Showing posts with label Sukhumvit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sukhumvit. Show all posts

Saturday 8 September 2018

Order threatens #Bangkok’s charm


Singapore has asked Unesco to formally recognise its street-hawker culture, which would help the island-state promote it as yet another tourist attraction. In Thailand, it’s a completely different story.

Prodded by the orderliness-obsessed military-led government, Bangkok authorities are determined to transform the city’s reputation for unsurpassable street food – or extinguish that reputation, as critics charge. The mobile noodle vendors and everyone else informally touting goods on the sidewalks have to clear out.


 The Bangkok Metropolitan Administra-tion (BMA) wants street vendors licensed, registered and contained neatly in designated areas well away from busy footpaths. It’s imposing military-style order in such tourist hotspots as Siam Square, Sukhumvit, Yaowarat, Nana, Khaosan and Chatuchak. 

 The push hasn’t gone down well with many Thais, including academics and urban planners, who regard the sheer chaos of crowded street-hawking scenes and especially the clots of food vendors’ smoky, aromatic carts as being among Bangkok’s premier attractions.

The city is being sanitised, the critics complain, while pointing out that foodies from around the world rave about the tasty yet cheap dishes they can slurp up on any Bangkok sidewalk.

“Bangkok is famous as the city of markets, but now many markets are dead,” said British expatriate Philip Cornwel-Smith, author of “Very Thai”, a well-received book exploring what is unique about the Kingdom. 

 
“Just to treat the markets with eviction after eviction actually does big damage to parts of Bangkok’s identity and its reputation internationally.”

French tourist David Lago, making his third visit to Khaosan Road recently, found it utterly changed. It was cleaner now, he noticed, but “boring”.

“Khaosan has lost that charm of being chaotically filled with street vendors. It’s empty during the daytime,” he said, adding that he’d be back after dark, the only hours the hawkers are allowed to set up.

A network of street vendors founded to push back against the clean-up effort marched on Government House early this week with a handful of demands. Many more attended a pair of public discussions about the ruckus coincidentally organised for the same week.

 One, called “Street Vendor and City: Leaving No One Behind”, took place at Chulalongkorn University.
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 “The management of street vending is a complex issue,” Assistant Professor Narumol Nirathron of Thammasat University pointed out. “The BMA alone can’t handle it – it’s a matter for the national agenda. 

“To achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the government needs to handle this issue properly, by integrating the work of the Economic Affairs, Security, Commerce, Tourism and Sports and Culture ministries.”

Narumol and fellow academics from Thammasat, Chulalongkorn, the Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation and Urban and Design Development Centre plan to present an open letter to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha asking him to reconsider street-vending regulations designed to “return the pavements to the public”.

The government’s ultimate intention is to ban street hawkers in 683 areas of the capital where they’ve long been “temporarily” permitted to do business. As of last month, they’d been shut down in 478 areas, affecting 11,573 vendors in all. 


The BMA is gradually moving in on the remaining 210 areas and most recently has had Khaosan Road in its gun sights.

In their letter to Prayut, the academics note that one reason given for the cleanup was “to liberate Bangkok from a ‘disorderly’, ‘antiquated’, ‘undeveloped’ look. 

“In reality, however, a state of disorder – or order, for that matter – also depends on the management by government agencies, while an antiquated or undeveloped look has nothing to do with street vending. 

“In the US and Europe, known for their advanced development, the governments are allowing more street vendors to operate because the authorities are not able to create enough jobs [for everyone]. Thus, in pursuing the goal to make Thailand modernised and more developed, the government must not leave a number of people behind, as seems to be the case at present.

“Singapore is more advanced,” Narumol said. “It has a long-term policy to make the country clean and green and recently bid for Unesco to recognise its hawker culture as an intangible cultural asset.”

https://12go.asia/?z=581915



 Assistant Professor Niramon Kulsri-somba, director of the Urban and Design Development Centre, said Bangkok street vending could be sustainably managed and become “a win-win situation”. Niramon, an urban architect, is with her team redeveloping the Phaholyothin Soi 9 (Soi Aree) area with zones for street vendors. “Rather than top-down management, community engagement is the key. We need to get all the stakeholders talking so they can compare their needs and come up with a solution that will satisfy everyone,” she said, while admitting it will take time.


At the second discussion, “Negotiating Bangkok Streets”, held at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Trude Renwick, a PhD candidate in architectural history and theory at the University of California Berkeley, said street-vendor culture was important for a “creative city like Bangkok”.

“Street culture is something that can’t be taken away. It’s an essential part of the urban and rural ecosystems in Thailand,” said Renwick, who in 2011 began making “Observations from the Siam Square night market” on her way to earning her master’s degree.

“Good urban change benefits all citizens and requires complex thought. Bans haven’t produced any positive changes in the past, so I have a hard time believing that it will be any different now.” 

Rangsit University architecture lecturer Parisa Musigakama has been focusing on the Khaosan situation for her PhD.

“Top-down governance by the state is infective and exploitative,” she said. 

“The Khaosan Road Street Vendor Association is very strong, with a powerful leader in Yada Pornpetrumpa, and their negotiations have reached the national level.”
In response to the petition given him by the marching street vendors, Prayut ordered the BMA and Metropolitan Police to establish committees to address issues with the vendors.

Unesco Bangkok director Hanh Bich Duong believes it would be best to consider the matter in terms of sustainable tourism and preserving old communities.

 “Properly planned community-based tourism might be a measure to address this dilemma,” he said. “It’s important to work closely with communities when planning for tourism, to hear their voices and see whether and to what extent they want to open up their neighbourhoods to tourists. 

“Fair-benefit sharing is another important aspect to ensure that local communities do benefit from tourism development, rather than being left out or being at the lower end of the supply chain,” Duong said. 

“In addition, awareness about the importance of safeguarding the heritage, both intangible and tangible, needs to be raised among local communities and the authorities alike to ensure that age-old heritage doesn’t have to give way to modern tourism facilities.”

Source - TheNation

Monday 3 April 2017

First Soi 38 closed, soon there’ll be no street food in Thong Lor, Ekkamai or Phra Khanong either

 

First Soi 38 closed, soon there’ll be no street food in Thong Lor, Ekkamai or Phra Khanong either

The government has directed all street food vendors to halt sales on a popular section of Upper Sukhumvit. 
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By April 17, stalls in Ekkamai, Thong Lor and Phra Khanong will be forced to shut down, despite the fact that Bangkok was recently named, for the second year in the row, the city for the greatest street food in the world by CNN
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One vendor in Thong Lor told BK Magazine that a City Hall police officer handed him an announcement advising him about the forced closure and made him pose for a photo with the paper. 
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The order, which apparently comes straight from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), will affect Soi Thong Lor, Soi Ekkamai, and Soi Pridi Banomyong (aka Sukhumvit Soi 71, the main street in Phra Khanong).
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 It’s a sad situation for everyone, but especially for the vendors themselves, who are being pushed out all over the city by the BMA and may not find new places to set up shop where they can make a living. It’s also difficult for the construction workers and others on low salaries working in the area who will have very limited choices for where to eat if the food stalls must close.
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A meeting was held between vendors and officials recently but they could not reach any compromises and, as it stands now, vendors will not be allowed at any time of day on any sidewalks on those streets. The BMA claims the ruling is because pedestrians have complained about the congested sidewalks. Those that are not technically on a sidewalk may be allowed to remain. 
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So, with no street food vendors in those neighborhoods, you may be able to walk more freely but there will be far fewer tasty places to go. 
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Source - Coconuts 
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Friday 15 January 2016

Bangkok - Deep in the DRAGON’S belly

Bed Supperclub rises from the ashes to become an exciting new night venue called Chi Ultralounge

THE TREND IN Bangkok might be for smaller, hidden-away venues at which to chill but the super-spacious club Chi Ultralounge, launched recently on Sukhumvit Soi 13, is certain to draw night owls with its generous space, terrific food and drinks galore.

Rising from the ashes of Bed Supperclub, which shut up shop in 2013, the Ultralounge's designers have transformed the spaceship-like white cylinder structure and given it a dark, mysterious and decadent ambience to complement what they calling "funk shui".

Professing to be the pioneer of "Asian lounge culture" in the city, the club summons up fantasies of eerily cool Yakuza haunts or beautifully lit archaic casinos in Macao. Decadent gold leaf designs and ancient Chinese antique embellishments glow under the watchful eye of the Imperial Dragon, a symbol of protection, affluence and power.

As Thailand's first world-class Diageo Club, guests can enjoy an exciting array of cocktails concocted by the talents of in-house mixologists selected by nightclub proprietor, Daryl Scott, a veteran of the clubbing circuit with dozens of venue designs and launches to his credit.
 Scott has placed huge emphasis on safety, convenience and swift service. The venue now features six fire escapes and an advanced sprinkler system that covers the walls and ceilings of every part of the lounge. There are also electronic bottle service systems that enable staff to deliver a superbly tailored guest experience along with a VIP concierge.

The finishing touch to the gallery in the club area is a stunning seven-metre painting commissioned exclusively for Chi Ultralounge by Dutch artist Peter Klashorst.

Scott's vision for Chi centres on "funk shui", the fun and feisty volley of cohesive yet eclectic elements that walk patrons through heavy swing doors, on interconnected mezzanine gantries, through private VIP bars and wow them with insane audio and a domed ceiling video display.

"Chi Ultralounge features an uber-cool Asian motif with a one-off metallic design while the Zen cultural styling of the lounge gives it an authentic feng shui vibe.

"The quirky Chinese dragon design concept, incredible 3D video projections onto the domed ceiling, gold leaf and Zen-inspired DJ booth lend to an international ambience for the iconic club design space that was once the famed Bed Supperclub," Scott says.

The Chi Ultra Dining Experience launches this month with the introduction of "Manna", a culinary mash-up designed by the renowned Blue Elephant restaurant group and fronted by New York executive chef Tony Bish.

Guests can dine in the belly of the imperial dragon, before the clubbing really begins from 10.30pm until very, very late.

Chi Ultralounge is on Sukhumvit Soi 13, close to Asoke BTS and Sukhumvit MRT. It is open daily from7pm till 2am.

Visit www.ChiUltralounge.com and www.Facebook.com /ChiUltralounge.
Source: The Nation
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Tuesday 27 October 2015

Naked Farrang Chick Riding Around Soi Nana, #Bangkok


A photo of a naked white chick on the back of a motorbike on Soi 4 was doing the rounds yesterday on social media with many asking was it a fake.


 It turns out it was the real thing and today Facebook user Simon Richardson uploaded a video of the farrang frutloop zipping up and down Soi 4 naked as the day she was born on the back of a bike much to the delight of those working and drinking in the bars lining the street.

 No background story on what her naked bike ride or walkabout was all about but I’m sure the boys in brown from Lumpini wouldn’t mind taking her in for some questioning and unlikely to be in a hurry to get any answers.

Woman Arrested For Naked Bike Ride.

 Will we be seeing the naked biker in an ankle length skirt, long sleeves and turtleneck with the obligatory shades and baseball hat in the next day or two?
I doubt it unless the Thai media pick up the story.



Video 3

 Clips of the woman walking along Soi 3 naked much to the delight of those hanging around.

A woman was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning by officers from Lumpini Police Station after videos and photos of her naked in downtown Bangkok had been widely shared online over the past 48 hours.

The 20-year-old exhibitionist, identified as Nagwa Bassre, caused a stir on lower Sukhumvit on Sunday afternoon when she went for a walk up Soi 3 butt-naked before jumping on a motorbike taxi and going for a spin down Soi 4 much to the delight of daytime drinkers.


The Sukhumvit streaker first came to the attention of local cops when a photo of her on the back of a motorbike was widely shared on Sunday before video footage of her antics went viral on Monday.
It was initially thought the naked farrang chick was a Russian hooker who had been plying her trade on Soi 3 but we now know that not to be the case following Miss Bassre’s arrest.
I don’t have any details on any charges or fines dished out by police but will update if that info becomes known.

Source: Stickboy Bangkok

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American Bullshit


You want to listen every day to the American Bulsshit ?
You want listen to all the stories about the #Vietnam War ?
All the Veterans you can find in Bangkok at Sukhumvit.

Sorry, but the all a little crazy or brainwashed, the tell you everyday the same stories.
The Dynasty Inn at Soi 4 in Sukhumvit, Bangkok, is their main hangout.

When you come there the first time it is nice, but when you remain, you get sick from these stories.
All these veterans are retired from the US army, but living in Thailand.
The most not want go back, about the not receive their respect in the states.

It is a pitty that this kind of people not become the care and respect the earn.
Now the all live in their own small forgotten world.

Personally, I feel sorry for them.


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