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THE air hangs heavy with humidity but the atmosphere is light.
Workers scurry like mice up and down the beach, clasping trays laden with beer, cocktails and food.
Their main customers are western tourists, who loll on sun beds and towels next to the sparkling azure waters.
This is Kata Beach, Phuket, part of an idyllic island that draws about 20,000 Australians each year.
The appeal of the tourist mecca is obvious.
Beyond its natural beauty, Thailand offers a five-star holiday on a three-star budget.
It also offers an intoxicating sense of freedom rarely seen in rules-bound western nations like Australia.
Fancy shooting an M16 gun or piloting an army tank? That’ll cost you about 80 bucks a pop.
Want to ride a motorbike through traffic-choked streets with no helmet and no shirt? No problem.
And if you want to burn around the beach on a rented jet ski, that’ll only set you back pocket change.
It was this simple pleasure that drew Emily Collie and her boyfriend Tom Keating to the popular beachfront on Sunday.
But in a tragic twist of events, the jet skis collided when Mr Keating was temporarily blinded by the late afternoon sunlight reflecting off the water. Despite frantic attempts by Mr Keating to revive his partner, she was unable to be saved.
The accident – and that’s precisely what it was – has plunged two families and dozens of friends into unimaginable grief.
Ms Collie’s parents have made a mercy dash to Thailand to collect their daughter’s remains.
Compounding the grief for all concerned is the fact Thai police plan to charge Mr Keating with reckless driving causing death.
He now faces the prospect of not only a life-sentence of anguish and soul searching over the accident, but a stint in a squalid Thai prison.
This is the ultimate perversion of natural justice.
Justice is about punishment, rehabilitation and protecting the community.
On all these counts, justice would best be served if Mr Keating was allowed to stand alongside Ms Collie’s loved ones in the grieving process.
Saving face is an intrinsic part of Thai culture. The Thai government should save face and ensure these charges don’t proceed.
