This shopkeeper will not be the only businesswoman in Pattaya who has gone wrong. But it is of course a shame for her that she was not allowed to sell the hundreds of water guns she had smashed, because the use of water was strictly prohibited during the last Songkran.
Thongrian Premvinai, owner of the Rung Charoen supermarket in Naklua, complained that a few days before Songkran, the government caused a disaster for her business and water wars by imposing a sales ban.
She said she has invested nearly a million baht in water guns, buckets, tanks and other toys in anticipation of the usual ten days in Songkran, Pattaya. But the entire plastic artillery remained dry in her warehouse.
Because the police had indicated to be very vigilant and promised a very strict action, no one was brave enough to break the ban, she told a local reporter.
The only money her business made this month is from people who bought other souvenirs, toys, and mugs.
Last month, Thongrian said, sellers from Pattaya to Bangsaen to Sattahip placed orders for water guns, but they were all cancelled piece by piece, leaving them with the precious inventory.