EVER SEEN a bouncing restaurant? There are 12 of them on the sandhills at Karon right now.
They are about to bounce back across the road to where they were before they moved to the beach.
But they started off on the beach at the northern end of Karon, near the right-hand bend towards Patong, before they bounced across the road the first time.
Tourists love restaurants to be on the sand. There's nothing better than to be able to watch the waves roll in while you eat.
But the tessaban in Karon has kept the beach clean and natural and plans to continue to do so.
Karon obeys the law, unlike some other local beaches along the coast, where the public sand is rapidly disappearing beneath commercial developments.
The deputy head of the tessaban, Ittiporn Sungkaew, says Karon is committed to preserving the beach the way it is supposed to be, as a public beach.
Keeping the area looking the way it should and ensuring health and safety were good reasons to prevent permanent commercial development, he said.
The restaurants, banished from the sandhills once before, had been allowed to return temporarily to the sand while a new permanent structure with proper fixtures is erected on the other side of the road.
At the end of the high season, perhaps in May, the new premises should be ready to accommodate the restaurants, and they can bounce back then.
The restaurant proprietors understand why the move is necessary and don't mind.
The tourists? Well, once they know the reason why the move is necessary, to allow the restaurants to operate hygenically, then they too probably won't complain, either.
They are about to bounce back across the road to where they were before they moved to the beach.
But they started off on the beach at the northern end of Karon, near the right-hand bend towards Patong, before they bounced across the road the first time.
Tourists love restaurants to be on the sand. There's nothing better than to be able to watch the waves roll in while you eat.
But the tessaban in Karon has kept the beach clean and natural and plans to continue to do so.
Karon obeys the law, unlike some other local beaches along the coast, where the public sand is rapidly disappearing beneath commercial developments.
The deputy head of the tessaban, Ittiporn Sungkaew, says Karon is committed to preserving the beach the way it is supposed to be, as a public beach.
Keeping the area looking the way it should and ensuring health and safety were good reasons to prevent permanent commercial development, he said.
The restaurants, banished from the sandhills once before, had been allowed to return temporarily to the sand while a new permanent structure with proper fixtures is erected on the other side of the road.
At the end of the high season, perhaps in May, the new premises should be ready to accommodate the restaurants, and they can bounce back then.
The restaurant proprietors understand why the move is necessary and don't mind.
The tourists? Well, once they know the reason why the move is necessary, to allow the restaurants to operate hygenically, then they too probably won't complain, either.
