Marsilius
September 23rd, 2017, 23:28
From the Pattaya Mail, 22 September:
"Beach vendors starting next month no longer will be permitted to sell alcohol. Sanitation chief Wasinpat Chimtin on Sept. 15 informed about 50 Jomtien and Pattaya beach chair vendors of the no-alcohol rules during a briefing on the slew of new regulations put in place by the army this summer. In addition to not being able to sell booze, vendors all must wear aprons, must operate their single plot of chairs themselves, cannot sublease to others and must bid for their plot annually in a drawing. This is apparently being done to project a favorable image during the International Fleet Show in November."
Although the last sentence suggests a note of ambiguity (might the alcohol ban be lifted once the November show is over?), is this another nail in the coffin for Dongtan and its "gay beach"?
I haven't visited LOS since January, but I seem to recall that since then the Pattaya Mail has reported - in addition to the above - that:
(a) the no-chairs-so-that-the-beach-can-be-cleaned rule has now been extended from every Wednesday to include every Thursday as well,
(b) sometime about now all the beach concessionaires would have to reapply for official status, fewer would be granted it and the concession locations will be re-awarded by lot. In other words as I understand it, when I return in March I might find that, after 25 years or so, Rit might have been shifted to the southern end of Jomtien beach or somewhere else unknown to me and have been replaced by someone operating a not-so-gay-friendly concession. Such a change would break up the hitherto solid - if, over the years, decreasing in size - gay block of chair concessions
As I say, my only source for all this is the Pattaya Mail. Ought I to give those reports the same credence that I give to Miss Terry Diner's sycophantic restaurant criticism, or are any/all of those changes actually being implemented? Perhaps a Pattaya resident can update us all?
"Beach vendors starting next month no longer will be permitted to sell alcohol. Sanitation chief Wasinpat Chimtin on Sept. 15 informed about 50 Jomtien and Pattaya beach chair vendors of the no-alcohol rules during a briefing on the slew of new regulations put in place by the army this summer. In addition to not being able to sell booze, vendors all must wear aprons, must operate their single plot of chairs themselves, cannot sublease to others and must bid for their plot annually in a drawing. This is apparently being done to project a favorable image during the International Fleet Show in November."
Although the last sentence suggests a note of ambiguity (might the alcohol ban be lifted once the November show is over?), is this another nail in the coffin for Dongtan and its "gay beach"?
I haven't visited LOS since January, but I seem to recall that since then the Pattaya Mail has reported - in addition to the above - that:
(a) the no-chairs-so-that-the-beach-can-be-cleaned rule has now been extended from every Wednesday to include every Thursday as well,
(b) sometime about now all the beach concessionaires would have to reapply for official status, fewer would be granted it and the concession locations will be re-awarded by lot. In other words as I understand it, when I return in March I might find that, after 25 years or so, Rit might have been shifted to the southern end of Jomtien beach or somewhere else unknown to me and have been replaced by someone operating a not-so-gay-friendly concession. Such a change would break up the hitherto solid - if, over the years, decreasing in size - gay block of chair concessions
As I say, my only source for all this is the Pattaya Mail. Ought I to give those reports the same credence that I give to Miss Terry Diner's sycophantic restaurant criticism, or are any/all of those changes actually being implemented? Perhaps a Pattaya resident can update us all?