With water splashing banned in Pattaya for Songkran, it should come as no surprise sales of water guns plummeted.
Rung Charoen at the Naklua Old Market used to be the area’s biggest seller of water-spraying weaponry, as well as bowls, powder and protective plastic sleeves for mobile phones.
For the third year in a row, however, owner Jiem Lenghirankul didn’t bother to order water guns from manufacturers.
On April 14, she bemoaned all the income lost to government restrictions imposed during Songkran on the unproven assertion that engaging in water fights outdoors would lead to greater Covid-19 transmission.
Jiem said the government has gone overboard with its restrictions and thinks that water guns – which are sprayed from a farther distance than water bowls – should at least have been permitted.