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I guess it's mostly a tourist or short term resident thing, because as someone who has lived in Thailand for 15 years I find the street food vendors largely a m

by geomark 10y ago

I guess it's mostly a tourist or short term resident thing, because as someone who has lived in Thailand for 15 years I find the street food vendors largely a menace. They block the sidewalks, forcing you to walk in the street to get around them, which leads to worse traffic problems on the small and poorly planned streets. They are filthy, washing plates in tubs on the sidewalk with the runoff going over the sidewalk and into the street. And the quality of the food is generally pretty poor - there are some gems but if you don't know which ones you are more likely to get some really low quality stuff. Enjoy your "pad grapao moo" with lots of chuncks of gristle and bone chips in it.

dvcrn 10y ago
I agree here. Most food stands are very dirty and attract a lot of cockroaches and rats. I personally would never eat there and have met my fair share of tourists who ended up with a bad case of food poisoning. There are some cleaner exceptions though that I'm sad to see go, especially in areas known for their street food, but if it makes Bangkok less dirty and easier to walk around, I'm all for it.
papabrown 10y ago
Agreed 100%. I know of a few winners. Places I'll go out of my way to visit. But most of them serve garbage to dumb tourists thinking they're having an authentic Thai experience and locals too poor to care about the quality. I can't help at laugh at the people who freak out over a hair in their food back home but gladly sit there and eat off plates that have been washed in a tub of dirty water. Or the locals who think they're being clean and taking a tissue and wiping their utensils before eating. Believe me, the stuff you should be afraid of does not wipe off with a piece of toilet paper (aka Thai napkin). And I have the same answer every time they have one of these crackdowns and someone bemoans the plight of the poor Thai person just trying to make a living. Thais have a knack for killing things. A few food stalls would go mostly unnoticed. Instead, they slowly consume the entire sidewalk. And then they spill out onto the street. They become hazardous to both pedestrian and vehicles. And because there's so much competition, they go to increasingly annoying lengths to get customers. I've seen people get clipped by motorbikes walking off of the sidewalk into the street because the vendors have completely blocked the sidewalk. Screw the street vendors. How about a little sympathy for the people almost getting killed so someone can sell some fish balls?

by geomark 10y ago

dvcrn 10y ago

I agree here. Most food stands are very dirty and attract a lot of cockroaches and rats. I personally would never eat there and have met my fair share of tourists who ended up with a bad case of food poisoning. There are some cleaner exceptions though that I'm sad to see go, especially in areas known for their street food, but if it makes Bangkok less dirty and easier to walk around, I'm all for it.

papabrown 10y ago

Agreed 100%. I know of a few winners. Places I'll go out of my way to visit. But most of them serve garbage to dumb tourists thinking they're having an authentic Thai experience and locals too poor to care about the quality. I can't help at laugh at the people who freak out over a hair in their food back home but gladly sit there and eat off plates that have been washed in a tub of dirty water. Or the locals who think they're being clean and taking a tissue and wiping their utensils before eating. Believe me, the stuff you should be afraid of does not wipe off with a piece of toilet paper (aka Thai napkin). And I have the same answer every time they have one of these crackdowns and someone bemoans the plight of the poor Thai person just trying to make a living. Thais have a knack for killing things. A few food stalls would go mostly unnoticed. Instead, they slowly consume the entire sidewalk. And then they spill out onto the street. They become hazardous to both pedestrian and vehicles. And because there's so much competition, they go to increasingly annoying lengths to get customers. I've seen people get clipped by motorbikes walking off of the sidewalk into the street because the vendors have completely blocked the sidewalk. Screw the street vendors. How about a little sympathy for the people almost getting killed so someone can sell some fish balls?