Khun Rankert Ekasing the Deputy Mayor of Pattaya headed for the beach this week. He wasn't there to lay out in a comfy beach deck chair shaded by a beach umbrella and cooled by a chilly bottle of Chang provided by one of the hundreds of beach vendors. Oh no Oh contraire. Khun Ekasing was not there to laze and sample the fayre.
Today was Big Cleaning Day. You have heard the phrase you can't see the wood for the trees. Well in Pattaya you can't see the beach for a forest of beach umbrellas. Not withstanding that there is not that much beach left as City Hall fights a loosing battle as it gives millions of Baht to friendly trucking companies dump tonnes of sand on to a rapidly eroding beach environment.
So Khun Ekasing was the man with a plan and flanked by City Hall Officials and military officers he was there to carry out the plan come hell or high water whichever came first. The plan to was simple. Have - No have, Have - No Have, Have - No Have. The beach was to be split up into areas with beach umbrellas and areas without beach umbrellas so that tourists could have a choice as to whether to sit under the blazing sun on their hotel towel or pay a beach vendor to provide anti skin cancer protection ice cold medicinal medicines and spicy health food supplements.
So what about the vendors in the No have zones. To be sure they are not going to be happy chappies. Still they can all go for a beer on a Wednesday whether they have or No have as Wednesdays have been designated No Have Umbrella for the whole beach. Of course they can't sit under a cool umbrella. I wonder if someone from City Hall has just bought a serious share in Seven Eleven.
