Showing what a difference a holiday makes, Pattaya Walking Street hummed with activity over the four-day weekend, just seven days after only scattered foreigners and scattered bar workers dodged cars on Pattaya’s nightlife strip.
For a night or two it was almost like old times in the South Pattaya nightlife strip, although more than half the infamous go-go bars remain closed. Thais, with no interest in them anyway, took their children to seafood restaurants while foreign expats enjoyed live music or gawked inside chrome-pole palaces.
Disease-control measures were strictly enforced, with bars requiring check-ins via the Thai Chana app or on paper, temperature checks and distribution of hand sanitizer. Mask use was commonplace.
Banglamung Deputy District Chief Pornchai Sangeid led a gaggle of local officials to Walking Street Sept. 6 to check compliance with health rules, moving later to Third Road pubs.
Alas, the good times didn’t last with Walking Street noticeably quieter on Sunday and back to its moribund state by Monday.
