British national Mark endured 14 days of quarantine at his expense to enjoy Songkran’s water fights in Pattaya this year. But before he could be released from his hotel, the government had prohibited water throwing.
Such is the state of Thailand’s moribund tourism industry these days. A few thousand – as opposed to millions – of tourists are putting up with the hassle, expense and time commitments of traveling to Thailand only to emerge from isolation to a very different situation than they had anticipated.
For Mark, who had been to Pattaya before and loves hanging out the bars and drinking beer on the beach, Jomtien Beach was very different from what he remembered.
While he was disappointed to find his Songkran hopes drowned in bureaucratic nonsense, he said he understands and will still have fun.
He’s lucky, Mark said. Many of his friends in the U.K. want to come to Thailand but are stuck in the country by newly closed borders and a coronavirus pandemic entering its third wave in Europe.
