BucketListly

Jan 25, 2021

PHOTO: Bucketlistly Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok’s biggest market and a popular tourist destination, is hit hard by the new wave of Covid-19. With the lack of foreign tourists due to travel restrictions over the past year, as well as more locals staying at home despite the market’s strict disease control measures, the number of visitors at the market has dropped by 90%. Vendors at the market say this is the worst situation in 50 years. Most of them report no sales at all. With little to no income, many shops at the market have shut down. Although the BMA is trying to relieve the situation by lowering the rental fees by half, that seems not enough to help the business. Some of the vendors have tried online trading, but sales are still low. PHOTO: GQ Thailand Bangkok restaurants may soon be allowed to stay open a little later. Health officials are considering easing up Covid-19 prevention measures by extending restaurant dine-in closing times to 11pm. If the proposal by the Thai Restaurant Association is given a green light, it may lead to the lifting ban of alcohol drinking. After the order of shutting entertainment venues and banning alcohol sales in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, and Chonburi, the revenues in the alcohol beverage business plummeted. Under disease control measures, restaurants in Bangkok are ordered to stop dine-in services at 9pm and all alcohol sales are banned at restaurants to limit gatherings. According to the president of the Thai Alcohol Business Association, the current ban on alcohol is estimated to cost about 90 billion baht in revenue. The lifting of the ban is then believed to stimulate the economy. The Thai Chamber of Commerce says the Cabinet might review the proposal on closing hours tomorrow and act immediately to provide relief to restaurant operators as well as those in the alcohol beverage business. PHOTO: Tidhoo Police in Bangkok arrested 3 people for allegedly making cannabis cookies and selling them through the messaging application LINE under a chat group called “The Hippy Cookie.” Police raided a condominium room in the Bang Na district and seized 13 “foreign types” of cannabis, 46 food products made with cannabis and 3 types of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Using the LINE messaging app, the suspects allegedly sold cannabis and cannabis food products. The suspects allegedly sent the cannabis to buyers using a food delivery service. An investigator joined the chat group and posed as a buyer, ordering 5 grams of cannabis for 3,500 baht. When the cannabis was sent through the food delivery service, police asked the driver to return the package to the suspects. Police say a suspect came down to receive the returned package. Investigators then searched the suspect’s condominium room. One of the female suspects allegedly told the police that she used to sell cookies (regular cookies), adding that she has an interest in cannabis. She then studied how to make cannabis cookies and contact cannabis suppliers in Thailand before starting the illegal business with her boyfriend and a friend. She allegedly told police she started the business a year ago and has more than 100 regular customers. The suspects were charged with illegally processing and distributing narcotic drugs. Parts of the cannabis plant with high amounts of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol, such as the buds, are still classified in Thailand as a Category 5 narcotic.