Patong - The Wake

[xylophone]

32 minutes ago, Mai mee said:

Agreed, It's a start... What I really have really noticed is the speed with which the dirty tub-tuks have showed up, all within a weeks time, now clogging "my" formerly deserted Beach Road. The number of tub-tuks probably exceeds the number of foreign visitors by a factor of 2or3 to 1.... They all came crawling out from under their damp rocks as if somebody sounded the trumpets... hope they all starve.

 

Also seeing a noticeable increase in the number of BiB's. They must be hungry too.

Yes, good observation as I did see a few more parked along Beach Road today, and I suppose we are talking about the same thing, i.e. "tuk-tuks"?

[Olmate]

42 minutes ago, Mai mee said:

Agreed, It's a start... What I really have really noticed is the speed with which the dirty tub-tuks have showed up, all within a weeks time, now clogging "my" formerly deserted Beach Road. The number of tub-tuks probably exceeds the number of foreign visitors by a factor of 2or3 to 1.... They all came crawling out from under their damp rocks as if somebody sounded the trumpets... hope they all starve.

 

Also seeing a noticeable increase in the number of BiB's. They must be hungry too.

'my beach road' there,s your problem! 

[Mai mee]

Yeah, tuk-tuks, the spell correction on the new MacBook doesn't like that word any more than I do 555. "My" beach road.... well with the absence of tourists, and all the businesses shut down, and the staffs buggered back off to Issan, I've been living out some Twilight Zone episode as the last man on Earth.

 

Because the Family Mart in the Soi between My condo and Beach Road closed, the nearest quickie-mart is now about 150 meters SOUTH of me (read the wrong way on a one-way road)on Beach Road. Being things have been so deserted, and the BIB nowhere in sight, I've adopted the rather "Thai" practice of ghost-riding against the non-existent traffic for smokes and sundries such as I might get a hankering for. I'll be damed if I'm gonna make mile long loop on the one way roads, up, over, down, over, and back up to get something that formerly was to be found 50 meters from my front door. I'm FAR too lazy for that. Any way it all seems quite logical to me, so imagine my distress to find MY road clogged again with the great detestables....

 

It sucks when your vacuum world gets violated!

[xylophone]

Little by little things seem to be picking up, with a few more farangs around the place, and a few of the bars in Nanai Road being a little more frequented than previously, but as I said, little, being the operative word. Although I doubt that the little bar alongside of Makro, or the one near me which says it's a burger bar will attract any customers, as neither did in the past, even when the tourists were here and the going was good.

 

Having said that I did see about six or so farangs in the Offshore Bar, mingling with approximately the same amount of bar girls/young ladies, and I have seen a few more girls around Patong, so they must be finding their way back somehow. The smell of money perhaps?

 

Don's bar had its usual amount of young girls in it, but what surprised me was it appears that the property spruikers are back, as they were about five farangs all dressed in navy/black trousers with white shirts, the same garb that will be familiar to the folks here who used to see them in and around Jungceylon, as well as drinking in a couple of their favourite bars – – they must think that the good times are coming back! 

 

Perhaps they know something that we don't, or of course it could be that there are lots of desperate sellers, but then again there have to be buyers, although there have been rumours that there are buyers out there looking for bargains??

 

Did see a few more farangs in Big C today, including a couple of heavily inked uglies, along with a few Italians and other assorted farangs.

 

Shoppers beware: – whereas in recent times it has been okay to park your motorbike just about anywhere, even when there are red-and-white markings on the side of the road, just yesterday I noticed that about four motorbikes which had parked there, had been chained up! 

 

Quite possibly the BIB are now thinking that with the "influx" of tourists and long-stay retirees, they can pick up a bit of easy money.
 

[xylophone]

Following on from my previous post, I spied even more farangs out and about today, and as one crazy youngish farang overtook me on his very large motorbike/scooter, going at one helluva pace and leaning into a bend, I thought to myself that had there been something parked on that bend he would have been history, especially as he wasn't wearing a crash helmet.

 

Come to that a huge percentage of people out and about on their bikes were also not wearing crash helmets, and there were many farangs in amongst those. 

 

Parked my bike outside of Big C and heard one hell of a crash, but couldn't see what it was, but on closer inspection there was one of the larger motorbikes/scooters on its side in the road, and an older farang sitting/kneeling next to it, looking very dazed indeed and when I looked closer I could see his head was covered in blood.

 

There were a few Thais standing by looking, and one lady actually phoned for an ambulance, but no one was helping him as he was still on his knees in the road, so another farang and I went over and helped him up and took him to the side of the road, and I had a good look at his head and he had quite a few cuts and grazes on it which were not too serious, but there was plenty of blood, so I got some tissues and some water and started to clean his head up and told him to hold the wet tissues and water onto his head to stem the bleeding.

 

It was then that I noticed a small older Thai lady sitting on the edge of the road holding her hand to her head and with blood running down her face, I hadn't noticed her before, but I guessed it was his wife. I had no other tissues and as I always carry a folded handkerchief on me (don't ask me why as I've done it for years and never used it/one) I poured some water on it and told her to hold it to her head, as she had a deep gash on her forehead, not life threatening but it would have needed some stitches.

 

I then checked with the guy to make sure he was okay and about this time the ambulance pulled up and took them off to hospital, so I wished them both well and went about my business.

 

The guy was European (German perhaps?) and although neither of them were badly hurt, it could have been so different if a greater speed was involved, but as it happens, or appeared to happen, he was slowing down moving to the middle-of-the-road in order to park his bike, when he was clipped by a passing car, something which absolutely scares me because the amount of times when I have been missed by a matter of inches by some idiot in a car, is beyond belief.

 

Having said all of that, there is absolutely no reason not to wear a crash helmet and I despair at the amount of people I see who just don't bother, and even worse some of them carry the crash helmets in the baskets in front of them, or on the handlebars – – how stupid is that.
 

[KarenBravo]

If people don't think that their heads aren't worth more than the cost of a helmet, then, they are setting themselves up to be removed from the gene-pool and gain a Darwin prize.

[madmitch]

17 hours ago, xylophone said:

Following on from my previous post, I spied even more farangs out and about today, and as one crazy youngish farang overtook me on his very large motorbike/scooter, going at one helluva pace and leaning into a bend, I thought to myself that had there been something parked on that bend he would have been history, especially as he wasn't wearing a crash helmet.

 

Come to that a huge percentage of people out and about on their bikes were also not wearing crash helmets, and there were many farangs in amongst those. 

 

Parked my bike outside of Big C and heard one hell of a crash, but couldn't see what it was, but on closer inspection there was one of the larger motorbikes/scooters on its side in the road, and an older farang sitting/kneeling next to it, looking very dazed indeed and when I looked closer I could see his head was covered in blood.

 

There were a few Thais standing by looking, and one lady actually phoned for an ambulance, but no one was helping him as he was still on his knees in the road, so another farang and I went over and helped him up and took him to the side of the road, and I had a good look at his head and he had quite a few cuts and grazes on it which were not too serious, but there was plenty of blood, so I got some tissues and some water and started to clean his head up and told him to hold the wet tissues and water onto his head to stem the bleeding.

 

It was then that I noticed a small older Thai lady sitting on the edge of the road holding her hand to her head and with blood running down her face, I hadn't noticed her before, but I guessed it was his wife. I had no other tissues and as I always carry a folded handkerchief on me (don't ask me why as I've done it for years and never used it/one) I poured some water on it and told her to hold it to her head, as she had a deep gash on her forehead, not life threatening but it would have needed some stitches.

 

I then checked with the guy to make sure he was okay and about this time the ambulance pulled up and took them off to hospital, so I wished them both well and went about my business.

 

The guy was European (German perhaps?) and although neither of them were badly hurt, it could have been so different if a greater speed was involved, but as it happens, or appeared to happen, he was slowing down moving to the middle-of-the-road in order to park his bike, when he was clipped by a passing car, something which absolutely scares me because the amount of times when I have been missed by a matter of inches by some idiot in a car, is beyond belief.

 

Having said all of that, there is absolutely no reason not to wear a crash helmet and I despair at the amount of people I see who just don't bother, and even worse some of them carry the crash helmets in the baskets in front of them, or on the handlebars – – how stupid is that.
 

I had a drive through Patong yesterday and was also surprised at the number of foreigners of all ages, shapes and sizes, who were riding bikes, a couple of big ones as well, without helmets. Definitely a higher number than those wearing helmets.

 

A lot more people around than last time I was in Patong with a few of the bars/restaurants along Beach Road relatively busy, despite it being a no-booze day.

 

You can see the sandbox effect all over now. A few thousand arrivals has to be norticeable.

[sekmet]

On 7/14/2021 at 9:04 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

One could substitute Pattaya for Phuket and just as relevant. Not just those 2 places, but IMO most tourist places in LOS have made no effort to be attractive for new visitors and have relied on those that return many times, or the tourist demographic that will accept shoddy environment.

 

 

Actually, it seems to have gotten worse and less attractive to repeat visitors once TAT pivoted to the Chinese and Indians. 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 7/24/2021 at 9:38 PM, xylophone said:

Having said all of that, there is absolutely no reason not to wear a crash helmet and I despair at the amount of people I see who just don't bother, and even worse some of them carry the crash helmets in the baskets in front of them, or on the handlebars – – how stupid is that.

In Lamphun the cops had a helmet check near Big C every morning. Many m'bike riders carried a helmet on the bike- stopped before the check point and put it on, then after the check point removed it. Can't fix stupid.

My helmet definitely saved my life when I had my accident. It was smashed. Had I not been wearing it my head would have been smashed.

[billythehat]

On 7/24/2021 at 11:23 AM, KarenBravo said:

If people don't think that their heads aren't worth more than the cost of a helmet, then, they are setting themselves up to be removed from the gene-pool and gain a Darwin prize.

Sir, whilst the tenet of your comment holds true, it should be noted the Darwin award is not given posthumously.

[Pracha Duang]

On 6/25/2017 at 11:51 AM, xylophone said:

Thank you for your kind words Patong2 and I was sorry to see the thread closed, however it became necessary not just because of a vindictive poster taking aim at me, but because it had gotten a little stale and there seemed to be other ongoing disagreements/feuds.

 

We all have different points of view with regards to events here and how they affect us, however I used to find the posts such as, "if you don't like it why don't you go home" and "if it is so bad what are you doing here" type comments as unnecessary. Surely everyone has the right to comment on how they see the town in which they live and the things which affect them, and many times if it's a negative, it's purely because what could have been done to make the place better, simply hasn't.

 

Examples and instances of this abound from the beach fiasco to the overbuilding to the far too many tuk tuks and so on. Then of course there is the changing demographics and the TAT push into the Chinese market and all that this brings with it, debated by many and generally seen as a negative.

 

On that point I don't know if it's going to change any time soon as I was talking to a couple of guys in the real estate business and there are some of the "wealthier" Chinese buying apartments/condos here. There is a development which is offering a 7% return on the initial investment for 15 years, with the only proviso being that once the unit is bought it is allowed to be rented out and the owner only gets one month occupancy a year, so it sounds very much like the old timeshare model or indeed fractional ownership.

 

Having said that this particular development seems to be doing quite well along those lines although I'm not sure that I would "trust" the promises made of the returns and the fact that on one website these places are advertised with a "30+30+30 year lease".

 

Anyway, I digress, however I welcome you starting this thread and I had thought about doing something similar myself with a heading which would allow just about everything to be discussed, from infrastructure to corruption, to nightlife, to events, to property to low and high seasons etc, however perhaps your heading/thread can encompass this?

 

 

Who on earth would buy a condo in Phuket as an investment when you have Bitcoin and Ethereum? It literally makes no sense. I mean, I know that most of the property in Phuket is for money laundering purposes but it just doesn’t make sense to launder your money though property anymore. LMFAO at a 7% return. I make that per day just trading cryptocurrency. I would be very surprised if the Chinese and Russians continue to launder their money in Phuket moving forward. NFTs are easier and the ROI is ridiculous. Property as an investment is generally dying and will soon be replaced by digital property which is Bitcoin etc…

[LivinginKata]

33 minutes ago, Pracha Duang said:

Who on earth would buy a condo in Phuket as an investment when you have Bitcoin and Ethereum? It literally makes no sense. I mean, I know that most of the property in Phuket is for money laundering purposes but it just doesn’t make sense to launder your money though property anymore. LMFAO at a 7% return. I make that per day just trading cryptocurrency. I would be very surprised if the Chinese and Russians continue to launder their money in Phuket moving forward. NFTs are easier and the ROI is ridiculous. Property as an investment is generally dying and will soon be replaced by digital property which is Bitcoin etc…

 

Gamblers always talk about the wins.  Forgot about the many losses. 

[Pracha Duang]

6 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

Gamblers always talk about the wins.  Forgot about the many losses. 

No losses. But ok. Gambler that can afford to live in Mailawana and gets paid to write software for Google from paradise ???? Yep, I’m just a dummy gambler ???? 
 

You will not make it in this world with your attitude sir. If you think crypto investors are gamblers, you will miss out on many opportunities and be left out of the future.

Edited August 1, 2021 by Pracha Duang

[LivinginKata]

16 minutes ago, Pracha Duang said:

<snip>

You will not make it in this world with your attitude sir. If you think crypto investors are gamblers, you will miss out on many opportunities and be left out of the future.

 

I have made my fortune in this world a slower way in the old fashioned manner of hard work and careful investments.  I'm a very old guy now. Perhaps I might have tried the fast track in my youth when I was single and foot loose.  Good luck to you. 

[xylophone]

Whilst we are on the subject of property, and as I mentioned previously, judging by the amount of property spruikers in Dons bar, it would seem as though somebody is hoping for a property revival here in Patong!!!

 

Come to that the bars in Nanai Road are reasonably busy, and it has become the "go to" bar place now that Bangla is shut, and just yesterday when I went past the Offshore Bar, it was humming with farangs and the equivalent amount of girls! Whereas the newly opened bar alongside of Makro (Nang 2) doesn't seem to have had one visitor since it's been open, and it's not surprising given its location and shape.

 

As regards the girls in Patong, well quite a few must have made it back before the domestic travel restrictions, because I have seen some very good looking girls here now, and I have never seen them around the place before, and speaking to one lady friend here, she thought they may have come down from Bangkok just prior to the restrictions coming in.

 

Whatever, there are certainly a few (new) good-looking girls milling around the place now, and one hopes that they have been vaccinated and are Covid free??
 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/1/2021 at 6:22 PM, LivinginKata said:

 

Gamblers always talk about the wins.  Forgot about the many losses. 

Just wait till bitcoin goes <deleted> up. The Chinese are apparently already moving against it and other countries likely to follow, IMO.

Just another South Seas, dot com or Tulip bubble IMO.

 

 

[DrDave]

On 8/2/2021 at 12:23 AM, xylophone said:

Whilst we are on the subject of property, and as I mentioned previously, judging by the amount of property spruikers in Dons bar, it would seem as though somebody is hoping for a property revival here in Patong!!!

Speaking of property investments, I'm wondering how those "guaranteed" 7% return on investment condos have been performing the last year and a half.

[xylophone]

To quote a few words from a well-known song, "Times they are a-changing", well I should clarify that because they seem to change, and then they don't!

 

Some bars I know, re-labelled themselves as "restaurants/café's" or similar in order to get round the alcohol drinking laws, and one poor lady who had just changed all of the signage and got her license to operate as a restaurant, was told that next day she would not be allowed to serve any alcohol!

 

Having said that, despite a few new bars/restaurants opening up in Nanai Road, things are still pretty quiet in the main, with the occasional blip of punters occupying their usual bar stools, and I did notice that what was once called "Pen and Franks" bar and restaurant has now disappeared and been re-labelled, and just a few doors down a new restobar has opened up called something like "Booloos".

 

I do recall someone commenting about Pen and Franks bar, saying that they were hoping to come back and open up again in October, but it seems like that plan is no longer in play.

 

Despite the activity going on as regards new places opening, many of them apart from a couple of "famous" bars, are doing nothing at all, and I did notice the first customer in Dars Burgers just yesterday, probably the first or one of very few that have visited the place since it opened more than a month ago.

 

The little tea/coffee shop which opened near me has seen next to no custom, and the bar opening up next to that, where others have failed, is an optimist or a fool and I know which one I would put money on.

 

I did get a call from a friend who had word that a few bars were open in Bangla, so he shot down there in order to get a drink and phoned me from the bar, saying that he was drinking a beer from a plastic cup and there were a few other people milling around, so he was quite happy – – – that was until word came from the local BIB that the "out-of-town" police force were on the prowl and would be coming round shortly, so plastic cups were emptied and stashed away, as were the empty beer bottles, and sure enough they turned up at about 9 PM, to remind the owners that they had to close, whereas before, the local BIB had been a little less strict about this closing time being adhered to.

 

Overall there's certainly more activity, but again nowhere near enough to keep local small businesses and local people away from the breadline, unfortunately.

 

Now some good news to end on.......... a very lovely lady who initially found work in a massage parlour but didn't want to give the "extras", so she left, and whom I helped out with some cash for her family, got a call the other day from a guy she met here pre-Covid, who had been stricken with her, and suddenly out of the blue, asked her to come over to see him in his country.

 

He has paid all of the necessary and wants her to go over for a three-month stay, saying there are no strings attached, but it would be great to see her again.

 

She is a little reticent, however I told her that she should go and make the most of it, because opportunities like that do not come along very often, and I'm very happy for her, and I hope that things work out for the best, one way or another.
 

[zzzzz]

Your advising a massage lady girl that did not give "happy endings" to go visit someone in  a foreign country< ( did she mention which one?) years after she met him?
shame on you

[xylophone]

11 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

Your advising a massage lady girl that did not give "happy endings" to go visit someone in  a foreign country< ( did she mention which one?) years after she met him?
shame on you

I have no shame about encouraging someone to take an opportunity to travel and see what comes of it.

 

Quite a bit of difference from the way I look at it, to the way which you portray it,, especially as all of the airfares, Visa etc have already been paid and she had accepted his offer, so she didn't really need my advice, probably more my support.

 

And there is a world of difference between going to stay with someone for three months as an all expenses paid holiday, esp in these times, and having to give "happy endings" to any old farang who may venture into a massage shop.

 

Lighten up.........and yes I do know which country she's going to, but why would you want to know?
 

[zzzzz]

i dont want to know, nor do i care>>
her life, but if she is thinking he doesn't want, "something" while she is there ........

[xylophone]

Just now, zzzzz said:

i dont want to know, nor do i care>>
her life, but if she is thinking he doesn't want, "something" while she is there ........

Just to show how much of a fool you are................she met him here, pre-covid, and spent a full 2 weeks with him, sightseeing, eating out and generally having a good time. So they are not "strangers" to one another.

 

The surprise was that after all of this time he got in touch again, so I wish her all the very best.

 

PS. You did ask what country in your post; "did she mention which one", you asked??

[billythehat]

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

Just to show how much of a fool you are................she met him here, pre-covid, and spent a full 2 weeks with him, sightseeing, eating out and generally having a good time. So they are not "strangers" to one another.

 

The surprise was that after all of this time he got in touch again, so I wish her all the very best.

 

PS. You did ask what country in your post; "did she mention which one", you asked??

Sir, your fatherly advice was free and she was free to accept/refuse. Many of these lasses have never travelled further than the next village and so a little advice, born of experience (I believe you have lived and travelled from Boogaloo to Timbuktu in your lifetime) would have been appreciated by the lass to quell her doubts and insecurities. 3 months is more than enough time to discover whether either party wants to pursue the relationship and occasionally, some of one's longest lasting friendships will be with the Lasses you haven’t boned. If she’s off to the UK for example, my own advice would be to stay clear of other Thai women. Just saying.

[HAPPYNUFF]

How many   females have been lured  overseas  with promises of no hanky panky,, either just  as friends  or  offer of a respectful  job..   Im  sure most of us  know   some horror stories.   In fact  my wifes cousin was one,  lured to Sydney, work as a waitress she was assured by a  friend,,  finished up locked up in a brothel.  She managed to phone my wife, I   got onto Immigration in Sydney  and     gave them the address, they raided the place, apparently 5 other girls there in the same situation, only an old Mama San     in charge,,   organiser/owner of the brothel  well    away and hidden.      Just have a look at the "personal" column of your local newspaper,   hundreds of females, from all  over the world offering "services"  A cop I know tells me  quite a lot of them  are  in country on a tourist visa  in Australia, organised  by  gangs.

[xylophone]

57 minutes ago, HAPPYNUFF said:

How many   females have been lured  overseas  with promises of no hanky panky,, either just  as friends  or  offer of a respectful  job..   Im  sure most of us  know   some horror stories.   In fact  my wifes cousin was one,  lured to Sydney, work as a waitress she was assured by a  friend,,  finished up locked up in a brothel.  She managed to phone my wife, I   got onto Immigration in Sydney  and     gave them the address, they raided the place, apparently 5 other girls there in the same situation, only an old Mama San     in charge,,   organiser/owner of the brothel  well    away and hidden.      Just have a look at the "personal" column of your local newspaper,   hundreds of females, from all  over the world offering "services"  A cop I know tells me  quite a lot of them  are  in country on a tourist visa  in Australia, organised  by  gangs.

I'm sure you mean well, however your post has nothing whatsoever to do with that which I posted, and to refresh your memory because it seems as if you haven't read it properly: – the lady concerned is going overseas to stay with a male, whom she stayed with here when he was on holiday a while back (and for the record, "hanky-panky" as you call it was in play when he was staying here with her, so no surprises).

 

She knows him fairly well, and in recent times has been speaking to him again on whatever medium one uses these days, in order to finalise the details/cost of her vaccination, airfares, and all expenses which he will cover.

 

I see no problem with it and I think it's a far cry from the horror stories of which you and I are both aware.
 

[HighPriority]

very much how I ended up married xylophone.

I did have a stern facetime with mum within an hour of my (now) wife arriving in Australia though...

[BinJakob]

How is everything in Patong Xylophone? Miss your updates!

[xylophone]

On 9/14/2021 at 6:36 AM, BinJakob said:

How is everything in Patong Xylophone? Miss your updates!

Thank you BinJakob and the others who gave his post a "like"....... nice to feel missed!

 

Well to be honest I found that week in and week out there was nothing new to post about, so I thought it would get boring, however it's been a while so perhaps I can post an update...... 

 

I'll start with Nanai Road because that's the road I travel up and down most often, having an apartment somewhere in it........ 

 

At the bottom of my Soi a tea/coffee shop has opened and has seen next to no business, and right next door to it a bar has opened, and that has seen no business that I have noticed, although I have to say there is one very pretty girl sitting in what small sitting space there is!

 

The recently opened Dars Burgers has been empty every time I've passed by and every time I've looked at it from my balcony, so I hope that the farang who invested in this bar/café realised that it was a no-go venture from the start and it was only to please his girlfriend, so didn't mind losing the money, because it ain't gonna make any!!

 

Don's bar is empty most of the time although I haven't gone past when he's had his barbecue evenings, so maybe he is pulling in the punters then?

 

A few other bar/café's have opened up and if I was to be brutally honest, if one collected all of the farangs in all of those bars, they would probably fill only one of the bars that used to be operating in Bangla Road – – that's how sad things are.

 

I have noticed a few newbies who must have come in on the sandbox, but not enough to make a great deal of difference to the empty bars, shops, whatever, and whilst one or two bar/café's have opened up in anticipation of the good times to come, there are many other places which have simply folded, and many of these look dilapidated and much the worse for wear, so much so that they would be impossible to rent, even if there are almost given away, so need money spent on them to make them a viable proposition again.

 

A friend visited Bangla a week or so ago and there were a few bars open and a few farangs milling around, but not many, and whilst there were a few police meandering around, alcohol was still being served in plastic cups and coffee mugs, and I'm sure they knew this but turned a blind eye.

 

After they were told to close at about 11 pm, a few of the bar owners trundled off to another bar not too far away which is run by the son of a very prominent official on the island, so obviously a different set of rules apply there, but then again those of us who have been here a while, know that.

 

I keep seeing TAT press releases and various other press releases giving out figures of the millions of holidaymakers/visitors who are just waiting for the chance to come to Thailand, Patong/Phuket in particular, and spend squillions of baht/dollars, and I keep asking myself what planet these people are on?

 

Why would people spend good money to come to a place which looks like a Gaza Strip bombsite, when there are many other places to choose from, some quite possibly nearer to their home?

 

And just to add a little more to that question, the ones that I have seen who appear to have gotten back here via the sandbox, don't look as though they would have two baht to rub together, in the main.
 

[xylophone]

I must get out more!!!!!

 

As a sort of postscript to my previous post, I like to add a couple of things........ 

 

I had to go out this morning to pick up a friends car from his apartments and take it to get taxed and checked, and to cut a long story short it involved a couple of trips in the car and three motorbike taxi rides (don't ask) and whilst I was out and about I did notice a fair amount of traffic, nothing like it used to be, but at least more than there has been of late.

 

I also did quite a bit of walking which showed how much walking I hadn't done, because both my hips were aching, and I suspect it's from a combination of having broken a little off my pelvis through a soccer injury and compensating with the other one, and far too much of sitting down in front of my computer, which seems to constitute most of my day these days!

 

Also, whilst I was walking a guy on a motorbike pulled up alongside and asked if I spoke English, and being only too willing to help out if I could, I got chatting to him, answering some of his questions, and it soon became clear to me that he was in the "Property Sales" business, so I asked him outright, and he replied that he was selling timeshares.

 

I told him that I have been here 15 years and had no need of such and I suggested that I thought the timeshare business had died out here a long time ago with the advent of Absolute leaving or similar, or so I thought, to which he replied that it was still active but not doing any business at the moment – – no kidding!

 

He was nice enough and was soon on his way.

 

On my meandering around, I went along the beach road and Rat-u-Thid road and there were more shops and restaurant/cafés open that I had noticed previously, so obviously some places are opening and in the main they would be the massage parlours, the shops which sell everything from T-shirts to handbags, and a few restaurants also touting their menus, so they must be optimistic of business!

 

One motorbike taxi driver on the most dilapidated motorbike one could imagine, which left my left leg dangling near the wheel because the back foot rest was broken (most uncomfortable), wanted 200 baht for a journey from Andaman suites to Nanai 6 and although it was a rip-off, I gave him all the available change by had in my pocket which amounted to 190 baht, so he was happy and I didn't really care.

 

So, more signs of life than I thought, but it's going to take a couple of years for this place to get back up to speed I'm afraid, that's providing that the virus can be tamed, at least to an acceptable level, whatever that might mean.
 

[DHut]

Hi everyone, good day to all of you good people. I am preparing my visa and documents to enter Thailand via the Phuket sandbox program. But I am still undecided which area I should stay in. If I were to station myself in Patong, would I get any sights of life, restaurants and amenities? Also, I don't ride a motorbike, it would be great if there are baht bus and motorsai available easily in Patong. Appreciate any advice from Phuket residents here. Thanks much!