Patong - The Wake

[Sharp]

Safari..
Many many an interesting sunrise was had [emoji106]

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[billythehat]

10 hours ago, xylophone said:

Hab snip:

PS. Did I mention that I will never be going back to the UK ever again as it holds absolutely nothing for me now and I do anticipate spending the rest of my natural life here or nearby, with perhaps the occasional trip to countries closer to here .......Phuket is cheaper, better weather, more lively and vibrant and full of smiling young and attractive women, rather than glum fat-arsed farang females.

Sir, I say you do protest too mutt; value for money I'd say, boobs on both sides ????

[xylophone]

15 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

I like to jump right in and see what happens...I will start at the Tiger Disco area and see where my hormones lead me.

How long since you last visited Patong Mr Holmes?

[Lashay]

On 6/19/2019 at 6:38 PM, xylophone said:

I noticed the motorbike car park under Jungceylon is very sparsely populated indeed, no doubt because of the charges being applied, but seriously, 20 baht for an hour or two is not going to break anyone's bank.

Not a tourists or once a week drinkers bank but vast bulk of bikes parked around Bangla are staff and girls who are here 7-10 hours and 20 per hour or two will definitely break their banks. Soi Sansabai is also going to start charging 20b an hour, so thats 160 per night, for bar staff thats half their daily wage.

 

As to Bangla, would not rush down, at the moment its just rows of empty bars with an indian treadmill down the middle.

 

Except for the 3 days when US navy were here last 6 week have been quietest i have seen it ever. Even the two mainstays, New York and Kangaroo are suffering.

 

If this keeps up (and think it will as main culprit is the baht and that's showing no signs of changing) can see a lot of bars closing this year and bangla actually shrinking (as in no new tennants) next low season unless rents come way down, like 50% down.

 

Only bars doing consistantly semi well are the two newish ones with 20 plus agency dancing girls, only because they are mainly getting Korean and Japanese customers as they don't seem to care that the girls don't really barfine. But who knows how much they are really making with what they have to pay the girls.

[JHolmesJr]

11 hours ago, xylophone said:

How long since you last visited Patong Mr Holmes?

 

as you can tell, a long time.

dont tell me its shuttered for good.

[xylophone]

5 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

as you can tell, a long time.

dont tell me its shuttered for good.

5555.....no, it's not shuttered for good, but reading Lashay's post above, it seems to be heading that way and a couple of other people I've spoken to since I've been back have said that it's the quietest they have ever seen the place!

 

In case you didn't know, the old Tiger disco which was a favourite haunt of mine and many more has been gone for a long time, as have the bars that were underneath it, only to have been replaced by a whole bunch of new bars which were sparsely populated and of which only about two remain.

 

The "new Tiger" which was opened opposite that, with much fanfare and loads of bars is also struggling with the front few bars being okay with regard to patronage, but the further in you go, the fewer customers you will see, and indeed quite a few of the bars have shut down.

 

There is a disco above it, but I've no idea what it's like, however I still believe Hollywood pulls in some of the good-looking girls and of course there's the old favourite of Taipan which according to a few folks I know, still has a good smattering of girls, although not the classy ones, and is open until late.

 

Good hunting Mr Holmes and look forward to reading the feedback

[xylophone]

6 hours ago, Lashay said:

Soi Sansabai is also going to start charging 20b an hour, so thats 160 per night, for bar staff thats half their daily wage.

There always was a 20 baht parking fee in Soi Sansabai, however are you now saying that it is going to be 20 baht per hour??? 

 

And if that is the case, how are they going to police it because people who park their bikes there have no idea how long they're going to be in Bangla and its surrounds, and will the wardens hang around until 6 AM in the morning to collect the fees?

 

Surely that has to be just a rumour, however I could well see them putting the parking fee up to something like 50 baht or so for the whole evening.

[schlog]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

There always was a 20 baht parking fee in Soi Sansabai, however are you now saying that it is going to be 20 baht per hour??? 

 

And if that is the case, how are they going to police it because people who park their bikes there have no idea how long they're going to be in Bangla and its surrounds, and will the wardens hang around until 6 AM in the morning to collect the fees?

 

Surely that has to be just a rumour, however I could well see them putting the parking fee up to something like 50 baht or so for the whole evening.

Yup 20 baht per hour starting next month. You didn't saw the cashier boxes? Will run it like a regular parking with card and cashier.

 

JC first 30 min is free. Spend 300 baht for 2 h free parking or 500 baht for 3 h. Never mind car or motorbike. So it's like free parking for me.

 

Btw free parking on beach is still there. A little bit walk isn't that bad for most bar girls nowadays with their belly.

[Patong2]

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

There always was a 20 baht parking fee in Soi Sansabai, however are you now saying that it is going to be 20 baht per hour??? 

 

And if that is the case, how are they going to police it because people who park their bikes there have no idea how long they're going to be in Bangla and its surrounds, and will the wardens hang around until 6 AM in the morning to collect the fees?

 

Surely that has to be just a rumour, however I could well see them putting the parking fee up to something like 50 baht or so for the whole evening.

In Soi Sansabai the 20 baht an hour fee is in place now and several uniformed collectors/parkers to collect it.

The street is empty of bikes compared to normal.

 

Traffic up and down is really quiet, actually quite nice but still not safe as nothing is done to stop the idiot speedsters.

 

I liked the chaos of the old system with the bikes jammed in and the skill of the parking guys swinging those bikes on their stands (love to see them do that with my 500kg Harley). They could make spaces for bikes out of thin air.

 

I bet that the new system disappears and back to last years system by Xmas.

 

 

[xylophone]

4 hours ago, schlog said:

Yup 20 baht per hour starting next month. You didn't saw the cashier boxes? Will run it like a regular parking with card and cashier.

 

JC first 30 min is free. Spend 300 baht for 2 h free parking or 500 baht for 3 h. Never mind car or motorbike. So it's like free parking for me.

 

Btw free parking on beach is still there. A little bit walk isn't that bad for most bar girls nowadays with their belly.

Haven''t been down there for a while schlog and certainly not since I've been back here, so in for a surprise by the looks of things.

 

And as Lashay has said, it is going to put a strain on the bank balances of the girls who work there!! 

 

In an effort to boost the flagging income here such things are being put in place without thought of the effect on the girls/staff...........employers may have to increase the wages to cover this and the increase always eventually flows through to affect the customers with higher prices.

 

Nails, coffin and hammer come to mind.

[billythehat]

21 hours ago, schlog said:

Hab snip:

A little bit walk isn't that bad for most bar girls nowadays with their belly.

Aye, expect the price of wife-beater tee shirts to soar over the next few months, especially xxx-large. 

[xylophone]

Decided upon a visit to Bangla, to eat at my favourite Italian restaurant, and to sample the vibrancy of the place, and was quite expecting to see a fairly empty road with fairly empty bars, and that was certainly evident as I went down Nanai road, with only three people in Don's BBQ, only 10 people in Da Moreno restaurant and three other bars with nobody in them at all!!

 

So I was quite surprised at what I saw in Bangla, because the road itself was busy and remained so all night however the patronage in the bars was patchy, ranging from a very busy Monsoon and New York, to a sparsely populated (20 perhaps?) Red Hot, which can easily accommodate 10 times more people.

 

Strange that this bar with probably one of the best bands in it, was the emptiest – – maybe they should have a look at their drinks pricing because it is expensive and perhaps that is putting people off?? Perhaps run a sort of promotion for a month or so to see if a reduction on drink prices brings in more punters?

 

My Italian restaurant was home to about 14 diners, whereas the Italian restaurant opposite was completely empty and one restaurant up the road a little had about three diners in it, whereas the one opposite was about 25% full.

 

I went for a walk about and did notice that Soi Sea Dragon was busier than usual, or busier than it has been of late, and considering it is the low season, I don't think bars could have been too disappointed with that.

 

It was an evening of contrasts because some bars were quite full, for example both of the Kangaroo bars, whereas other old favourites such as Blue Lotus had a couple of solitary drinkers only. And a friend said that one establishment down a little frequented old soi was haemorrhaging money big time.

 

I may be wrong, but it would seem that some bars under new Tiger are now operating again, whereas the last time I looked there were quite a few empty ones, and I can't reconcile this with my past experience, unless the owner of the complex has decided to rent out bars on a monthly basis with no key money payable, which could make it a seemingly viable proposition for someone wishing to take a chance?

 

Headed home about 1 AM and up Soi Sansabai with its newly installed barrier gates and they seemed to be working because there was room to move in it and the precariously parked motorbikes were few and far between.

 

So, first trip to Bangla for a while and not as bad as I had been led to believe, but there again maybe I caught it on an exceptional night – – time will tell.

Edited June 22, 2019 by xylophone

[Lashay]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:52 AM, xylophone said:

In an effort to boost the flagging income here such things are being put in place without thought of the effect on the girls/staff.

Actually that one has nothing to do with flagging incomes but rather a long ongoing legal fight between the guy who owns physical street (its private land) and owners of businesses (many who actually own their land) along it. Think it started with the kebab shop on corner, which resulted in him trying to wall them off from the street and expanded from there. 

 

Though latest news hearing is he lost latest legal fight and been told to stop the charging, so in retaliation he has made it completely one way (2nd road to 3rd road direction) which is having a heavy impact because if people have to go down 2nd road (many like to avoid it due to near permanent police checkpoint down the road) they might as well park behind Taipan

 

Actually this seems to be growing issue in Phuket, privately owned streets and their owners attempting to screw over people who live/have businesses along them. Heard of at least 4 different such fights in last few months. Seems there are no clear right of access laws here

 

On 6/22/2019 at 12:50 PM, xylophone said:

 

 

So, first trip to Bangla for a while and not as bad as I had been led to believe, but there again maybe I caught it on an exceptional night – – time will tell.

 

If was last Friday, yeah was an exception, generally Fridays are busiest night of week at the moment,  also lot of people from SG seem to be coming on weekends again , plus 250 odd US navy in town for weekend 

[sunnyboy2018]

On 6/25/2017 at 6:56 PM, Destiny1990 said:

Yes there are still trees standing now but they can be cut off and give more priority to tuktuk parking and an extra lane so big touring busses can drive full speed along the shore.its be done in other coastal cities so why not Patong?

There ate NO tuks tuks in Pattaya. There is no parking of any vehicles on the beach side of the road.

[xylophone]

I ventured out on Friday evening, only the second time since I've been back from Blighty and there are many things changing, however I have tried to deliver some sort of précis on these........

 

Bangla Road: 

Actually busy for this time of the year and this was surprising, although the bar patronage was still a little patchy, it was better than my previous visit, but what really matters is the spend of course, and feedback from many business folk is that it is still low.

 

Quite a few more Chinese around than in the recent months, and I wonder if there is some sort of special deal on cheap flights because this has also become evident in Big C, although I doubt that the spend with these people will be up, as their shopping trolleys are full of cheap crap and, this especially as I witnessed three of them trying to buy some trinkets from a friends shop in "This is Siam", and although she gave them some pretty good discounts on these trinkets, they still wanted more and more and were very persistent, but in the end she stuck to her guns and they spent a grand total of 1800 baht.

 

Soi Sansabai:

Putting up the barrier arms and charging has certainly reduced the number of motorbikes parked in the place, however I have it on good authority from another friend that there is a court order demanding that these barriers and the small booths that operate in front of establishments (illegally) be removed.

 

Another surprise was that there are now four Indian (or similar) restaurants side-by-side in the road, with one of them looking a bit like hospital operating theatre as it was all white inside, with white tables and white chairs and didn't look inviting at all, especially as it was rather large as well. Quite why anybody would open four restaurants of the same food side-by-side is a mystery to me.

 

Nanai Road: 

More changes afoot in this place and cannot for the life of me see why, apart from people running out of money or people having too much and not a lot of business sense?

 

The bar which was Nanai Sports bar, then Amigos, then Burger Me has undergone yet another transformation and is now........a bar again, and now has a bar at which to sit and lean upon, as well as a pool table, although neither of these have been in use in the few times that I have been past at different hours of the day!

 

La Siciliamo has now gone and renovation has made it in to a ???? Not sure yet although it is looking a little like a restaurant, but as it's not completed, difficult to tell at this stage.

 

Chic Boutique Hotel now appears to be completely empty and whether it has been sold or not also remains a mystery because it was up for sale, but according to a real estate agent friend of mine, the man was asking far too much for it.

 

The Green Mango is also shuttered, which is surprising because it was both hotel/guesthouse and restaurant, but maybe it's just for the low season as they haven't had any bookings, which can often happen here. Still sad though.

 

Dons Tattoo has closed and the little building housing it has been knocked down so what will go up in its place is also a mystery (lots of mysteries here!) And of course this sits almost opposite what was once Dons Pool Bar, but which has had a jackhammer take to it, and looks very sad and small because it is nothing more than a small bar and a pile of rubble at the moment.

 

Le Deli Snack place is now barricaded/closed and it looks as though the counter inside of it has been knocked down, so obviously not open for business.

 

The small roller blind bar which opened near me, then was up for sale and has now been re-leased again by the looks of things, hasn't been doing tremendously well and not surprising because although the place is tiny, the owner has decided to put a pool table in it which limits the total space for customers to accommodate about six in all – – hardly a recipe for a good monthly profit. 

 

And something I mentioned a while back on here seems to have come to fruition.........some supposedly high-quality condos/apartments in Kamala which were sold off the plan starting as far back as three years ago have never been built (I was told by a real estate agent friend that they never would be) and buyers/investors are hoping to get their money back!

 

They can only hope that the situation doesn't turn out the same as it did for the investors in the ACE condos who still don't appear to have had their money returned although the BIB know the developers?

 

Never a dull moment in Patong............

Edited July 1, 2019 by xylophone

[xylophone]

Patong Central: 

I had eaten a lasagne from there once before and it was okay, so decided to chance my arm yesterday as I couldn't be bothered cooking, and went along to see what was on offer.

 

I will say that what is on offer looked very appetising, but that's just about where it ends! I bought the German goulash along with some roast potatoes and vegetables and hurried on home with them.

 

I will cut a long story short here and say that the food was awful, bordering on disgusting.......there was a piece of gristle hiding in the goulash serving which was almost the size of the palm of my hand and was totally inedible, and the roast potatoes had dried out over such a long time that they had become very chewy, and those along with the leather-like roasted eggplant meant that quite a bit of this food went down the toilet.

 

I don't think I've ever had food this awful, even from my days of working in Nigeria after the Biafran war and that is saying something.

 

If that continues, then I cannot see much in the way of return business as no one would want to come back to that crap unless they were masochists. 

[Destiny1990]

On 6/22/2019 at 7:50 AM, xylophone said:

Decided upon a visit to Bangla, to eat at my favourite Italian restaurant, and to sample the vibrancy of the place, and was quite expecting to see a fairly empty road with fairly empty bars, and that was certainly evident as I went down Nanai road, with only three people in Don's BBQ, only 10 people in Da Moreno restaurant and three other bars with nobody in them at all!!

 

So I was quite surprised at what I saw in Bangla, because the road itself was busy and remained so all night however the patronage in the bars was patchy, ranging from a very busy Monsoon and New York, to a sparsely populated (20 perhaps?) Red Hot, which can easily accommodate 10 times more people.

 

Strange that this bar with probably one of the best bands in it, was the emptiest – – maybe they should have a look at their drinks pricing because it is expensive and perhaps that is putting people off?? Perhaps run a sort of promotion for a month or so to see if a reduction on drink prices brings in more punters?

 

My Italian restaurant was home to about 14 diners, whereas the Italian restaurant opposite was completely empty and one restaurant up the road a little had about three diners in it, whereas the one opposite was about 25% full.

 

I went for a walk about and did notice that Soi Sea Dragon was busier than usual, or busier than it has been of late, and considering it is the low season, I don't think bars could have been too disappointed with that.

 

It was an evening of contrasts because some bars were quite full, for example both of the Kangaroo bars, whereas other old favourites such as Blue Lotus had a couple of solitary drinkers only. And a friend said that one establishment down a little frequented old soi was haemorrhaging money big time.

 

I may be wrong, but it would seem that some bars under new Tiger are now operating again, whereas the last time I looked there were quite a few empty ones, and I can't reconcile this with my past experience, unless the owner of the complex has decided to rent out bars on a monthly basis with no key money payable, which could make it a seemingly viable proposition for someone wishing to take a chance?

 

Headed home about 1 AM and up Soi Sansabai with its newly installed barrier gates and they seemed to be working because there was room to move in it and the precariously parked motorbikes were few and far between.

 

So, first trip to Bangla for a while and not as bad as I had been led to believe, but there again maybe I caught it on an exceptional night – – time will tell.

In what time frame should we start to invest our money into owning Patong bars and restaurants ?

weeks months years or decades from now?

[Olmate]

3 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

In what time frame should we start to invest our money into owning Patong bars and restaurants ?

weeks months years or decades from now?

You would first have to visit!

[xylophone]

13 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

In what time frame should we start to invest our money into owning Patong bars and restaurants ?

weeks months years or decades from now?

In many, years gone by Destiny1990, when good money could be made..........don't think we will see those years again; time and people have moved on whilst Patong has stagnated/gone backwards along with over-construction, poor infrastructure, and corruption.

 

Time to invest in the next "would-be" paradise!

[schlog]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Patong Central: 

I had eaten a lasagne from there once before and it was okay, so decided to chance my arm yesterday as I couldn't be bothered cooking, and went along to see what was on offer.

 

I will say that what is on offer looked very appetising, but that's just about where it ends! I bought the German goulash along with some roast potatoes and vegetables and hurried on home with them.

 

I will cut a long story short here and say that the food was awful, bordering on disgusting.......there was a piece of gristle hiding in the goulash serving which was almost the size of the palm of my hand and was totally inedible, and the roast potatoes had dried out over such a long time that they had become very chewy, and those along with the leather-like roasted eggplant meant that quite a bit of this food went down the toilet.

 

I don't think I've ever had food this awful, even from my days of working in Nigeria after the Biafran war and that is saying something.

 

If that continues, then I cannot see much in the way of return business as no one would want to come back to that crap unless they were masochists. 

Xylo we had a old saying in Austria. Only order a Goulasch when you sure what's it made of.

 

I guess you had really bad luck this time. Usually the food is fresh in the morning and good for lunch.

Tried many dishes there and it was always good. But never in evening and never Goulasch. Best are the hams and pork with Sangsom sauce.

[xylophone]

44 minutes ago, schlog said:

Xylo we had a old saying in Austria. Only order a Goulasch when you sure what's it made of.

 

I guess you had really bad luck this time. Usually the food is fresh in the morning and good for lunch.

Tried many dishes there and it was always good. But never in evening and never Goulasch. Best are the hams and pork with Sangsom sauce.

Thanks for the info schlog, and I did ask what it was made from and they said pork and beef, but I think I had a hoof in mine!!!!

 

Will stick to my home cooking from here on in I think!!!

[xylophone]

On 7/1/2019 at 6:37 PM, Destiny1990 said:

In what time frame should we start to invest our money into owning Patong bars and restaurants ?

weeks months years or decades from now?

The words of a couple of songs come to mind:-

– "And another one bites the dust"

– "And the beat goes on".

 

Both of these will address your question in one way or another because I have seen just over the past 10 days or so, quite a few places shut up shop, and one particular snack bar that was bought (leased) and due to open has now turned into a motorcycle repair shop, so whomsoever invested their cash in the place, has lucked out.

 

A small Thai restaurant in Nanai Road has had the shutters pulled down on it and whether it's just for the low season or not, remains to be seen. And just up north a few metres of it, a small guesthouse has closed, this along with another one which had a nice restaurant underneath it, and again, whether it's just for the low season or because this past year (or two) has been particularly hard on small businesses, only time will tell.

 

Another small bar at the south end of Nanai Road seems to have finally thrown in the towel after having very few to no customers for quite a few months.....and this goes on and on.

 

And it is not only in the small sois where this is happening as it seems to be fairly endemic now with small businesses closing just about everywhere, although spread out enough for them not to be noticed by anyone who doesn't live here.

 

Bar owner friends have told me that this is the worst they have known it, and one particular friend who has had a popular bar here in one form or another for around 15 years says the same. In fact three bar owners I know have, or are looking at, going overseas to earn some money to be able to plough back into their business, but I'm not sure that it's a good move given the state of the place now, as it could be throwing good money after bad?

 

Now as for the words from the second song, "And the beat goes on".......well there obviously seem to be some people who think they can make it here and one stylish eatery which opened in a not too stylish soi a few months back is giving it a good go, but I don't see the custom required to make it flourish.

 

A bar which has had four reincarnations (due to not making a profit) is now open again and sporting very large Australian and New Zealand flags on the entrance to the bar, and from the many times that I have driven past, the flags outnumber the punters!

 

The recently opened "Long Time Bar" usually has more bar girls in it than it does customers, so someone needs to re-think that winning formula?? And the small roller blind bar just down the road from me is in exactly the same situation, this after recently being re-leased.

 

Someone else is investing here, as the little shop/bar right opposite the junction of Soi Banzaan and Soi Nanai, whose last incarnation was something like a breakfast bar, is seeing some activity with some sort of internal rebuild underway, although it is extremely small, has no parking or access to anything other than the road which is directly in front of it, and is almost inaccessible during times of busy traffic..........not exactly the best spot in the world.

 

And just up from that in what was the restaurant Siciliamo, someone has invested in another cafe/bar which goes by the name of "5 5 5".

 

So there is investment here, but from what I've seen, I don't think there will be much of a "return" on that investment.

 

Last word on the situation whereby farangs go back home to try and earn some money to prop up their flagging finances. Personally I can't see it working because ploughing money back into the very business in which they've invested their hard earned money in in the first place, and which has now run out of it, hardly looks likely to change, or at least change in a way that they can do something about – – so that money, unless things change quite markedly, will also disappear and that leaves these small business owners in a quandary because they have to have money to live here and if the business goes tits up, what is left for them, this especially if they have a family to support and have to get the necessary funds in order to get a retirement extension.

 

For poor folks like this, the future doesn't look too rosy unless fortunes turn around for them and more importantly for Patong.

[Destiny1990]

33 minutes ago, xylophone said:

The words of a couple of songs come to mind:-

– "And another one bites the dust"

– "And the beat goes on".

 

Both of these will address your question in one way or another because I have seen just over the past 10 days or so, quite a few places shut up shop, and one particular snack bar that was bought (leased) and due to open has now turned into a motorcycle repair shop, so whomsoever invested their cash in the place, has lucked out.

 

A small Thai restaurant in Nanai Road has had the shutters pulled down on it and whether it's just for the low season or not, remains to be seen. And just up north a few metres of it, a small guesthouse has closed, this along with another one which had a nice restaurant underneath it, and again, whether it's just for the low season or because this past year (or two) has been particularly hard on small businesses, only time will tell.

 

Another small bar at the south end of Nanai Road seems to have finally thrown in the towel after having very few to no customers for quite a few months.....and this goes on and on.

 

And it is not only in the small sois where this is happening as it seems to be fairly endemic now with small businesses closing just about everywhere, although spread out enough for them not to be noticed by anyone who doesn't live here.

 

Bar owner friends have told me that this is the worst they have known it, and one particular friend who has had a popular bar here in one form or another for around 15 years says the same. In fact three bar owners I know have, or are looking at, going overseas to earn some money to be able to plough back into their business, but I'm not sure that it's a good move given the state of the place now, as it could be throwing good money after bad?

 

Now as for the words from the second song, "And the beat goes on".......well there obviously seem to be some people who think they can make it here and one stylish eatery which opened in a not too stylish soi a few months back is giving it a good go, but I don't see the custom required to make it flourish.

 

A bar which has had four reincarnations (due to not making a profit) is now open again and sporting very large Australian and New Zealand flags on the entrance to the bar, and from the many times that I have driven past, the flags outnumber the punters!

 

The recently opened "Long Time Bar" usually has more bar girls in it than it does customers, so someone needs to re-think that winning formula?? And the small roller blind bar just down the road from me is in exactly the same situation, this after recently being re-leased.

 

Someone else is investing here, as the little shop/bar right opposite the junction of Soi Banzaan and Soi Nanai, whose last incarnation was something like a breakfast bar, is seeing some activity with some sort of internal rebuild underway, although it is extremely small, has no parking or access to anything other than the road which is directly in front of it, and is almost inaccessible during times of busy traffic..........not exactly the best spot in the world.

 

And just up from that in what was the restaurant Siciliamo, someone has invested in another cafe/bar which goes by the name of "5 5 5".

 

So there is investment here, but from what I've seen, I don't think there will be much of a "return" on that investment.

 

Last word on the situation whereby farangs go back home to try and earn some money to prop up their flagging finances. Personally I can't see it working because ploughing money back into the very business in which they've invested their hard earned money in in the first place, and which has now run out of it, hardly looks likely to change, or at least change in a way that they can do something about – – so that money, unless things change quite markedly, will also disappear and that leaves these small business owners in a quandary because they have to have money to live here and if the business goes tits up, what is left for them, this especially if they have a family to support and have to get the necessary funds in order to get a retirement extension.

 

For poor folks like this, the future doesn't look too rosy unless fortunes turn around for them and more importantly for Patong.

But where is @JSixpack saying most shops in tourist areas  are booming and profitable?

and that we are only poor farang free aircon seekers?????????????????

[LivinginKata]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

<snip>

For poor folks like this, the future doesn't look too rosy unless fortunes turn around for them and more importantly for Patong.

 

Could not agree more. While we had a full high season it has really fallen off dramatically. Glad we have other sources of revenue and own our buildings.  I see a very dramatic water shortage for next 'so called' high season. 

[ChasingTheSun]

On 7/1/2019 at 5:48 PM, xylophone said:

Patong Central: 

I had eaten a lasagne from there once before and it was okay, so decided to chance my arm yesterday as I couldn't be bothered cooking, and went along to see what was on offer.

 

I will say that what is on offer looked very appetising, but that's just about where it ends! I bought the German goulash along with some roast potatoes and vegetables and hurried on home with them.

 

I will cut a long story short here and say that the food was awful, bordering on disgusting.......there was a piece of gristle hiding in the goulash serving which was almost the size of the palm of my hand and was totally inedible, and the roast potatoes had dried out over such a long time that they had become very chewy, and those along with the leather-like roasted eggplant meant that quite a bit of this food went down the toilet.

 

I don't think I've ever had food this awful, even from my days of working in Nigeria after the Biafran war and that is saying something.

 

If that continues, then I cannot see much in the way of return business as no one would want to come back to that crap unless they were masochists. 

Correct me if i’m wrong, but i think the prices were significantly increased(+30%?) on most of the items since they first opened.

 

I have tried eating there twice for dinner when i was looking for some “fast” farang food. Each time i was disappointed, as it tasted like the items had been sitting out there on display all day and drying-out while waiting to be sold.

[ChasingTheSun]

As a retiree resident, i’m especially loving Phuket now!

 

Less crowds on the beaches and streets, super-cheap flights, lots of great promotions on f&b, and amazing deals on hotel rooms island-wide. 

 

Great time to consider treating yourself to a “staycation” in a 5 star hotel in another phuket town if you are a phuket resident.

[xylophone]

6 minutes ago, ChasingTheSun said:

Correct me if i’m wrong, but i think the prices were significantly increased(+30%?) on most of the items since they first opened.

 

I have tried eating there twice for dinner when i was looking for some “fast” farang food. Each time i was disappointed, as it tasted like the items had been sitting out there on display all day and drying-out while waiting to be sold.

The price increase has been mentioned before, however I was not aware of that as they seemed the same to me, but agree with you that the food, having sat there for hours, is quite ghastly at evening time.

[Destiny1990]

2 minutes ago, ChasingTheSun said:

As a retiree resident, i’m especially loving Phuket now!

 

Less crowds on the beaches and streets, super-cheap flights, lots of great promotions on f&b, and amazing deals on hotel rooms island-wide. 

 

Great time to consider treating yourself to a “staycation” in a 5 star hotel in another phuket town if you are a phuket resident.

Good point..

And You have the whole  shopping mall for yourself now and easy parking at Patong beach road. 

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, ChasingTheSun said:

As a retiree resident, i’m especially loving Phuket now!

 

Less crowds on the beaches and streets, super-cheap flights, lots of great promotions on f&b, and amazing deals on hotel rooms island-wide. 

 

Great time to consider treating yourself to a “staycation” in a 5 star hotel in another phuket town if you are a phuket resident.

Yes I like the low season here with fewer tourists about...........but thinking about the potential influx of cheap Indians means that the queue of the cheap, loud, ignorant, spit/crap anywhere Chinese at the likes of No.6 (as have witnessed over the past few days, and forever) could well be supplemented by queues of cheap, smelly, four-to-a-beer Indians.

 

Not something to look forward to for what was touted as the "Jewell of the Andaman".

[billythehat]

On 7/12/2019 at 1:13 PM, xylophone said:

Hab snip:

Last word on the situation whereby farangs go back home to try and earn some money to prop up their flagging finances. Personally I can't see it working because ploughing money back into the very business in which they've invested their hard earned money in in the first place, and which has now run out of it, hardly looks likely to change, or at least change in a way that they can do something about – – so that money, unless things change quite markedly, will also disappear and that leaves these small business owners in a quandary because they have to have money to live here and if the business goes tits up, what is left for them, this especially if they have a family to support and have to get the necessary funds in order to get a retirement extension.

 

For poor folks like this, the future doesn't look too rosy unless fortunes turn around for them and more importantly for Patong.

At the same time, one has to accept you can’t fix dumb in such circumstances. Unlike yourself, Pops, Dutch and a few others incumbent there, these folk have had little or no real idea of how to run a business anywhere, let alone in Lalaland and it’s not all down to falling arrivals; over-supply may seem a major factor to name but a few. I agree with you about some going home to support the failed/failing businesses in Lalaland – indeed a poor business model.