Let's face it Pattaya is famous for two things - real ladies in the bars around town and cheap fake shirts and watches that we all have at some time stuffed into fake brand name suitcases to take home to finance the next trip to visit the real women in the bars around Pattaya.
So in this time of post martial law in Thailand it is a little disappointing and more than a little surprising that both these institutions cheap loving and cheap buying are being targeted. Like shooting yourself in both feet accidentally at the same time. The word was out that Mike was this weeks target. So I made myself scarce until I realised it wasn't me that the big brass were after it was Mike Shopping Mall and Mike Department Store.
Raids were organised by The Police Region 2 Special Investigations Unit and Pattaya Police and armed with their own shopping bags officers descended on the two Mikes.
Fake brand clothing, fake brand shoes, belts, handbags, hats and sunglasses, over 3,100 pieces of counterfeit fashion clothing and accessories worth over 2.5 million baht found it's way out of the stores without going through checkout. 21 shop assistants will however be checked out at the police station and no doubt fined and berated for simply doing their job.
Tourists and members of the public can now breathe a little easier that they won't be tricked into spending their tourist dollars on cheap designer label stuff - well at least for this week. And of course Mike can crawl out of his condo and do some real shopping for some real women in The bars around Pattaya.
