Phuket: "Graveyard Patong" - where even the 7-Eleven is shut

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Thai media Daily News started the week in pessimistic style by reporting that it is nearly a year since people first heard the terms coronavirus or Covid-19.

 

Now places like Phuket and Samui and most of the tourist businesses in them are deathly quiet.

 

Places where even the 7-Elevens have shut because there is not enough trade. 

 

They used as their inspiration a Facebook post from a tourist called Siriwan Ruksat who said that the Patong area in Phuket was a "graveyard".

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Apparently they had been invited for a massage because the business had no customers and when they arrived they appreciated that the rumors about the convenience store were true.

 

Other pictures included deserted streets and a bolted pharmacy.

 

A bank of ATMs had no people at them. 

 

The pandemic had seen to that. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

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One less 7-11 is not major news. However, I understand the spirit of the story. Sad days head, not yet finished with this covid thing.

I went to Patong for the first time a few weeks ago and have to say the photo does not exaggerate. The Hotel we stopped at was very well priced and room was excellent. We only walked down to the beach where we saw three other people, O K it was raining a little but to walk past endless closed shops and restaurants was quite depressing. For dinner we went to one of the two open restaurants, service was excellent, the staff outnumbered the diners by about three to one, two tables occupied out of maybe thirty. This is going to take some getting over, my town , Ao nang, is the same, a few Hotels have reopened but their profits are minimal if any, good luck to the Thai workers, they need it.

Same sort of thread on the Samui, Pattaya and Chiang Mai subforums.

However it's only to be expected when apparently no tourists are coming and only local Thai tourists. Can't expect long stay expats to be picking up the slack.

I'd like to see some threads about Thai communities to see if they are having the same problems. I can't see Lamphun being a "ghost" town as hardly any farangs lived there and I never saw farang tourists.

I'd expect life to be much as it was before corona.

I was at Patong a few days ago, the Family Mart was open. 

Bangla walking street is open, family mart is open and a few bars are open.  Same same everywhere ... not just Thailand. 

Not to worry. General Prayut will fix it all on Monday in Phuket and Tuesday in Samui. He will have all his lucky necklaces on.

17 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Same sort of thread on the Samui, Pattaya and Chiang Mai subforums.

However it's only to be expected when apparently no tourists are coming and only local Thai tourists. Can't expect long stay expats to be picking up the slack.

I'd like to see some threads about Thai communities to see if they are having the same problems. I can't see Lamphun being a "ghost" town as hardly any farangs lived there and I never saw farang tourists.

I'd expect life to be much as it was before corona.

Phuket town is doing ok, We spent 3 days in Nakorn Si business as usual over there we've also been to Trang, Trang itself was ok but not the beach areas they were dead.

11 minutes ago, KhunKenAP said:

Not to worry. General Prayut will fix it all on Monday in Phuket and Tuesday in Samui. He will have all his lucky necklaces on.

I wonder if he will help out handing food donations to the starving locals?

Where I live I think the 7/11's are just about hanging in there, when I go in none of them are busy, I go in 2 or 3 different ones, upto now 2 family marts have closed shop and stripped all the fitting out.

many business have closed including both 7 eleven and family mart right here at Asok BTS Sukhumvet area.

 

 the other night there were five customers in Billboard GoGo and 37 dancers, 18 of them going around and around on the carousel with not much chance of getting off. pun intended.

 

a little known economic indicator that I use. 

 

 

 

 

Where i live near MaeJo University (12Km from Chiang Mai moat), everywhere is open as normal.

In the evenings all the restaurants are packed with students and young people. 

The shops and high street are busy, lots of traffic on the roads.

The old folk still meet for a drink and a chat on the village green at sunset.

 

If I didn't have to wear a mask to enter the bank/7-11/Tesco I'd not know anything was different.

 

As for Phuket, yeah I'd be up for a holiday there every 2-3 months from Chiang Mai, but the flight prices are prohibitive. AirAsia keeps sending me 990bht special offer internal flights emails, but whenever I look the cheap flights are non-existent.

An ideal time for the governments to do some seriously needed infrastructure improvements/repairs, eg. drainage, road and sidewalk upgrades, bury some of those unsightly cables etc.

 

Help kick the economy in the ar$e by at least providing some employment opportunities.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Where i live near MaeJo University (12Km from Chiang Mai moat), everywhere is open as normal.

In the evenings all the restaurants are packed with students and young people. 

The shops and high street are busy, lots of traffic on the roads.

The old folk still meet for a drink and a chat on the village green at sunset.

You are right but I think they are mainly speaking about tourist destinations (Phuket) .. and Mae Jo is not ???? (university city) . As Chiangmai, many parts are lively (market, etc) , but as soon as you approach tourist places (bars, some pubs, guesthouses, small hotels,etc), business is low ... to very very low.

 

I was in Phuket in July. This can be even scary by evening. Patong, Kata and Karon were same. Rawai was more lively. OK for the beach, for the kids , for hotels prices and driving around. Other than that, choose a place where you can eat, or find a AirBNB near the market ! Sad ...

 

Phil.

49 minutes ago, bdenner said:

An ideal time for the governments to do some seriously needed infrastructure improvements/repairs, eg. drainage, road and sidewalk upgrades, bury some of those unsightly cables etc.

They were fixing Patong beach road end July ... at least a small part .. other than this, investment seems scarce.

Phil.

14 minutes ago, khunphil said:

They were fixing Patong beach road end July ... at least a small part .. other than this, investment seems scarce.

Phil.

They keep saying they will remove all the overhead cables 

I feel so sorry for the tuktuk drivers who charged us 200 baht for a 200 meter ride...????

 

 

2 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

One less 7-11 is not major news. However, I understand the spirit of the story. Sad days head, not yet finished with this covid thing.

I wonder if the ATMs are refilled on a regular basis?

2 hours ago, bdenner said:

An ideal time for the governments to do some seriously needed infrastructure improvements/repairs, eg. drainage, road and sidewalk upgrades, bury some of those unsightly cables etc.

 

Help kick the economy in the ar$e by at least providing some employment opportunities.

I drove down the beach road yesterday, first time in a long time. I ve driven on some pretty awful roads in my time but the state of that road is ridiculous. 
 

Has anyone ever seen roads where manhole/drain covers have been correctly set in Thailand?  The covers in Kathu appear to be reset every 18 months or so, and each time no better - a lot of tax payers money getting wasted.

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

I wonder if the ATMs are refilled on a regular basis?

Doubt it.

I know that this thread is about Phuket, but it is the same here on Samui. Many ATM's on Samui being removed.

In HomePro/Tesco Lotus - all ATM's gone.

1 hour ago, Youlike said:

I feel so sorry for the tuktuk drivers who charged us 200 baht for a 200 meter ride...????

 

 

Feel sad you cant walk.

It is sad that places are having to close, and that people are losing their livlihoods...but, I have just arrived in Pattaya for a few days - and it is heaven.  Maybe a bit selfish on my part, but this is what it is right now.

I spent one month in Rawai. It’s nice with no farang but then again farang don’t go there. Family mart open. 7 open   Restaurants open.   

 

Its up to the remaining farang to tip 2-3x more to help the locals

 

i go 4x a year.  Love the place.  Quiet 

4 hours ago, PJPom said:

I went to Patong for the first time a few weeks ago and have to say the photo does not exaggerate. The Hotel we stopped at was very well priced and room was excellent. We only walked down to the beach where we saw three other people, O K it was raining a little but to walk past endless closed shops and restaurants was quite depressing. For dinner we went to one of the two open restaurants, service was excellent, the staff outnumbered the diners by about three to one, two tables occupied out of maybe thirty. This is going to take some getting over, my town , Ao nang, is the same, a few Hotels have reopened but their profits are minimal if any, good luck to the Thai workers, they need it.

Couldn't agree more. Me and "Her Indoors" also went the other week for the first time. "Ghost town" is an understatement. Compared to Patong, Hua Hin is a teeming metropolis! 

2 hours ago, khunphil said:

They were fixing Patong beach road end July ... at least a small part .. other than this, investment seems scarce.

Phil.

Looks like they were making it worse, installing drainage and throwing a bit of tarmac on top.

 

If you think, apart from a couple of excursions, that strip along patong beach is the only thing visiting 2 week tourists see. It’s pretty shocking. There is always a manhole open, the pavement is so smashed to pieces it hurts to walk on, the electrical lines are like jungle creepers. About time something was done, demolish the tiny shops, widen the pavement, bury the power lines, turn it into the world class resort the government claim it to be for the rush of tourists that are queuing up to get in. 

 

5 hours ago, KhunKenAP said:

Not to worry. General Prayut will fix it all on Monday in Phuket and Tuesday in Samui. He will have all his lucky necklaces on.

Is he about to play Tony Stark in some new Thai Avengers movie ? 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Phuket: "Graveyard Patong" - where even the 7-Eleven is shut

 

No....no....no...it has nothing to do with the evil and treasonous 'fake news' reporting economic disaster.

 

When the people in Patong heard the Hero-General was coming....they all took time off from their extremely profitable tourism jobs to go to the temple....where they worshiped and made merit in honor of the divine savior's safe arrival.

 

As everywhere in Thailand...a visit from the Hero-General is a sacred and momentous occasion. One which never fails to cause joy, celebration and an unrestrained outpouring of love and gratitude from the people.

 

 

 

Kata, Karon, Patong etc. are indeed all graveyards. HOWEVER.... Rawai and Nai Harn are simply bursting with life. EVERYTHING is open. In fact, we have new restaurants opening all the time. Over the Loygatong festival 2 days ago, we have thousands and thousands of people. Probably more than previous years. It seems everyone has come to our area. I am sure the northern cities will start coming alive over the next 2 years, but now everything is popping in our area NOW. Come to our daily markets, have a coffee, come for lunch or dinner and enjoy the experience. You wont feel COVID here at all except for when the 7/11 staff remind you to put on your mask. Visit Wilsons for breakfast or maybe Coffee tribe, Wecafe for great salads,  Super burger at Cheers,  Incredible burgers at  the Green tamarin Live music at Coconut, Healthy food at Pure energy, and many many many more. We have hundreds of Thai food shops everywhere, still serving noodle soups at 50baht. A hop skip and a jump to Makro and Villa market both in Chalong. Hope to see you soon in Rawai. If you need an info call us anytime. <contact details removed> 

1 hour ago, Makoshark said:

I spent one month in Rawai. It’s nice with no farang but then again farang don’t go there. 

 

Many Farang do live in Rawai/Nai Harn area where do you get that from? 

i spend 4 months a year there...i seldom see any farang except at Villa Market