A quick update from the Beach Rd works:
No parking bays are being built, just more palm trees planted and new paving blocks and kerbs are delivered and await fitting. From Dusit Thani they are now down to Soi 5.
I watched the works near me today, mostly handballing buckets of concrete for some basic formwork. The workers are from Myanmar and about half of them are women, some very pretty ones too under all the grime and sun protection. I am told that they are the best workers about and will work a month solid of 12 hour shifts without a day off. Thais only want to work Monday to Friday and for only 8 hours per day. Pay is about 400 to 500 Baht per day depending on skillset. It is heavy manual work but they all seemed cheery enough.