Nightspots Reopen Hours After Warning

TSUNAMI alert AFTERMATH / NIGHT LIFE

Nightspots reopen hours after warning

PHUKET: -- Nightspots on Bang La road, the entertainment strip behind tsunami-ravaged Patong beach, reopened less than 24 hours after Monday's tsunami warning sent customers fleeing.

Operators feared Monday night's warning and evacuation would scare away tourists, so were in a hurry to reopen before too many drifted away.

Veth Pusophon, owner of a pub in Crocodile street, said beer bars and pubs were bringing in less than half what they made before the Dec 26 tsunami.

The latest warning, the first in three months since the tsunami struck the southern coastline, had spoiled the atmosphere just as businesses were getting back on their feet.

''After the warning came out, tourists fled to the mountains. The next day they took off, some to other beaches and some to other towns,'' he said.

Business owners were hit hard, and so were their staff, including transvestites and katoeys who work as hostesses and pole dancers, he said.

Staff depend on tips from customers rather than wages. But tips have dropped from several thousand baht a night to just a few hundred.

Some of Mr Veth's staff are saving for sex change operations. The tsunami forced them to put their dreams on hold as the operations are expensive.

''Poor people. They're saving for the operations, but their hopes are crushed,'' said the pub owner who is called Pa (Daddy) Veth by his employees.

A 23-year-old dancer with long hair who wants to be called Suki hates the tsunami for the effect it has had on his income.

On Monday night, he was entertaining customers when the warning sounded. The owner closed the pub and staff took refuge on the nearest mountain.

''My income dropped after the tsunami because the tourists fell away. But I don't know what else to do and I love this job.''

Suki, who is saving for a sex change operation, does not know if it will be good for his career.

But it's his dream to become a woman.

Dam, a 30-year-old who has undergone a sex change, said income from tips was so meagre that his colleagues would probably have to wait a long time before they raised money for the operation themselves.

''On Monday night, I didn't run like the others. I was sound asleep.

''If a tsunami really had struck, I would be in a real bad shape,'' Dam said.

--Bangkok Post 2005-03-31