There were a couple of new shopping malls and a bunch of new multi-coloured taxis but the biggest difference I saw was the nightlife.
Since the Smart Party decided to clamp down on bars and enforce strict closing times it was pretty obvious that it would all be forced out onto the streets. We visited a few venues around soi 7, then onto Patpong (thinking this was one of the late zones). The place is a hole and has to close on time just like everywhere else.
At 3am we went back to the Sukhumvit area into what I would call the longest bar in the world. It was like a scene out of Bladerunner, noodle stalls blasting music, hundreds of girls sitting around drinking, drunken farangs staggering up and down looking for some action, pimps and pushers collecting their dues, kids selling flowers, nuts and lizards ...
This went on until it got light, now I remember the area being a bit lively before but I've never seen anything on this scale. I managed to speak to a couple of owners and "managers" of these places who tell me the whole thing is very organized now with different "patches", girls affiliated to certain "stalls" and pimps, backhanders to the local plod for pavement rights etc. I was also told that there are frequent fights, petty crime and more drug abuse (I didn't witness any of this though). The whole area seems to have been converted into one large anarchic zone for the flotsam and jetsam of humanity (I quite enjoyed it
)Just shows you what a well thought out political decision can do, nice one TRT!