Being a smoker myself, (just can’t stand to sit and enjoy a beer without having a fag in the other hand), the new laws make for staying home more, and my friends who own restaurants and bars are now missing my business. Effective on the 8^th of this month, Thailand has caught up with California by banning smoking in air-conditioned buildings.

Look at it like this. In Pattaya, I like to go to The Tequilla Reef restaurant on Tuesday evening to watch the replay of Monday Night Football. Last Tuesday, I had to sit outside at a sidewalk table and watch the game through the window. OK, so they turned one TV to the window so I could see. Now comes the twister. Yesterday the Police informed us that starting today no more tables etc. will be allowed outside the building edge proper of bars or restaurants, and they will start picking them up by truck and hauling them off.

First, you can’t smoke inside, now you won’t even be able to do it outside.

I know, all the non-smokers say this is great, but think of the business owners who are going to lose business from this. Also, I am sure there are many tourists who come to Thailand that do smoke, and I would suggest that this will cause some future planning on many as to whether they will include Thailand in future vacation planning. As for the TAT claim that most tourists come for the visits to temples, the Crocodile Farm, or cultural sites, anyone with a pair of eyes can see that a good number do visit places like Pattaya, Patpong, Nana, etc.

I visited several places last night on Soi Pattayaland 2, and spoke to bar owners who are very ticked off over this new law. Not just the owners and tourists, but expatriates living here, spending their hard- earned retirement checks, are affected by this.

What the TAT doesn’t understand is that once you have gone to the Crocodile Farm once, or the Rose Gardens once, you’re not likely to go a second or third time. However, Patpong, Nana, Pattaya Walking Street and such do in fact get repeat visits. True or not? 

In future columns I will address subjects that mainly apply to Pattaya, but will also be relevant to just about any city or island in Thailand. I also plan on working up a Pattaya On Line, similar to the Sukhumvit On Line we already have on the BangkokAtoZ.com  site. Don’t expect it next week, as a lot of legwork will have to come first.

Until next time. Bye for now.