Lockdown!

Some of you may have noticed Mike’s warning in the last lot of comments about coming back to Bangkok. He was quite right. After another six hour trip back to BKK from Koh Chang on Saturday afternoon we were greeted with a “dry State”. Yes, the Powers That Be shut the city down (or at least the important bits). It seems that the Governor they elected a scant few months ago has been deemed corrupt and sacked (big surprise there!) so they are holding another election on Sunday. But, it a completely pointless display of power, the PTB have deemed there will be no alcohol sold on the streets of Bangkok from 1800 hours Saturday to midnight Sunday. As this really only affects the tourist industry, the hotels, the bars and the restaurants, and therefore the very people who will not be voting anyway, the whole exercise is a mystery to said indigenous farangs. Mike and I made our way up to an Irish bar to get a couple in before six o’clock (at enormous expense) and yes, all the clubs and pubs had indeed shut down in the Sois we passed. The police weren’t even accepting bribes it would appear. Not to be out done, we tramped the back alleys to see what was going on out of plain sight. The first place was almost unintentionally hysterical. A mama-san ushered us into a tiny establishment populated by a handful of elderly ex-pats who looked extremely confused about the whole affair and shut and bolted the door behind us. We had to drink draught Chang out of coffee mugs to complete the charade. Then, in a scene out of the old Prohibition, she checked a spy hole through a side wall before we left and bundled us out into the darkened street with the same alacrity we were bundled in. Our second place was more elaborate. It was an American street so they were more organised. Several “spotters” were patrolling adjacent buildings and when we asked where we could get a decent “cup of coffee” we were led to some stairs by the next building to an upstairs bar where there was business as usual – although all the drinks came in coffee cups to maintain the illusion. Oft times I have known that I am not in Kansas anymore, Toto, but this time I felt like I was playing a part in a Star Trek holodeck. Anyway, honour was served. Drink was found. And Mike and I returned to the nest for tea.

The next day (Sunday, the real day of voting) Mike had to leave the country again and the lockdown was still in force. Linda and I went out for a meal and, sure enough, all the tourist pubs were either shut or people were in them drinking glasses of water. We found a Mexican restaurant in the back streets (not too far where I’d been the previous night, coincidentally), sat ourselves in the furthest corner away from the doors and managed to get a jug of Chang. Yes! 2:0 to the intrepid farangs! And the food was bloody good too!