All beaches in Phuket are closed except one

Corruption is everywhere in Thailand - you learn this really quickly once you stop being a tourist and start living here. Nowhere is this more noticeable than with the police force who will frequently make traffic stops to issue tickets for cash - where this cash goes is anyone's guess.

While this is not unique to Thailand, and I have seen it and heard about it in many other countries, it is extremely evident over here. They don't really even try to hide it. When a police scam makes the news the cops are never imprisoned or charged, they simply get quietly relocated to another part of the country. This is well-known.

Recently, Phuket went through a lockdown similar to the rest of the world. Included in the Covid lockdown was most public areas including the beaches. What activity you were there to perform didn't seem to matter and the fines were hefty if someone was caught violating this law.

This was true for all beaches in Phuket.... except for Layan Beach in the north.

If you make a trip to Layan beach now, you will see bars, restaurants, hotels, basically everything open for business and business is booming. One would assume that something like this during lockdown would get pounced on by the authorities immediately and hefty fines would be implemented. That is what has happened everywhere else on the island but it hasn't here. Why is that? Well it is because a police family that is high ranking in Thai politics is a primary owner of the land and businesses there.

A friend of mine told me the news and while I have no links to prove this - you can just assume I am making it up if you want to, or take my word for it. However, he stands to gain nothing by lying to me and I have known him for nearly 20 years, so I believe him.

Recently, he was surfing on a different beach where he was alone and no where near anyone else. When he returned to his car he was confronted by police officers.

He ended up paying a fine of 3,000 Baht (around $85) on the spot and this was negotiated down from 20,000 Baht. The ticket, which he asked me to not post out of fear of backlash, stated in Thai that he was being fined for "illegal surfing during global pandemic."

He has framed the ticket and put it on his surfboard rack in his house. How many surfers can claim to have one of those?

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It was brought to his attention later in the surfing community that one beach was open and there was no need for fear of police interference. He went down to Layan beach to check it out only to discover that this beach was absolutely slammin'.

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_{A typical day at Layan Beach}
Layan is normally visited by very few people because the southern beaches of Patong, Karon, and Kata Noi / Yai are far more popular.

The hotels were operating at full capacity while the rest of the island has nearly no customers at all and many businesses are not even allowed to be open. The beaches remain closed until further notice but in the meantime the business owners at Layan are killing it. Personally, I think it is extremely stupid that the beaches would be closed in the first place but it really isn't that surprising to me that a government official owned area would be exempted to the rules - especially since there are no other businesses in the area at all for miles in both directions.

So how is this possible? There were even police officers there (according to my friend) and no one was being issued citations or fines: It all boils down to one thing that is absolutely true in Thailand and unfortunately the rest of the world: The rules do not apply to the elite and especially the ruling class.