August 23rd, 2015, 11:37
My flight from Singapore to Bangkok mid-week was half-empty (after the Erewan bombing). Checking seating the previous week (before the Erewan bombing) had shown the flight was completely full. Hmmm. A friend reported Soi 4 to be quite deserted. Lunch on Saturday at Central Chidlom's FoodLoft was enjoyable, not least because, most unusually, the place was only half-full. "Too close to Erewan" was the agreement around the table from the knowing ex-pats.
I used various Apps to make contact with the (not very many) money boys online - mostly Cambodian and Vietnamese. The boys claimed extreme poverty as "no customer" in the various gogo bars where they work (a common tale even in the high season, however). I had a massage in a Soi not far from Sathorn. I hate those trips up steep, narrow staircases in shophouses, so that may well be my last in that sort of establishment.
The local FILTH (http://www.acronymfinder.com/Failed-in-London,-Try-Hong-Kong-(FILTH).html) seem intent on letting the side down - suit and tie, including jacket, riding the MRT and wearing trainers!!! [attachment=0:3mwa30e2]LettingTheSideDown.JPG[/attachment:3mwa30e2]
The other piece of (mild) amusement was a new wrinkle on Thai pricing. You know the usual thing: fewer customers = higher prices. Uber occupies a grey area in Thailand - supposedly illegal but reasonably available. They have a pricing model where they charge a premium when business is busy, known as "surge pricing". In Bangkok on both Friday and Saturday around lunchtime, firing up Uber, I was advised that surge pricing of 1.5 times the normal price was currently in effect "so as to encourage more drivers to join Uber". WTF?
I used various Apps to make contact with the (not very many) money boys online - mostly Cambodian and Vietnamese. The boys claimed extreme poverty as "no customer" in the various gogo bars where they work (a common tale even in the high season, however). I had a massage in a Soi not far from Sathorn. I hate those trips up steep, narrow staircases in shophouses, so that may well be my last in that sort of establishment.
The local FILTH (http://www.acronymfinder.com/Failed-in-London,-Try-Hong-Kong-(FILTH).html) seem intent on letting the side down - suit and tie, including jacket, riding the MRT and wearing trainers!!! [attachment=0:3mwa30e2]LettingTheSideDown.JPG[/attachment:3mwa30e2]
The other piece of (mild) amusement was a new wrinkle on Thai pricing. You know the usual thing: fewer customers = higher prices. Uber occupies a grey area in Thailand - supposedly illegal but reasonably available. They have a pricing model where they charge a premium when business is busy, known as "surge pricing". In Bangkok on both Friday and Saturday around lunchtime, firing up Uber, I was advised that surge pricing of 1.5 times the normal price was currently in effect "so as to encourage more drivers to join Uber". WTF?