Yahooka

I used to love Bangla Road so much because of the partying atmosphere, you go along the road and hear 80's music,modern music, live music people having real fun. Aussies, Brits or Scandinavians seemed to be having the time of their lives... and now.. chinese or russians just passing by with the serious looks on their faces, not going to any bars, not enjoying anything.. are fun times over now on Bangla? My soul felt so refreshed everytime i went to bangla in 2012 with all the westerners getting out of their system. Everything started going down since 2014.. Will the party dudes be back again sometime?

You should have come there a decade earlier...........that was the beginning of the end of the really good times here.Most of the guys I knew then unforunately don`t come to Phuket anymore,most of us agreed that the fun times ended and the once great athmosphere changed for the worst in the years after the Tsunami.

Assad still needs to be removed. A victory for him should not be celebrated.

Unfortunately there isn`t any alternative..........the so called moderates that was partaking in the early days of the uprising are either abroad or insignificant on the battlefield.Another unfortunate proof for the fact that most Middle Eastern countries are in need of a strong leader rather than democracy.

I think this is a very good thing. Before I liked going to Pattaya from time to time, but of late I am turned off by the amount of crime there. Before you could avoid it but lately it seems to comes find you. Ceaning up all the riffraff will be a very welcome change.

I don`t think that overstayers are responsible for "the amount of chrime there".

Maybe the thing to do is to adapt these failing locations to businesses that suit the Chinese market. Besides from being economically priced, what kinds of bars, restaurants, shops, etc. do the Chinese want while on holiday? I was in Bangla years ago when my brother came to visit and it was dead then in December. Its seems that western tourists basically finished with that party spot ages ago (for many of the reasons mentioned -- mainly based on unpleasant and greedy people trying to get as much as possible for as little as possible). It's time to move on and serve your new tourist base.

Mahjong Parlors...Karaoke Spots? What's the general age and interests of the Chinese tourists? Put on your thinking caps guys and do things like approaching the tour companies to see what their clients want and make deals -- should work for restaurants and shops, maybe even the right kind of bar/karaoke parlor. Don't just sit and whine about selling less wine, so to speak. Adapt!!!

Invest in an 7-11,Family Mart and instant noodles .

Look at the Golden orb spider, the last one i saw was eating a dove in its web the web was three meters by two.

Millipedes can give a far nasty nip than spiders,

Millipedes don`t bite,centipedes on the other hand can give you a nasty bite.

My wife and I spent a few days near the train station in Helsinki. It was quite scary after dark. Lots of what looked like unemployed migrants around, drinking, trash everywhere. We were quite surprised to see this.

Surprised ? You`ll be more used to this from now on.........The Glorius Era Of Enrichment are here to stay !!

This is hopefully the last attempt to prove that the dreadfull system called communism can work......................No it can`t never do !!!

Better than the useless CNN and BBC World, although it shouldn't take much.

Any normal,hard working citizen of Germany or the rest Europe who welcomed this invasion who in the end will lead to the destruction of the

welfare state has serious mental deficencies or is just blindly naive.Just as insane as a farmer would be if he welcomed a swarm of locuses to his crop !

I have travels to most countries in the world. And I can sy without a doubt. Phuket has to be the number one crime rate against foreigners in the world. Serious crimes murder rape robbery. Every single day. What has changed in the last ten years? It's gotten worse. What are police doing. Nothing so shut the island off to visitors. It's just too dangerous. Really it's the only answer.

Such a pity there hasn`t gone out any travel warnings about "the most dangerous place for a foreigner to visit",then ..........................................

The women in the pic demonstrate against sexism *and racism*, in accordance with many Muslims in Germany.

They also protest against the part of the public opinion that exploits the incidents in Cologne for refugee & immigrant bashing. Please keep that in mind.

Exactly.I saw an interview with some of those demonstrators and all of them basically said "although what happened on New years eve was terrible we must not forget that this is not representative of the vast majority of immigrants and that most cases of sexual violence happens in a relationship " ...................................

Useless and nothing learned !!

If someone throws one of these at you it`s better to duck..........devastating effect !!

They don't throw them at the vehicles, they just lay on the road, like harmless oranges.

I understood that from the articles, too.

If someone throws one of these at you it`s better to duck..........devastating effect !!

Moral justice if he was guilty. Should be extended to all freaks of nature.

So after peadophiles who else will you brand "as freak of nature" ??

The disgusting TV lynchmob strikes again !!

This is just confirming what most people already knew that their previous policy was lunacy. Didn't take much brainpower to forecast the result, streets paved with gold and free housing to boot.

So giving 160.000 Syrian refugees the opportunity to start a new life, is by you considered lunacy??

My son lives in a small Swedish town, (6000 people), that town alone has taken 1800 refugees and most people think it is a good thing. Suddenly there are people in the shops, all the previous empty houses are now occupied and new restaurants are opening. And the average age has gone below 65....................

A little factual information: The passport free travel for Nordic citizens dates way before the EU, all the way back to 1952, where the Nordic countries agreed on it.

Sad to see it go !!

Me too,but in these days it is abandoned for obvious reasons and I hope it will stay that way for years to come.

This is just confirming what most people already knew that their previous policy was lunacy. Didn't take much brainpower to forecast the result, streets paved with gold and free housing to boot.

So giving 160.000 Syrian refugees the opportunity to start a new life, is by you considered lunacy??

My son lives in a small Swedish town, (6000 people), that town alone has taken 1800 refugees and most people think it is a good thing. Suddenly there are people in the shops, all the previous empty houses are now occupied and new restaurants are opening. And the average age has gone below 65....................

A little factual information: The passport free travel for Nordic citizens dates way before the EU, all the way back to 1952, where the Nordic countries agreed on it.

Sad to see it go !!

Yes, they are Syrian, not Caucasian. Their culture is entirely alien to Sweden and they will not assimilate.

Wait till they call the faithful to dawn prayer on loudspeakers, the women wear burqas in town, there are no go areas for infidels, they want to live by sharia and they start murdering their daughters for having an infidel boyfriend, THEN tell me it was a "good idea".

The problem is that none of the people that think it is a "good idea" have ever lived in an Islamic country and don't have a clue what is in store.

If Sweden really wants more people to go shopping there are millions of culturally similar people in the world that would go live there, and there's always the Phillipinos- millions of them want to go live in the west, and none of them want to change your society.

BTW where are they getting the money to go shopping, they can't possibly have jobs yet?

>.Yes, they are Syrian, not Caucasian. Their culture is entirely alien to Sweden and they will not assimilate.<, Quote

You are not Asian and still you live in Thailand, and are probably not very assimilated ?

If you have cared to look at the pics from the refugee streams into Europe, you would have noticed, that most of the women are not wearing hijab. Many of the are well educated middle class and and not religious fanatics. To move such a large number of people anywhere, will always create problems (now and in the future), but the problems doesn't become bigger because they are not Caucasians. They will hopefully contribute with their culture and knowledge to their new home country.

To compare the situation in the Philippines with todays Syria is just plain stupidity !!

Unfortunately the earlier statements that syrian migrants and refugees are well educated is wishfull thinking.OECD has han raport saying that 65% of students on secondary education lacks basic skills in math and science mathers.

http://www.cesifo-group.de/ifoHome/presse/Pressemitteilungen/Pressemitteilungen-Archiv/2015/Q4/pm-20151204_Bildung_Fluechtlinge.html

So I don't quite understand. Weren't these thugs arrested? Where were the police?

If they had been arrested then everyone should be able to answer the question of whether or not they are largely part of the new refugees recently allowed in.

Yes they should. But, Sweden and German already filter that sort of information from the news media. Not for public consumption. The politicians don't like the truth, only what's considered PC.

Freedom of speech in EU - another joke.

And in addition the police in many European countries are under day-to-day political control by politically apointed police commisioners and as a result they are totally useless.

While it's unfortunate and scary for the kid and I hope not too serious I really can't see the monkey just randomly attacking the boy unprovoked.

The parents are more likely to be the ones at fault allowing him to go near the monkey.

Once, many years ago, watched an idiot from UK tease a monkey in Gibralter by offering food and then pulling it away when the monkey tried to take it. He thought it was really funny until the monkey sank it's teeth into his arm. A quickly learned lesson from a monkey obviously more intelligent than the idiot teasing it.

on the island of Gibraltar they are APES not monkeys ... just saying ( barbary macaques )

Gibraltar isn't and island, but you're correct about the apes. I wouldn't let my child get near them or the monkeys.

While they at it why don`t they hand out stacks of 1 baht coins so the drivers could put them in their ears.........................

Out last night and it was a lot busier on Bangla than it was previously on Christmas Eve, which was a disappointment for many bars I bet, mainly because there were quite a few people around, but not too many people sitting in the bars drinking which is obviously what the bar owners want.

Last night was different inasmuch as there were quite a few bars with drinkers in, although the same thing as I've mentioned before still applied to resurrected Tiger, where half the bars have closed down. Not surprising really when the bar fine in the bar I visited with friends is 2000 baht, the minute lady drinks 220 baht, and a soda water 90 baht! And they wonder why we were the only people in their bar, but not for long I can assure you.

The usual clubs were packed with the younger set and Smiley Bar was also packed with a good cross-section of people because they have a good band in there. The disappointment was Tao with at most around 10 people in it when twice I looked, and it has not been any different for a few months, so as already stated in previous posts, it would seem to be quite apparent that the owner has got this one wrong.

Soi Freedom was buzzing a lot more than of late, and the last few days have been the best to date according to my bar owner friend, although nowhere near what the heyday of Soi Eric was like, and I don't think those days will ever return.

Had a meal at Higher restaurant and that was packed with over 100 people, and although they have produced a special menu for Christmas, which is a bit more expensive than the à la carte, the food was still excellent and the service good for the amount of people in the place. Let's hope this has a long and happy life here.

There were two disappointments for me during the evening, the first was following three burly steroid-like Aussies with shaven hair and tattoos, wearing black T-shirts with what looked like the name of a tattoo parlour on them, and watched one of them deliberately throw a half empty bottle of beer on the floor at the entrance to Soi Sea Dragon, smashing it and sending glass everywhere, much to the chagrin of the bar owner who shouted at them loudly in Thai (expletives I expect) however they marched on regardless. Ignorant pigs.

The second was a lot more disturbing as it involved a pack of animals attacking one solitary Farang. I don't know what started it, however one Farang was having an altercation with a Thai guy in the middle of Bangla and it developed into fisticuffs, but only briefly. A crowd gathered and the two were pulled apart and the police were called, and they were on the scene within a minute as they were probably nearby.

As they were standing there trying to ascertain what the row was all about a Thai fellow from the back of the crowd who had not been involved in any way, pushed through to the front and smacked the Farang in the face. The police saw this and they should have arrested him immediately, but they waved him away!!

Then the original two seemed to come to blows again, however that was extremely short lived because at that moment in time about seven Thai guys jumped into the fray and started attacking the one Farang, just like a pack of animals and he had no chance whatsoever, being cornered up against a wall and having a barrage of fists and boots put into him, leaving him quite bloodied. These guys were dressed in red T-shirts and are part of the "tout brigade" that patrol their various patches in Bangla trying to snare customers into ping-pong parlours and go-go bars.

They had absolutely no reason to jump in but the pack mentality was frightening to see, and again the police did nothing. The beating stopped because the Farang fell to the ground and was dragged out by his mate and surrounded by a couple of Farang girls. The redshirted animals simply disappeared into the crowd and again the police did nothing although they saw it all.

I'm afraid that ruined the evening completely although I'd had a good time with friends and also received some good feedback on the songs I'd sung with a couple of the bands, and it made me wonder whether this place was going downhill faster than I'd thought.............. like "Pick of Penang" has done, will give some serious thought to looking elsewhere, however it will be hard because of the friends I have made here and I enjoy catching up with my ex and her daughter on a fairly regular basis.

Sure, as other folks have said Patong is not dead, but it is dying and that becomes apparent when you visit places like Nanai Road, where another well-known bar, Nanai Sports Bar, has closed and the premises are up for rent, small shops have closed down, other bars are devoid of customers, and we all know that many of the restaurants are struggling and if you wanted to add the empty bars at the back of resurrected Tiger and the new Tiger, along with Soi Crocodile/ladyboy which is no longer, then you get a more complete picture of a party town which is being destroyed by its own greed, corruption and lack of planning and foresight.

Appreciate your reports xylophone.As an frequent traveller and a former resident in Phuket it certainly confirms the sad state of the Patong nightlife industry nowadays.The good times in Bangla and sorrounding areas are unfortunately gone and it`s been replaced with unfriendliness,pushiness and price gauging.The days when you had to arrive early to get a seat in the most popular(and then great) bars will unfortunately never return.

The Russian girls service the Russian clientele. No Russian tourists, no money to fill the

appropriate envelopes. Thus the raids.

Not only russian clients..........many Middle Easterns prefer these joints,too.

Can't really see them renting fron the riff-raff can you?

Again, can't really get excited about a kid hurting themselves doing extreme.

Its shay they do........

Renting? They probably just bought a brand new one.

A lot of chinese(and russian) tourist comes from areas far from the coast and as such has no concept of the potential dangers of the sea.

Real monks are not allowed to ask for anything, let alone money... I reckon these were fake monks.

Or the unfortunate growing trends of some monks in city/tourist areas.More and more I`ve seen them collecting money by themselves,smoking cigarettes in plain view on the streets etc.

Scary character straight out from the Opium den.