Patong - The Wake

[Stargeezr]

Patong!  Oh I thought it was about Patpong.  I guess if both of these

places had a complete make over, that would not be a bad thing.

  Certainly dead for now, and until the tourists from other countries

start coming in big numbers again, like in 2021, well 2022 and 2023

is more likely the start up time for true tourism again.

Geezer

[xylophone]

16 hours ago, Agusts said:

as one closes another one opens, and so it goes on....????

I haven't spotted that one yet, but will keep an eye out for it, and following along the same lines, I noticed that at the top end of Soi Sansabai (East) in the vast and cleared flat space, upon which some "entrepreneur" is trying to convince people to build bars, one has actually been started, however I don't hold out much hope for any others, and even if they do get built, I doubt very much whether that area will take off?

 

So there is always someone out there with a different take on things, however I would put good money on this being another "white elephant" just the same as the previous effort to build a new "Tiger complex" under the boxing arena.

[xylophone]

Sad to see that Banana IT in Jungceylon was closed on Saturday, as was the Samsung shop next to it, and don't know if that was just for the day or if it is a permanent closure (well for the time being anyway!!).

 

The number of small "electrical booths" on the top level of Jungceylon has also declined quite markedly and those that are left must be struggling and I don't see them lasting much longer.

 

And I mentioned before about the vast cleared space at the top of Soi Sansabai, being touted as a location for bars and as of yesterday, there is one solitary skeleton of a bar standing amongst what looks like a bit of a bomb site – – very optimistic, or too much money, or just plain stupid, I have yet to ascertain, and I think I would be on pretty safe ground with the last suggestion, because even before the virus hit, Bangla and its bar surrounds (including OTOP) were struggling.

 

Out and about on Friday night and Bangla was dead, with very few farangs in the bars (perhaps a handful in total) although Bar Funk still had two Russian dancers prancing around on the bar and to be honest, they looked a bit ridiculous, dancing to a very large and pretty well empty, bar.

 

I ventured to Hippie Road bar and sure enough it was open and had a band playing, but there were only five customers in the place and I spoke to the owner who was worried that attendance at the bar had fallen off quite markedly.

 

At about 1:30 AM I commandeered my friendly motorbike taxi man to take me home, and gave him about three times the normal fare, because he has always looked out for me and seems to be a good guy. Sad times.

[DrDave]

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

<snip>

 

And I mentioned before about the vast cleared space at the top of Soi Sansabai, being touted as a location for bars and as of yesterday, there is one solitary skeleton of a bar standing amongst what looks like a bit of a bomb site – – very optimistic, or too much money, or just plain stupid, I have yet to ascertain, and I think I would be on pretty safe ground with the last suggestion, because even before the virus hit, Bangla and its bar surrounds (including OTOP) were struggling.

 

<snip>

I would venture a guess that if/when the whole of Bangla Road is re-developed into something else, the top of Soi Sansabai would become the new "bar area", albeit on a much smaller scale. Even with an eventual gentrification of Patong with casinos and the like, there will always be a need for some sort of bar/entertainment area in a convenient location, and Soi Sansabai seems to be a logical choice. Could be in a few years, or could be in 10+ years, but eventually, it'll happen.

[xylophone]

15 minutes ago, DrDave said:

Could be in a few years, or could be in 10+ years, but eventually, it'll happen.

You make a valid point or two DrDave, but then again, the so-called "redevelopment" of Bangla has been happening since I first arrived here in 2004! And the demise of Bangla was again touted about seven or eight years later, with new bars being built near the boxing stadium, but that never took off and bar owners lost their money!

 

If there are speculators around then perhaps "land banking" it would be an option, but then again if the whole situation changes and casinos et cetera do become the norm, maybe you could be right?

Edited October 19, 2020 by xylophone

[zzzzz]

its been developing since i moved here in 1985>
note, all the bars, shops on the right hand side heading up bangla from the beach road to the patong resort soi, are government owned and can not be delveoped

 

Casinos>>> NO way...

[xylophone]

22 hours ago, xylophone said:

Sad to see that Banana IT in Jungceylon was closed on Saturday,

Also heard that Dunkin Donuts on the ground floor was closing, and yesterday was their last day, so I bought a dozen Donuts and handed them around to the few folk who were left in Jungceylon.....the girls in the Boots store were pleased as were a couple of the Burmese/Myanmar floor cleaners in Big C.

[KarenBravo]

3 hours ago, zzzzz said:

its been developing since i moved here in 1985>
note, all the bars, shops on the right hand side heading up bangla from the beach road to the patong resort soi, are government owned and can not be delveoped

 

Casinos>>> NO way...

Only up to Soi Patong Resort.

[osmar]

What is the bar scene that is not Bangla?

[xylophone]

4 hours ago, osmar said:

What is the bar scene that is not Bangla?

Choice of a few bars in OTOP and a few in Nanai Road, plus a bar complex or two in Prachanukhro Rd (Dolphin Bar + others) but these are all closed at the moment.

 

So not really " a bar scene" at the moment and although Bangla has a few open, couldn't really call it "a bar scene"!

[osmar]

Thank you xylaphone.

[xylophone]

Took a drive in my car to Villa Market in Chalong this afternoon, just to pick up a few odds and ends and give the car a run as well as getting out of my apartment.

 

On the way back I decided I would detour up the Hasip Pee road (the top road) as I had not been up there for quite some time, but even before I got there I noticed a huge tract of land being cleared about 200 m south of the funny -looking/mini roundabout, and it was on the side of a hill, with many trees and greenery a little further up – – I have no idea what is being built there, but that and more land being cleared a little further south on the other side of the road got me guessing?

 

Anyway, progressing to the "top road" I was also amazed to see quite a bit of forest/land clearing there as well, in several locations?

 

So it would appear that some folks with money are clearing tracts of land in order to build something, and this contrasted most severely with the sight which awaited me in Nanai Road, where just opposite the now defunct development, The Park, there were scores if not hundreds of people queueing along the road waiting for a food handout!

 

Add that to the row of empty shops further down Nanai Road, and the now demolished restaurant "I Love Spaghetti" and it painted a pitiful sight of the gap between the rich and the poor here, which is mirrored all around Thailand I'm told. 

 

[hansgruber]

11 hours ago, xylophone said:

Took a drive in my car to Villa Market in Chalong this afternoon, just to pick up a few odds and ends and give the car a run as well as getting out of my apartment.

 

On the way back I decided I would detour up the Hasip Pee road (the top road) as I had not been up there for quite some time, but even before I got there I noticed a huge tract of land being cleared about 200 m south of the funny -looking/mini roundabout, and it was on the side of a hill, with many trees and greenery a little further up – – I have no idea what is being built there, but that and more land being cleared a little further south on the other side of the road got me guessing?

 

Anyway, progressing to the "top road" I was also amazed to see quite a bit of forest/land clearing there as well, in several locations?

 

So it would appear that some folks with money are clearing tracts of land in order to build something, and this contrasted most severely with the sight which awaited me in Nanai Road, where just opposite the now defunct development, The Park, there were scores if not hundreds of people queueing along the road waiting for a food handout!

 

Add that to the row of empty shops further down Nanai Road, and the now demolished restaurant "I Love Spaghetti" and it painted a pitiful sight of the gap between the rich and the poor here, which is mirrored all around Thailand I'm told. 

 

Most people are clearing land because of the new tax that came in at the beginning of the year. Idle land gets taxed so they clear it and plant banana/coconut or whatever and claim they are farming to avoid this new tax. 

 

[DrDave]

13 hours ago, xylophone said:

<snip>

So it would appear that some folks with money are clearing tracts of land in order to build something, and this contrasted most severely with the sight which awaited me in Nanai Road, where just opposite the now defunct development, The Park, there were scores if not hundreds of people queueing along the road waiting for a food handout!

<snip>

 

It seems to me that most of the land fronting Hasip Pii is more than 80 meters above sea level, and thus technically not buildable. But then the local officials seem to turn a blind eye to such development.

[xylophone]

6 hours ago, hansgruber said:

Most people are clearing land because of the new tax that came in at the beginning of the year. Idle land gets taxed so they clear it and plant banana/coconut or whatever and claim they are farming to avoid this new tax. 

 

Thanks Hansgruber and you may have a point, but will be interesting to see what transpires after the "clearance"!!

[Old Croc]

People have been planting bananas on long vacant land near me over the last few months. The new tax was the reason given,

[xylophone]

I thought I saw a glimmer of hope as I was driving around Patong today, with just a few more massage parlours open and even the Indigo Hotel was open, with the restaurant attached to it advertising food at a 50% discount!!

 

So there was a bright spot until I went to Central Patong to see what was going on in the food section and was quite shocked at what I saw – – all of the stalls which were offering cooked food or food cooked to order were closed, only one small restaurant was open and it was Prime Burger, and the little supermarket area was bereft of many of the usual items it used to stock.

 

In fact I was the only farang/customer in the place until one guy came in for something and left pretty quickly, and overall the whole experience here was very depressing.

[zzzzz]

ur saying g the food court on the 1st and 3rd floor of central mall are closed?
heading in today to check

[Olmate]

11 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

ur saying g the food court on the 1st and 3rd floor of central mall are closed?
heading in today to check

Patong Central!

[zzzzz]

20 minutes ago, Olmate said:

Patong Central!

LOL:
re read the post:

Only went once to the central  patong when  it first opened, never saw a reason to go back

[uli65]

How is the Tops supermarket doing?? Is their bakery open??  they had very nice products always.

thanks for info

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, uli65 said:

How is the Tops supermarket doing?? Is their bakery open??  they had very nice products always.

thanks for info

It was the last time I visited about a week ago, and also there are two other Bakery shops just opposite, so you are spoilt for choice. Having said that, the bread in Big C Patong is great!!

[Kopitiam]

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

It was the last time I visited about a week ago, and also there are two other Bakery shops just opposite, so you are spoilt for choice. Having said that, the bread in Big C Patong is great!!

I second the bread in BigC Patong is great.  My wife and I go to Patong once every 2 weeks for grocery, we would buy a couple of uncut loafs.  After returning home, we would put the loafs in Ziploc freezer bags, suck out as much air as possible and freeze them.  When one is needed, we would take one out of the freezer overnight (best to put it in a cotton bag).  The next morning, the bread still taste fresh and it can last 3days.

[redwood1]

On 10/23/2020 at 5:08 PM, xylophone said:

Took a drive in my car to Villa Market in Chalong this afternoon, just to pick up a few odds and ends and give the car a run as well as getting out of my apartment.

 

On the way back I decided I would detour up the Hasip Pee road (the top road) as I had not been up there for quite some time, but even before I got there I noticed a huge tract of land being cleared about 200 m south of the funny -looking/mini roundabout, and it was on the side of a hill, with many trees and greenery a little further up – – I have no idea what is being built there, but that and more land being cleared a little further south on the other side of the road got me guessing?

 

Anyway, progressing to the "top road" I was also amazed to see quite a bit of forest/land clearing there as well, in several locations?

 

So it would appear that some folks with money are clearing tracts of land in order to build something, and this contrasted most severely with the sight which awaited me in Nanai Road, where just opposite the now defunct development, The Park, there were scores if not hundreds of people queueing along the road waiting for a food handout!

 

Add that to the row of empty shops further down Nanai Road, and the now demolished restaurant "I Love Spaghetti" and it painted a pitiful sight of the gap between the rich and the poor here, which is mirrored all around Thailand I'm told. 

 

 

On 10/20/2020 at 10:25 AM, zzzzz said:

its been developing since i moved here in 1985>
note, all the bars, shops on the right hand side heading up bangla from the beach road to the patong resort soi, are government owned and can not be delveoped

 

Casinos>>> NO way...

 

Casinos, Casinos...

 

I am no fan of gamboling I see how it ruins lives and I would say Thailand has been blessed not to have it at least not legally...

 

But only a fool would deny China's strong influence over SE Asia...And gamboling seems to follow China were ever their influence is strong..

China's influence in Thailand is growing all the time...And I predict they will be playing the gamboling card in Thailand like they have everywhere else...

 

 I also predict that Phuket will be the first place Casinos open in Thailand because Phuket is somewhat out of the public's eye and that will give them time to workout all the kinks out of their Casino rollout....I don't like it but that is the way I see it.... 

   

Edited October 30, 2020 by redwood1

[KarenBravo]

32 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

 

 

Casinos, Casinos...

 

I am no fan of gamboling I see how it ruins lives and I would say Thailand has been blessed not to have it at least not legally...

 

But only a fool would deny China's strong influence over SE Asia...And gamboling seems to follow China were ever their influence is strong..

China's influence in Thailand is growing all the time...And I predict they will be playing the gamboling card in Thailand like they have everywhere else...

 

 I also predict that Phuket will be the first place Casinos open in Thailand because Phuket is somewhat out of the public's eye and that will give them time to workout all the kinks out of their Casino rollout....I don't like it but that is the way I see it.... 

   

 

An awful lot of people have been seeing it that way for decades; and yet.................still no casinos.

[DrDave]

49 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

An awful lot of people have been seeing it that way for decades; and yet.................still no casinos.

I'm completely dis-interested in gambling myself (never even bought a lottery ticket!), but with the gradual decline of Phuket (and Patong in particular) over the decades, I think casinos are inevitable as the situation becomes more dire. Now that the decline has shifted from gradual to exponential, and may possibly be irreversible for a long, long time, it's obvious that tourist-dependent areas like Patong are going to need some sort of rebirth in order to survive. As much as I'd hate to see it happen, I think casinos may be a major part of that rebirth.

[Yahooka]

4 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

 

An awful lot of people have been seeing it that way for decades; and yet.................still no casinos.

 

Yes many here have predicted the "final nail in the coffin" for Phuket in over a decade now if casinoes werent allowed soon.

Let`s hope they never come.

[ChasingTheSun]

14 hours ago, redwood1 said:

 

 

Casinos, Casinos...

 

I am no fan of gamboling I see how it ruins lives and I would say Thailand has been blessed not to have it at least not legally...

 

But only a fool would deny China's strong influence over SE Asia...And gamboling seems to follow China were ever their influence is strong..

China's influence in Thailand is growing all the time...And I predict they will be playing the gamboling card in Thailand like they have everywhere else...

 

 I also predict that Phuket will be the first place Casinos open in Thailand because Phuket is somewhat out of the public's eye and that will give them time to workout all the kinks out of their Casino rollout....I don't like it but that is the way I see it.... 

   

Thailand should allow casinos, but only if they follow the successful Singapore model. 
 

Singapore charges Singapore residents/citizens about $100 to enter the casino on each visit, but foreign visitors enter for free.

The casino entry fee is a big disincentive for locals and has kept most of them out, while the tourists are free to enjoy losing their money and funding the singapore tax coffers.

 

[hansgruber]

24 minutes ago, ChasingTheSun said:

Thailand should allow casinos, but only if they follow the successful Singapore model. 
 

Singapore charges Singapore residents/citizens about $100 to enter the casino on each visit, but foreign visitors enter for free.

The casino entry fee is a big disincentive for locals and has kept most of them out, while the tourists are free to enjoy losing their money and funding the singapore tax coffers.

 

Phuket would become a Triad gangster town. No thank you. 

[HighPriority]

10 hours ago, hansgruber said:

Phuket would become a Triad gangster town. No thank you. 

As opposed to Tuk Tuk gangsters...?