Pattaya Bay Receding
While it’s not an economic recession, yet, the beach sure has gotten a lot larger in Pattaya. At some points the bay has receded so much there is actually an extra hundred yards to walk before you hit the water. The buoy’s laying on the sand are there to section off the swimming areas from the boat and jet ski traffic, now not needed so much.
Now that Songkran is over Pattaya is in the full grips of low season, the hottest season and rainy season. All these things together won’t be good news for Pattaya merchants and establishments. Pattaya beach was a very lonely place to be today compared to most days and you could see the pain in all the merchants faces.
While I feel for most of them I did have a broad grin when I realized that there weren’t any people on jet skis in the water, as a matter of fact I saw very few Pattaya jet ski operators even set up completely with only 1 or 2 jet skis sitting way far away from the touts who were sitting in the shade sleeping.
Another sight not bound to be good for local Pattaya business was the re-emergence of the red shirts driving their convoy of trucks up beach road blaring their loud speakers and waving their flags. A small reminder that there is still political tension in Thailand and with general elections to be held within the next few months it’s anyone’s guess what the outcome or subsequent fall out will be.
As always though there is a bright spot in my walks and today didn’t disappoint when I saw this old firetruck all painted up hippy style. The next few months in Pattaya are going to be hard on a lot of businesses I fear but hopefully Thai ingenuity and some of those famous Thai smiles can help pull Pattaya through.
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