From today's Asia Bugle e-zine.....
The closing sentence is...."I would think 14 €“ 23 October are good days to be nowhere near Bangkok"
Thaipan, Paddy, RR.....when is your trip planned???
Bush kills off beaver
Here we go: here we go: here we go€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦..again. It is becoming a bit of a recurring feature of life in Thailand. The morals police are back at work. It started just about 10 days ago when, following a raid on Nana Plaza, Deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenont declared war on obscene shows and striptease at entertainment venues across the country.
In Nana, Pracha saw the show at Hollywood Strip and promptly closed the bar, holding all the staff and customers in the bar for 2 hours for drugs tests.
Mr Pracha said he was not worried that tighter controls on obscene shows would affect tourism. Tourists visiting places providing indecent shows were of low quality and Thailand did not welcome such visitors. ``We do not want them here. They spend little money and look down on Thai women and Thai people,۪۪
Mr Pracha, when he inspected Nana Plaza, said he found 27 entertainment outlets that were hosting obscene shows.
Mr Pracha said he would also ask the Excise Department to use tax measures to bring traditional massage parlours back into line.
Mr Pracha said some traditional massage establishments were also providing illicit sex services and this could not be allowed. (Courtesy of Bangkok Post - edited).
The next day all Nana owners were summoned by the Lumpini police and told that under no circumstances were girls to show anything. That very night the police raided G Spot and found them showing. A minimum 30-day closure order is envisaged but as this is at least the 2nd time this has happened to G spot it could be worse. If for no other reason than this, a senior Lumpini policeman told Nit, the Crown group boss, to make certain she did not show. Just goes to show the Crown group have replaced one arrogant manager with another arrogant manager! In the meantime the rumour mill has forecast a 60 day closure for Hollywood Strip, this could be particularly problematical as Hollywood 2 is currently being knocked through to make the 2 go-go€™s one very big go-go. I foresee a rapid back tracking of this development.
However the message has gone out far and wide. Cowboy and Pattaya have had the same instructions, no showing, with inadequate bikinis also banned.
Down in Patpong the police have warned bars of an impending visit by someone from the Prime Minister€™s office. The result is no topless anywhere, no shows, and the doors of go-go€™s, leading directly onto the street, must be kept closed.
Deputy Prime minister Purachai has been brought in from the wilderness to lead a crusade against massage parlours and spas, which are not properly licensed and/or providing services outside their brief. The squeaky clean image of the crusading ex-Home office minister is seen as the perfect foil for the revelations about massive police bribes paid by massage parlour boss, Chuwit. Funnily enough the reaction of the average Thai to stories of million Baht payoffs is that they do not believe it. €œToo much money!€ they say. Little do they know, but when you are earning 5,000 Baht a month it is surreal to think of a single policemen receiving 120,000 Baht per month from one source.
Needless to say all this has got the rumourmongers and speculators into over-active mode. Nevertheless, one thing everybody seems to agree on is that this is not going to disappear over night.
One senior policeman visited Pattaya. He, and his entourage of dozens of cameramen, inspected a couple of go-go€™s. Finally he stopped for a coke in one and spoke to the Farang boss apologising with the words €œa man has to do what a man has to do!€
So on the basis that nothing happens in this government without the CEO€™s blessing it is clear where this is coming from. The question is; what are they really trying to achieve.
The spate of clearly spun stories in Sunday papers about police chasing girls off the street prior to the APEC Summit confirms the main believed reason for this to be happening now. Not so much because they fear that Dubbya may slip on a used condom on his morning jog, but because of the hoard of international press who will arrive to cover the meeting. Unfortunately it is bad news that they will be looking for: well what ever is bad news in their eyes. Naked teenage go-go dancers a few yards from the world€™s leaders would make such a story! Or think of any of a dozen scenarios that could happen. So the Thai government is determined this will not happen. I can well imagine that entertainment areas could be closed during this period; in fact it may be a shrewd move to close and avoid any possible problems!
There are already warnings of traffic gridlock as the VIPs are convoyed around town and government workers will be given time off, so as to reduce the number of cars coming into the city. The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation council leaders summit is October 20/21, however there is a ministers€™ meeting 17/18, so I would think 14 €“ 23 October are good days to be nowhere near Bangkok.
The closing sentence is...."I would think 14 €“ 23 October are good days to be nowhere near Bangkok"
Thaipan, Paddy, RR.....when is your trip planned???
Bush kills off beaver
Here we go: here we go: here we go€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦€¦..again. It is becoming a bit of a recurring feature of life in Thailand. The morals police are back at work. It started just about 10 days ago when, following a raid on Nana Plaza, Deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenont declared war on obscene shows and striptease at entertainment venues across the country.
In Nana, Pracha saw the show at Hollywood Strip and promptly closed the bar, holding all the staff and customers in the bar for 2 hours for drugs tests.
Mr Pracha said he was not worried that tighter controls on obscene shows would affect tourism. Tourists visiting places providing indecent shows were of low quality and Thailand did not welcome such visitors. ``We do not want them here. They spend little money and look down on Thai women and Thai people,۪۪
Mr Pracha, when he inspected Nana Plaza, said he found 27 entertainment outlets that were hosting obscene shows.
Mr Pracha said he would also ask the Excise Department to use tax measures to bring traditional massage parlours back into line.
Mr Pracha said some traditional massage establishments were also providing illicit sex services and this could not be allowed. (Courtesy of Bangkok Post - edited).
The next day all Nana owners were summoned by the Lumpini police and told that under no circumstances were girls to show anything. That very night the police raided G Spot and found them showing. A minimum 30-day closure order is envisaged but as this is at least the 2nd time this has happened to G spot it could be worse. If for no other reason than this, a senior Lumpini policeman told Nit, the Crown group boss, to make certain she did not show. Just goes to show the Crown group have replaced one arrogant manager with another arrogant manager! In the meantime the rumour mill has forecast a 60 day closure for Hollywood Strip, this could be particularly problematical as Hollywood 2 is currently being knocked through to make the 2 go-go€™s one very big go-go. I foresee a rapid back tracking of this development.
However the message has gone out far and wide. Cowboy and Pattaya have had the same instructions, no showing, with inadequate bikinis also banned.
Down in Patpong the police have warned bars of an impending visit by someone from the Prime Minister€™s office. The result is no topless anywhere, no shows, and the doors of go-go€™s, leading directly onto the street, must be kept closed.
Deputy Prime minister Purachai has been brought in from the wilderness to lead a crusade against massage parlours and spas, which are not properly licensed and/or providing services outside their brief. The squeaky clean image of the crusading ex-Home office minister is seen as the perfect foil for the revelations about massive police bribes paid by massage parlour boss, Chuwit. Funnily enough the reaction of the average Thai to stories of million Baht payoffs is that they do not believe it. €œToo much money!€ they say. Little do they know, but when you are earning 5,000 Baht a month it is surreal to think of a single policemen receiving 120,000 Baht per month from one source.
Needless to say all this has got the rumourmongers and speculators into over-active mode. Nevertheless, one thing everybody seems to agree on is that this is not going to disappear over night.
One senior policeman visited Pattaya. He, and his entourage of dozens of cameramen, inspected a couple of go-go€™s. Finally he stopped for a coke in one and spoke to the Farang boss apologising with the words €œa man has to do what a man has to do!€
So on the basis that nothing happens in this government without the CEO€™s blessing it is clear where this is coming from. The question is; what are they really trying to achieve.
The spate of clearly spun stories in Sunday papers about police chasing girls off the street prior to the APEC Summit confirms the main believed reason for this to be happening now. Not so much because they fear that Dubbya may slip on a used condom on his morning jog, but because of the hoard of international press who will arrive to cover the meeting. Unfortunately it is bad news that they will be looking for: well what ever is bad news in their eyes. Naked teenage go-go dancers a few yards from the world€™s leaders would make such a story! Or think of any of a dozen scenarios that could happen. So the Thai government is determined this will not happen. I can well imagine that entertainment areas could be closed during this period; in fact it may be a shrewd move to close and avoid any possible problems!
There are already warnings of traffic gridlock as the VIPs are convoyed around town and government workers will be given time off, so as to reduce the number of cars coming into the city. The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation council leaders summit is October 20/21, however there is a ministers€™ meeting 17/18, so I would think 14 €“ 23 October are good days to be nowhere near Bangkok.
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