Too Many Tourists In Phuket!

[laidback]

Well, I was there 23-26 Dec. Went through lots of stress trying to book on line.. ya at the last minute. Booking agents are scammers just as I suspected. Namely Agoda is the worst. They charged my credit card one full day (threatened to charge for the full period) just to tell me if there was a vacancy or not, and whether or not I still wanted the reservation by the time they responded. Very misleading wording on their website, such as calling it a booking request, and stating that they would be confirming with me after they confirmed availability - Flat out lie! I'm going to war! I booked another room at Nai Yang resort. Only to discover that the picture (which i see after the fact is a computer simulation) is quite deceptive, and there is hardly anything worth going to Nai Yang Beach for. The only nice place there is the resort it's self, and that is a bad value for money. Miles from anywhere, and traffic can be a real problem even if you do get a taxi out of there.

Went to Koh Phi Phi and stayed for a day. My advice is never try to stay overnight on Koh Phi Phi. Accommodation is a very poor and very expensive. Lot of deceptive tactics and lies there too. I see that there are some snorkeling day trips that are probably a good value though.

Back to Karen Beach the next day, and that was Beautiful. No booking, just talked to the cab driver on the way from the docks and he called a friend who found a room for us at a real nice hotel for a good price, 5 min. walk off the beach. He took us strait too there, no looking around at all. It was great! Gave that driver a good tip and called him later to drive us to the lookout and then back to the airport.

Don't think I'll ever try booking online again, I never have in the past either, but if you have direct contact info for the place you want to stay and book directly then that is great. Otherwise usually no real problems finding a room, but I'll definitely try to avoid this time of year in the future.

It seems to me that this is more posturing in order to push for measures that will discourage budget tourists, and possibly encourage the spending of government money to further develop the reagon. Can't blame them for that actually, but there must be more effort to see that competent services are offered without scams.

Lets face it Phuket is over crowed, and the bottom line is money. I have experienced the same scams.

Karon Beach is the best place to stay. Patong is the worst.

[Mid]

Back to Karen Beach the next day, and that was Beautiful. No booking, just talked to the cab driver on the way from the docks and he called a friend who found a room for us at a real nice hotel for a good price, 5 min. walk off the beach. He took us strait too there, no looking around at all. It was great! Gave that driver a good tip and called him later to drive us to the lookout and then back to the airport.

nice to see credit where it's due , shame these guys are in the minority ............

the cabbie's and so forth can make or break a holiday so fast , not to mention destroying the crafted image ( done at great expense ) in a nano-second.

AoT please note .........................................

[Dupont]

Well, I was there 23-26 Dec. Went through lots of stress trying to book on line.. ya at the last minute. Booking agents are scammers just as I suspected. Namely Agoda is the worst. They charged my credit card one full day (threatened to charge for the full period) just to tell me if there was a vacancy or not, and whether or not I still wanted the reservation by the time they responded. Very misleading wording on their website, such as calling it a booking request, and stating that they would be confirming with me after they confirmed availability - Flat out lie! I'm going to war! I booked another room at Nai Yang resort. Only to discover that the picture (which i see after the fact is a computer simulation) is quite deceptive, and there is hardly anything worth going to Nai Yang Beach for. The only nice place there is the resort it's self, and that is a bad value for money. Miles from anywhere, and traffic can be a real problem even if you do get a taxi out of there.

Went to Koh Phi Phi and stayed for a day. My advice is never try to stay overnight on Koh Phi Phi. Accommodation is a very poor and very expensive. Lot of deceptive tactics and lies there too. I see that there are some snorkeling day trips that are probably a good value though.

Back to Karen Beach the next day, and that was Beautiful. No booking, just talked to the cab driver on the way from the docks and he called a friend who found a room for us at a real nice hotel for a good price, 5 min. walk off the beach. He took us strait too there, no looking around at all. It was great! Gave that driver a good tip and called him later to drive us to the lookout and then back to the airport.

Don't think I'll ever try booking online again, I never have in the past either, but if you have direct contact info for the place you want to stay and book directly then that is great. Otherwise usually no real problems finding a room, but I'll definitely try to avoid this time of year in the future.

It seems to me that this is more posturing in order to push for measures that will discourage budget tourists, and possibly encourage the spending of government money to further develop the reagon. Can't blame them for that actually, but there must be more effort to see that competent services are offered without scams.

Lets face it Phuket is over crowed, and the bottom line is money. I have experienced the same scams.

Karon Beach is the best place to stay. Patong is the worst.

You guys really shouldn't be travelling. A few flim flam merchants at worst. Don't for gods sake go anywhere rough now will you.

[LivinLOS]

Jeez, chill out Moskito!! I was just making a statement. You are reading much too much into my light-hearted comments.

By the way, you mentioned the war, not me

Simon

I mentioned it once.. ButI think I got away with it.

[baabaabobo]

Jeez, chill out Moskito!! I was just making a statement. You are reading much too much into my light-hearted comments.

By the way, you mentioned the war, not me

Simon

I mentioned it once.. ButI think I got away with it.

You started it

[Galong]

"If another bombing were to happen in a main tourist destination like Phuket, it would destroy the whole country," warned Apichart.

What a dumbass thing to say. Oh, I guess potential bombers don't read the news. Way to go Apicart. Why don't you give them some blueprints while you're at it... dumbass.

[liberty9133]

I just left that fetid pit called Patong Beach. I am not certain that I have words to convey the utter disgust that I have for the place. BUT I will try.

First let me say that(wanting to be certain that my observations were not out of sync) I spoke with around 15 to 16 different couples and individuals. All but one agreed that this would be the last time to either Phuket or Thailand all together. Most had been to Thailand many times before. A Frenchman( 20yrs), A Danish couple (2yrs). An English couple(24 Yrs) etc. All agreed that the place is not worthy of a second thought about returning. Let me list the most egregious reasons:

1. YOu cannot go anywhere without being prodded emotionally, auditorally and physically to buy something that noone wants. They are selling T shirts with the following quotation or thereabouts." I don't want any f@#$@king Tuk Tuk, massage, tailored suit, etc. Now get out of my way.

I was on the beach, yesterday, reading my book. On 2 occasions, some poor beggars actually sat on my beach chair to sell me something. The first one I just said no and she went away. The second one annoyed me a bit more and I asked here to "Please Leave. I am reading". The reply I got was " F@#$%%^K you! So much for the land of smiles.

2.Theft: It is there and it is up. Time was one could leave money in the open. Time was they would look for you if you forgot your watch. NO longer.

3. The sheer numbers of tourists is overwhelming. One cannot easily navigate the streets or sidewalks. The actions of most are vulgar and demeaned and often demeaning.

4. There is no quiet place to be found. Occasionally early in the morning before the tourist wake from the revels of the night before, before the tuk tuks arrive, before the hawkers set up, a brief respite may be found.

5. accidents. IT has been said that more accidents occur in Phuket than anywhere else in LOS. I don't know about that. But I have heard that the statistic stands at about 500 per DAY.

6. If I wanted all this, I could have gone someplaces less expensive and more civilized for less money.

If I thought it would do any good and knew to whom to complain, I would. I will try to warn off others.

[simon43]

Liberty9133, please don't tar all of Phuker (or Thailand) with the same brush. If you did maybe a little homework before you came on holiday, and sought out the less-touristy resorts, then I'm sure you would have had a much better time

Simon (currently sitting by his hotel swimming pool in north Phuket, no BGs, no ladyboys, no tuk-tuks, no touts, - just happy hotel guests and great local food!)

[solo siam]

If you are looking for a quiet holiday why would you go to Patong, its a hustle bustle sort of a place - for good and bad. There are plenty of idyllic beaches and resorts etc... Patong has always been like that, it might be a bit bigger nowadays but its the same.

[onethailand]

Well, I was there 23-26 Dec. Went through lots of stress trying to book on line.. ya at the last minute. Booking agents are scammers just as I suspected. Namely Agoda is the worst. They charged my credit card one full day (threatened to charge for the full period) just to tell me if there was a vacancy or not, and whether or not I still wanted the reservation by the time they responded. Very misleading wording on their website, such as calling it a booking request, and stating that they would be confirming with me after they confirmed availability - Flat out lie! I'm going to war! I booked another room at Nai Yang resort. Only to discover that the picture (which i see after the fact is a computer simulation) is quite deceptive, and there is hardly anything worth going to Nai Yang Beach for. The only nice place there is the resort it's self, and that is a bad value for money. Miles from anywhere, and traffic can be a real problem even if you do get a taxi out of there.

The problem with last minute bookings is that the hotels will charge agents for a cancellation, when there is no guarantee a booking will be confirmed by the guest. This is especially rife in Phuket - not normally a problem in other parts of the country. Also, tends to happen only during Christmas, New Year's and Songkran.

Unfortunately, you fell right into that time frame.

Don't think I'll ever try booking online again, I never have in the past either, but if you have direct contact info for the place you want to stay and book directly then that is great. Otherwise usually no real problems finding a room, but I'll definitely try to avoid this time of year in the future.

The whole reason for booking online, or through an agent, is because you can get a discount which normally you can't achieve by booking direct with the hotel, online or off.

The best thing to do is research the type of hotel you want, narrow it down to a select few, then check a few websites for prices - and make sure of the other things such as whether or not taxes are included, breakfast included, etc. One very large online agent resorted to not including tax in their prices - but quickly reversed that policy as I suspect they were the subject of endless complaints or incomplete bookings.

Another thing is perhaps to avoid sites that provide hotel accommodation in many different countries - more often than not it means they pay a lot less attention to detail, not to mention service standard. Stick to specialized agencies focused on one market. There aren't many of these right now (my own agency has been "coming soon" for two years now), but you can be sure they are more in tune with the various locations in Thailand.

Edited January 13, 2007 by onethailand

[sonthaya]

Tourists, please stay away, just send us your money, TIT

[NamKAheng]

What can I say after reading all these rants about Phuket is that they almost all suffer generalization. I will try to shed a light on some of them.

I can't say that some nation are coming more to Phuket than a other, not the German, not the Britannic, not the (put the name you want here). What I can say is that the majority of tourist are coming from Europe and should not be confuse about the one who stay on the island.

On the trash side, yes the Thai are the biggest problem but I can say I see a improvement from 15 years ago so it is not a desperate cause. On the tourists side, I can't say that one kind of tourist are worst then a other, and no the backpackers don't escape the trashers name, backpackers can be a lot greener in the day but don't give them a beach to do a beach party at night because they will trash it and I am not talking about the full moon party here but about a beach party on a beach of Koh Phi Phi. We had to clean the beach wtih the Thais the next morning so we can enjoy the beach.

The best and the worst can be found on Phuket you have to do a little home work before coming to help you choose what kind of things you want to do or places you want to stay.

First, you should know that Patong is not Phuket it is only a town resort on the island who happend not to please everybody, there are a lot of other places or beaches to go on the island so don't generalize. A lot of people don't like Patong but at night they are coming from all over the island to enjoy a meal or a drink and a lot of people are on the hypocrite side because they say that don't like Patong but they are coming night after night. There is good restaurants to be found in Patong so do you home work and you will find them (you can even find them here on this board). Don't forget that there is also good places to go eat outside of Patong, again do you home work. Yes there is a sex trade in Patong, now you know it so you are warn. At the same time a lot of hypocrite tourists are to be found on Bangla Road in Patong, they walk the street because the sex trade is also a tourist attraction in Patong, not to forget that they are coming by bus full to drink a beer while looking at the ladyboys dancing. Patong is not your slice of bread you don't like it just don't go, period, but don't trash the name of the island based only on what you saw and experience in Patong because there is a lot of very nice places outside Patong.

It is also false to put every bad thing on the island on the back of Thai people the worst of farangs can be found on the island. Last year I was at a barbecue party invited by a friend who live on Phuket island and he invite a lot of farang at his party. Those farang came and bring some friends at the party and those farang were all expat living on the island. I was sitting with 4 of these expats drinking a beer and I can't to this day beleve what I heard from those guys. I will not mention nationality but only what they do on the island, one was a lawyer in is home country and is now living by forging papers, getting farang out of prison by putting money at the right places, he is doing business with a Thai and a other farang (who happend to sit at the same table) who are forging papers and serial number for stolen cars and motorbikes, most of the stolen cars are export to Malaysia.

A other one was a bar owner in Patong, the kind of guy you don't want to have any problem whit, that night I learn of a bar fire 24 hours before it happend, just because the owner of that bar was suposed to have stolen workers from a other bar. The guy who was with him make is living by enforcing fear on people who don't pay, now you know waht kind of guy I am talking about, for your benefit I should say that the Thai local police are scared of him.

After listening from those guys for one hour I had to leave because I was scared to be arrest just by drinking a beer with them.

So let just say that the cleanup is to be done on the farand side of the people to.

I don't personnally think that you can stop one kind of tourists from coming to Phuket, they can make it better to try to attrack one kind they want to have and they will come but Thai goverment have to put a effort in that, since 15 years they are not prepare to put so I don't think a lot whill change in the years coming. One thing they can do is enforce the law, I mean every law, road law, environmental law etc...

On the good side of things, the Thai hospitality can be found on Phuket island and that is why some tourists are coming again and again to the island.

[Johpa]

I just left that fetid pit called Patong Beach. I am not certain that I have words to convey the utter disgust that I have for the place. BUT I will try.

<see original post for rant>

Senor Liberty, may I suggest engaging in some due diligence prior to travel. Most, if not all of the points in your post could have easily been written 15 or more years ago.

[Dupont]

I just left that fetid pit called Patong Beach. I am not certain that I have words to convey the utter disgust that I have for the place. BUT I will try.

First let me say that(wanting to be certain that my observations were not out of sync) I spoke with around 15 to 16 different couples and individuals. All but one agreed that this would be the last time to either Phuket or Thailand all together. Most had been to Thailand many times before. A Frenchman( 20yrs), A Danish couple (2yrs). An English couple(24 Yrs) etc. All agreed that the place is not worthy of a second thought about returning. Let me list the most egregious reasons:

1. YOu cannot go anywhere without being prodded emotionally, auditorally and physically to buy something that noone wants. They are selling T shirts with the following quotation or thereabouts." I don't want any f@#$@king Tuk Tuk, massage, tailored suit, etc. Now get out of my way.

I was on the beach, yesterday, reading my book. On 2 occasions, some poor beggars actually sat on my beach chair to sell me something. The first one I just said no and she went away. The second one annoyed me a bit more and I asked here to "Please Leave. I am reading". The reply I got was " F@#$%%^K you! So much for the land of smiles.

2.Theft: It is there and it is up. Time was one could leave money in the open. Time was they would look for you if you forgot your watch. NO longer.

3. The sheer numbers of tourists is overwhelming. One cannot easily navigate the streets or sidewalks. The actions of most are vulgar and demeaned and often demeaning.

4. There is no quiet place to be found. Occasionally early in the morning before the tourist wake from the revels of the night before, before the tuk tuks arrive, before the hawkers set up, a brief respite may be found.

5. accidents. IT has been said that more accidents occur in Phuket than anywhere else in LOS. I don't know about that. But I have heard that the statistic stands at about 500 per DAY.

6. If I wanted all this, I could have gone someplaces less expensive and more civilized for less money.

If I thought it would do any good and knew to whom to complain, I would. I will try to warn off others.

Might shock you to know that many of us live, love, do business and enjoy fully the beautiful pearl in the crown of phuket that is Patong.

This is why it is expanding rapidly even in this climate. Some people like noise, hustle and bustle and the vibrant life on offer here.

Phuket is immense so why come here and bitch. We don't go to quiet areas and bitch about lack of noise, lack of bars, lack of girls etc. I've said before, if I had to read a book on the beach, I would rather open a vein. But thats me. The sun is more likely to kill you than an accident in any event.

We really are sick of elitist peace and quiet fascists like you. People who, not finding things to their liking, complain vigorously, despite being in the minority. For gods sake, get out and find somewhere quiet to read your book, then leave the rest of us to do and enjoy what we like.

If you cannot find peace and quiet on Phuket Island or Thailand at large, there is something seriously wrong with you. you have 3,219 killometers of coast line in Thailand over 80km on Phuket, why come to our 2 km streatch and bitch that it isn't what you want?

Good riddance. And to Simon, thanks for pointing out that peace and quiet do exist in abundance here. I have friends come here that don't like Patong, so i find them somewhere nice that is more to their tastes. It's not right or wrong, its different preferences.

It takes all sorts of people to make a place, and some of us really do love life in Patong.

[Nemo.]

If you want high quality visitors you need to clean the place up. Phuket's commercial centres look dirty and ugly. The tuk-tuk cartel and other annoyances don't help either.

Story Time!

In the fictional land of Thaland some big wig Tha VIPs sit in a room. Some smarmy (white) consultant (being paid 5,000 USD a day) says "quality tourism" is your answer! This is after he realised that they read it somewhere

At a huge cost the consultant (a.k.a. as the wicked lying bastardido arse licker) creates a detailed report (with plenty of pictures to keep the almost illiterate VIPs happy - sons of big important people of course) that says "quality tourism" "get rid of scum backpackers who course cultural pollution (a.k.a. high sperm count in farm gals)"

This 200 page report will focus on how smelly nasty backpackers are. And of course all those sexpats with beer bellies. Of course an analysis of what it takes to become a quality tourist destination will NOT be included.

The consultant knows that the Tha VIPs wouldnt understand words like "infrastructure/attractions/water quality/reputation/exclusivity" anyway and this is just "detail for lower people" NOT for the minds of the great VIPs who only look at the "big picture". With a big smile all the VIPs consider it all a good job well done

Then some poor suckers (lowest end of the Tha food chain) are told to implement this report. The poor suckers take one look at the report, see it contains NOTHING then save face by reporting in the Tha newspapers the wonderful success of the new Quality Tourism policy and how the average sperm count of waitresses has fell.................

The End

Back in Thailand news of Legionaires disiease will solve Phukets overcrowding maybe.............