Water ahoy
The area’s Sak Nak Hong and Mabprachan reservoirs are at their lowest levels for about 12 years. But the annual Songkran water throwing jamboree is to be held as usual. City authorities are gambling the rains will be early this year. Let’s hope they are right.
Bags versus trolleys
Desperate customers, denied one-time-use plastic bags at supermarket checkouts, are apparently not returning all those wire baskets and trolleys as they struggle home with armloads of foodstuffs and other goods. Surely, the idea of banning plastic bags was to save the environment rather than to create chaos.
Cheeky customers
Four Russians caused a violent stir in a South Pattaya club when they asked the bartender for glasses to drink their bottled beers. Only problem was that they had bought their booze in the local 7/11 and had decided to enjoy them in air-conditioned comfort nearby. The inevitable fight ensued. Buy one and get one free?
Rare mail ordering
Lazada, the closest thing Thailand has to Amazon, is proving immensely popular here. We hear that some really obscure items can be ordered online, especially from China. These include artificial dog whistles for those who can’t summon their pets and bald wigs for men who are ashamed of their curly locks. Now we know why Kerry’s same-day transport fleet is so busy.
Carry on digging
It’s no surprise that parts of the city are once again being dug up. For the past 20 years, there has never been a public reprieve longer than six months. Amongst the many reasons for traffic chaos given over the decades have been road improvements, underground cables, drainage systems, electricity issues and delivering sand.
Currency concerns
Everyone knows about the strength of the baht and the weakness of foreign currencies, especially the UK pound and the Aussie dollar. But we hear that some clearing banks are taking an extra cut on international money transfers. One resident told us that the street exchange booths are lately giving a better rate for cash than the clearing banks receiving transfers from abroad.
Looking before shaking
It may have caught your eye that many Pattaya restaurants provide table salt in a small pot with several holes whilst pepper is found in the one with a single puncture. The public concern is that it’s the other way round in Europe. Keyboard warriors on the internet are worried the situation is leading to excessively spiced food in eateries and a potential shortage of the stuff in the shops. This is Thailand (TIT).
Death penalty
A reader asks if the death penalty has been abolished in Thailand. No, but it has been used only in seven cases since lethal injection replaced machine-gunning as the execution mode in 2003. However, there are over 500 people on death row in Bangkok. The rumour is that most legislators are abolitionists, but the majority of the general public is not.
Paying for rubbish
Over a year ago, thousands of Pattaya homes received a circular from City Hall asking that payment for black bag removal be made in future by banker’s order or by a personal visit. Apparently, the former system of sending people round to your home with a receipt book and a collecting tin has been abandoned. But nobody we know has been asked yet to contribute cash for this service in 2020. Odd indeed.
Big improvement
On the subject of refuse collection, most residents would agree that the present company Eastern Green has done a much better job than its predecessor in keeping the streets somewhat cleaner than they used to be. A new competitive tendering contract, worth nearly one billion baht, is set for April this year. Eastern Green with its new vehicles and smart uniforms for personnel has set a good standard. Let’s hope it wins the race.
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