London Lowf

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True. There's also the accessibilty - when I lived in South Africa I smoked every single day for four years and it is the same when I am in Thailand six months a year. When I go home to the UK I wouldn't even know where to start looking for it and I would imagine that it is rather expensive and so I simply don't bother. It's not addictive - well, certainly not the weed that I have bought!

Yes, the recovery from Covid has been dramatic although, sadly, many businesses did not survive or recover. I started visiting Patong in 2014 and so I'm a newbie compared to many on here, and I was a Sandboxer in 2021 - a surreal experience with no alcohol officially allowed on Bangla for the first week or so and then a 10pm curfew with an armada of about 30 police scooters doing a sweep of Bangla at closing time - very odd, but certainly an experience with the usual Thai creative circumvention of the emergency regulations. And now? I don't entertain at my place and so last week I was searching for an hotel room on booking.com - the cheapest in Patong was B2,800 and there were quite a few "two beds in a dormitory" at close to that price. I made alternative arrangements. For last nights fun and games I ended up in a lovely resort in............ Kathu! So, still peak season in Patong! I am based in Kamala these days but, until last December, I used to enjoy the ride into Patong and a few beers on Bangla six nights a week - there's a great band in Kamala on a Thursday! However, the drive into Patong has now got to be such a pain, even on two wheels, that I'm now down to four days a week. Oddly, the parking is fine and Bangla itself doesn't seem too crazy (I went home for Xmas/NY), although I get there after 11pm and so many of the annoying waste-of-space (and oxygen) sightseers have gone home. So, in my (limited) experience, the days of a wake for Patong are long gone. As far as I can see the island as a whole is thriving with prestige developments popping up all over the island - of course, many will never be finished but that seems to be perfectly acceptable to the authorities. Patong itself is obviously at full capacity, whuich is all that the TAT are interested in and sod the infrastructure.

I'm reasonably handy but I'm stuck! I'm replacing the exhaust on my ADV with a Vamos full system but I cannot figure out how to disconnect the sensor - usually you have to squeeze the plug and then pull to seperate, but access is very tricky and I cannot see how to do it. I've done the usual search on YouTube but no luck - can anyone help? Cheers.

I hate body hair - either on a girl or on myself - and manscape on a regular basis. It feels cleaner and more civilised. I have never been with a Thai girl who had hairy legs and very rarely do they have a bush - but I've never been with a "civilian" so that may explain why. My six months in Poland was a nightmare, but it does get rather cold there so maybe it's insulation?

Where would we be without plastic? Am I poisoning myself by tapping on the plastic keys on my keyboard whilst my polyester clothes rub against my skin? Quite frankly, the least of my worries. Disclaimer: I have no kids and so I don't worry that the human race will destroy itself one way or another - the planet will survive and recover without us, as it has done after the mass extinctions of the past.

Going out on NYE in Patong? You really should know better Xylo'.

I have been to Phuket 13 times in the last 10years - I learnt very quickly to only fly home on a Sunday evening. Two weeks ago I flew HKT-DBX at 23:45 on Sunday evening - the journey from Kamala to the airport was 45 minutes with my painfully slow but safe regular driver.

I reckon that 80 years will be more than enough for me, and I hope that I have the balls to jump the gun and avoid an empty and painful finish. My father is 95 and in rapid decline - I do not want to end up like him. I'm in my early seventies and there are increasingly activities that I can no longer do - I used to enjoy playing squash, mountain biking and going to the gym - I used to do one every day. I still enjoy riding my scooter but realise that I'm not as sharp as I used to be. I have occasional sex but, when that becomes too much hassle, then there's not much left - beer, food, weed?

The prices charged in the tourist weed shops are ludicrous, so they probably cover their costs with a couple of customers a day. I only buy online and am aware that I am paying well over the odds, but it's convenient.

Yet another poster who didn't venture out of the main tourist hotspots and assumes, totally wrongly, that all of Phuket is the same as Patong and to a lesser extent Karon/Kata/Kamala/Surin. Phuket is a big island - you need to explore!

Same here. I dread my twice yearly extensions more than going to the dentist, although they are both invariably quite painless and only take a couple of hours out of my life at most. I look around me when I am in the UK and most people seem to get “meaning” from work, personal relationships and raising a family – I’m now retired and have never had the personality to make personal sacrifices and therefore I have no family and no circle of friends. Up until a few years ago, I used to get “meaning” from competitive sport and exercise but am no longer fit or strong enough for that, although I do try to avoid a sedentary lifestyle – I am at am age where my main priority is keeping on top of my numerous minor ailments – quote: “Wake up every day, that would be a start!” I am financially secure for the rest of my life and my overwhelming goal these days is avoiding the cold – I despise it and it screws up my body! I still get immense enjoyment from casual sex with much younger women, albeit only once a week these days, and am more than happy to pay for it – spending six months each year in Thailand during the UK cold seasons is the perfect for me! I’m hoping to come back as a cat!

Patong Beach in the area around Bangla on NYE was the most dangerous thing that I've ever done in Thailand - and I ride 25,000km/year on my little scooter.

Surely these highly desirable places would have been booked for NYE months ago!

But still reading and responding to the posts and identifying with it with your user name - strange!

5:30pm? Stuck in (mainly construction) traffic. If I was a taxi driver I would avoid the morning and evening rush hours - traffic on Phuket is a nightmare, especially as it is peak season, and so it's not worth the hassle for them.

Probably a waste of your time but I've had a few of these sitting in my drawer for over thirty years! Made in the USA hence primarily Imperial dimensions - the cylinder diameter is 3/4" (18mm) and 5/8" (15mm) across the flats. The length is 1" (25mm) and so it looks like it's a size up from what you have. The key has a 180-degree action. The mounting slot in the lever is approximately 7x6mm. I'm in the UK but will be on Phuket in three weeks.

Any busy ForEx booth in a tourist area will be able to do this, and the spread GBP>THB to THB>GBP is very narrow in my experience. Every booth that I've seen displays the exchange rate both ways.

Your comment surprises me. As a casual observer (six months of the year touring around Phuket on my scooter) it seems that Chinese investment has dried up since CoViD and been replaced by Russian and Ukranian.

Was that the one in Kathu? I keep meaning to have a look but it's a bit of a schlep from Kamala. The only thing that I look forward to when leaving Phuket is a BLT sandwich and coffee from Zurich Bread in the departures at HKT - not cheap, but airports never are.

Pad Thai in Banzaan market - the husband/wife(?) stall at the Nanai end - I have it with chicken at B70 and other varieties are available. It's all the guy does every day! I can't handle spicey food and so pad Thai is about as adventurous as I get but in many places it turns into a solid congealed lump as it cools off - this guy uses just the right amount of liguid to keep it moist.

Hey - who are you calling a farnag?

I use a Halifax Clarity card at Big C and Tops contactless with no problems.

Or maybe it's all been said already? I'm still around, but stories of the steadily increasing traffic and hotel rates as we head into high season are not really of much interest. It's been in the news elsewhere, but there seems to be a large influx of African workers hanging around Bangla and Beach Road this year.

Most posters on here do not understand sarcasm, let alone many other subtleties of the English language.