There is no work. There is no place to go. With businesses closed, the only thing Pattaya residents do every day now is scour the city for free food.
Pattaya Beach bustled on Aug. 13, not with tourists, but hungry, unemployed and desperate people waiting for food donations to start.
Seemingly every day now, some generous individual, company, government agency or civic group brings rice, noodles, cooked meals and drinking water to Beach Road, Bali Hai Pier or shopping malls to give to Pattaya’s thousands of struggling residents.
It is not just Thais waiting for food, but foreigners as well. It seems no one is immune from the pandemic lockdown.
People even wandered or waited in the road, as there’s little fear of being hit by cars. There’s virtually no one in town anymore.
Of course, there are those that take advantage of the generosity, be they foreigners living off ample bank accounts or Thais loading up sidecars with donations and driving around the city to collect more.
There will always be bad apples in any orchard. But in Pattaya’s grove, the overwhelming majority are hurting and in need of help.
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