Job Discussion Forums

[amandabarrick]

Not job related, but during my vacation in Bangkok I was so confused as to why every shop, street market, and some restaurants close up at 6:00 p.m.??? What's the deal?

It's 5:45 when I leave my hotel and I walk down the street and everyone is closing up shop? I notice an open shop and walk in, the man tells me they are closed? Closed??? Do they not want to earn money? I walked all through Chinatown, all along Charoen Krung, all through Silom...Nothing.
Is there any nightlife off Kao San Road after 6?

What's with the banks closing at 3:30 p.m.??? Did I miss something?

AB

[Ajarn Miguk]

Are you talking about Bangkok, Thailand?

Seriously, where did you stay when you were vacationing in Bangkok?

There are other places in SEA that I have visited that fit your description, but BANGKOK.................?????

[sigmoid]

OK, I'm as confused about this as Ajarn Miguk.

OK, yes it's true that banks in Thailand do close at 3:30. Yes, it's a bit inconvenient, but they provide currency exchange services in tourist areas late into the evening and of course you can access cash using ATM's.

Yes, some sections of Chareon Krung Road are dead pretty early in the evening, but it's a pretty long road and the areas around Chinatown and the intersection with Silom Road are quite busy until late in the evening. Silom Road has numerous restaurants, department stores, malls, night markets, Pat Pong, etc.

To say that you were unable to find these sorts of things at around 6 p.m. suggests that you got really lost, slipped into some sort of twilight zone/alternative universe or are just pulling our legs.

[amandabarrick]

Being it my first time in Bangkok, I am not as familiar with the street names and roads as the rest of you. But most of the streets south of the Ratchadamneon Klang Road with the democracy monument down to the river are dead after 6:00. Maha Chai after 6:00, about 10% of the shops are open. The shops on Chareon Krung through Chinatown down to it's end at Sanam Chai are closed at 6:00, including the street markets on the soi's between Chareon Krung and Yaowarat Road. The shops on Ratchawong Road, the Talad Kao Market in Chinatown, the Nakhom Kasem Market in Chinatown, all closed at 6:00 or before then. Even the boats on the Chao Phraya River stop at 7:30, only boats after that go to the other side of the river. I'm not sure where you are talking about on Chareon Krung that is open after 6, but I encourage you to walk or take a taxi or tuk tuk from the Democracy Monument along Maha Chai, keep going through Chareon Krung, Yaowarat, Chinatown, 90% the shops and markets open during the day are now closed.

AB

[sigmoid]

Well that makes things more clear. I think we got confused because you mentioned 'Silom' which is a pretty busy area during the evening. So I thought you were talking about a whole different place.

Yes, the area you're talking about is one of the oldest parts of Bangkok and does get quiet. As I mentioned before Charoen Krung Road is many kilometres long and there is a section that has a lot of restaurants and food stalls but it is quite far from where you mention.

Anyway, sorry if I dismissed your experience. I guess it's the kind of thing that could happen to anyone who has just arrived in a big unfamiliar city for the first time.

[Ajarn Miguk]

[kenkannif]

All I can think is that you were here during a Buddhist holiday or something like that???

Doesn't make any sense to me otherwise.

[Sheep-Goats]

Bangkok doesn't close, you just needed to go one block up or down, or left or right, and you'd find a hundred people out on the street shopping or driking on plastic stools or stumbling from kareoke bar to kareoke bar -- even in Chinatown.

Just bad luck on your part.