Phuket Shunned By Travellers

[robint]

Ive never been a beach junky so was never ineterested it phuket or its island (make me clostraphobic) but I never wished the place any bad luck, whatever floats your boat - some people used to rave about the area.

But its sad to hear such a chorus of adverse comments with the common opinion that its a place to avoid

So we still have pattaya - it was a dump 25 years ago when i first came, but had its own magic for us sex starved expats working the ME. Its still a dump, but its my dump and gives excellent value for money and bang for a buck (not so young as i used to be). You have to be streetwise, but many guys specially septics will say that pattaya is a lot safer than their hometown

So once a gutter, always a gutter, shame about the scumbag hooligans but its easy to avoid them.

So carryon pataya, there was never a goose laying golden eggs to spoil, so it doesnt matter too much. Its still a cut price bargain

Where else in the world can you rent a fully kitted room for $8-10, appartment for $3-400/month have a good restaurant meal $6-8,have a beer in a girlie bar $2-3, get laid by miss thailand for $20, buy a condo for $40-60000 near the sea. Follow the ground rules and dont get stupid over a tart and you can have the best time than anywhere else in the world

I challenge anyone to prove otherwise.

[CHdiver]

Phuket is doing well, they do not have a low season anymore, they do have now a summer season. That means Problem solved and all is well.

[salty]

I think I'll continue to give it a miss.

My sentiments also.

[pmgthailand]

To the minority who have tried to make competitive and useful businesses there, my condolences.

To the price gougers who felt they could take advantage of the tourists that came there with impunity, som nam na.

Maybe this is the kick in the head that Phuket needs to reform its business practices. The mentality of "we can treat our customers like crap and overprice everything, because there will always be a new load of suckers" has finally started to bite them on the ass.

I just feel badly for those who tried to run an honest business there, they are suffering the fallout from their greedier neighbors.

The business people that you are talking about are in it for the short term only. Even if you tried to explain this to them, they do not have the ability to understand the subject of this debate. It is beyond their comprehension or they don't really care. Thailand has good laws on their books, much like western societies, but there is a lack of enforcement of these laws. People know this and know that they can do whatever they want, with no fear of impunity. It still is very much a BANANA REPUBLIC type of society.

[cardinalblue]

The pricing is about 4x times more for food, double for accomodations but what pissed me off was the cost of transportation. It is totally controlled by tuk tuks and start at a 100 baht just to move forward...same same with long tail boats!

Kata and Karon beaches are nice but an attitude has developed there...

I say boycott Phuket like Arizona!

CB

[mcatt66]

I mean people are saying that Phuket tourism is dead and then turning around and saying the beaches are overcrowded?. . .

I was at Nai Harn yesterday and there was 1 row of beach chairs. . and they werent being used . .it didnt bother me I walked past them and sat on my towel .. there was literally 20 people on the entire beach. . of course there are going to be massage palors, 7/11s, ladybars, and pharmacies. . supply and demand. . Of course it is nothing like the 80's. . but lets be realistic here. .

Phuket is a tourist destination. . Chewang beach and lamai beach are 10x worse than Nai Harn. .

[traderDM]

Don't forget Nai Yang, a huge stretch of the beach doesn't even have a single row of chairs in high season, Mai Khao is also so undeveloped that I don't like to go there. Nai Harn in high season may have turned into another tourist trap but in low season there are many days when I look back at the beach from my surfboard and can not see one single person on the beach.

I don't like all the shophouses going up everywhere but I wouldn't even consider moving to somewhere else in Thailand. This is the most convienient place on the planet to live, and if you avoid Patong you never have a feeling that people are trying to rip you off.

I feel sorry for all of the tourists who come here thinking Patong is Phuket. I have arranged holidays here for many of my friends which always includes a warning to stay away from Patong, rent a motorbike, and explore the entire island as well as get out and do things like the sea canoe trip in Phang Nga Bay, none of the other islands have anything nearly as beautiful as a day out there. Everyone I know who has visted Phuket this way has absolutely loved it.

[DLock]

Let me first state that I dislike Patong intensely. It is beyond a shithole.

However, visit Bangla Road any night and see the amount of couples and groups walking up and down. The crowds around Soi Katoey and the street bars packed from early on. Fact is, these are things your average person never sees at home. It's different and they overlook the tuk tuk ripoff, the constant touts, the noise and mess because it's part of the experience.

So, for a week or 2, Patong is great fun. Any longer and you start to see the cracks and the touts start to become annoying.

I agree, Patong is not Phuket and there are much better beaches and places to stay....but everyone wanders down to Patong once or twice.

Unless you are a tourist, or into cheap hookers and crappy beer bars, Patong is best avoided.

[alstaxi]

The pricing is about 4x times more for food, double for accomodations but what pissed me off was the cost of transportation. It is totally controlled by tuk tuks and start at a 100 baht just to move forward...same same with long tail boats!

Kata and Karon beaches are nice but an attitude has developed there...

I say boycott Phuket like Arizona!

CB

you missed the price of golf, it is 5x the price elsewhere in thailand, tuk tuk mafia pisses me off as well, the last time i was there, the thief wanted the standard 200 baht to go any where, and 200 more to stop at the 7 11, on the way home. 400 baht for a 2 minute trip, 1 km. and they were all together, no bargaining, stong mafia, pissed off customers, equals pass on phuket for me.

[rfukata]

Phuket has been in need of a reality check for a long time.....

Poor infrastructure, crippling traffic, tuk tuk mafia, crime, rip off prices..... European beaches are much cheaper due to the current exchange rates. As business gets worse, the Thais in their own imaginative wisdom put all the prices up further....

The other problem with Phuket is that there are few genuine Phuket residents, most of the people are workers from other provinces who come to Phuket thinking that the streets are paved with gold (due to gullible Farang).....

I lived in Phuket for 12 years before moving up to Chiang Mai 8 years ago. Phuket was great in the late 80's early 90's but I don't much care for the place now. I haven't been back for 3 years.

You haven't been here for 3 years yet you comment ?

sure, its gotten much more seedy within the past 3 years. There are better beaches elsewhere, Phuket as lost it.

[jonw8uk]

The girlfriend and I stayed in Patong for 5 nights last week. Had a great few days in the sun. I stay in patong as it does have the greatest choice of restaurants and bars, but the days are spent around the island.

Definitely quieter, ideal time to go right now, paid 1600b for a 4000b high season room. Always hire a motorbike anyway, so the tuk tuk idiots don't faze me, I enjoy ignoring them infact.

Too many touts on patong beach, so spent most days on Kata, virtually empty, beautiful clean water, great surf some days, and a 10 min ride out of patong.

I heard that jet ski operators have insurance now? a recently introduced law, so that -should- stop the scams...

I'll visit again, it's not all doom and gloom, infact, a low season visit makes good sense.