![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/msassage.jpg\")
Thailand’s
\n entertainment industry is prepared for a blow as a new law comes into
\n effect to enforce midnight closing on bars and clubs. <\/p>\n
The only exceptions will be a few zones in the capital, Bangkok, and some resorts,
\nwhere bars can open to 0200.<\/p>\n
Thailand’s government says the law is part of its campaign to curb juvenile crime
\nand drug abuse.<\/p>\n
What! Bangkok bars closing earlier than in straight-laced Boston? Say it
\n ain’t so! Our recollection of Bangkok nightlife, admittedly somewhat
\n hazy, doesn’t include much at all BEFORE midnight. We do remember one
\n year being holed up in the Honey Hotel, an infamous dive of the faded
\n jaded elegance variety off the main drag in Sukamvit, watching the
\n NFL Playoffs with a shady hologram salesman and a member of the Malaysian
\n military
\n who was
\n either
\n on extended
\n leave or AWOL.<\/p>\n
There were two games on each night. The first game started around 1
\n am. Green Bay was kicking ass, and the Dowbrigade was up and down at
\n the same time. We were sampling all of Thailand’s vices serially and
\n sometimes simultaneously, and betting
\n steadily.\n <\/p>\n
But despite the visceral rush of professional playoff football on the
\n tube and money on the bedspread, the highlights of those evenings were
\n our mini expeditions out into the bars and nightclubs BETWEEN the early
\n and late games. What with all the commercials and inane analysis we had
\n almost an hour between games. <\/p>\n
Luckily there were approximately 2 thousand bars and nightclubs within
\n a two block radius of our hideout. The short narrow streets were packed
\n with sloshed, buzzed, stunned, stoned or staggering individuals of all
\n known races and sexes. The sky was ablaze in a neon cacophony better
\n than any art installation we had ever seen. 4 to 5 AM seemed to be prime
\n time in that part of Bangkok, anyway.<\/p>\n
And the shows, inside the clubs, upstairs, downstairs, around back,
\n in hidden, windowless rooms, were truly astounding in their
\n sheer imaginative variety. Despite our extensive knowledge of human anatomy
\n and erotic activity in diverse cultures, we were exposed to numerous
\n feats we would have never admitted possible had we not witnessed them
\n with our own eyes.<\/p>\n
All that – Gone! Lets hear from some Thai Bloggers. Is this really going
\n to work? What are those "special zones" in the capital? Why do they want
\n to reschedule the youth crime and drug use for earlier in the evening,
\n so more kids can take part before bedtime?<\/p>\n
Trust your tireless correspondent to keep an eye on this one, dear readers….<\/i><\/p>\n
from the Thailand’s entertainment industry is prepared for a blow as a new law comes into effect to enforce midnight closing on bars and clubs. The only exceptions will be a few zones in the capital, Bangkok, and some resorts, where bars … Continue reading
\n BBC<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"