In theory, Pattaya is still in semi-lockdown. All bars and clubs are supposedly shuttered unless holding a special health and safety certificate showing that, in spite of appearances, they are a restaurant after all. The law dictates that customers and staff in licensed premises must be health tested for the pesky virus. Meetings or gatherings over 50 people require special dispensation from city authorities. Many edicts from the provincial governor’s office are technically still in force, including compulsory mask wearing in public and restriction of massage services to feet and ankles.
In practice, Pattaya has excused itself. Down on Soi Bukhao, the new center of nightly revelry, it’s business as usual, or rather as it used to be. The only evidence of health precautions at Tree Town was a small scribbled sign saying, “Do not put used masks in the trash”. Social media keeps you well informed. The newly-opened Dorothy’s Showbar in the Jomtien Complex is a “food and beverage consultant” with “shows on stage”, an intelligent resolution of legal ambiguity.
Other “entertainment” is back in business too. The popular Hemingways restaurant has reinstituted its weekly quiz, many snooker bars have removed their dust covers and the local bridge club operates two afternoons a week. The local radio station 103 has quietly withdrawn its fierce ad telling people they should just walk away from businesses which don’t health-test you on entry, whilst a bar in Sexy Soi Six confirmed its stock of ATK virus kits was temporarily out of stock.
The dominant view at Pattaya police station appears to be that all such matters are the province of the health and civic authorities. The boys in brown will restrict their attention to what is easily recognizable – a closing time at 11 pm to forestall a virus which presumably loves the wee hours. But even this diktat is slipping. The English loophole of “drinking up time” is making an appearance, whilst street rumors abound of where it is safe to continue imbibing. The Pattaya entertainment operators association says “it is time to end the charade”. Amen to that.
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