Patong - The Wake

[xylophone]

Decided to go to Bangla last night to catch up with a couple of friends, this especially as I hadn't been there for about a month; why? – – terminal apathy had set in!

 

Anyway, Bangla at about 7:15 PM was fairly busy, but when one looked closely, it could be seen that the "busy-ness" actually stemmed from the fact that there were vast amounts of girls, all dressed in red outfits, in front of now-open bars, beckoning in would-be punters, of which there were very few at that time.

 

I dropped into Blue Lotus café and had a snack/dinner along with a couple of glasses of nice red (the owner had let me bring my own bottle, as they didn't serve it) and it was good to relax in a nice clean bar, watching the world go by, without the "thump, thump, thump" of loud music bursting one's eardrums.

 

Bangla did liven up later on in the evening and about 9 PM there were quite a few tourists around the place, but just as many Thais, it has to be said.

 

There was the usual bevy of attractive girls sitting at the bar at the entrance to Sea Dragon, and the Harem go-go club was open, but I was told there was no dancing allowed, and gave it a miss anyway.

 

My next port of call was to catch up with a couple of friends in the Black Horse, but a major problem has arisen with that bar, inasmuch as the manager in charge of it, seems to think that turning the music up very loud with a bass sound which makes the glasses rattle, is the way to entice customers into the place, however it has had the opposite effect on a couple of friends of mine who won't go there anymore, mainly because they go for the ambience and the fact they can watch the world go by, have a drink and engage in some banter – – this being almost impossible with the music as loud as it is.

 

Although I like the bar, and the owner, I may well have to give it a miss in future and find another "local" if the manager of the place continues to be an absolute "tw@t", because despite being asked on a number of occasions to turn the music down a little, he does for about five minutes and then turns it back up again!

 

The music bars were again full, as was Red Hot where I went along to sing a few numbers, as it has been about a month since I last did so.

 

I didn't think I was going to get a turn up on the stage, however that did occur at about 11:30 PM, as they were going to close just after midnight, so I did my best and it seemed to please the audience, and the band, so it made my evening.

 

Just after midnight I decided the best place to be would be at home, as I had imbibed in red wine, a couple of beers, a few rums and a couple of tequila shots, and I didn't want to keep on drinking just for the sake of drinking, so I beckoned a motorbike taxi which tried to go up Soi Sansabai, however the traffic situation was absolute pandemonium, not only because the motorbikes were parked either side of that narrow road, but tuk tuks were coming the "wrong way" down it, blocking the motorbikes and tuk tuks going the other way, and as is typically the way here, no one would give way to anyone else and it was a congested mess, so the motorbike taxi man, whom I've used many times before took me home via Soi 8.

 

Overall the place was busier than it has been, but again nowhere near in years gone past, but that's only to be expected, however there was a fair mix of farangs, with Russians, Americans, some Scandies and Brits, plus a few others mixed in, so some folks are making the effort to get back, despite the "hoop jumping" that has to be done/the uncertainty of the regulations.

 

Just about all of the bars were open and I did venture down Soi Freedom to have a look, and many of those bars were open, but with next to no customers, and next to no pretty women around, although one bar had made the effort and was having a huge barbecue with several small pigs being rotisseried, although that didn't bring in the punters either.

 

It has to be said that things are looking brighter, and on another note, a lady friend of mine who owns a massage shop was lamenting the fact that she couldn't get massage ladies for her second shop, and when I asked her why, she replied something along the lines of, "they think they can go to Bangla and pick up a Farang for a short time, and that's better than working full-time".

 

Perhaps it's always been that way?????
 

[billythehat]

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

It has to be said that things are looking brighter, and on another note, a lady friend of mine who owns a massage shop was lamenting the fact that she couldn't get massage ladies for her second shop, and when I asked her why, she replied something along the lines of, "they think they can go to Bangla and pick up a Farang for a short time, and that's better than working full-time".

 

Perhaps it's always been that way?????

On that subject, I had noticed a decline in the last 5 years or so (pre-covid) in the quality of service given in said shops and trouble finding persons to deliver what it says on the tin. Laziness and ineptitude seemed to be the norm in many (too many) massage shops in Patong. I guess many lasses would not even bother with a days graft anywhere and just gravitate to selling their bumpy bits in Bangla, many forgetting that being even moderately pretty is a pre-requisite of the game.

 

Meanwhile, it’s an uncharacteristically mild 10 degrees here in outer earth, and a very quiet town as the folks get ready for the Christmas dinner, endure relatives they haven’t seen since last year, watch the excited faces of the kids as they unwrap their prezzies, the inevitable pointless arguments after too much booze, watch the same repeats on the telly, grandma and grandpa are already asleep on the couch still wearing crumpled paper party hats from the crackers, the Queen’s speech, the dog is very old now and cannot control its predilection for passing wind with monotonous regularity etc. Occasionally, some wizened harpy will quip to me “What do you men go to Thailand at Christmas for? Is it the women?” “No, says I, nothing special about the women, it’s just that I rather not be here listening to you.” Happy Christmas.

[London Lowf]

22 hours ago, xylophone said:

Although I like the bar, and the owner, I may well have to give it a miss in future and find another "local" if the manager of the place continues to be an absolute "tw@t", because despite being asked on a number of occasions to turn the music down a little, he does for about five minutes and then turns it back up again!

 

Another problem with the Black Horse is that it has now become more of a girlie bar, although the offerings are so grim that I wouldn't touch them with yours! One evening last week there were seven of them hanging around and as you have observed at the beginning of your post, it gives the impression that Bangla is busier than it really is.

 

Do these girls simply turn up at a bar and ask if it's okay to stand out front and try to drum up some trade for the bar or, more likely, themselves? The bar already has enough uniformed staff to serve drinks so surely they are not "employing" these touts, just giving them the usual ladydrinks commissions. How do the existing staff feel about this? Is the bar taking fines? Not that I've ever seen one being taken away.

 

Having said all of that, I have witnessed plenty of ghostly pale innocent lambs being taken to the slaughter in other bars over the last few weeks and Xmas night was (unsurprisingly) busy but as usual more sightseers than paying customers. NYE should be a bumper night for the bars but I will watch from a distance outside what used to be The White House in Kalim, now rebranded and no longer looking like a lavatory! I have bad memories of trying to get out of Patong after midnight in previous years and, judging by your adventures in Sansabai, I'm sure that Beach Road will be impossible this year even on foot.

 

[xylophone]

Going slightly off track here at the moment, however I have it on good authority from a lady who is friends with girls who work in a couple of very large bars in Bangla, that although the bar owners do test their staff for Covid, if they find that a particularly good worker (i.e. brings in the money) has Covid, then they ask them to wear a mask and don't report it.

 

Quite alarming if it is true, but then nothing surprises me here.

[billythehat]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Going slightly off track here at the moment, however I have it on good authority from a lady who is friends with girls who work in a couple of very large bars in Bangla, that although the bar owners do test their staff for Covid, if they find that a particularly good worker (i.e. brings in the money) has Covid, then they ask them to wear a mask and don't report it.

 

Quite alarming if it is true, but then nothing surprises me here.

just make sure you carry one of these in ya back pocket and ask her to wear it...you can't be too careful now.

 

[poskat]

Any good italian or steak places open now?

[ChrisP24]

1 hour ago, poskat said:

Any good italian or steak places open now?

The Kitchen on Rat-U-Thit road has been open since at least October, and is worth trying in my opinion (based on just one meal there, I had their Chicken Milanese, but noticed that they had a number of steak offerings sourced from Australia and Argentina). 

[xylophone]

11 hours ago, poskat said:

Any good italian or steak places open now?

Napoli in Old Post Office Road, just off Beach Rd is worth a try, and The Yorkshire (Soi Sansabai) has steak and a few other offerings.

[xylophone]

On 12/26/2021 at 1:02 PM, London Lowf said:

NYE should be a bumper night for the bars

And indeed it was LLF, as Bangla was crowded, almost to the point of pre-Covid times, and many bars were also crowded, especially the music bars which were packing them in.

 

Whilst it is good to see some semblance of normality returning, I couldn't help but think that Bangla could well be a "super spreader" event, not only because of the amount of people milling around and in close proximity, but because about 70% of them (perhaps more) were not wearing a mask. Time will tell.

 

There were rumours around that the BIB had decreed that everything should cease at 11 PM, but that was changed and Bangla and bars were still going full pelt after midnight.

 

I did notice that Harem and Nidas "gentlemen's clubs" were now open so a friend and I decided to have a look to see what was going on, and in Harem there was a lot of space, occupied by a handful of farangs, and the girls were nothing like the quality of the old Suzie Wongs, so we decided to look in Nidas club.

 

Again, no more than a handful of farangs, but at least a couple of the girls looked half decent, whereas the others were very average and looked like they wished they were somewhere else. And that's when we took pity on them because we agreed that we would buy drinks for a couple of the girls who looked most down in the dumps, by way of a New Year treat.

 

This we did and left shortly afterwards and really wondered why we'd gone in there in the first place.

 

As we were in Sea Dragon, we had a drink at another bar and caught up with the bar owner whom we have known for a few years, and that was good. From thereon in I lost track of my friend because he decided to go off to another couple of bars to buy drinks for some of the girls he had known over the years, whilst I went to catch up with another friend, and then onto Red Hot, which was packed to the point of not having any spare tables or anywhere to sit. However using a little bit of ingenuity I managed to secure a few spare stools and our little group sat to one side of the stage, marveling at the repertoire of this extremely talented band.

 

Whilst milling up and down Bangla, I did notice that the Soi opposite Sea Dragon, which once housed my favourite Italian restaurant, was now quite lively and there was a steakhouse, of Scandinavian origin I believe, as well as a couple of other places which had opened up, so in future I might give the steakhouse a try, because I do believe they have other dishes on the menu.

 

Nothing really to differentiate this between any other night, apart from the crowd and the occasional small gang of Farang idiots who delighted in spraying plastic string and foam into the eyes/faces of passers-by, and once the folks got wind of what they were doing, they gave them a bit of a wide berth, as did we.

 

Home on a motorbike taxi, and my drive up Soi Nanai showed there to be a lot of activity in the bars, so the Nanai bar owners would be very pleased I would think.

 

Will be interesting to see if there are any repercussions from the crowding last night.
 

[London Lowf]

I'm glad to hear that the bars in Bangla (and Nanai) had a good night - Kamala's were dead! I had a meal in a busy restaurant and then headed to one of the major bars at about 9:30 and there were a total of 8 customers and the staff were beside themselves with boredom - and a lack of ladydrinks. The bar is on the main drag and I could see a steady stream of traffic heading toward Patong.

 

At 11:30 (leaving just one paying customer in the bar) I headed off to my favourite viewing spot at the end of Kalim beach where I am always the only farang surrounded by hordes of partying/picnicing young Thais. The fireworks along Patong beach were enjoyable but on nothing like the same scale as previous years - I would guess that the big corporate spenders simply don't have the cash to squander on lavish pyrotechnics and so the displays this year were provided by smaller businesses and private individuals.

 

At about 00:20 I headed back to Kamala for a couple more beers and all of the bars were still open but about as busy as they would be on a Monday night.

 

Not my most memorable NYE.

 

[xylophone]

On 1/1/2022 at 11:20 AM, xylophone said:

Will be interesting to see if there are any repercussions from the crowding last night.

The problem with the authorities here is that they won't divulge any figures which might throw a bad light on them, or the town of Patong, however since that night out on New Year's Eve, three friends have tested positive for Covid – – not sure which virus yet, if indeed they can tell, however a couple of them are feeling unwell, with symptoms of a bad cold/the flu, whereas the other one is seemingly "okay" at the moment.

 

Thankfully I am okay, but I would suspect there are a few more out there, and another contact in the business has backed up what I said in an earlier post, in that any girls who test positive are sent home and told to stay quiet.

[London Lowf]

Does anyone know what is going on with the bars in Patong? As I reported elsewhere, Bangla was 99% closed last night at 9:30pm (the 1% was a few tiny shop bars with their shutters down) and it was the same when I rode along the central section of Nanai.

 

We can all guess - Omicron mania, authorities finally stamping down on bending of alcohol rules - but does anyone here actually know the answer?

 

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, London Lowf said:

Does anyone know what is going on with the bars in Patong? As I reported elsewhere, Bangla was 99% closed last night at 9:30pm (the 1% was a few tiny shop bars with their shutters down) and it was the same when I rode along the central section of Nanai.

 

We can all guess - Omicron mania, authorities finally stamping down on bending of alcohol rules - but does anyone here actually know the answer?

 

No real answer for you LLF, although a friend who went out to Bangla a couple of nights ago said that although there were a few people around, there was a dearth of girls, in the bars, or walking around?

 

Rumours that there are more than a few cases of Covid around seem to have had an effect, although today when I went past the top of Bangla (the end furthest away from the beach) the small bars on the corner were belting out music, with one Farang sitting there with his beer!

 

Two friends of mine have contracted Covid, quite possibly from their excursion to Bangla a week ago, but with mild symptoms, and are self isolating at this moment in time, taking regular tests to see how they are progressing.

 

I will give it a miss for a while to see how things pan out.

[London Lowf]

 

I'll go for a look a bit later - earlier than usual so that I've got plenty of time to get back to Kamala if it's still looking closed. I'm an alcoholic (but NEVER before sunset) and I need my beers ????......

 

The thing that really surprised me last night was that the bike and car parking (on Beach Road) was just as packed as always and the Tuk-Tuks were all lined up as normal, so where was everyone. A few of the (hotel?) bars on Beach Road seemed to be operating, but there aren't that many of those.

 

The beach end checkpoint was operating as normal and there were plenty of people milling around - it was only after you'd done the temperature check that you realised that something was seriously wrong......

 

[geisha]

I loved Patong.First arrived in 84. Beautiful beach and lovely people. I miss the Number 4 restaurant Soi Bangla, later , but I miss it Molly Maloney and their fabulous Manila girls singers and band. Also , on beach road the big outside restaurant/ hotel, band playing every night .The Sweet restaurant on Soi Patong Tower. Great food and so cheap. Lovely staff. Junk Ceylon when it opened, great for shopping.   the tsunami , I was there in my condo Phuket Palace on the balcony looking out towards the sea. There were no buildings in front at all then, just trees. Great pool, easy to walk to town, and after seeing the water creeping up towards us and our pool, people in bathers running, I went down with my neighbor to take a look! Devastation! Roads up in the air, the bus in the sea, cars all turned over, electric wires hanging everywhere. Well, we all know that time don’t we. I still think about it often. Lived also in Kata, near the beach. Lovely place and I’m going back next week !! I moved away because there were not enough condos and eventually, too many tourists. Then came Hua Hin, well. Then Jomtien super condo penthouse for cheaper than a small place down south. But I’ve always missed Kata, Patong, and all my friends who mostly, are still there.

[London Lowf]

Clearly an alcohol ban in force - a few bars open, including Red Hot with the band playing very quietly, but no visible booze and a lot of police on patrol.

 

I have it a miss and am now back in Kamala and the ban has now reached here - luckily my usual place has an arrangement and it is quite busy with people openly drinking - but they have pulled all of the plastic drapes down and there is no music playing.

 

 

[Destiny1990]

9 hours ago, geisha said:

I loved Patong.First arrived in 84. Beautiful beach and lovely people. I miss the Number 4 restaurant Soi Bangla, later , but I miss it Molly Maloney and their fabulous Manila girls singers and band. Also , on beach road the big outside restaurant/ hotel, band playing every night .The Sweet restaurant on Soi Patong Tower. Great food and so cheap. Lovely staff. Junk Ceylon when it opened, great for shopping.   the tsunami , I was there in my condo Phuket Palace on the balcony looking out towards the sea. There were no buildings in front at all then, just trees. Great pool, easy to walk to town, and after seeing the water creeping up towards us and our pool, people in bathers running, I went down with my neighbor to take a look! Devastation! Roads up in the air, the bus in the sea, cars all turned over, electric wires hanging everywhere. Well, we all know that time don’t we. I still think about it often. Lived also in Kata, near the beach. Lovely place and I’m going back next week !! I moved away because there were not enough condos and eventually, too many tourists. Then came Hua Hin, well. Then Jomtien super condo penthouse for cheaper than a small place down south. But I’ve always missed Kata, Patong, and all my friends who mostly, are still there.

Maybe if you go back now to Patong it will be similar to 1984.

[London Lowf]

6 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Maybe if you go back now to Patong it will be similar to 1984.

 

More so now that there is a 9pm alcohol curfew and people are apparently cancelling their planned visits for the rest of this season.

 

If I was not here already then there is no way that I would consider Thailand for a holiday. Two weeks with the wife and kids? You must be joking!

 

[London Lowf]

It feels odd to be back at home and writing this so early in the evening - when I first came to Phuket I would only now be showering and getting ready to go out for the evening!

 

After the initial shock of the 9pm alcohol curfew, all of the bars on Bangla are now up and running and openly selling booze, although without any live or loud music - why???? It was reasonably busy, but nothing compared with Xmas/New Year.

 

 

[BugJackBaron]

1 hour ago, London Lowf said:

It feels odd to be back at home and writing this so early in the evening - when I first came to Phuket I would only now be showering and getting ready to go out for the evening!

 

After the initial shock of the 9pm alcohol curfew, all of the bars on Bangla are now up and running and openly selling booze, although without any live or loud music - why???? It was reasonably busy, but nothing compared with Xmas/New Year.

 

 

Good Question!  any youtube videos about this?

[xylophone]

 

 

 

10 hours ago, London Lowf said:

although without any live or loud music - why???

Possibly because the BIB found quite a few Covid cases amongst some of the bar staff tested in Bangla about a week ago AND the music bars are potential "super spreader" venues........most of the folks in these places are drinking so don't wear masks.

 

Two friends of mine contracted Covid on or around the New Years Eve celebrations and think they have narrowed it down to three possible venues.

[London Lowf]

4 hours ago, xylophone said:

Possibly because the BIB found quite a few Covid cases amongst some of the bar staff tested in Bangla about a week ago AND the music bars are potential "super spreader" venues........most of the folks in these places are drinking so don't wear masks.

 

Most of the folk in any bar on Bangla are drinking and maskless, whether there's loud/live music or not - I'm not arguing with you Xylo, just exasperated at Thai logic.

 

For example, last light I got a good spot at Black Horse and so stayed there for over an hour. Bar Funk opposite was just as busy as any other night with the young dance crowd and ladyboy freelancers/posers but the DJ had the music low enough that it wasn't an annoyance at my location. Good news if you want to hold a conversation!

[xylophone]

15 minutes ago, London Lowf said:

 

Most of the folk in any bar on Bangla are drinking and maskless, whether there's loud/live music or not - I'm not arguing with you Xylo, just exasperated at Thai logic.

 

For example, last light I got a good spot at Black Horse and so stayed there for over an hour. Bar Funk opposite was just as busy as any other night with the young dance crowd and ladyboy freelancers/posers but the DJ had the music low enough that it wasn't an annoyance at my location. Good news if you want to hold a conversation!

I understand where you're coming from LLF, however I will say that in all of the dance/music bars I've ever visited, there has been no chance whatsoever of what is called "social distancing", and that surely should apply to Bar Funk??

And as regards Thai logic, well it is what it is, illogical!

 

I thought you said that you had given up on the Black Horse bar because of the girl hassles??

 

Your point about "holding a conversation" is something that the bar owners here haven't cottoned on to yet – – that many farangs like to go to a bar for a drink and a chat/conversation, and of course to ogle the females, and I and a few friends have moved on from a couple of favourite bars because it's impossible to hold a conversation whilst the glasses are rattling on the counter because of the loud music and bass.

[London Lowf]

21 hours ago, xylophone said:

I thought you said that you had given up on the Black Horse bar because of the girl hassles??

The only bar that I have seriously fallen out with is the sister bar Blue Lotus over the road and I have not visited there for a long time - my problem was with one of the permanent uniformed staff who started to demand a drink every time I set foot in the place and then became rude and aggressive when she saw me in a bar opposite.

 

The girls/touts that hang around in front of the bars chop and change so frequently that I don't recognise them from one week to the next, and they do generally leave me alone these days.

 

[xylophone]

On the subject of Patong in general, there are quite a few small shops opening up around the place, and I notice that along Beach Road there are many of the small shops which sell T-shirts/shorts/etc which are now open, and there are a few in the OTOP area as well, so things appear to be looking up.

 

Perhaps there is some positivity around the place now, and on that note, a small guesthouse at the top of Soi Banzaan, which was previously called, "Stanleys" has been bought/leased and reopened by an amiable Canadian chap under the name of, "Canada House", and he has refurnished it to a certain extent and has "Farang – style" rooms available for 6000 baht a month, with a few Thai-style rooms also available.

 

It has a small bar in the front of it, and it would be nice to see it succeed, although I do believe it will be difficult in these times. Fingers crossed for him.

[London Lowf]

Things are getting a little desperate on Bangla.

 

Tourist numbers have dropped significantly now, particularly the two-week millionaire types, and last night even the immensely popular Kangaroo Bar had plenty of street-front tables with no customers.

 

I went to an almost empty bar further along but was pestered for ladydrinks and so left after two beers and moved elsewhere but got the same hustle. I am not as generous as the casual bar touts would like - I am a very regular drinker and always tip up to B100/beer so that's 25% at some bars, but I am more selective about my larger "sponsorships".

 

At the 9pm curfew I headed for a meal at the food soi (where beers are still openly sold and consumed) and at about 9:45 headed back to Beach Road to get my bike - during the 9pm police sweep the larger bars do shut shop quite promptly, most noticeably the high-profile Bar Funk and Sea Dragon Bar, but others don't seem to take much notice at all. Quite a few of the smaller bars were obviously serving alcohol on paper cups like back in October, but some weren't even bothering with that pretense!

 

The whole thing is laughable.

 

[xylophone]

34 minutes ago, London Lowf said:

Things are getting a little desperate on Bangla.

 

Tourist numbers have dropped significantly now, particularly the two-week millionaire types, and last night even the immensely popular Kangaroo Bar had plenty of street-front tables with no customers.

 

I went to an almost empty bar further along but was pestered for ladydrinks and so left after two beers and moved elsewhere but got the same hustle. I am not as generous as the casual bar touts would like - I am a very regular drinker and always tip up to B100/beer so that's 25% at some bars, but I am more selective about my larger "sponsorships".

 

At the 9pm curfew I headed for a meal at the food soi (where beers are still openly sold and consumed) and at about 9:45 headed back to Beach Road to get my bike - during the 9pm police sweep the larger bars do shut shop quite promptly, most noticeably the high-profile Bar Funk and Sea Dragon Bar, but others don't seem to take much notice at all. Quite a few of the smaller bars were obviously serving alcohol on paper cups like back in October, but some weren't even bothering with that pretense!

 

The whole thing is laughable.

 

Yes, a friend of mine was out on Friday and Saturday and said that things were very quiet.

 

I think it's probably a case of the "perfect storm" with tourist numbers being low anyway, and then the hassle of the changing rules and regulations, and of course omicron reaching Thailand, sending out "warning signals".

 

You may recall that over almost a couple of weeks ago, there were rumours about Covid being rampant in Bangla, although the authorities hushed it up, however I have it on extremely good authority that one usually very busy bar had more than 10 girls who tested positive, and there had to have been more around the place, so that would have scared some of the Thai folk away, and maybe some of those rumours have gotten back to the farangs?

 

Certainly quite a few of the Suzy Wong girls have left, albeit replaced by a few that are not as pretty as the previous ones, so perhaps these are either not as afraid of Covid as some of the other girls are (and I know a few who are just about terrified of it) or are desperate for a job.

 

Another thing I've noticed here is that there are quite a few Russians about and many of those I've seen have been here with their family, so may not be what could be deemed "Bangla regulars"?

 

Whatever the reason and I still believe they are manyfold, Patong is going to continue to suffer for many months, if not years, to come, and I wish good luck to the brave souls who have decided to open a business/their businesses here.

[LivinginKata]

I don't get along Nanai Rd these days so I was surprised/pleased to see the Offshore Bar resurrected next door to Ting Tongs bar, I wish them well. That little area of Nanai seems have developed to a bar area. 

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

I don't get along Nanai Rd these days so I was surprised/pleased to see the Offshore Bar resurrected next door to Ting Tongs bar, I wish them well. That little area of Nanai seems have developed to a bar area. 

Yes it has developed into a little bar area now you come to mention it LiK, and the Offshore Bar seems to be doing quite well, and I've even noticed some punters sitting on the bar stools at 10:15 in the morning!

 

I wouldn't imagine that the owner of Ting Tong bar is very happy with it opening up right next to him, but then again as you say, there are a couple of bars directly opposite, and three more just round the corner so the regular bar monger is spoilt for choice!

[London Lowf]

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

Certainly quite a few of the Suzy Wong girls have left, albeit replaced by a few that are not as pretty as the previous ones,

This is part of what galls me about the current girls hustling for ladydrinks all along Bangla - 95% of the current crop are not remotely tempting.

 

It used to be the case that the eye candy in Patong was far superior to my base town of Kamala, but now there's nothing to choose between the two.