Patong - The Wake

[Rhacsyn]

On 7/6/2023 at 11:18 PM, xylophone said:

So, being demolished as a bar complex...............and reopening as a bar complex!!

 

Sounds very Thai LL.

As per locals and a few current tenants,  it seems that's true! It will open again as a bar complex but.........with bigger bars! Three rows instead of four. Now that should work ☺️. Nevertheless, all said and done, it may smarten the inside area a bit. Will that attract more customers? Doubtfull for me but let's see.

[BugJackBaron]

Lat month, I visited Patong for the first time in 15 years or so. My how it has grown!

I liked it. Like a low-key Patty.  Gone  is the Subway Sandwich shop and apartment I stayed in. Puckett is way cool.

[xylophone]

"Gone  is the Subway Sandwich shop".......

 

Yes, that is a shame because I liked the Subway sandwiches and very often I would get one and eat it in Starbucks (far better than the rubbish they served there IMO) when I was catching up with friends, although I would buy a Starbucks tea, which was okay.

 

Would be great to see Subway back here again.

[zzzzz]

16 hours ago, BugJackBaron said:

Lat month, I visited Patong for the first time in 15 years or so. My how it has grown!

I liked it. Like a low-key Patty.  Gone  is the Subway Sandwich shop and apartment I stayed in. Puckett is way cool.

Subway is on Beach road now, very small shop so hard to miss an dam,,, their prices have gone up

[Olmate]

1 hour ago, zzzzz said:

Subway is on Beach road now, very small shop so hard to miss an dam,,, their prices have gone up

6 inch roast beef at Subway yesterday 199baht!

[BugJackBaron]

3 hours ago, Olmate said:

6 inch roast beef at Subway yesterday 199baht!

Outrageous, I never like their bread anyways. 

Good roast beef sandwich in Pattay at about 90Baht in a supermarket.

[xylophone]

On 7/13/2023 at 10:21 AM, Rhacsyn said:

As per locals and a few current tenants,  it seems that's true! It will open again as a bar complex but.........with bigger bars! Three rows instead of four. Now that should work ☺️. Nevertheless, all said and done, it may smarten the inside area a bit. Will that attract more customers? Doubtfull for me but let's see.

Doubtful for me too, but then again this is Patong and nothing surprises me any more, and to follow along on that line, a couple of recent events come to mind.

 

It has been noted that bars and small businesses have been opening and closing with regular monotony, and one would think that the price of these places would reflect a "difficult climate/business environment", but not so: –

 

A girl I know of has opened a small motorbike rental shop in Nanai, and previous to this it had several incarnations, none of them successful, because of its positioning mostly. However this lady is paying 30,000 baht per month rental for a shop which can't accommodate more than two or three motorbikes on the raised exterior/frontage of the place, and even if she could put them inside the shop, which doesn't lend its frontage to this, they wouldn't be on display!

 

Furthermore, a very small massage shop, close to my Soi, in a small row of similar sized shops, one of which has recently closed due to lack of business, is up for sale at the eye watering price of 400,000 baht!! This when it would have had no more than a handful of customers (if that) over the past few months!

 

There is absolutely no way that this place could turn a profit, however the lady owner who is overseas at the moment, seems to think that she will get 400,000 baht for this small, cramped, out of the way, non-performing business........but then again TIT, and probably more significant, this is Patong, where anything can happen.

 

Lala land and some.

[xylophone]

UNBELIEVABLE........is probably a good word with which to start this post, and not only because the traffic here is horrendous now that they've taken to digging up the "middle road" (something they had done quite a few years ago to improve the drainage but it obviously didn't work) thereby creating traffic jams all round, but because they've also started to resurface Nanai Road, which is normally quite a busy road and is now at times impassable!!

 

It's not just the roadworks themselves, or the timing thereof, which I would label "unbelievable", but also the idiots on the road, with one man (I shall label him a Russian) deciding to drive out of Makro on the wrong side of the road, heading south, before coming face-to-face with a large truck which had to swerve to miss him. Even then it appears that he didn't realise he was driving on the wrong side of the road, because after the truck had passed, he continued on that side until some cars came the other way and maybe the light came on, or maybe it didn't? I was gone by then.

 

Then I had a couple of experiences with some Chinese people, you know those people who decide to walk four abreast on one half of a narrow road, which a crowd of them did after they spilled out of a side road onto Nanai when I was driving along in my car. Luckily enough I wasn't going very fast and was able to slow up quickly and sound my horn.

 

But did it make a difference – – not one bit, because they continued to walk slowly in front of my car with me behind them tooting my horn to get them to move, but they didn't, so I slowly drove the car into the back of this small mob, hitting one of them with my wing mirror, before she cried out and the rest of them shuffled to one side.

 

This is not the first time this has happened and I doubt it will be the last – – in fact it wasn't the last because just yesterday I was driving with a friend down a small slip/access road to a shop therein, and although it was clearly a vehicle road, with cars parked on one side and motorbikes on the other, a family of three were walking in the middle of the road, and of course I was driving down it, so there were walking towards me and they looked up and saw me but did nothing, absolutely nothing, so I drove at them, whilst my friend was shouting obscenities at them out of the window.

 

What on earth causes these people to be like that – – ignorant, stupid, blind, or just arrogant in thinking that they have the right-of-way?? Reminds me of the time a Chinese guy put his feet on a table in Starbucks and proceeded to clip his toenails.......Jeeezus!

 

SO I will warn fellow posters that if I haven't been heard of for some time, it's probably because I've been locked away after forcefully ploughing into a crowd of Chinese jaywalkers!!!

 

The recently opened Hurricane Rock Bar, which is painted black inside and outside, as well as the furniture, has not been busy at all, in fact I noticed a sign on the roller blind door a couple of days ago which said, "live music and free food tonight" (it doesn't seem to be open during the day). Obviously trying to get some punters into the place, but with a bar which looks as uninviting as the entrance to a coal mine, it doesn't appear to have worked yet.

 

My bet is that it is here for a short time only, unless the owner is very wealthy and doesn't mind losing money!

 

Patong attracts all sorts.........not the liquorice variety!!

[Agusts]

I have noticed this a lot, many tourists from various countries just walk on the road, in the middle, even if pavement is available, and usable...! 

 

First I was thinking which small village they came from that probably doesn't have many cars so people walk on the roads without any issue...!? 

 

But nowadays I think they consider Patong a village, and think it's fine walking in the middle of the road because there is no other traffic here ???? - it boils your blood when some actually see you but still carry on and not give way...!!! 

 

The only way to survive this place is with "Mai pen rai" attitude, otherwise we all had been locked away in asylum a long time ago...????

[xylophone]

11 hours ago, Agusts said:

I have noticed this a lot, many tourists from various countries just walk on the road, in the middle, even if pavement is available, and usable...! 

 

First I was thinking which small village they came from that probably doesn't have many cars so people walk on the roads without any issue...!? 

 

But nowadays I think they consider Patong a village, and think it's fine walking in the middle of the road because there is no other traffic here ???? - it boils your blood when some actually see you but still carry on and not give way...!!! 

 

The only way to survive this place is with "Mai pen rai" attitude, otherwise we all had been locked away in asylum a long time ago...????

Your comments regarding walking in the middle-of-the-road are somewhat valid, however walking three or four abreast on one half of a narrow road is plain madness/stupidity. And I could forgive them if they were really from a small village somewhere in China, but their whole attitude and actions point to something else?

 

When you look at the experiences here of a Chinese man cutting his toenails on the table of Starbucks, and a woman allowing her child to take a dump on the main thoroughfare outside of the same coffee shop, plus the absolutely annoying habit they have of crowding shopping aisles and not considering any other people, then it leads me to believe they are – – ignorant, stupid, inbred, bad mannered and simply have no idea how the real world works. Take your pick.

[LivinginKata]

I drove along Nanai Road yesterday and the road resurfacing is a danger as they lay down about 5 cm of tarmac leaving all the drain covers sunken and a danger to all traffic. I predict a number of bike accidents. I hope they quickly build up the many covers.  Here in Kata the recently resurfaced many side road and they rebuilt the kerbs and raised the covers just before resurface  road.  Was a  nuisance driving round raised covers but at least they were visible. 

[xylophone]

59 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

I drove along Nanai Road yesterday and the road resurfacing is a danger as they lay down about 5 cm of tarmac leaving all the drain covers sunken and a danger to all traffic. I predict a number of bike accidents. I hope they quickly build up the many covers.  Here in Kata the recently resurfaced many side road and they rebuilt the kerbs and raised the covers just before resurface  road.  Was a  nuisance driving round raised covers but at least they were visible. 

Agree LiK, as the sunken drain covers are a hazard to m/c riders, with some of them being many cms/inches deep. Whoever planned this resurfacing didn't think it through...........but then we all know it is not a strength of so-called planners here.

[LivinginKata]

On 7/30/2023 at 7:15 AM, xylophone said:

Agree LiK, as the sunken drain covers are a hazard to m/c riders, with some of them being many cms/inches deep. Whoever planned this resurfacing didn't think it through...........but then we all know it is not a strength of so-called planners here.

Today I notice a small crew working on raising covers. But far too few workers for such a big job.

 

[xylophone]

On 7/19/2023 at 12:16 PM, xylophone said:

Furthermore, a very small massage shop, close to my Soi, in a small row of similar sized shops, one of which has recently closed due to lack of business, is up for sale at the eye watering price of 400,000 baht!! This when it would have had no more than a handful of customers (if that) over the past few months!

 

There is absolutely no way that this place could turn a profit, however the lady owner who is overseas at the moment, seems to think that she will get 400,000 baht for this small, cramped, out of the way, non-performing business........but then again TIT, and probably more significant, this is Patong, where anything can happen.

I noticed a couple of women milling about in the "very small massage shop, in a row of similar size shops" that was up for sale for 400,000 baht, and was told that these two women had bought the place for 250,000 baht, and at this time of writing they were cleaning the place up a little, taking posters off the wall and so on.

 

They obviously thought they got a bargain, but I predict it will go the same way as the last one........ and "poof" their dreams will disappear in a puff of smoke (or similar). It seems like the old saying which goes something along the lines of, there's always a bigger fool waiting in the wings, will come pass..........and I just hope they can find another fool when that time comes!
 

[xylophone]

I've not been out and about much over the past couple of months for one reason or another, but that changed when a friend came over from Oz, so we agreed to meet up for dinner and then "whatever".

 

We went to the Norwegian restaurant, "West" in the Soi leading up to Patong Tower, as my friend was a keen meat eater and they do serve a very good piece of medium rare steak, so we settled down there for the evening with his bottle of wine and had a nice meal and a good chat as we hadn't caught up for over a year.

 

I thought we might go along to Blue Beach, however he was keen to visit Molly Malones, because he hadn't been there for many years and neither had I, so MMs it was.

 

It's quite a large long bar and had a five piece band in it, and they weren't loud at all, which was good because we could hear ourselves speak, and there were about 18 people in there all told, all enjoying the music, and the band had a Filipino singer who was very good and even better was the tubby lady Filipino drummer – – excellent.

 

My friend from Oz encouraged me to get up and sing a song, so I did, in fact I sang two and they went down very well, according to the punters in the pub anyway!

 

A couple of nights later we repeated the night out and this time ate at the Italian restaurant in a small Soi opposite Soi Sea Dragon, "Amena e Core" and that was excellent, and we repeated the Molly Malones experience, mainly because he was going home the next day and wanted to see it again, and of course he enjoyed it.

 

On the subject of dining out I went to Blue Beach Restaurant and Bar on Friday evening to catch up with a couple of friends, and as always the food was great and I really enjoyed the chicken schnitzel and that with a couple or six glasses of wine set me up for the evening and as I wasn't feeling too special, I trundled off home at about 10:15 PM.

 

A couple of things to note are that the roadworks in the middle road are coming along appallingly slowly and I don't think the engineers have got any idea as to what they are doing, which means that traffic gets diverted along the beach road and also Nanai road, which makes it almost impassable at sometimes during the day.

 

The constant banging, crashing and renovation of the little "recreation area" which sits alongside the Chang Residence has now ceased because they have replaced the leaking roof and cleared out all the collapsed crap inside of it, and rumour has it that there are going to be some beer bars built in the place??? One would have to wonder at the wisdom of this move, but there again it is pointless trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of events here in Patong.

 

The Chang Residence itself (hotel) hasn't had any signs of life for at least three years and I have been told that the electricity was cut off a long time ago, so what's going to become of this, who knows.

 

Also what was previously an Italian restaurant and guesthouse, called "Loft" just around the corner closed down many months ago and someone has resurrected that, and I saw a lot of wooden furniture bits and pieces being torn out, and some new TVs being put in, so I'd suppose the guesthouse part is going to be up and running again. 

 

As regards the restaurant, well it's not the most inviting place, sitting right alongside the road, and they have renamed it something absolutely stunning, startling and inviting, and it's called, "Nice to Meat you"............yeah right, that's going to draw the punters in!!! 

 

I've often mentioned about the planning, or not as the case may be, which goes into these places, however suffice it to say that right opposite this Italian restaurant is another small restaurant which closed down due to lack of business, and just around the corner is a small coffee/waffle/cake shop which also closed down due to lack of business, and if you follow this road round just about a hundred metres, you will find two very small bars attached to the side of Makro, which have done very little business in the many times I've been past, and then further round the corner, one I mentioned a short while ago which replaced the "Ting Tong Bar", "The Hurricane Rock Bar", has a scarcity of punters although the owner has now put five bar girls in the place to try and bring in the customers.......hmmm.

 

Further up Nanai I noticed that a very large double concrete bar (colour light blue) on the corner, which has had several owners over a short period of time has opened up again and whereas the last owner was a French guy, I've no idea who the new one is, but again it's sparsely populated on the many times I've been passed, but then again it's got two bars directly opposite competing with it for business, and one of them, "The Rock Bar" has a good reputation for camaraderie and food.

 

The whole of Nanai seems to be struggling one way or another and I forgot to mention that further south just past a long-standing massage parlour, a beer bar has reopened called Mojito, after it had been closed for nigh on a year, and just down from that another beer bar attached to a massage parlour has closed, and I believe that was a joint venture between an older farang and a Thai woman....

 

A friends massage shop in Soi Banzaan has had a new bar built next to it, which has taken the place of the bar called, "Canada House", which was part of an unfortunate incident of the owner's girlfriend, hanging herself in a shop opposite.

 

Of course that put a hex on that place and it has had no business since, although I noticed yesterday that the frontage had been taken out and the whole place was being redecorated, and according to my friends in the massage shop, it was going to be, it was going to be, it was going to be.........yes, a bar and small restaurant, immediately opposite the Canada house bar, and almost immediately opposite another bar, which is just a few metres away from another restaurant and bar, which is...........I'm sure you get the picture.

 

And to top the lot, just a few metres along from the outside of this place there are two or three food carts which seem to do pretty good business, so the competition is extremely high!

 

Last but not least, although I walked up Bangla a couple of days ago, I didn't notice anything spectacular about the Tiger Complex which is supposedly being rebuilt, but which is still covered in tarpaulins, but I did notice that Soi Sansabi was absolutely packed with people and vehicles of one description or another, and I believe I can say that this is the most crowded I've ever seen it in a "low season", and the people were of all nationalities.

 

Jungceylon is all but finished and it's good to see people and colour back in the place although as I said previously I would love to see a "Subway" open up there again. Having said that, I do most of my shopping in Big C, and just occasionally in Tops in Phuket Central, so plenty of opportunity to look around for what I want.

 

So, onwards and upwards, and I will be so pleased when the engineers have found a way to repair the water pipe in the middle road, because at the moment it looks as if they are clueless.
 

[dogblower]

After living in Patong for 18 years before moving to the south of the island, I looked around one day and asked myself "What the f*&# have they done to my home?"

 

I left Phuket after a total of 22 years and now live elsewhere in Thailand. For the last 15 years, whenever I am asked why I left Phuket, I answer "greed". There seems to be a mindset on the island which revolves entirely around greed. And Patong is at the heart of it.

 

I have been back twice since I left and my wife, who had never been there before, hated the place too. Doubt I will ever be back.

[Olmate]

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

I've not been out and about much over the past couple of months for one reason or another, but that changed when a friend came over from Oz, so we agreed to meet up for dinner and then "whatever".

 

We went to the Norwegian restaurant, "West" in the Soi leading up to Patong Tower, as my friend was a keen meat eater and they do serve a very good piece of medium rare steak, so we settled down there for the evening with his bottle of wine and had a nice meal and a good chat as we hadn't caught up for over a year.

 

I thought we might go along to Blue Beach, however he was keen to visit Molly Malones, because he hadn't been there for many years and neither had I, so MMs it was.

 

It's quite a large long bar and had a five piece band in it, and they weren't loud at all, which was good because we could hear ourselves speak, and there were about 18 people in there all told, all enjoying the music, and the band had a Filipino singer who was very good and even better was the tubby lady Filipino drummer – – excellent.

 

My friend from Oz encouraged me to get up and sing a song, so I did, in fact I sang two and they went down very well, according to the punters in the pub anyway!

 

A couple of nights later we repeated the night out and this time ate at the Italian restaurant in a small Soi opposite Soi Sea Dragon, "Amena e Core" and that was excellent, and we repeated the Molly Malones experience, mainly because he was going home the next day and wanted to see it again, and of course he enjoyed it.

 

On the subject of dining out I went to Blue Beach Restaurant and Bar on Friday evening to catch up with a couple of friends, and as always the food was great and I really enjoyed the chicken schnitzel and that with a couple or six glasses of wine set me up for the evening and as I wasn't feeling too special, I trundled off home at about 10:15 PM.

 

A couple of things to note are that the roadworks in the middle road are coming along appallingly slowly and I don't think the engineers have got any idea as to what they are doing, which means that traffic gets diverted along the beach road and also Nanai road, which makes it almost impassable at sometimes during the day.

 

The constant banging, crashing and renovation of the little "recreation area" which sits alongside the Chang Residence has now ceased because they have replaced the leaking roof and cleared out all the collapsed crap inside of it, and rumour has it that there are going to be some beer bars built in the place??? One would have to wonder at the wisdom of this move, but there again it is pointless trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of events here in Patong.

 

The Chang Residence itself (hotel) hasn't had any signs of life for at least three years and I have been told that the electricity was cut off a long time ago, so what's going to become of this, who knows.

 

Also what was previously an Italian restaurant and guesthouse, called "Loft" just around the corner closed down many months ago and someone has resurrected that, and I saw a lot of wooden furniture bits and pieces being torn out, and some new TVs being put in, so I'd suppose the guesthouse part is going to be up and running again. 

 

As regards the restaurant, well it's not the most inviting place, sitting right alongside the road, and they have renamed it something absolutely stunning, startling and inviting, and it's called, "Nice to Meat you"............yeah right, that's going to draw the punters in!!! 

 

I've often mentioned about the planning, or not as the case may be, which goes into these places, however suffice it to say that right opposite this Italian restaurant is another small restaurant which closed down due to lack of business, and just around the corner is a small coffee/waffle/cake shop which also closed down due to lack of business, and if you follow this road round just about a hundred metres, you will find two very small bars attached to the side of Makro, which have done very little business in the many times I've been past, and then further round the corner, one I mentioned a short while ago which replaced the "Ting Tong Bar", "The Hurricane Rock Bar", has a scarcity of punters although the owner has now put five bar girls in the place to try and bring in the customers.......hmmm.

 

Further up Nanai I noticed that a very large double concrete bar (colour light blue) on the corner, which has had several owners over a short period of time has opened up again and whereas the last owner was a French guy, I've no idea who the new one is, but again it's sparsely populated on the many times I've been passed, but then again it's got two bars directly opposite competing with it for business, and one of them, "The Rock Bar" has a good reputation for camaraderie and food.

 

The whole of Nanai seems to be struggling one way or another and I forgot to mention that further south just past a long-standing massage parlour, a beer bar has reopened called Mojito, after it had been closed for nigh on a year, and just down from that another beer bar attached to a massage parlour has closed, and I believe that was a joint venture between an older farang and a Thai woman....

 

A friends massage shop in Soi Banzaan has had a new bar built next to it, which has taken the place of the bar called, "Canada House", which was part of an unfortunate incident of the owner's girlfriend, hanging herself in a shop opposite.

 

Of course that put a hex on that place and it has had no business since, although I noticed yesterday that the frontage had been taken out and the whole place was being redecorated, and according to my friends in the massage shop, it was going to be, it was going to be, it was going to be.........yes, a bar and small restaurant, immediately opposite the Canada house bar, and almost immediately opposite another bar, which is just a few metres away from another restaurant and bar, which is...........I'm sure you get the picture.

 

And to top the lot, just a few metres along from the outside of this place there are two or three food carts which seem to do pretty good business, so the competition is extremely high!

 

Last but not least, although I walked up Bangla a couple of days ago, I didn't notice anything spectacular about the Tiger Complex which is supposedly being rebuilt, but which is still covered in tarpaulins, but I did notice that Soi Sansabi was absolutely packed with people and vehicles of one description or another, and I believe I can say that this is the most crowded I've ever seen it in a "low season", and the people were of all nationalities.

 

Jungceylon is all but finished and it's good to see people and colour back in the place although as I said previously I would love to see a "Subway" open up there again. Having said that, I do most of my shopping in Big C, and just occasionally in Tops in Phuket Central, so plenty of opportunity to look around for what I want.

 

So, onwards and upwards, and I will be so pleased when the engineers have found a way to repair the water pipe in the middle road, because at the moment it looks as if they are clueless.
 

"Meat to please you" might work!   ....    Good to hear your update, thanks.

[spidermike007]

I was there recently. Saw a few hot babes on Bangla. Not many. And barely any freelancers. Also, elsewhere in Patong, Kata and Karon the massage and bar scene was worse than Samui. It has diminished into nearly a big zero. Been diminishing for years, but I had heard it was rocking. Not the case. It was boring and bereft. And as always, overpriced.

 

Don't need to ever visit Phuket again. Though I do love the Andaman. It is gorgeous and Phuket is a beautiful island. 

[Patong2]

16 hours ago, xylophone said:

I've not been out and about much over the past couple of months for one reason or another, but that changed when a friend came over from Oz, so we agreed to meet up for dinner and then "whatever".

 

We went to the Norwegian restaurant, "West" in the Soi leading up to Patong Tower, as my friend was a keen meat eater and they do serve a very good piece of medium rare steak, so we settled down there for the evening with his bottle of wine and had a nice meal and a good chat as we hadn't caught up for over a year.

 

I thought we might go along to Blue Beach, however he was keen to visit Molly Malones, because he hadn't been there for many years and neither had I, so MMs it was.

 

It's quite a large long bar and had a five piece band in it, and they weren't loud at all, which was good because we could hear ourselves speak, and there were about 18 people in there all told, all enjoying the music, and the band had a Filipino singer who was very good and even better was the tubby lady Filipino drummer – – excellent.

 

My friend from Oz encouraged me to get up and sing a song, so I did, in fact I sang two and they went down very well, according to the punters in the pub anyway!

 

A couple of nights later we repeated the night out and this time ate at the Italian restaurant in a small Soi opposite Soi Sea Dragon, "Amena e Core" and that was excellent, and we repeated the Molly Malones experience, mainly because he was going home the next day and wanted to see it again, and of course he enjoyed it.

 

On the subject of dining out I went to Blue Beach Restaurant and Bar on Friday evening to catch up with a couple of friends, and as always the food was great and I really enjoyed the chicken schnitzel and that with a couple or six glasses of wine set me up for the evening and as I wasn't feeling too special, I trundled off home at about 10:15 PM.

 

A couple of things to note are that the roadworks in the middle road are coming along appallingly slowly and I don't think the engineers have got any idea as to what they are doing, which means that traffic gets diverted along the beach road and also Nanai road, which makes it almost impassable at sometimes during the day.

 

The constant banging, crashing and renovation of the little "recreation area" which sits alongside the Chang Residence has now ceased because they have replaced the leaking roof and cleared out all the collapsed crap inside of it, and rumour has it that there are going to be some beer bars built in the place??? One would have to wonder at the wisdom of this move, but there again it is pointless trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of events here in Patong.

 

The Chang Residence itself (hotel) hasn't had any signs of life for at least three years and I have been told that the electricity was cut off a long time ago, so what's going to become of this, who knows.

 

Also what was previously an Italian restaurant and guesthouse, called "Loft" just around the corner closed down many months ago and someone has resurrected that, and I saw a lot of wooden furniture bits and pieces being torn out, and some new TVs being put in, so I'd suppose the guesthouse part is going to be up and running again. 

 

As regards the restaurant, well it's not the most inviting place, sitting right alongside the road, and they have renamed it something absolutely stunning, startling and inviting, and it's called, "Nice to Meat you"............yeah right, that's going to draw the punters in!!! 

 

I've often mentioned about the planning, or not as the case may be, which goes into these places, however suffice it to say that right opposite this Italian restaurant is another small restaurant which closed down due to lack of business, and just around the corner is a small coffee/waffle/cake shop which also closed down due to lack of business, and if you follow this road round just about a hundred metres, you will find two very small bars attached to the side of Makro, which have done very little business in the many times I've been past, and then further round the corner, one I mentioned a short while ago which replaced the "Ting Tong Bar", "The Hurricane Rock Bar", has a scarcity of punters although the owner has now put five bar girls in the place to try and bring in the customers.......hmmm.

 

Further up Nanai I noticed that a very large double concrete bar (colour light blue) on the corner, which has had several owners over a short period of time has opened up again and whereas the last owner was a French guy, I've no idea who the new one is, but again it's sparsely populated on the many times I've been passed, but then again it's got two bars directly opposite competing with it for business, and one of them, "The Rock Bar" has a good reputation for camaraderie and food.

 

The whole of Nanai seems to be struggling one way or another and I forgot to mention that further south just past a long-standing massage parlour, a beer bar has reopened called Mojito, after it had been closed for nigh on a year, and just down from that another beer bar attached to a massage parlour has closed, and I believe that was a joint venture between an older farang and a Thai woman....

 

A friends massage shop in Soi Banzaan has had a new bar built next to it, which has taken the place of the bar called, "Canada House", which was part of an unfortunate incident of the owner's girlfriend, hanging herself in a shop opposite.

 

Of course that put a hex on that place and it has had no business since, although I noticed yesterday that the frontage had been taken out and the whole place was being redecorated, and according to my friends in the massage shop, it was going to be, it was going to be, it was going to be.........yes, a bar and small restaurant, immediately opposite the Canada house bar, and almost immediately opposite another bar, which is just a few metres away from another restaurant and bar, which is...........I'm sure you get the picture.

 

And to top the lot, just a few metres along from the outside of this place there are two or three food carts which seem to do pretty good business, so the competition is extremely high!

 

Last but not least, although I walked up Bangla a couple of days ago, I didn't notice anything spectacular about the Tiger Complex which is supposedly being rebuilt, but which is still covered in tarpaulins, but I did notice that Soi Sansabi was absolutely packed with people and vehicles of one description or another, and I believe I can say that this is the most crowded I've ever seen it in a "low season", and the people were of all nationalities.

 

Jungceylon is all but finished and it's good to see people and colour back in the place although as I said previously I would love to see a "Subway" open up there again. Having said that, I do most of my shopping in Big C, and just occasionally in Tops in Phuket Central, so plenty of opportunity to look around for what I want.

 

So, onwards and upwards, and I will be so pleased when the engineers have found a way to repair the water pipe in the middle road, because at the moment it looks as if they are clueless.
 

Thanks for the comprehensive update.

 and we'll try the restaurants

I am back on Wednesday after freezing in NZ for a month.

Patong may not be perfect it sure is better than many places.

 

[xylophone]

I forgot to mention that I had a great night out on Sunday, at the Blue Beach Cafe and Restaurant, which is actually on the beach for those who don't know it!!

 

It was the owner's birthday and along with the "normal" flow of customers, there were many of her friends, making the place almost full (say 90% full). There was a small band playing and the music was not too loud and it was good to catch up with some friends I knew, as for many it has become a regular meeting place.

 

I have got to comment on the "wait staff" (not sure what they're called these days!) because they were fantastic in amongst the hustle and bustle, always smiling and delivering mountains of great and tasty food on time, and on their feet for hours, and the whole thing ran like clockwork. Later on the kitchen staff came out for a break and a drink and deservedly so. 

 

So congratulations to them and also to the owner/boss who makes sure that everything is "shipshape" in the place.

 

Couldn't fault the evening and that was evidenced by the amount of red wine I put away, which slowed me up somewhat the next day. Having said that, I wouldn't have missed the evening for anything.

[London Lowf]

14 hours ago, xylophone said:

the Blue Beach Cafe and Restaurant, which is actually on the beach for those who don't know it!!

Haha - not much chance of that!

 

[xylophone]

11 hours ago, London Lowf said:

Haha - not much chance of that!

 

R U back in Phuket LL?

 

As you will have noticed I have "sung the praises" of a few restaurants here in Patong and the more good ones I encounter the more will appear on AN????

 

I hope it will give a few visitors an idea on where to eat!!

[London Lowf]

4 hours ago, xylophone said:

R U back in Phuket LL?

 

As you will have noticed I have "sung the praises" of a few restaurants here in Patong and the more good ones I encounter the more will appear on AN????

 

I hope it will give a few visitors an idea on where to eat!!

I'm back at the beginning of October up until Xmas.

 

I'm sure you understand that sarcasm is a staple ingredient of British humour - I see elsewhere that you have the passport but I thought that you were a Kiwi?

 

Anyway, no harm meant and maybe my comment raised a wry smirk or two - it did get one laugh!

 

[xylophone]

I did realise the sarcasm in your post LL and it was me who put the laughing emoji on it. All good old chap.

[HighPriority]

37 minutes ago, xylophone said:

I did realise the sarcasm in your post LL and it was me who put the laughing emoji on it. All good old chap.

Someone did it…

????

[xylophone]

I had a nice surprise today with some positive feedback about my posts on this thread, from a guy whom I only know in passing in the likes of Big C.

 

I wasn't aware that he knew the name under which I posted, but somehow he did, and he said that he always read my posts and they were most informative, and there were times when he would pass on that information to friends – – his advice to me was, "keep on doing what you're doing" or words to that effect.

 

So here's a little update: – the former Italian restaurant (Loft) in Nanai road which has now become another Italian restaurant called, "Nice to Meat You" is now advertising rooms at 399 baht per night. It always had some rooms, although I haven't seen any activity in them for quite a while, but I did notice a while back that they were ripping out some old wardrobes and similar, and also putting new TVs in, so obviously hoping for an upturn in custom, which from what I've seen is much needed in both the restaurant and guesthouse!

 

Adjacent to it is the former "recreation area" of the hotel which was called, "Chang Residence, which has now been cleared out of the rubbish which was in it, along with what was left of its collapsed roof, and the place has been cleaned up somewhat, along with what looks to be some new light fittings being attached to the ceiling.

Having said that, work has slowed over the last few days, and I've no idea what it will actually end up being, although someone did suggest that some beer bars were going to be built in it – – who knows?

 

Further along Nanai, and opposite the entrance to Soi Banzaan before Covid there was a "make your own sandwich" type place, which closed for obvious reasons, and not too long ago a new bar opened up in its place called, "SW 4". Now this was a bar (if you could call it that) which had just about enough room to "swing a cat" and I only ever saw a couple of folks in it in the year or so it has been open..... ANYWAY it appears that it has changed hands again, and is now called "Blue Sky Bar".

 

Quite why anybody would want to rent that place and use it as a bar, is beyond me, mainly because it's right next to the road, there are a few steep steps leading up to it, with just about nowhere to park one's bike, if indeed one did venture out on one, and it's got about as much character as a store room in the back of a shop!

One only has to travel down Nanai to see that there are many bars which have to be struggling big time to attract customers, so I doubt that they will be in business for long.

 

And just yesterday I noticed that a bar/restaurant/massage shop, all joined together, at almost the very southern end of Nanai, which was once owned by a French or Belgian guy and then closed down, and then rented and opened up again, with the addition of the massage shop, is now being demolished and I've no idea what else will be going in its place?

 

I have also heard that there are quite a few bars for sale (surreptitiously so) in OTOP, which doesn't surprise me in the least and having said all of the above, I am still at a loss to understand what the drawcard is for farangs and Thais to open up an establishment of one sort or another in a place which has little to no foot traffic, no to very little place to park, and is about the size of a couple of wardrobes – – luckily I'm not inclined to undertake such a venture. 

[DrDave]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:41 AM, xylophone said:

...

Quite why anybody would want to rent that place and use it as a bar, is beyond me, mainly because it's right next to the road, there are a few steep steps leading up to it, with just about nowhere to park one's bike, if indeed one did venture out on one, and it's got about as much character as a store room in the back of a shop!

One only has to travel down Nanai to see that there are many bars which have to be struggling big time to attract customers, so I doubt that they will be in business for long.

...

I think I'd need all my fingers and toes to count the number of failed establishments that have opened in that space over the past 15 years or so.

[London Lowf]

In that location, I was a regular at the P Bar when I used to stay in Patong - now gone and the owner was not a healthy guy It seemed to do okay as most of the clientele were passing foot traffic. I found the outrageous ladyboy server and the "flow" of traffic at the junction quite entertaining whilst enjoying a beer or two . The location halfway to/from Bangla from my hotel was very handy.

 

[xylophone]

Sad to say that I have just noticed that a very good Italian restaurant I used to visit, along with some friends from our "Italian Food and Wine Appreciation Society" (IFAWAS), is no more – – it has gone and is being replaced by a Turkish restaurant, the name of which isn't up on the premises at the moment.

 

It is in what is commonly known as "Soi Patong whiskey" or alternatively, "Soi Dr V" (after the doctors clinic on the corner of the Soi).

 

I don't believe it's had much, if any custom since Covid struck, although I do believe there were some guest rooms attached to it, however it is a little out of the way and not the sort of place where one would normally pop into for a meal.

 

All the same, I wish the new venture the very best in its endeavours, and I may have to give it a try in the near future.

[3NUMBAS]

safari bar was always great ,,very wild gals in there but in times when prices were low low