Phuket two-day booze ban this weekend for Buddhist holidays

[webfact]

Phuket two-day booze ban this weekend for Buddhist holidays

The Phuket News

 

Buddhist holidays this weekend will see a ban on alcohol sales across the country, including Phuket.

 

PHUKET: -- Bars and restaurants across the island, and the rest of Thailand, will be banned from selling alcohol this Saturday and Sunday (July 8-9) as the nation marks the Buddhist holidays Asarnha Bucha Day and Khao Phansa (Buddhist Lent).

 

Asarnha Bucha Day and the beginning of Buddhist Lent have been mandated “National No Alcohol Days” since 2009 by an order that also banned the sale of alcohol on the major Buddhist holidays Makha Bucha Day and Visakha Bucha Day.

 

Asarnha Bucha day is the full-moon day of the eighth lunar month, commemorating the Buddha’s first sermon to his first five disciples after attaining Enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.

 

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-two-day-booze-ban-this-weekend-for-buddhist-holidays-62814.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2017-07-03

[Kerryd]

Pretty sure this applies to all of Thailand, not just Phuket ?

 

8 July (Saturday) Asalha Bucha
9 July (Sunday) Wan Khao Phansa (Beginning of Buddhist Lent)
10 July (Monday) Substitution For Asalha Bucha

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/961315-official-holidays-in-thailand-2017/?do=findComment&comment=11477173

 

Edited July 3, 2017 by Kerryd

[SiamBeast]

AFAIK it applies to the whole country (except mom & pop stores who are deep enough in the soi)

[harada]

Special coffee time. 

[inactiveposter]

Did you miss the phrase, "and the rest of Thailand?"


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[jamie2009]

What the Authorities don't seem to comprehend what this does too affect the income of  local businesses and the people who are employed in them.

It will not affect the average Thai, stop them consuming alcohol. How many Thai people drink alcohol in the Tourists areas/Bars,  I could count the number on one hand.

Yes it's respect but how many Thais don't drink alcohol on Buddha Days ?

[Deli]

<deleted>, my week-end goes down the gutter

[ukrules]

I'm sure it was just one day last year and the year before, etc

[InMyShadow]

, my week-end goes down the gutter

Waiting for the recovering alcoholics to show up with the usual 'you can't live 2 days without booze blah blah

 

[Valentine]

4 minutes ago, InMyShadow said:

Waiting for the recovering alcoholics to show up with the usual 'you can't live 2 days without booze blah blah

 

Anyone who can't live 2 days without booze is likely to be an alcoholic.

[brewsterbudgen]

Pretty sure this applies to all of Thailand, not just Phuket ?
 
8 July (Saturday) Asalha Bucha
9 July (Sunday) Wan Khao Phansa (Beginning of Buddhist Lent)
10 July (Monday) Substitution For Asalha Bucha
 
https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/961315-official-holidays-in-thailand-2017/?do=findComment&comment=11477173
 

Monday is a holiday but the alcohol ban doesn't apply on that day.

[madmitch]

As an expat I don't usually care about the booze bans but this weekend, when I'm in Bangkok, meeting friends from England  on their first trip to Asia, it really is a bummer. I'll have to teach them the fine art of sniffing out bars that are flouting the ban!

[superal]

13 minutes ago, madmitch said:

As an expat I don't usually care about the booze bans but this weekend, when I'm in Bangkok, meeting friends from England  on their first trip to Asia, it really is a bummer. I'll have to teach them the fine art of sniffing out bars that are flouting the ban!

Not sure that the drinks ban applies to hotels , can anyone here elaborate ?

[YetAnother]

the march down the conservative path continues

[brewsterbudgen]

the march down the conservative path continues

Maybe you're new here, but I can assure you this is nothing new. Thailand has always been conservative.

[the guest]

Not sure if i see the value of this, as many will just buy extra alcohol the day before the ban goes into affect, and then consume it at home.

[brewsterbudgen]

Not sure if i see the value of this, as many will just buy extra alcohol the day before the ban goes into affect, and then consume it at home.

There is no ban on consuming alcohol, just selling it.

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[hkt83100]

6 hours ago, the guest said:

Not sure if i see the value of this, as many will just buy extra alcohol the day before the ban goes into affect, and then consume it at home.

And even if this does not work out (forgotten to stock up in time), people who cannot exist without booze for two days have a totally different problem.

[Psimbo]

On 7/5/2017 at 3:14 AM, the guest said:

Not sure if i see the value of this, as many will just buy extra alcohol the day before the ban goes into affect, and then consume it at home.

It's all about the Thaigeezer whinge-a-thon. Anyone who can't adapt to it needs help! It's not as if it's a surprise EVERY year.

[inThailand]

Isn't it ironic? That daily offerings to Buddha normally include booze. It's ok for him but not the rest of us?

[madmitch]

I was in Bangkok on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the bars were closed bang on midnight, something I'm not aware of happening in Phuket but please correct me if this is wrong. But on Saturday afternoon there were a few exceptions for the Lions v All Blacks game, which I watched in a large, absolutely packed out bar in a mid-Sukhumvit location, beer served in paper cups. The owner must have offset a paid amount of his profit in paying off the local police!