Tourists will desert the area, or even Bangkok, if daytime stalls are not restored, say visitors and street vendors
Khaosan Road – the backpackers’ mecca –
has it all, from cheap T-shirts to elephant-print baggy pants, from
tattoos to henna painting, from budget guesthouses to massage parlours
and even tour packages to southern islands.
The world-famous Bangkok destination attracts hordes of international
youth with offers of street food, beer and a chaotic, lively nightlife.
Just about everything and anything is available at all times of the
day.
However, the municipal authority wants to bring order to the late-night carnivalesque atmosphere.
Since August 1, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has
strictly enforced the rarely-used Public Cleanliness and Orderliness Act
1992, which forbids daytime street vending. Under the recent sweep, the
street stalls have been banned from doing business in front of
guesthouses, cars, cafes and shops during the day.
City Hall’s plan only allows the previous daytime vendors to hawk their
goods and services on the road from 6pm until midnight. The BMA is
expected to allow vendors to hawk their wares from 4pm next month
onwards.
From around 9pm to 3am, backpackers use Khaosan as “party central”,
rather than a shopping fair, vendors told The Nation on a recent
night-time visit. Electronic dance beats can be heard blaring from clubs
and bars.
Along both sides of the road, carts and stalls are lined up, offering
late eaters pad Thai and mango sticky rice. Several smiling hawkers
offer “laughing gas” or a crispy fried scorpion. Local and foreign
partygoers flock the street daily.
“It’s my first time here in Khaosan. I’d heard that it’s brilliant and
fantastic,” said Matthew Bechus, as he and a friend tuck into Thai
delicacies at a stall nearby. “Now that the footpaths have been cleared,
it’s sad. It’s a big tourist attraction and brings income for people
and jobs and everything. I hope it comes back.”
Russel Green, a tourist from South Africa said the new Khaosan was nothing special.
“If they clear out all the stalls, there will no longer be a reason to
come to Khaosan,” he said.
Green and his friend were “disappointed”
while strolling through the area in the afternoon. “I would say tourists
under the age of 30 visiting Thailand only come to Bangkok to visit
Khaosan Road. Without Khaosan, they will have no reason to visit
Bangkok. They will go straight to Phuket,” he predicted.
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Under the new restrictions, Khaosan Road now looks like any other place
in Thailand. While most of the 30-million annual visitors are foreign,
not all choose to stay in the area’s hostels, guesthouses and hotels.
Rujira Raokhekit, a Thai who came with her boyfriend, said: “I have been
here many times at night for parties. I don’t usually come to Khaosan
during the day, but I think today it is quieter than before.”
The peak selling hours for vendors and stall owners used to be from 2pm
to 5.30pm, vendors said. After 8pm, people usually come for food, music
and beer.
When daytime trading was banned, Bangkok officials allowed them to set
up stalls from 6pm, which vendors say will only give them three hours to
sell their goods.
“After that, the music is too loud and the crowd is not in the mood for
shopping,” said Sukwasa Kurattana-sinchai, who has been selling T-shirts
on Khaosan since the Tom Yum Kung crisis hit Thailand in 1997.
“Most of our customers are backpackers who came to stay in budget
guesthouses. They often travel light and come here specifically to buy
comfy cotton pants and sleeveless T-shirts to wear for their whole
trip,” Sukwasa said, as she waved at a group of backpackers.
She said that from about 8am until late afternoon, Chinese tourists
would normally drop by Khaosan after visiting the Grand Palace and enjoy
an hour-long shopping spree. Most foreign tourists visit Khaosan in the
morning for souvenirs before their flights home in the afternoon.
Most vendors believe that clearing out the stalls is a bad move.
“The prices in shops are usually high, which is probably why the stalls
are banned in the afternoon,” said another vendor as he waited to set up
his bag stall at 6pm. “Now you see most tourists walking without any
shopping bags.”
If the ban continues, tourists will not bother to visit Khaosan, he
said. “They won’t even stay close to Khaosan. Why should they? There is
nothing to buy during the day. They could book a hotel in Pratunam or Bo
Bae [two famous shopping districts a half-hour ride from Khaosan] and
take a tuk-tuk to Khaosan for the nightlife,” he said.
Bangkok deputy governor Sakoltee Phattiyakul said after a meeting with
related agencies on Friday that to help solve the problem, the BMA will
draft a regulation allowing Khaosan vendors to trade from 4pm until
midnight.
The regulation will includes pavement trading in nearby streets of
Banglamphu such as Rambutri, Chakrabongse, Krai Sri, Sip Sam Hang and
Tani.
Over the next 10 days, Phra Nakhon district will collect opinions from
street vendors and building owners. “All vendors must register with
Commerce Ministry. We will make it legal and transparent,” he said.
“We are trying to find the middle ground for everyone. The street
vendors can’t have everything. They can’t expect to use the footpaths
all day.”
He added that the vendors must not block the footpaths and stalls can be no bigger than 1.5 square metres.
“We will also ensure that there is one stall per vendor,” Sakoltee said
in response to claims by Bangkok officials that some vendors owned as
many as seven stalls.
Yada Pornoetrumpa, president of Khaosan Road Street Vendors
Association, said: “The officials don’t understand the situation of
Khaosan. Many vendors trade in the daytime.
“Ideally, I want Khaosan Road to open 24 hours. They think vendors are
greedy. But actually, stalls could help look after the street’s
hygiene.”
Source - TheNation
Ps, It go look like ''The hate foreigner tourists''
