Whereas Sextile prefers to do his walkabouts in the forenoon, I did mine today at around dusk and later.
Monday evening, 24 May 2010 (curfew from 11 p.m. tonight)
Silom Soi 4's bars were open, but few customers. Waiters were deployed to the mouth of the soi to entice customers in.
By about 7 or 8 p.m., the foot massage places along Silom Road were closing, as were other shops. Even fast food and convenience stores were closing between 8 and 9 p.m. The problem, as one massage boy explained to me is that although the curfew does not officially kick in until 11 p.m., public transport shuts down between 8 and 9, and staff have to get home.
(I would have thought that public transport companies would arrange employee buses, with special dispensation from CRES, to ferry their workers home after 11 p.m. That way they can maintain public transport service up to 11. But I guess that requires more planning and coordination than Thais are generally capable of.)
A little past 8 p.m. I walked into Soi Twilight. Hotmale and Xsize were open, with doormen present but unusually quiet. There were no customers to shout at or pull in. Just to see what "open" meant, I walked briefly into Xsize. There were 4 boys on stage, in jeans, not underwear. No customers.
I asked the doorman for Hotmale what time they plan to close. "1 a.m.," he said.
"What about the curfew?" I was rather incredulous.
"No problem, no curfew," said he. I didn't know what he was trying to suggest.
Dream Boy, Boys Bangkok, Future Boys, X-boys and Classic Boys were shut tight. Maxis, Dicks, Banana and Balls cafes were open, but virtually deserted. The four massage places were open, with one or two boys outside each doorway. I doubt if they have any customers within.
Beyond Soi Twilight, Jupiter and Tawan were closed. Screw Boys was open, a handful of boys in underwear within, but not on stage.
I asked its doorman what time they plan to close. "3 o'clock," he said.
"What about the curfew?" I was less incredulous now.
"No problem, stay inside," was his solution.
I have understood previously that Screw Boys' boss permits his boys to sleep on premises, thus saving on rent. This may account for how they intend to stay open till three - their boys don't have to go home - but have they reckoned with the question of how customers going to get to their front door?
I wonder how the gogo bars are going to withstand the financial losses from closing for nearly a week, if not longer. Even when the curfew is lifted which may be as soon as tomorrow, it'll be quite a while before tourists come back in similar numbers as before.
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