Bangkok - Pavement [sidewalk] obstructions
 

Worth a read...

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/gene...ent-violations

There was a link to a story about this some months ago. I'd be interested in hearing from some our regulars who are in Bangkok right now as to whether they have seen any difference in the sidewalks being less obstructed.

About time!

Unfortunately I think most people including the governor aren't aware of the state of encroachment that has occurred over the years - some of the structures are permanent or semi-pemanent to the extant that with taking a step back and examining the sidewalk carefully, one is quite unaware of how much sidewalk has actually been taken.

These sort of dictums are a regular part of daily life for those in power - a dramatic statement to the press is followed by breathtaking inaction once the impossibility of the task has sunk in.

the best one could hope for is the clearing off of a few "rot khen" - hand carts........but the more they clear, the more they will reveal the extent of the problem - one major aspect being the need to completely refurbish the newly uncovered sidewalks - I wonder where they will find the money for that?

Had a total of 6 days in Bangkok this month. Didn't notice any overly congested pavements [sidewalks].....but a few miles north in Hanoi, being a pedestrian can be a life changing experience.

When I was in Bangkok, Dec2016/Jan 2017 for 3 weeks, the sidewalks seemed to be clearer than usual. I no longer saw some of the stands, like the seamstress with a sewing machine, sewing out on the sidewalk in Silom. And also in my regular area, Rajadamri, there weren't the tons of the usual food vendors lined up on the street from the Anantara Siam to the Erawan Hyatt. There were a few vendors, one being an elderly flower seller, but I didn't even see the fried chicken man who used to be right at the steps of the Rajadamri BTS station, across from the St. Regis hotel. I used to walk past him and he'd greet me about every day. There were a few vendors, but they were selling meals to the construction workers, who are working on the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, I think it is. I walked passed there regularly and the workers were eating lunch.

The sidewalks seem to have cleared up over the many years of going there, since the 90s. Other things have also either cleared up or stopped, like the man who used to walk his elephant past the Four Seasons Hotel (now Anantara Siam) had to stop doing that years ago. I was chatting with a Four Seasons staff member, in Jan 2015, as he had been working there as long as I had been staying there and I brought up the elephant handler and elephant that would come down the street at around midnight and we had a good laugh over it as he also remembered it well. LOL!

Happy Travels!

way less vendors