Fair enough. But a new law outlaws alcohol on the two days leading up to the election as well. And it's election season. One local restaurateur said the bans have made his business extremely difficult, with no less than eight alcohol-free days decreed in the past two months alone.

The rules, like all rules, can be bent and twisted, and quite a few expats and tourists can be seen on such occasions sipping "tea" and "coffee" from huge mugs in various bars and restaurants.

Imagine if they did it here. A total alcohol ban on Mondays would work a treat for all those middle-class drinkers who want to take one day off the booze a week, but can't quite seem to do it. Another one on Fridays would certainly sort out the teenage binge-drinking problem and restore our late night streets to sanity.

Then again, the Thai government might be shooting itself in the foot over this. All wine there is subject to a punitive 400 per cent tax, so even when you are allowed to drink you pay through the nose for it. Serious drinkers are heading straight for Hong Kong instead, where the government last month agreed to scrap all tax on wine, in an effort to transform HK into the "wine hub" of Asia. Hong Kong's Finance Secretary Henry Tang is one of south-east Asia's most serious wine collectors, but this apparently played no part in the decision.

Two cities, two cultures. You cannot judge a country on the basis of whether you can match a Sauvignon Blanc to your first course, but you can look at how such strategies affect the local economy and tourism. HK seems to be building a future for itself once more, and poor old Thailand looks a bit of a mess.