Despite our revered Moderator's scorning these reports, I feel that this is something new. It is the first time that I have heard of customers in a gay go-go bar being hauled off to the Police station for not carrying Identification. Even in straight bars it is very rare. I can only remeber it happening at Q bar during the Purachai regime when about 150 farangs were carted off and fined 100 baht each.
I had friends in Wild West bar who were interviewed and they and others that night were given a ticking off for not carrying an ID. The Police told them that a photocopy of the passport and visas etc was OK.
It is Thai law that foreigners carry their passport with them at all times. Even the Police can see that this is impractical as carrying a valuable document around at times like on the beach or during Songkran would be foolish. I have had copies of my passport main pages reduced to credit card size and laminated. I carry current photocopies of my Visa, entry stamp, arrivals and departures paper and 90 days reporting paper. I suggest that everyone do something similar,
I don't blame people for getting up in arms at the persistant raiding of gay and straight bars in Thailand. Why don't they use other methods to control the perceived problems, particularly the pederasty, instead of routinely damaging the tourist business and achieving very little other than a bit of publicity for the Police.
I have been waiting for a lot more than 'a couple of days' for the bar closing times to return to the laissez faire times of old.
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