The Royal Thai Army are conducting manoeuvres on beaches in the Pattaya area. No they are not practising D-day style military beach landings the yare assisting Pattaya police to enforce a new set of regulations to make Pattaya a cleaner and clearer spot for tourists to comfortably cultivate their tans before they return home to snowy Siberia or frosty Finland.
Beach operators who man the numerous concessions along Pattaya and Jomtien Beaches are not happy chappies or chapessess. A complicated array of regulations has declared designated areas as public open beaches where vendors are not allowed to stick their brollies and line up their tables and deck chairs. Other areas where the operators are allowed to operate have found that hey can only open their operations for six days a week.
To add insult to injury January 6th and 7th has been designated Pattaya Beach Cleaning Day and no yes you heard that nill, nada deck chairs or umbrellas will be allowed out of their well guarded deck chair stacks.
So a minus minus for the beach operators. A plus for the much cleaner if rapidly eroding beach and a plus plus for the tourists who will be able to bring their own mats and towels and not have to pay for a nice comfy deck chair under a nice shady beach umbrella with a nice ice cold beer in their hands.
