Alcohol Ban in Thailand: July 2 & 3, 2011

Selling alcohol in Thailand is banned during election voting. Grocery stores, convenience stores, bars and restaurants will not be selling or serving. Those in need- your best bet is a local convenience store; 7-11 will not be selling.

Alcohol sales will be banned from 6pm on 2 July (Saturday) until midnight on Sunday (really Monday morning)- this means bars or restaurants will serve on Saturday night or during the day/evening Sunday. Many bars will not open on Saturday and might not open on Sunday.

Yes, this is crazy.

Polls will be open for voting on 3 July (Sunday)- you cannot drink the evening prior to prevent “vote buying”. What is really crazy- the polls are scheduled to close at 3pm on Sunday afternoon, but you cannot drink until midnight. Really. I’m not making this up.

So, stock up on Friday night and Saturday before 6pm. If you are headed out for a dinner on Saturday or Sunday- call the restaurant (most will not serve alcohol). If you want to have a drink with dinner- check with a western owned hotel as many will serve alcohol (but not near a window or outside).

 

About faranginbangkok

I began working in Bangkok during 2008- a time that featured a great deal of political unrest in Thailand and particularly Bangkok. I had lived in San Francisco for 15 years and was working on a project in Thailand. Generally, I spent 2 weeks in Bangkok and then 3-4 weeks in San Francisco. Did Bangkok begin to feel like home? Yes, and No. Bangkok and the Thai culture forced me to feel many things, the change in culture and environment was so dramatic it forced the decision- embrace or ignore. I embraced and made Bangkok my home and base in 2009. I have enjoyed living in Bangkok, experiencing Thailand and the entire ASEAN region. I moved to Singapore in 2016...fallen behind on this blog since.
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1 Response to Alcohol Ban in Thailand: July 2 & 3, 2011

  1. Lynn says:

    Your post is a bit confusing. “Alcohol sales will be banned from 6pm on 2 July (Saturday) until midnight on Sunday (really Monday morning)- this means bars or restaurants will serve on Saturday night or during the day/evening Sunday.”

    So bars and restaurants will serve even though it’s banned tonight (Sunday)? On another note, I had no trouble finding alcohol on the river canals today as long as I drank it in the boat but not on land. That was a nice bit of news for me. It’s not only your post that confuses me, it seems no one here in Bangkok really knows what/when/if alcohol will be sold- even the Thais are confused by this. 🙂 It’s almost comical!

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