Ok so i have lived in a few places around Thailand for months at a time ......Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, 

 

I lived in Bangkok for 6 months and now moved to Phuket for a job...........I am living in Phuket Town

 

Some grievances below and can anyone answer why it is like it here?

 

----Its the first time in Thailand where its been hard to find a 7-eleven close by/walking, they are really spread out here in Phuket town,

If something is sold out you like in one 7-eleven , you would need a motorbike to get to another one. Bangkok, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai......

Always had a 7 eleven every 500 meters or so........Here in phuket it must be every 5000m or so.

 

----I've only found boring proper massages here in Phuket town (Expensive also, 300-400 baht starting) and I only found so far two or three places in the whole town so

far ......why? In koh samui, chiang mai etc.............lots of girls waiting outside massage shops and only charging 250 baht-300 baht.... I also travelled to karon beach and i came across about 10+ massages.......(all official, mostly all ugly, overweight women .no 'fun' massages and all charging 400 baht starting).......really pissed me off! ......

 

--------Why does Phuket get to charge 10/20% higher everything than rest of Thailand, even more Bangkok which is meant to be the most expensive place. Even more than

Koh Samui ............A cut off tropical Island!!! you would think food, services much high on koh samui but no.........much higher here in Phuket

 

------------There isn't even a Subway fast food store in Phuket town or the east coast of Phuket......<deleted>?.........They charge 20%-50% higher for food in restaurants (For example Cashew nut chicken is 80-100 baht in Bangkok/Koh Samui.......Its 120-150baht here in phuket, they don't even have proper  basic western food chain here on the east coast

 

---------------I couldn't even find a laundry shop here in phuket town...........within a 3km radius.......i was walking for ages you need to do the laundry/drying yourself it seems .....again <deleted>?

 

----------------------Ben and Jerrys ice cream store in central festival recently closed down ???? .......now have to deal with poverty dairy queen or baskin robbins ice cream

-----------------------People seriously don't seem as friendly or as helpful here in Phuket.....Anyone else feel this way?

 

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I guess these might seem like trivial things but if you want these types of things 2-3x a week, Phuket town seems to be severly lacking services for tourists.....yet it and phuket charges so much more...............very annoying

 

 

 

Phuket has always been more expensive than anywhere else in Thailand. I thought everyone knew that?

Obviously Phuket is not for you bye bye!

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The tourist areas are the beaches, not Phuket town. So one would not expect to find things geared to foreigners there.

No idea re the 7-11s....

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10 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Phuket has always been more expensive than anywhere else in Thailand. I thought everyone knew that?

I did and that's why didn't move there and so didn't my friends but the OP is not one of them thus he moved there

Maybe you should ask Ben and Jerrys where they have shops. And then ask 7/11 and all the other important shops you need.

Then overlay all those maps and you should be able to find the perfect spot for you.

After you did that look if you find a job in that area.

If you don't find one start again with the 2nd best place on your map.

Enjoy!

Go to Bangla road if you want sex and get out your wallet. Or ask for a transfer to Pattaya and you can get your 'special' messages and hear all the other sexpats through the wall next door pounding some thai girl.

 

Renting space for business is very expensive
And the high season lasts up to 5 months

 the rest of the months are dry
but landlords need to be fed constantly

I never said i wanted a sexy massage in particular.........but i don't exactly want to be massaged by 40/50 year old overweight women if given the choice..........

 

I just don't like how it seems to be 'official' massages parlours here (With the outfits etc) .....and so because of that they can charge you double the rate of the rest of thailand and get very offended if you try and ask for lower

 

18 minutes ago, hello55060 said:

Go to Bangla road if you want sex and get out your wallet. Or ask for a transfer to Pattaya and you can get your 'special' messages and hear all the other sexpats through the wall next door pounding some thai girl.

 

on phuket the best option is thaifriendly
instead of paying all the pimps along the way

An offensive troll post has been removed. 

So - a place is crap because there aren't 7-11s within walking distance? 300-400 for a massage- oh dear. No Subways or Baskin Robbins- I take it you are an over-demanding American.

 

120 baht for a portion of food- the temerity of it all. You may as well just slit your wrists (for the Mods I am being sarcastic NOT suggestive!).

 

Phuket Town is not designed for tourists so what possessed you to go there in the first place? 

 

Don't let the door slap you on the erse. What a sad attitude. Surely you are just a troll.

Plenty 7-11 everywhere

 

Plenty Laundry everywhere.

 

Phuket is very expensive, everyone knows that.

 

Best get back to Bangkok on next bus.

 

 

23 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

Best get back to Bangkok on next bus.

No! We don't want him here.

the only thing I found too expensive in Phuket since I last visited was the airport to hotel taxi, with no option of a mini bus or normal bus 

 

lived in rawai for 6000 a month, equivalent to a new hotel room but needed my own bed sheets

 

motorbike rent 3500

 

this was 3 years ago though

2 hours ago, hydraides said:

I've only found boring proper massages here in Phuket town

don't you hate that? that is why i always travel with my entourage of three massage girls.

2 hours ago, hydraides said:

There isn't even a Subway fast food store in Phuket town or the east coast of Phuket

my girls are also cooks...

2 hours ago, hydraides said:

Ben and Jerrys ice cream store in central festival recently closed down

can you imagine? i left when the Porsche dealership closed down.

Maybe you should have took a job with higher salary things may not seem so expensive then,from the Thais I know they sayphuket town has some great food at great prices but they don’t eat at subway????????????

wow. no Ben and Jerrys. Life is over. Is there a Ben and Jerrys in Bangkok? I better check, if not, its the balcony for me.

3 hours ago, hello55060 said:

Go to Bangla road if you want sex and get out your wallet. Or ask for a transfer to Pattaya and you can get your 'special' messages and hear all the other sexpats through the wall next door pounding some thai girl.

 

Or just look around, 7/11, special massage places, all in abundance in town.

1 hour ago, cyril sneer said:

the only thing I found too expensive in Phuket since I last visited was the airport to hotel taxi, with no option of a mini bus or normal bus 

 

lived in rawai for 6000 a month, equivalent to a new hotel room but needed my own bed sheets

 

motorbike rent 3500

 

this was 3 years ago though

And there are buses from the airport to Rawai now ????

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

No! We don't want him here.

Honestly we also don’t want him in Pattaya..????

My response to the OP?

 

 

They ARE trivial things, and if you desperately need them and cannot do without them you must be a very sad person.

Everyone knows that when in Phuket you go to the Big One or Family Mart.  sheesh.

move

This has got to be a troll post... it can't possible be serious.  Or as Psimbo said... really?  "Wah wah I can't find my Western food chains here, wah wah massages are expensive even though they're still a bare fraction of what they'd cost in the West, wah wah I have to do my own laundry like a grown-ass adult, wah wah people don't bend over backward to kiss my ass." 

 

Why did you even leave the U.S.?

3 minutes ago, Katia said:

This has got to be a troll post... or as Psimbo said... really?  "Wah wah I can't find my Western food chains here, wah wah massages are expensive even though they're still a bare fraction of what they'd cost in the West, wah wah I have to do my own laundry like a grown-ass adult, wah wah people don't bend over backward to kiss my ass." 

 

Why did you even leave the U.S.?

 

expensive even though they're still a bare fraction of what they'd cost in the West

 

Not really anymore , 400 baht = £10

I could get a 1 hour massage in the UK for £30.

 

Anywhere even without comparing I would not want to spend £30 on a massage in the UK, And I would think twice about getting a massage here in thailand regularly (once a week) if its going to cost £10....

 

I am just comparing Phuket to other places in Thailand and asking what privilege does Phuket have to charge extra?

 

Phuket Dairy Queen in central festival in Phuket town charges 45 baht for a medium kit kat

Dairy Queen in Terminal 21 in Asok charges 40 baht

 

I would hazard a guess that dairy queen in terminal 21 pays higher rent. 

 

So why on earth does everything in phuket have to be 10-50% high price. It makes no sense......

 

 

 

 

 

Why is anywhere more expensive than somewhere else?  Why is rent so expensive in this town I live in in the U.S.?  It is what it is.  It sucks, especially if you have no choice about living there, but you either live with it or live somewhere else.

 

(Oh, and £10 is still a fraction of £30-- just maybe a bigger fraction than you'd like.  Though I've never seen a massage so cheap in the U.S.  I might get half an hour for that price, 45 minutes, *maybe*, if there's a special on... )

1 hour ago, hydraides said:

 

Phuket Dairy Queen in central festival in Phuket town charges 45 baht for a medium kit kat

Dairy Queen in Terminal 21 in Asok charges 40 baht

 

I would hazard a guess that dairy queen in terminal 21 pays higher rent. 

 

So why on earth does everything in phuket have to be 10-50% high price. It makes no sense......

 

 

 

 

 

3

 

And how would you guess the stuff gets from BKK to Phuket assuming BKK is the main hub of Thai goods. Do they send pigeon carriers over so it doesn't cost anything to ship it to Phuket and no human labour/transport costs involved? Phuket isn't exactly easily accessible which would explain why food which isn't seafood is generally more expensive as they include the extra cost to get it to the island. 

 

It's a tourist trap place, you don't have much choice there, so prices can be raised and people don't have other options than to buy it or live without. Last time I stayed was in 2013 at the Merlin beach resort the one out of the town on its own private sort of resort. Anyway outside you have all the tuk tuk and taxi mafia who have locked prices and it was like 400 baht just to go 2km into town or something stupid which would cost 50 baht in a metered taxi and you can't call a taxi out to get you they won't come and even when a fair taxi is dropping off someone he won't take a customer because it's all controlled and the other guys will stop him.

 

Sometimes in life, you have to accept things for what it is and this is one of those things. I know you said you had to move for work, but I would suggest looking for another job in an area which fills your needs or ask for a transfer back to a cheaper area. Surely you must have gone to Phuket before and known what it was like and that it wasn't going to be like Bangkok and have 7-11s 1 minute walking apart etc. Most people would visit a place first before moving permanently 

 

If it makes you feel better I live in Singapore and it's expensive as hell and my rent is probably 4 or 5 times what you rent in Phuket is, I don't bad mouth it because I understand it's just how life is and everyone knows Singapore is expensive, just like you should've known Phuket is a tourist trap place so it's not going to be fixed prices across Thailand.

Been to phuket over the years. Been to Pattaya 50 times but usually jomtien because it is close to bangkok where I have my condo so it's a nice one month break

I don't know what phuket has that Pattaya has at a fraction of the cost.

Sure the beaches are much nicer but I go to koh larn where the beaches are much nicer than phuket

Cheap travel with 10 baht bus, resteraunts bars much cheaper and if your pecker still works there is an endless supply of beer bars and go go's and if your on a small budget there is coconuts bar

So what really is the attraction of phuket for expats?

Is this a troll thread?