven't been able to find any clear info about:

 

There was a government announcement reported in the BKK Post today (cannot by rule link to the article here) saying that various bus lines, train routes and ferries that provide access to the Grand Palace will be offering free fares through this weekend for people coming to mourn the King there.

 

But in none of the news reports I've read is there any mention of just what kind of public access (if any) there will be at the Grand Palace itself for public mourners.

 

----------------------------------

 

The NNT news release below mentions the public being able to participate in Royal Bathing Ceremony (Ceremonies?) at the Grand Palace, but has different details re the free fares, describing them in a much more limited scope

 

Cant tell whether the BKK Post or NNT version is the accurate one.

 

"BANGKOK, 14 October 2016 (NNT) - The Transport Company has increased trips to Bangkok to enable people in other provinces to pay homage to HM the King.

The Transport Company's Acting President Pol Gen Amnat Anartngam disclosed that the company has now increased the number of Bangkok-bound trips by 25 percent to allow Thai people to participate in the royal bathing ceremony for the late monarch at Sala Sahathai Samakhom Hall in the Grand Palace.

Bus terminal masters across the country are coordinating with relevant agencies to deal with the number of people planning to travel to the capital city for this purpose. The special timetables take effect from today onwards.

Meanwhile, the Marine Department is offering free ferry service from Tha Chang Pier to Phran Nok Pier to facilitate people wishing to witness the royal procession of HM the King’s body to Sala Sahathai Samakhom. Free boat rides will continue until the end of the ceremony."

 

http://thainews.prd.go.th/website_en/news/news_detail/WNSOC5910140010066

Edited October 14, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Another NNT allusion to how people should dress for mourning ceremonies, but no mention of what ceremonies or where or when for the public.

 

Quote

 

Dress guidelines for attending mourning ceremonies

 

14 Oct 2016 | 12:59 | (47 Viewer ) |   

BANGKOK, 14 October 2016 (NNT) - Prof. Tongthong Chandransu, former Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, has advised those planning to attend mourning ceremonies to dress in plain, black clothing.

According to Prof. Tongthong, the attire should be formal. Black clothes with gray or white accents would also be accepted. Civil servants are allowed to appear in uniform.

Various commemorative shirts sold by vendors, whether in black, yellow, or pink, are not suitable for formal occasions and should only be worn outside of ceremonies.

 

 

http://thainews.prd.go.th/website_en/news/news_detail/WNPBH5910140010006

Edited October 14, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Don't know. But the report I mentioned above was made Friday morning by one of our mods in the official TV thread on updates, closures, etc.

 

 

 

I looked at the AOT departures website log for Suvarnabhumi starting early Friday and progressing through the morning. There were quite a few flights listed as canceled, seemingly a lot of those being China or similar-bound. But it wasn't masses or pervasive cancellations.

 

It does look, though, like a lot of the outbound flights that were canceled were preceded by the same planes' incoming arrivals also having been canceled earlier.

 

http://suvarnabhumiairport.com/en/4-passenger-departures

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[anotheruser]

TV is back on.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It seems there were other non-Thai related aviation issues going on in the past 24 hours, including the emergence of tropical storm Karen (Sarika) tracking in the Pacific toward the Phils, leading to a lot of PH carrier cancellations, and a "glitch" in United Airlines computer system that caused the carrier worldwide flight delays.

 

So apparently, the cancellations at Swampy were likely for other, non-Thai related causes.

 

Weather Forecast for Local Aviation

Bulletin issued at 17:30 HKT 14/OCT/2016
(Next update at 01:30 HKT 15/OCT/2016)

I.   SIGNIFICANT WEATHER WITHIN 100 KILOMETER RADIUS OF H.K :
     STRONG WINDS AND SEV TURB.
II.  SYNOPSIS OF THE WEATHER SITUATION :
     THE NORTHEAST MONSOON IS AFFECTING THE COASTAL AREAS OF 
     GUANGDONG.

http://www.hko.gov.hk/aviat/100nm_e.htm

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/14/new-computer-glitch-delays-united-airlines-flights.html

 

 

Edited October 14, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 minutes ago, anotheruser said:

TV is back on.

 

At least on Happy Home Cable in BKK as of 12:30 am., the central government feed seems to be off some of the Thai channels. But those that are on are still showing pretty much all King related programming.

 

And more broadly, while Channel News Asia and France 24 (both straight news) are back on, Universal Channel and NHK (entertainment) are not. And lots of normal Thai channels remain off the air, including all the music video channels and other "entertainment" content.

[anotheruser]

CNN and BBC are back.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 minutes ago, anotheruser said:

CNN and BBC are back.

 

Back on what, exactly?

 

And what about programming/channels other than news?

 

[anotheruser]

Thai TV stations....????? wink wink???? Truevisons..... Okay?????? Is it clear enough??? 

Edited October 14, 2016 by anotheruser

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There are other different smaller cable TV providers in Thailand beyond Truevisions.

 

And you didn't mention whether anything non-Thai had come back other than news channels.

 

Edited October 14, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Hedghog]

There is no blanket ban on alcohol sales.

Why would all bars, restaurants be closed?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Hedghog said:

There is no blanket ban on alcohol sales.

Why would all bars, restaurants be closed?

 

Who said they are all closed? I've seen no indication of that.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

10 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

At least on Happy Home Cable in BKK as of 12:30 am., the central government feed seems to be off some of the Thai channels. But those that are on are still showing pretty much all King related programming.

 

And more broadly, while Channel News Asia and France 24 (both straight news) are back on, Universal Channel and NHK (entertainment) are not. And lots of normal Thai channels remain off the air, including all the music video channels and other "entertainment" content.

 

As of Sat. morning, the few international channels on my Happy Home Cable system are back on and, of course, showing their regular programming.

 

But among the Thai channels, all those being shown are currently showing the main TV Pool government feed re King content. But a lot of other Thai channels simply remain off air.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Channel News Asia this morning was reporting that a long queue of Thai citizens formed at the Grand Palace this morning with people hoping they'd be allowed inside.

 

But at some point earlier in the day, CNA said the crowd was told that wasn't going to happen for at least a week.

 

Just now however, CNA is updating its report saying those at the location now have been told the public will be allowed inside, but not saying exactly when.

 

Edited October 15, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There are a couple posts in the official TV thread on closures saying some supermarkets including Tesco have decided (or been ordered) to stop selling alcoholic beverages for several days.

 

I checked my Tops Online delivery account this morning, and all their normal listings for beer products have been removed and show as not available. So apparently Central/Tops is part of that no-sales policy.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

A lot of today's various news stories re King-related items, and the impacts of that, are being posted in the daily news thread for today:

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Want to read a very confusing article on the government's rules for TV broadcasting in the coming days and week.....

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Guidelines-issued-for-all-broadcast-and-print-medi-30297709.html

 

30 days?  7 days?

 

Quote

Television channels agree to suspend normal programmes for 30 days while newspapers and magazines will print only grey

 

 

Quote

On Thursday night, media associations and related media owners convened an urgent meeting regarding the guidelines.

The guidelines were circulated internally among media owners, plus media outlets and advertising agencies and their clients.

Under the original guideline for media owners, all TV and radio programmes would be stopped and simulcast from Channel 11 for at least seven days until further notice.

 

Quote

YouTube will shutdown for at least seven days while other websites must be grey and other Thai media outlets will likely follow the government announcement.

 

Edited October 15, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Channel News Asia just now reporting mourners now being allowed inside the Grand Palace.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, when I try to access Youtube.com via my 3BB internet feed just now, the website and all its normal content loads fine. But the top of the page loads a section of King-related content, with my own content listed as normal beneath it.

[poohy]

To be honest not much out of the ordinary here in Phachuap apart from more people dressed in black

 

[MikeyIdea]

42 minutes ago, poohy said:

To be honest not much out of the ordinary here in Phachuap apart from more people dressed in black

 

 

I saw something worth mentioning regarding that when I drove from and to work yesterday and the same when I was out this morning.

 

90% wore black, white or possibly grey, or their standard uniforms if they had to do that. It's not the percentage that is important, what is important is that every single one that did NOT follow this were lower to middle working class

 

We should look at when the middle class accepts to go back to normal clothes and follow that

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Channel News Asia updated their report with a live report at 1 pm today.

 

Saying the Grand Palace will be open to the public daily from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

 

Saying visitors will be allowed inside to sign a book of condolence for the King, but no "viewing."

 

[tartempion]

Many people upset yesterday here in the village with the lack of news on TV, only historical photo's, no news on the Bangkok funeral proceedings or any news about what's happening elsewhere on the planet whilst we are at it.
Not a smart move in my opinion.

[SoiBiker]

They showed the procession from the Hospital to the palace live on pretty much every channel, though.

 

The funeral itself likely won't happen for months, as I understand it.