Running Fork May the Fork be with you.
Patong Beach jet skis still suck
Patong Beach is so beautiful and lovely now, it makes birds sing.
Done and dusted, let the celebration and back slapping begin.
Hooray for the ‘super moon‘ high tides for washing most of the evil scum away.
Now it is quickly coming back home to roost.
Could someone please urgently come back and take away all the rubbish left behind? After tearing down and estimated 1,000 small businesses and shacks the work has only just started.
Dangerous debris litters the landscape and people are getting hurt by it.
But the biggest outrage is jet ski pimps still operate in the open. How come they weren’t targeted first?
Patong Beach Christmas 1988 lookng towards the now Amari Hotel
Patong Beach will forever remain the ‘Pattaya of Phuket’ until this lot is removed. The things they said to this forker on a check up visit cannot be repeated on a respectable family site like Running Fork.
They still be pimping jet skis by the seashore.
New beach guidelines were recently laid out but these are already being pushed to the limits. Tuk tuks and other alleged transport consortiums clearly have re-occupied most beach parking.
First hand late night reports have been even worse. Punters claim there is still very limited visitor parking along the beach because local transport vehicles are not giving an inch on the lucrative this-is-your-only-late-night option ride home trade.
Thai vendors are allowed to do business during the day as long as they pack up and go home after dust. Most look rather dazed and confused on how to attract customers, but it doesn’t stop them from trying.
The proof will be in the pudding come high season 2014.
Patong Beach Christmas 1988 looking towards current ring road
Tourists can finally lie on their own towels for free on a public beach, just like in many other costal communities worldwide.
However deck chair operators or Patong hotels have for many years done the dirty work clearing beaches of ocean born rubbish in the early AM before tourists arrive.
Until it is clear who will do this important job we can only wait and see.
Right now several other Phuket beaches (Nai Harn) look like landfill. He who orders it torn down has long term responsibility to keep it clean.
So powers-that-be please get your skates on and starting planning what to do mid-October 2014, before the monsoon season ends and peak season begins.
