Bangkok Reports

[QUOTE=Wolvenvacht;1848221]And no doubt the sale of alcohol on the last day of the month has tripled.

Governments never learn. The USA banned the production and sale of all alcohol in the 1920's and that only caused the emergence of a huge black market for alcohol and a boost to organized crime.

Arguably it caused an increase of consumption of hard alcohol such as spirits and less of light alcohols such as beers.[/QUOTE]Yes, and it almost killed the wine industry, too. Thank God for the religious exemption and the Catholic Church, who uses wine in their sacraments. It's a fascinating story how small wineries held on by their fingernails until that nitwit law was repealed. To this day you can still buy Old Vine Zinfandel made from some of those surviving vines.

[QUOTE=Wolvenvacht;1847816]I don' think so at all.

Prostitution is so much an integral part of the Thai culture that it would take a few generations to change that.

Don't forget that the "farang" part of their sex-industry is such a small part of it that it hardly registers on the Thai's radar. Besides the whole sex-industry brings in so much money for so many people on all levels of the society that stopping it will make the military government very unpopular and that is the last thing they want.

Of course one can expect the regular token deference to "clean up" initiatives, but it will not go beyond closing a bar, arranging a press conference and carrying on as usual.[/QUOTE]Yes, it's an integral part of society, at least "Thai-style" prostitution. However, the "Farang-style," I have long maintained, is an anachronism left over from the Vietnam war. Yes, it's a small part overall, but it's a very, very visible part. And, IMHO, an easy target.

There is no one thing that will kill off the Farang-style P4 P, but the writing's on the wall. Low unemployment, rising wages, bad attitudes, a change in the tourist demographic, all have been repeatedly discussed. Rising land values are making a huge dent in the viability of said venues. In the West, a place like Soi Cowboy would have been zoned (or eminent domain-ed) out of existence long ago.

But let's not overlook the religious aspect, especially concerning totalitarian regimes. Such regimes are extremely Puritanical. Look all over SEA for examples. A while back I showed the GF a video some clown had shot while wandering around lower Suk. He filmed all the girls propositioning him outside of some venue like Dr. BJ, and eventually went inside, picked a lady, etc. The GF was aghast. Not at the thought of what they were getting up to behind closed doors, but the brazenness of it all. "How can this happen in a Buddhist country?" So, we shouldn't overlook the effect of a totalitarian regime combined with a bit of religious zealotry. The Thais may not be Muslims, but they are every bit as proud of Buddha as the Muslims are of Mohammed.

No, as long as there are men and women there will be prostitution. But I will be very surprised if the scene as it is today is around in 5 years. And, frankly, I wouldn't miss it. I prefer doing P4 P the way locals do it, regardless of the country. I have never liked seeing some doddering fat fool dragging an obvious prostitute around town, acting proud. At home the guy wouldn't be caught dead taking some hooker with a 6th grade education around town and introducing her to his friends and business acquaintances. Neither would any respectable Thai.

[QUOTE=MusicalToM;1848383]I believe some of you will be able to answer me with this query of mine.

I'll be travelling to LOS coming weekend. Apart from mongering activities I've reserved 1-2 days for shopping & sight seeing as well. A friend of mine has asked to buy an Action camera like GoPro or SJCAM from Thailand. I'm also planning to get one, but I've no clue where can I get it. I know it will be available in BKK. I'd be thankful if somebody can help me out with locations / shops from where I can get this item for the best price.

And to this help I can give a beer party if we meet.[/QUOTE]I'm not sure what your home country is, and you may already know this, but the prices in Thailand for consumer electronics will not be overly attractive. For example, I find prices are somewhat lower in the US than in Thailand, particularly if one does comparison internet shopping. But if you have already taken this into account, you might try Pantip Plaza, or maybe MBK. Others here might add to these suggestions.

[QUOTE=MusicalToM;1848383]I believe some of you will be able to answer me with this query of mine.

I'll be travelling to LOS coming weekend. Apart from mongering activities I've reserved 1-2 days for shopping & sight seeing as well. A friend of mine has asked to buy an Action camera like GoPro or SJCAM from Thailand. I'm also planning to get one, but I've no clue where can I get it. I know it will be available in BKK. I'd be thankful if somebody can help me out with locations / shops from where I can get this item for the best price.

And to this help I can give a beer party if we meet.[/QUOTE]I would go to MBK to shop for something like that. Check the 4th and 5th floors. I don't know how the prices compare with the internet on those particular items but when I shop for smartphones snd tablets a moderate amount of negotiation at an MBK shop will lop off a good 20-30% from the posted full retail prices found in PowerBuy, PowerMall or the brand label's own store such as Samsung, LG or whatever. Just confirm that you are negotiating for an original, new item not a copy or used one. The fact that you are looking to buy 2 gives you another advantage for a negotiated price reduction.

Be prepared to walk away if the discount offered is only 20%,. Every tentative step away is likely good for an additional 2-3% lopped off while they try to reel you back to the display case.

Again, I have never shopped for the items you mentioned so I suppose it is possible they are among the few items that are tightly price protected and there is little or no wiggle room for negotiation. Don't know. But there is plenty of wiggle room off of widely posted and accepted retail prices for most other items in MBK. Generally to the tune of 20-30% discount.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;1848539]I would go to MBK to shop for something like that. Check the 4th and 5th floors. I don't know how the prices compare with the internet on those particular items but when I shop for smartphones snd tablets a moderate amount of negotiation at an MBK shop will lop off a good 20-30% from the posted full retail prices found in PowerBuy, PowerMall or the brand label's own store such as Samsung, LG or whatever. Just confirm that you are negotiating for an original, new item not a copy or used one. The fact that you are looking to buy 2 gives you another advantage for a negotiated price reduction.

.[/QUOTE]Might also try Pantip or Fortune mall. I saw some gopro cameras there, and some other brands. There are many shops at pantip that sell cameras.

[QUOTE=LordFarquard;1848636]Might also try Pantip or Fortune mall. I saw some gopro cameras there, and some other brands. There are many shops at pantip that sell cameras.[/QUOTE]Yes, I would add Fortune Mall to my earlier recommendation of Pantip and maybe MBK. From among Pantip and MBK I would say Pantip is better for this, but I cannot rank order Fortune Mall because of the three it is the one I haven't shopped at. Indeed, I usually go to Pantip for camera supplies if I run short while in Bangkok (e.g., camera batteries and so forth, which I sometimes forget to pack); there are indeed quite a few camera shops as well as electronics shops that carry cameras at Pantip..

Depending on where one is from Pantip and MBK may also be worth seeing as part of Bangkok sightseeing as they are quite interesting as they are a bit different from shopping centers one might see at home.

Thanks all for the suggested comments. I've prioritized to check first with Pantip then MBK. Unable to locate "Fortune Mall" in Google maps, is it near to Pantip plaza?

Apart from this I checked "Lazada Thailand" is also offering the same product with a decent discount. I was wondering if anybody has used this website to buy anything & tried getting the delivery at one's Hotel?

[QUOTE=MusicalToM;1848831]Thanks all for the suggested comments. I've prioritized to check first with Pantip then MBK. Unable to locate "Fortune Mall" in Google maps, is it near to Pantip plaza?

Apart from this I checked "Lazada Thailand" is also offering the same product with a decent discount. I was wondering if anybody has used this website to buy anything & tried getting the delivery at one's Hotel?[/QUOTE]Fortune Town is on Ratchada. Take the MRT and get off at Praram 9.

[QUOTE=MusicalToM;1848383]I believe some of you will be able to answer me with this query of mine.

I'll be travelling to LOS coming weekend. Apart from mongering activities I've reserved 1-2 days for shopping & sight seeing as well. A friend of mine has asked to buy an Action camera like GoPro or SJCAM from Thailand. I'm also planning to get one, but I've no clue where can I get it. I know it will be available in BKK. I'd be thankful if somebody can help me out with locations / shops from where I can get this item for the best price.

And to this help I can give a beer party if we meet.[/QUOTE]I bought a SS S6 Edge for my employee in Bali. She had problems and when she went to SS in Bali they told her she would have to take in back to Thailand to honor the warrantee. I live in Hawaii and so I called SS America and they confirmed that wherever you buy a SS product you must return to that country for repair work.

This is interesting as the phone was made in Viet Nam. But this is a Sam Sung policy.

You might want to have your friend check with the company in your country on repair and warrantee issues.

RL.

GoPro's are fairly price fixed so I would be surprised if you can do much better than regular retail, but always worth a shot. One other note for those with gopros. I had my camera out of its housing in the safe in January and went to pull something out and it fell maybe 3 ft and landed right on the lense and cracked to pieces. If you take a good look you can see the dome of the lense extends beyond the rubber surrounding it so it's really susceptible to this type of break. Ordered a replacement lens on the internet but haven't tried to replace it yet. If that doesn't work is going to be a $400 mistake and gopro doesn't repair them at all. If you are US based costco has the 3+ for a deal right now.

[QUOTE=MusicalToM;1848383]I believe some of you will be able to answer me with this query of mine.

I'll be travelling to LOS coming weekend. Apart from mongering activities I've reserved 1-2 days for shopping & sight seeing as well. A friend of mine has asked to buy an Action camera like GoPro or SJCAM from Thailand. I'm also planning to get one, but I've no clue where can I get it. I know it will be available in BKK. I'd be thankful if somebody can help me out with locations / shops from where I can get this item for the best price.

And to this help I can give a beer party if we meet.[/QUOTE]

Have booked my tricker for late summer, so was a bit unnerved to read this report in Time magazine about random police extortion in Bangkok and (I presume) elsewhere.

The report's a year old now, so I wondered. Is it still going on? And was it ever really going on that much?

I guess it ties in with the discussion below about how martial law / the new more puritanical regime is changing the game.

[QUOTE=SuperMarckus;1849252]Have booked my tricker for late summer, so was a bit unnerved to read this report in Time magazine about random police extortion in Bangkok and (I presume) elsewhere. [/QUOTE]

Thai police will very, very rarely stop and try to extort you just for walking in the street, though that has been known to happen on the stretch of Sukhumvit road between Asoke and Phrom Phong.

If you're riding a motorbike, they might stop you, and fine you for whatever alleged violation you committed, perhaps extracting a bribe instead of issuing a ticket. If you buy drugs, they might stop you, having been informed by the guy that just sold them. Obviously, in that case, you'd be in a real pickle.

For people doing certain types of business, police can be an expensive and unpredictable hassle, but a normal tourist / monger is unlikely to interact with them much (and is well advised not to seek out interaction).

Thailand is not like the Philippines where they're actively working to scam you, even if you've done absolutely nothing wrong (like placing bullets in your bag at the airport). If you mind your own business and don't get into any conflicts with the locals, police trouble is unlikely.

[QUOTE=SuperMarckus;1849252]Have booked my tricker for late summer, so was a bit unnerved to read this report in Time magazine about random police extortion in Bangkok and (I presume) elsewhere.

The report's a year old now, so I wondered. Is it still going on? And was it ever really going on that much?

I guess it ties in with the discussion below about how martial law / the new more puritanical regime is changing the game.[/QUOTE]I have visited Thailand maybe thirty times, perhaps more, and never interacted with a policeman. I did read a while back they were stopping some people for drug testing, and that worried me, but I myself haven't seen any of this and I have been in Bangkok maybe three or four times in the last twelve months, for a total of around 50 to 75 days..

If anyone here has first-hand knowledge of such things, perhaps they would care to comment. But until I see some concrete information to suggest this sort of thing is happening these days on anything other than a super-isolated basis, I am not going to worry about it. And I would suggest it shouldn't be something that should make one hesitant to visit Thailand.

[QUOTE=Crocodilexp;1849467]Thai police will very, very rarely stop and try to extort you just for walking in the street, though that has been known to happen on the stretch of Sukhumvit road between Asoke and Phrom Phong.
[/QUOTE]If I remember well that wasn't even Police. Some kind of civil servants that were "looking after" cleanliness of the area and started handing out fines to random tourists for littering. Given that Thai rarely if ever take the effort of putting their garbage in a bin (if there is a garbage bin available in the neigbourhood at all!) it seemed rather strange that foreigners where singled out for these fines.

These "police" did not seem to approach Thai, as the Thai seemed to know somehow that these people did not have the authority to levy fines at all.

That is probably also the reason (real) Police don't bother most of the tourists as the Police would actually struggle with the language barrier to explain to the tourist why they are being fined! Far easier to extort some quick money from a fellow Thai (who seem to accept this as a fact of life) rather than laborously try to have a tourist cough up some money. The above mentioned "litter patrol" was much better organised and had leaflets printed in English (all looking very official) explaining why the tourists were being fined. It seems that this practice has now come to an end.

[QUOTE=SuperMarckus;1849252]
I guess it ties in with the discussion below about how martial law / the new more puritanical regime is changing the game.[/QUOTE]

No, it had nothing to do with the Army. If anything the Army seems to stay far away from tourists. Somehow they understand that military regimes are ill respected in "Western" countries and they do not want to give the "West" any reasons to complain.

I was actually in Bangkok during the height of the military take-over and the taxi I was in was stopped once or twice at a roadblock. As soon as the Army saw that a farang was using the taxi, we were waived through quickly without even having to show any ID.

Bless me ISG for I have sinned. It's been several weeks since my last confession (report) and these are my sins:

I decided to separate my escapades into 4 separate reports for brevity and easier reading.

When I last wrote a report in Mid January, I had discussed a romp with a girl from Bangkok Beat who previously claimed to be in the diamond cutting business but had lost some of her sight, at least temporarily, and has resorted to P4P as a consequence. Whatever! I left a few days after hooking up with her as I had a one month trip to Chiang Mai and Myanmar scheduled. Both locations were a disaster for mongering purposes though from a strictly touristic point of view, they were entertaining locales.

However, during my trip I maintained contact with little Ms. Diamond cutter and I invited her to my apartment upon my return. She came over, spent Saturday night with me, and overall it was a positive repeat from the first time. She stayed to early afternoon but insisted on taxi fare upon departing in addition to her agreed payment of 2 k bt. which was unlike the first time when the subject never came up as she lives one metro stop away, I told her no and she got pissed off. I also found it disconcerting the implausible stories she kept telling me about her personal life.

Her poutiness and her overall behavioral patterns turned me off so decided not to see her again though I responded to a few of her lame texts during the week. On Friday night, I went to Bangkok Beat where I spotted a girl who I had flirted with in the past. In no time, we were dirty dancing moving to the ultimate conclusion when I spotted Ms. Diamond cutter entering the club. She went to another section of the club and I thought nothing more about it until she popped up next to me, grabbed my new girl by the arm, shouted some Thai to her, and then proceeded to hit me in the temple with a half open fist. This was done in front of several other girls in addition to my friend.

The chemistry between myself and my potential new partner seemed to drain away like sand through an hourglass though the girl invited me outside for a chat. It was at this point, I realized she could barely speak English making it rather difficult to defend myself. Nevertheless, I was attempting to rouse a defence when out struts Ms. Diamond cutter with her posse. Naturally, she could not resist blasting my friend again with more Thai babble before striking me on the arm and storming into the night.

Ms. Diamond, BTW, also claimed to me that she had a Norwegian BF who bought her a condo on Soi 22 and a car. She also said she was mad at him about something or other, hence the reason she went wit me the first time. I have no idea whether even one iota of what she told me is true, which was part of the reason that I tossed her back.

Even though that night ended poorly, things did pick up starting the following night.

What is my penance?