Last night I visited Patpong, one of the most notorious nightlife areas in Bangkok, to meet a buddy for a couple of cold ones. I hadn’t visited Patpong in a long time and when I arrived the first thing I notice was that the market was missing. In all the times I visited Patong (not that many mind you) spreading out over 5 years, I have never seen Patpong market-less. It seemed really wired and what happened next was draw dropping.
As I walked up the soi, I noticed a lot of commotion of a few hundred people gathered around what seemed to be like public speakers. After a minute or two of trying to figure out what was going on, glass bottles started flying in the walls. The sound of the glass bottles smashing as they hit the wall, along with people cheering and clapping, was surreal. Police were present but it didn’t look like they were in control of the situation. After asking a few people what was going on, I found out it was due to market sellers selling pirated goods such as copy watches and handbags.
Did anyone else see this ruckus in Patpong last night?
that’s a real rumpus there i have to say. aint been to patpong myself in a while. might have to check it out soon though!
Typical thai ‘ruckus’ everyone just stands around and shouts a bit just like the PAD demonstrations but no-one every actually kicks off…borrrrrrrrrrring
Closure of the night market because of the sale of pirated goods is laughable. They’ve been doing this for decades.
I was told by a Thai friend that someone didn’t pay enough, so the police raided the warehouse that supplies these goods. Anyway the story goes that all the stalls have to get together and stump out 1,000,000 baht to settle the matter!
Don’t know how true this is, but money seems to settle almost everything here.
“money seems to settle almost everything here.”
And everywhere else too! :)