The generals who seized power in Thailand last month disrupted one of the country's most lucrative industries - the go-go bars that were forced to close early because of a curfew.
Now the junta has lifted the curfew, giving a green light for Bangkok's red-light districts and other evening activities to roar back to life. For the first time in a month, Saturday night freedom returned to the Thai capital.
"This is a party city, that's why we're here," said Dan Moore, a 40-year-old visitor from England who had arrived Saturday morning and planned to stay up all night to celebrate a friend's bachelor party. He had flown in, just like the 1980s pop song says, for "One Night in Bangkok."
The lifting of the curfew on Friday was part of a more general campaign by the junta to "return happiness to the people" of this politically polarized country. - AP