"Normal" changes over time too. Things may arrive at a new modus vivendi, but it may not be quite like the old.

The above few posts together seem to be revealing what is really happening. Right in the middle of the low season, the police decide they need to increase their cut of the business. They raid and threaten to continue raiding until owners pay up the new "tax". To balance the budget, bar owners raise the off fee and cut back on show costs.

A new modus vivendi will indeed be arrived at in time, but it will be different in some way from the old. Costs will be higher and the reputation for show-reliability damaged.

By "reliability", I mean the certainty in visitors' minds as to whether, when they come to Bangkok, they'd get the kind of "interesting" shows they are looking forward to. A visitor who has only a few days in Bangkok will be greatly disappointed if he does not get any show, and this disappointment will factor into his decision whether to make a next trip or go somewhere else.

Both cost-wise and reliability-wise, there will be a tipping point. Perhaps 500 baht as the off fee is something people will get used to. Perhaps 600. But common sense tells us, it cannot be going up 100 baht every year without there being some long-term repercussions. There will be a tipping point somewhere though you won't know until you've hit it.

Same with the reliability reputation. How much damage can it take without long term effects?

The greed of the police may well be slowly killing the business.

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