Music festival flourishes
August is the month of the popular Pattaya music festivals held every weekend. The rules require participants to be fully vaccinated, to wear a mask and observe social distancing. 10,000 locals and tourists are regularly turning up with packed audiences on the beach makeshift stages. This photograph was taken by a jogger at 7 o’clock in the morning.
New privacy legislation
A new law is designed to prevent companies and businesses in Thailand from divulging personal data of customers without their express permission. Here, a notice on Pattaya beach road alerts that filming and photography will take place and invites the general public to opt out of any publicity. If you see more photographs than usual with “vaselined out” faces, you now know why.
More Mandarin at immigration
Although Chinese tour groups are still a nono because of travel restrictions by Beijing, the immigration office in Jomtien reports many more Chinese visitors during August. This is a reflection of the increasing number of flights. Chinese visitors are allowed to vacation abroad as long as they are fully vaccinated and subject themselves to a week’s quarantine on return to base.
Sign oddities
Public instructions in Thailand are sometimes ambiguous or confusing, or both. This one, spotted on Second Road by a major road-up, suggests you must not proceed either forwards or backwards. Not far away is a bar complex where a hanging notice says, “Happy Hour prices are now 24 hours” with a message “Closed until further notice”.
Getting all wired up
An electrician battles with the array of overhead cables by the traffic lights at the intersection of Central and Second Road. In the last two years, we have heard a great deal about the moving of such cables underground in the many beautifying projects carried out all over town. However, the power-carrying wiring has apparently refused to be buried. It’s that simple.
Betting on the future
As Thailand flirts with the idea of lawful casinos, likely to be publicized as luxury entertainment complexes, a Pattaya notice advises everyone not to gamble or risk dire consequences. The notice is apparently to discourage card tricks such as Find the Lady or impromptu games of chance such as counting the number of Coconut Ghosts, said to be for hire on hourly rates, under the trees.
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