Dear Hillary,
I went into one of the large supermarkets the other afternoon, intending to buy a bottle of wine for the evening and maybe a couple of cold beers for the afternoon, but instead I had to suffer the embarrassment of being told off by the checkout girl and having to leave my alcohol choices behind. What sort of a crazy law is that, Hillary? Why didn’t the supermarket rope off the area, or at least have a sign warning people? Is it supposed to cut down alcohol in the afternoons? Why? This is 2011, not 1811.
Robert
Dear Robert,
Unfortunately Thailand does have some regulations that foreigners find difficult to understand. The reason for the ban on alcohol sales in the afternoons, is to restrict the availability of alcohol to school-age children. Well, that was the basic plan, but like all good plans, they may not be so good in the overall scheme. While the supermarkets are rigidly policed, the Mom and Pop shops will sell alcohol to anyone, any time. However, once a rule gets into the rule books, it is difficult to get it out of the rule books. So now you know, and you also know how to get round it all, but I didn’t tell you, did I, Petal.
