PHUKET: Starfish are to become the common symbol for the ''10 percent zones'' at all Phuket beaches, Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat disclosed today as his mission to create order on the sand moved on to Surin and Bang Tao.
Both beaches are run by Cherng Talay council but officials did not get the message about big pots being used to mark the zones at Patong and Kata-Karon earlier this week, so today it was red and white stakes.
The big pots are to be replaced by starfish, the vice governor said, following a decision that starfish would become the symbol for the zones.
He warned council officials across the island that the starfish would come out of their budgets.
Phuketwan was present several months back when four ''10 percent zones'' were marked at Surin beach but today the vice governor insisted there should be just two, each 40 metres long, for the 870 metre beach.
A beach worker suggested that four zones would be more convenient than two. But the vice governor said he preferred just two because that made it easier to manage the beach workers.
At Bang Tao, another anomaly surfaced when officials spied a collection of beach loungers.
The loungers, once beloved by European tourists when they covered the most popular west coast beaches, have vanished . . . . except for this nest at Bang Tao, which is apparently on land that has a Treasury Department title.
There's no fooling with Treasury.
The vice governor said yet again that there was no law that would force tourists who bring their own umbrellas and beach chairs to Phuket's beaches, but tourists would be ''requested'' to use their home-brought equipment in the potentially-cramped space of the ''10 percent zones.''
Beach workers would also be obliged to join associations and pay tax, the vice governor said. The tax would be used to manage the beaches.
This afternoon he was moving on to Laypang beach.
Thailand's military cleared commerce from all of Phuket's beaches soon after taking over last year. The ''10 percent zones'' are a compromise with beach vendors.
The opinions of tourists about what Phuket beaches need have seldom been sought.
Both beaches are run by Cherng Talay council but officials did not get the message about big pots being used to mark the zones at Patong and Kata-Karon earlier this week, so today it was red and white stakes.
The big pots are to be replaced by starfish, the vice governor said, following a decision that starfish would become the symbol for the zones.
He warned council officials across the island that the starfish would come out of their budgets.
Phuketwan was present several months back when four ''10 percent zones'' were marked at Surin beach but today the vice governor insisted there should be just two, each 40 metres long, for the 870 metre beach.
A beach worker suggested that four zones would be more convenient than two. But the vice governor said he preferred just two because that made it easier to manage the beach workers.
At Bang Tao, another anomaly surfaced when officials spied a collection of beach loungers.
The loungers, once beloved by European tourists when they covered the most popular west coast beaches, have vanished . . . . except for this nest at Bang Tao, which is apparently on land that has a Treasury Department title.
There's no fooling with Treasury.
The vice governor said yet again that there was no law that would force tourists who bring their own umbrellas and beach chairs to Phuket's beaches, but tourists would be ''requested'' to use their home-brought equipment in the potentially-cramped space of the ''10 percent zones.''
Beach workers would also be obliged to join associations and pay tax, the vice governor said. The tax would be used to manage the beaches.
This afternoon he was moving on to Laypang beach.
Thailand's military cleared commerce from all of Phuket's beaches soon after taking over last year. The ''10 percent zones'' are a compromise with beach vendors.
The opinions of tourists about what Phuket beaches need have seldom been sought.
Treasury department title? On the beach? And they use it for placing loungers?
Posted by Elephants Gerald on November 12, 2015 17:18