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A question on many folks' lips has been associated with hours of operation here in Thailand. We have done videos where we are talking about the Eastern Economic Corridor. It may go to a 24-hour operational state where you may be able to have entertainment 24 hours per day. There has further been discussion of moving to a 4 a.m. closing time although it seems to be that different geographical location may be able to enjoy this. It kind of seems like a zoning thing possibly. I got to thinking about this video after reading a very interesting article in the Pattaya mail, pattayamail.com. I urge those who are watching this video to go and check that out. I am going to quote some excerpts from it but there. There is more information in there and I think it is worth reading if you are interested in this topic. Quoting directly: Pattaya opposition builds to 4 a.m. booze extension proposal. When I read that headline, that seemed very counterintuitive to me because it seems like most folks, I would think as sort of an outside operator, outsider's prospective, I would think any additional hours that you can be open is kind of a godsend but that may not be the case and I will get into the quote here. Pattaya bar and club owners are increasingly skeptical of the Tourist Authority of Thailand's recommendation that selected districts and popular cities should be allowed to serve alcohol for 2 hours longer than the current 2 a.m. closing time. They say that the proposals lack clarity as well as penalizing nighteries not lucky enough to be included in the new liberal zones." Yeah, just me talking here. Yeah it does seem a little bit unfair that, okay just because I am on this side of the street and you are on that side of the street, I can be open 2 hours longer. I kind of understand the argument there. Quoting further: "Critics say the idea," (I think they mean is) but "critics say the idea hardly worth the effort." Quoting further: "Khun Tam Saelim from the Pattaya Entertainment Alliance said: "A city-wide improvement to 4 a.m. is fine but to talk of certain streets having different regulations from their neighbours on some nights of the week is not progress as it boosts jealousies and adds to confusion". Again to just kind of to go back to what I was saying a second ago, I think that is a pretty valid argument. Quoting further: "He pointed out that Cambodian tourist areas in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap remain open until the last customer left rather than at some predetermined moment." It's a good point and I remember talking years ago to Old School expats, who even you can talk to, to this day, that was kind of the prevailing thing if you go back kind of prior to the 2000s coming in that look it was just kind of open until the last customer or until the owner felt like closing. I lived briefly in Korea and that was kind of always the case. It was either just until you want to stop which may or may not be a great idea or until the owner just wanted to kick you out and just say "Okay, last call. See you later." 

I don't know what the right answer to this is but I do think that there is something to be said for the argument that "hey look if you are going to do it, let's just do it rather than having these different zones where these people here can do it, those people there can't." I can understand why folks might have issues with that especially folks in that industry because that could create some comparative advantage that may kind of substantially even hobble certain businesses in the long term.