Thailand and e-cigs
I came across this tweet
from Dick Puddlecote last weekend, and it made me think about the ridiculous situation regarding e-cigs in Thailand.
As the law stands, the mere possession of an e-cig can carry a penalty of ten years imprisonment. Yes, that’s TEN YEARS! For vaping!
Makes the TPD look positively benign, does it not?
However, as is so often the case in Thailand, the reality is somewhat different. People can be seen vaping openly all over the place. The hardware and e-liquids are available both in the markets and online (from Thai suppliers), and the last time I was there, about six months ago, I took an e-cig with me in my hand luggage, and not an eyebrow was raised as my bag passed through the scanner in security.
That said, stupid though it might be, the law does really exist, and if you happen to meet an unfriendly cop who has a thing about farang (Thai slang for occidental) or vaping, or who just got kicked out by his mia noi then you could quite possibly be looking at a jail term for vaping. Which makes it problematical for vapers travelling to Thailand. “Do I take a punt on not meeting any nasty cops / customs guys, or do I leave my e-cig at home?”
This air of uncertainty is not unique to e-cigs. In Thailand there are many laws which aren’t generally enforced, and it’s pot luck whether you get busted or not. The BiB (an abbreviation used by most expats in Thailand for the police – ‘Boys in Brown’) like this situation, because it opens up many avenues of supplemental income, or what’s more generally known in Thailand as ‘Tea Money’. The Thai police, like most organisations there, are institutionally corrupt. It’s a way of life. That’s why you get a job as a policeman, despite the poor salary, because of the potential ‘perks’. So a driver gets stopped for not wearing a seatbelt, the cop goes to write a ticket, the driver slips him 100 Baht, and it’s job done. I read a comment from a guy (Dutch, I think) recently, who got stopped in Bangkok for something, and they found an e-cig on him. He was told what the penalties for possession were, and that if he paid an on-the-spot fine of 1000 Baht he’d get away with a caution (and his e-cig taken, no doubt for the cops to use). Naturally, he paid the thousand. And the cops had a few extra beers that night. It’s the Thai way.
But the Thai government is anyway pretty enthusiastic about Tobacco Control, so it’s no surprise that they’ve banned e-cigs. They’ve had shutters on shop displays for about 12 years, medico-porn on packs was mandated about the same time, and you can’t smoke anywhere inside.
Even open railway platforms are non-smoking.
They have embraced the FCTC with open arms, and pursue its tenets ardently.
As you can see from the above sign, they’re pretty down on alcohol, too. There are lots of ridiculous, ill-conceived laws there about alcohol. Like it can’t be sold within 300m of a school (this is a fairly recent law, as are most of them), which makes no sense at all. If a kid wants to get some booze, a 300m exclusion zone from the school won’t make one iota of difference. He’ll just hop on his pushbike or Honda Dream and go to a shop outside the area. Where it does impact, however, is where regular folk who happen to live next to a school can no longer pop down to the 7/11 on the corner and pick up a couple of cold beers. I have this situation now when we’re staying with the in-laws. Previously, if I wanted a couple of cans of beer, it was less than five minutes walk to the local 7/11. Now, if I want a beer, it’s a good half hour round trip. (I have the use of Pa’s car if I want, but it’s such a palaver with tying the dogs up etc that I generally opt to walk.) Which is a right pain in the arse.
You also can’t buy alcohol between 2pm and 5pm, which also drives me nuts, because when we’re in Bangkok it’s at about that time in the afternoon that we’re getting back to the apartment (room), and I like to pick up a couple of cold beers from the local 7/11 on the corner (as you may have guessed, 7/11 stores are ubiquitous in Thailand) on the way back, to enjoy while we sort ourselves out for the evening. So now I have to make a special trip in the morning before we go out to get a couple of beers to put in the fridge. Either that or get them from a Mom & Pop store (where they ignore the rules) and carry them much further. And they probably won’t be cold.
First world problems!
And while I’m on a moaning jag about Thailand’s puritanical alcohol rules, the other thing that I get annoyed about is the price of wine. For some reason, I know not what, wine is taxed at punitive levels. I think that by the time it hits the supermarket shelf, it has had something like 430% tax and duties levied on it, which leads to a situation where a bottle of imported Johnny Walker Red is cheaper to buy than a bottle of mediocre or worse wine. It’s insane. If you want something (barely) reasonably drinkable, you’re looking at 700 Baht (€17.72) a bottle. The sort of wine I’d be paying €3 – €5 for in my local supermarket. I really don’t understand why they tax wine so heavily. It’s not as if they have a wine industry to protect. There are a couple of winemakers in Thailand, but small scale, and I have to say that the one (fairly expensive, if I remember) Thai wine (red) that I’ve tried was execrable. So I dunno. Maybe it was just a case of the HiSo (the wealthy upper classes) wanting to price it out of range of the LoSo (lower classes).
I’ve been somewhat critical of Thailand in this post, and justifiably, I think. However, all that said, it’s a great place in many different ways. I spend quite a lot of time there, and I love it. As I said when referring to e-cigs, these laws exist, but are commonly flouted. So you can get by, silly regulations notwithstanding. If the ruling classes weren’t so pompous and nannying, it would be a lot better. Which applies to most places, I guess.
The latest news out of Thailand is that Yingluk, the deposed prime minister, has skipped bail and left the country. It’s not surprising really, as the Shinawatra clan (her brother Thaksin was PM before her, and was also ousted by military coup) are despised by the elite, and she probably would have been incarcerated for several years, what with having all the Powers That Be arraigned against her. The military junta are probably quite pleased that she’s left, as it defuses a very touchy political situation (not to mention that they get all her assets – about $17 million worth). The Shinawatras are very popular with the rural population, and her conviction would without doubt have led to riots and bloodshed on the street at the very least.
The problem for the Shinawatras was that they were too popular. And in a country which in theory is a constitutional monarchy, but where in practice the royal family wields a huge amount of political power, too much popularity is a dangerous thing. The old king, Bhumibol, was revered in the manner of a demigod, so populist politicians didn’t represent much of a threat. However, when Thaksin came to power, the old king was on his last legs, and his son and heir, Vajiralongkorn, doesn’t enjoy anywhere near the same adulation. In fact a large number of Thais don’t much care for him at all. So the army, who are loyal not to the government but to the royals, decided that popular populist politicians were a threat to the establishment, and not to be tolerated, hence the coups. To say that Thai politics is Machiavellian is an understatement. I may delve deeper into this subject in a future post.
So I would guess that Yingluk has joined her brother in Dubai, where he lives in self-imposed exile.
Pity, really. She was much easier on the eye than General Prayut Chan-Ocha, the current incumbent. And a lot less puritanical.
Apropos nothing at all, this was one of the funniest little photo montages that came out of Yingluk’s tenure, of when she met Obama:
Heh!
Madness runs Worldwide.
Some years ago a Thai friend of mine joked that one of the reasons why Thailand had never been invaded by anyone else was because as soon as an invading army pitched up the Thais greeted them with a big smile and an invitation to come in for a huge party. Which they did – and then left, happy but tired (as one is after a really good party) no longer interested in invading. How could they then suddenly want to invade a country where all their new friends lived? And that was the reputation of Thailand across the globe, hence its popularity during the 1990’s as a destination for students taking a Gap Year to “go travelling.” Its laid-back, anything-goes attitude was legendary. No longer, it seems, from what you say, Nisa. Naturally, starting with a “clamp down” on tobacco (always the first step, it seems for those who dislike excessive enjoyment!), then, from the looks of it, moving on to alcohol and, no doubt – although you may correct me here – also on the well-known “other” substances previously (I’m told – I’ve never been) relatively openly sold and used in Thailand and, of course, the equally well-known “service” industry. Has this new-found Puritan streak in the Thais’ attitude been reflected in reduced tourism figures, by any chance. It’d be interesting to know.
Love the photos! And, yes, your ex-PM is a stunning looking lass!
You’re right about the ‘other’ substances, Jax. The first time I was in Thailand was in 1971, and I spent a couple of months there. It was before tourism took off, and foreigners were a rarity outside Bangkok and the cities which were host to the USAF bases (the Vietnam war saw a few places in Thailand become home to the American military). As I travelled around, I was welcomed warmly wherever I went, and more often than not I was invited to share a ‘bong’, a bamboo water pipe used for smoking the local weed, which was some of the best in the world. It was everywhere, and smoked fairly openly, even though it was technically illegal. I think it was pressure from the Americans that caused a tightening up of the law, and the Thai authorities started cracking down heavily on grass. This of course led inexorably and inevitably to the situation which pertains today, where the kids are getting high on ‘YaaBaa’ (literally translates as ‘crazy drug’), more commonly known as methamphetamine, which is cheaper and easier to produce than grass, and being less bulky, much easier to conceal and transport. It is also much, much more dangerous than grass (which to my mind isn’t dangerous at all), and induces psychoses in long term users, very often culminating in murder and mayhem. Such is the wisdom of the ‘drugs war’.
As far as the ‘service’ industry is concerned, prostitution isn’t actually illegal in Thailand, so that continues unabated, although there have been increasing numbers of raids on unlicenced ‘massage parlours’, and a general purge on the industry as a whole, in an attempt to clean up the image of Thailand. As far as I know, tourism figures haven’t been adversely impacted as yet, but have flattened out over the last few years. What is going to cause numbers to drop is the latest stupidity from the disconnected elite, which has seen a ‘clean up’ of Bangkok’s street traders. In the same year that Bangkok was voted ‘best street food in the world’ by a CNN poll, the authorities, with a total lack of forethought, have been busy clearing them off the streets in a bid to emulate the squeaky clean (and soulless) image of Singapore. This not only destroys a large part of the charm and excitement of Bangkok, but also causes problems for the thousands of low paid inhabitants who live in apartments which have no kitchen. Kitchens have always been superfluous in Bangkok, because the street food was so cheap, varied and plentiful that it was generally cheaper and easier to pick up a meal on the way home than it was to cook. Now those street vendors have gone, and the alternatives are much more expensive, it has caused all manner of problems for the locals. Some areas (not many) have been allowed to continue with street food, but much more strictly regulated than before. The area of Bangkok where I normally stay (Saphan Kwai) used to have some fantastic food vendors, but they’ve all been swept away in the purge. It really is very sad. The chaos and smells were an essential part of the Bangkok experience, and they’re trying to destroy it all.
The ban on alcohol advertising has reached ridiculous levels. For instance, if you post a picture of yourself on your Facebook page holding a bottle of beer, you can be prosecuted for ‘advertising beer’.
https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thailands-weird-crackdown-boozy-photos-makes-global-headlines/
And when they televise Premier League football matches, the TV stations have to have special software that pixellates out the rolling banner round the pitch when the ‘Heineken’ logo comes round. It is stupidity writ large. It’s also somewhat disconcerting when the play is on the wing, as the top half of all the players who are in front of the banner are pixellated out also. It’s so infantile that if I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it.
I think they call it ‘progress’, Jax.
That’s the kind of stuff that puts me off visiting a country…even if someone else paid all the expenses.
I understand your sentiments, but then I think all of us, wherever we live, can look around us and see similar stupidities in our country of abode. If it doesn’t impact us directly, we often won’t notice, but governments everywhere have a propensity to pass laws that are ill-conceived and counter-productive. Politicians the world over tend to be not very bright, and when some ‘expert’ or other tells them that ‘Something Must Be Done’, they don’t actually think about it or research it, they just legislate without any consideration of unforeseen consequences. And in most cases, the laws they pass don’t affect them anyway.