sekmet

I used to travel to Phuket every year for a decade, but stopped coming about five years ago. The tuk-tuk folks were terrible, beaches polluted, prices increasingly more expensive while service diminished.

Has anything changed? Are there still group tour throngs? Have Africans started showing up?

Did they finish the water park? Is the dolphinarium still running? Any major infrastructure projects completed?

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If you want black hookers, go to Detroit or Cleveland.

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  Rumour has it that changes are afoot in Bangla, with sois disappearing, others changing, more shopping venues and so on, so it will be interesting to see if any of this materialises and if it can revitalise what was once a "calling card" for Patong.      

What sort of changes, if you could speculate?



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I know this ia a Phuket-centric forum, mods bear with me.

There is a bit of chatter (and static) in the system about the impending closure of Boracay. No one has made an official announcement yet. But we do know the Korean discount carriers and the Chinese charters have canceled flights, as well as PAL limiting flights. In the near term, likely Phuket will see a larger influx this low season.

The supposition is that Boaracay has been overbuilt, including protected areas, and polluted with effluent going directly in to the sea. Sound familiar? DU30 has ordered a complete shutdown lasting anywhere from 3 months to one year. Yet official mandates find discrepancy with implementation. There is also a murky issue of a large Chinese funded casino. 

To be sure, Phuket is MUCH, MUCH larger than Boracay; and yet the challenges are similar. Shutting down the destination for one year to restore its environmental beauty to become sustainable, would absolutely crush smaller businesses, but its attraction would likely be stronger. Could Phuket do the same?

I need something made to reinforce and support the current steel frame supporting some heavy weight.  However the steel is starting to rust and I would like to make sure the steel frame doesn't collapse at some point.  

Patong, a place of contradictions...........
 
The nightlife of Bangla Road certainly attracts its fair amount of people, however as mentioned previously they are not the same demographic as before and just the other night I was surprised at the amount of drunk young people staggering around the place at about 1 AM in the morning, with the old bar mongers nowhere in sight.
 
The New York bar was absolutely packed and there was standing room only, and people were spilling out onto the pavement. Monsoon was busy but not quite so packed and people were queueing up to go into the discos.
 
New Tiger had its fair share of punters, but nowhere near like it used to be, and the last 25% of bars in that place are unoccupied or nearly empty. Resurrected Tiger is even worse because once

There were a number of small bars adjacent to Resurrected Tiger which wet demolished last year. Still empty?



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Patong – The Wake, and for the purposes of this post, split into Death and Resurrection!
 
DEATH: using the literal sense in this instance, I was driving my car south down Nanai road a couple of days ago and as I rounded a corner I came face-to-face with a couple of Chinese on a motorbike heading straight for me (obviously on my side of the road). I came to an abrupt halt just metres from them, however they continued their slow but steady progress, so I also drove towards them to try and show them that they had no right to be on this side of the road and they finally cottoned on, with the girl passenger screaming at the driver, so he veered across to the other side of the road, narrowly missing a tuk tuk. Close shave for them.
 
Later in the day I was heading north along Nanai and a motorcycle in front of me swerved quite violently to avoid a couple of Chinese who decided to step out from the party of about 15 who were meandering along Nanai and I don't think they know how lucky they were.
 
If you want abject stupidity then witness this: – a group of about 10 or 12 Chinese were standing just about in the middle-of-the-road at the Banzaan/ Nanai intersection whilst traffic was trying to negotiate ways around them and despite people tooting and waving at them they continued to stand there oblivious to all that was going on. Even a farang on a motorbike shaking his hand at them and shouting, "firking stupid Chinese" did nothing to interrupt their chattering. Do these people have a death wish or are plain stupid?
 
Now using the word DEATH to signify the end of something/change: I ventured down Bangla Road on Tuesday afternoon and was surprised how empty the bars were, whereas at one time at least a few of the bars would be quite full of drinkers in this supposed "high season". At one time the new Tiger complex would have had quite a few farangs perched on the barstools, however on this occasion there were just under a dozen people spread across all of the front bars. Furthermore, in all of the remaining bars down Bangla on average there would be less than four punters in the places!
 
That has certainly changed from the old days. Not only that, the patronage of many of the bars at night has also dropped quite markedly and although Bangla Road itself is busy, and god knows where these people go, many of the bars are struggling as I've often mentioned previously. However now it appears to be reaching a critical point because in Soi Freedom there are still empty bars and many empty seats as the night wears on; new Tiger is nowhere near the buzzing drinking emporium that it once was, and this is the same with resurrected Tiger across the road, and to top the lot, my favourite bar has had to part company with its Thai band (who were very good) mainly because of poor patronage and not being able to cover their outgoings (hardly surprising when the band were paid almost 400k baht per month!).
 
This was a bit of a blow for me because I used to like singing a few songs with them and they always welcomed me on the stage and the audience seemed appreciative of my efforts – – so what to do now for an evening's enjoyment?
 
As if this wasn't enough, the Filipino band at the end of Soi Freedom (who were also very good) have been replaced by another band and they are nowhere near in the same league, and I doubt I will be able to sing a few numbers with them because they don't seem to have a regular lead singer who is familiar with what I sing.
 
Another nail in the coffin with regards to my evenings out and a sad loss for those regulars who liked the other band and Lovely, their fabulous singer.
 
RESURRECTION: "it's life Jim, but not as we know it".
 
Although many of the bars would have to be struggling, and owners have told me this, as are many of the massage parlours, perhaps the resurrection will come because of the increasing number of Russians (more than I've ever seen since I first arrived on these shores) and of course the hordes of Chinese, the likes of which I have never experienced here.
 
The restaurants underneath and beside Bangla Boxing Stadium were full of Chinese and I didn't see a European face anywhere. Big C has started to become a little ridiculous at times with the hordes of rude and loud Chinese pushing and shouting whilst filling their trolleys full of cheap crap. And one of them got quite annoyed with me when she decided to jump ahead of the queue waiting at one of the checkouts and tried to hand her items to the checkout lady, this when I told her that there were other people waiting and that she should move to the back. So she plonked her items down on the counter and stormed off.
 
No doubt this resurrection will help some aspects of the Patong economy, however one wonders how much when there have been posts on the fact that the Chinese tour groups try to drive down the accommodation costs to a point which can become questionable for the owners of the establishment.
 
And with the increasing number I see along Nanai road, this would suggest that some of the cheap and cheerful (and some good for the price) guesthouses and the like are being frequented by this influx, so perhaps some are happy with it or are just happy for any type of income?
 
So things are changing as they always do, however what doesn't seem to change is the ridiculous rents that landlords are seeking for bars in Bangla and for me that, along with the changing demographics, will mean that bars will only be bought by the naive, stupid or those being encouraged by their "new-found loves".
 
And as for putting up with the hordes of Chinese and Russians...........not something I look forward to but will have to try and live with it for the time being.
 
True to form: A corpulent Chinese guy wandered down Soi Freedom to have a look at the band, halted for a short while before hoicking a huge golly on the ground next a the table of a couple of customers, then turned and went
 
 

Sala Mex is not far.

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The other Kang eng. A little hard to find. They have tanks of live

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Probably you could just pay someone B300/month to take it and be done with it.

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I have a friend with a beach house steps from Chalong bay. Not a swimming beach, per se. PM if interested.

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I just want bi-monthly updates.

Let's not deteriorate this thread like all the rest.

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To be fair, many Chinese cut the line all the time.

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So, did anything happen?

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Refugees will be the problem. SE Asia should be fine. .

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Cowards

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Well, hopefully Westerners will stop coming and Thais will continental their idyllic life with a 20% drop in GDP.

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Watch them block the streets in protest.

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Doubtful, sounds like a lot of hype. Ant beach in Palawan is better.

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My apologies. Yes, resurrected Tiger. The back end is the new toilet facilities from the other adjacent now demolished soi. Facilities are far cleaner and functional, but same hag collecting your ten baht.

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I don't know which Tiger you speak of but the one that burned down, prior heaved with bars and patrons. Since the rebuil6, practically empty.

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I'm trying google and getting a lot of out dated info... my hotel just keeps saying to book a taxi, 800 baht is a bit steep.

I took a metered taxi to Patong last week. Came out to about 770B.



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15 hours ago, Tofer said:

Is that the end of the pier where you catch a boat to get the hell out of there.

Yes, but you will probably end up at Phi Phi, which is worse.

In Chalong you can get a decent AC room for 400B, beer for 50B, a sizeable breakfast with real espresso for 150B  and no tuk tuks.

Yes, the soi next to ressurected Tiger has been torn down. My understanding was Simon of the caberet held the master lease and then sold it to parties unknown. There was at least one successful long running bar that was given about two days to clear out.

That makes two or more demolished empty sois. I suspect at some point perhaps all the go go s will be pushed out to side sois like sansabai, kepsub or even Nana. Maybe Bangkok money or Tiger is buying up leases for a massive coordinated project. Of course both Bangla Tigers are completely empty beyond the Street side bars. On the upside, the gritty ten baht bathroom is now located at the back of ressurected Tiger; all of the toilets work, but it is the same toilet lady.

As a side note, I have found it incredibly easy to cross Rat-u-tit at all hours of the day and night.