Patong - The Wake

[xylophone]

55 minutes ago, stoner said:

 

think snake oil sales men. 

Sorry Stoner.......still none the wiser!!

[zzzzz]

1 hour ago, DrDave said:

In regard to the government possibly reversing position on weed, I think it's just noise at this point. In Bangkok, there's a proliferation of weed shops especially in the lower Sukhumvit area. These shops are occupying some extremely expensive real estate, and considerable money has been spent on fitting out the shops. I suspect that the owners are well connected, and have assurance that they'll be able to continue conducting business after investing hefty sums.

amazing profits to be made> with very low overhead other than rent 
look at the prices on FB and line where you pay less than 20% of what those shops are selling the same weed for and thats buying retail, can u imagine how cheap it is wholesale?

once you let the genie out
very hard to put her back in

the shops i have visited, an the product i have tired, its NOT snake oil
what he means is,  people selling one thing and claiming its something else




 

[xylophone]

That I'm still alive to be able to post again is a miracle, well not a miracle, mainly because I was able to swerve out of the way on my Honda Click, when an idiot came round a left hand bend on the wrong side of the road whilst overtaking a truck, which he should not have done because he had no view whatsoever of the road ahead . He was going extremely fast and luckily enough I wasn't, so I was able to swerve out of the way, whereas he had nowhere to go – – it was one of those times when I wish I had been driving my car, because I would have wiped him out, meaning one less idiot on the road to kill someone else.

 

Anyway back on track, despite the fact the traffic here is disgustingly bad, and I'm not the only one experiencing this, I decided to get a motorbike taxi out to meet a friend in Bangla for something to eat and a mosey around.

 

We ate at Anema e Core as a change from my usual haunt of Blue Beach Café and Restaurant, which I still consider to be one of the best restaurants/venues here in Patong, with great staff and a great menu. Anyway this little Italian restaurant was good and apart from the very loud music emanating from the "Weed Shop" right opposite, the meal went well.

 

After that we went to a little bar in Soi Sea Dragon, where a friend of ours works, and passed the time away there, until he met up with another guy and they went their own way visting other bars, whilst I stayed with our friend at the bar, until I decided to visit another friend at Smiley Bar.

 

I was making my way home at about midnight, when I walked past Red Hot and the owner/manager beckoned me in, which I wasn't going to do, however I noticed two of the original band members were playing so I popped in, and a very attractive blonde woman came up to me and gave me a hug and said she remembered me from four years ago!!

 

Once the lead guitarist (and original band member) saw me in the audience he beckoned me up to sing a couple songs, which I did and was so glad that I did because it's been many months since I did that, and I enjoyed it, as did the audience by their enthusiastic applause after a couple of songs, and I got a few hugs from the bass guitarist of the previous band who was in the audience!!! I felt good about the experience so may do it again!

 

Bangla itself was busy, which it wasn't on my last few journeys out, and even the usually empty Soi Freedom had a few punters in it, which was good to see for the bar owners and girls in that Soi.

 

Out and about in Patong, the smaller bars still seem to struggle to make a go of things, judging by the number of customers in them, and I do believe that quite a few of them will be up for sale shortly, if they aren't already in that mode, surreptitiously so.

 

A little south of Makro on Nanai, what was once the Chang Residence hotel, which had been closed for almost all of the Covid period has been refurbished and apparently taken over by an Indian concern and I've got to say that they've done a good job with the refurbishment from what I can see, and although they have included a restaurant facing out from the hotel, it was barely used and over the last couple of days I have seen it closed, which would be a shame if it remained that way.

 

Soi Sansabai is now a regular hub of new shops, massage parlours, shisha "bars" and a couple of new buildings, and because it's so busy it's very difficult to get down there in the evening, or come back up there for that matter, although it is supposed to be one way, it's used by whomsoever wants to go up or down it as there is no policing of it whatsoever.

 

Something which struck me when I passed a few places over the past few days is that the pubs/bars which advertised "English breakfasts" and a few years ago would be pretty full in the mornings, don't seem to be doing the same business these days, so perhaps there are less English folk journeying to Patong, or maybe those that do are more health conscious than previous visitors???

 

Overall, Patong is now a completely different place than it was before the pandemic, although there are some buildings/roller blind shops that remain in an almost derelict state as a result of the pandemic, much of it has been improved/rebuilt so I can't say that the title "Patong – The Wake" is all that relevant at the moment, however it does give people the chance to comment on their experiences in Patong these days, so perhaps it does have a place?

[HighPriority]

Eyes up on the roads please Mr Xylophone.

I enjoy reading as I haven’t been back since 2019 but I am returning in May.

It'll be interesting to see the changes personally that you and others have noted.

[London Lowf]

The driving in this country never ceases to amaze me - a couple of hours ago a pick-up slowly reversed into me while I was sitting behind him on my scooter at a red light - it wasn't a roll-back on a hill, so what on earth was he doing? Luckily my front wheel was strong enough to stop him and he had to move forward as it became jammed under his rear bumper. No harm done!

 

A few days ago a bike taxi rammed me up the rear while slowly filtering along a packed Rat-U-Tit on the appraoch to Bangla. Again, no harm done.

 

I still visit Bangla five nights a week but sometimes I wonder why? Part of it is the fact that it seems impossible to know in advance whether the bars in my base town (Kamala) are going to close at midnight or the usual 2am. I've been staying in Kamala for about six years but the late night bar scene has never recovered since Covid - I often used to stop off regularly on my way home from beers at Bangla at about 1am for a couple of Sang Soms and games of pool but the centre of Kamala seems to start dying after about 11pm so I'm not sure where all the night owl expats go these days - maybe to Patong, like me?

 

I'm surprised that Patong is still so busy - I went home for Xmas and New Year partly to avoid the worse of peak season, but the traffic and parking is still horrendous and walking along Bangla at 11pm-1am is an assault course. Most of the bars seem to be doing very well although the newly refurbished Tiger seems to be a bit of a failure, no doubt partly due to B140 beers! I always have a peek and have never seen any of the bars busy, even the ones right at the front.

 

One thing that I am noticing is that, although the bars may be doing okay in terms of turnover, the girls are not getting the tips and ladydrinks like pre-Covid. There are still a few guys that are happy to pay to sit surrounded by three or four overweight and unattractive (to me) girls but there are many like me who are no longer interested in that game - in the past I would pay for the company of a young and attractive girl but there are so few around these days and it all gets a bit tiresome after a few years. Also, there seem to be more people paying by phone/card and so that must also kill the tip jar. In the last week or so a couple of the regular girls that I used to exchange pleasantries with have packed up and gone back home.

 

Based on my observations I would guess that even the few attractive bargirls are very rarely getting picked up for a takeaway - I think that the freelancers have completely taken over that market although they do get many last-minute cold feet ("what, I also have to pay B500/B1,000 for a stinking slum room for half an hour?") which wouldn't happen if a bar-fine had already been invested.

 

To sum up my impressions - Patong seems to have more than recovered from Covid and is generally in good health although the type of customer has evolved - more couples and families, and they spend their money in different ways to single guys like me.

 

[LivinginKata]

Been a long time since I have posted about Patong. I rarely travel over there from Kata. We are well into the process of selling our 2 home rental businesses. One bought and gone the other in negotiation. Rolled into Patong 1996, built apartments, made money, moved over Kata in 2006 when bult a little condo building over there. Witnessed a lot of changes along Nanai Road. Jungceylon was built. Interesting to witness. Happy to not be there any more. Bare able drive along Nani during Covid but not now. Bye Patong.

[stoner]

1 hour ago, London Lowf said:

it all gets a bit tiresome after a few years

 

5 nights a week for a few years ? 

 

i move tomorrow to phuket. been transitioning for about 6 months now. plan on staying about 3 to 5 years.

[zzzzz]

hint hint:
old # 3 police was transferred to Kamala an is now #1 in Kamala, time to make some $$
Cafe del mar is under fire as well as the locals thais are upset with the noise>

5 nights a week out in Patong?? my god, haven't done that since the 80's  You must love crowds and drinking
Rather you than me   :-)

[schlog]

10 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

Been a long time since I have posted about Patong. I rarely travel over there from Kata. We are well into the process of selling our 2 home rental businesses. One bought and gone the other in negotiation. Rolled into Patong 1996, built apartments, made money, moved over Kata in 2006 when bult a little condo building over there. Witnessed a lot of changes along Nanai Road. Jungceylon was built. Interesting to witness. Happy to not be there any more. Bare able drive along Nani during Covid but not now. Bye Patong.

Well done LIK. I also sold my patong home and moving. Many long timer moved since the end of covid. Patong was perfect in covid time. A flashback to the 90' when patong was paradise. But since ~1 year it's not worth it and way way to dangerous in all aspects.

 

Sold motorbikes 8 month ago and will not renew DL for MC. @xylo watch your back and better drive only car.

 

Thanks to the russian influx i could sell for more then 30% over my fair price target. So not all sucks in patong but nearly all. Guess this is my third and last time that i move away from patong but who knows lol.

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, schlog said:

@xylo watch your back and better drive only car.

You are quite right schlog, and I only use my little motorbike for travelling from my apartment to Big C, for example, and even then you have to be on top of your game to watch out for the idiots, and although I mentioned one near miss in my post, I've had a couple where I've had to swerve out of the way of the French Africans who decide to drive crazily up and down on their big bikes, not to mention the Russians who don't know which side of the road they are supposed to be on!.

 

Patong is not the place it once was, and as for LL going out five nights a week, well I stopped that malarkey many years ago, and only go out to Bangla once a week these days, and the main reason being that I can catch up with a friend or two and enjoy a meal at a couple of restaurants I know. I do visit a couple of bars on this occasion, but nowhere near in my earlier days here.

 

I have seen more Russian businesses popping up, and I wonder when that will stop. I also see many young Russian families here and I'm wondering if they are here for the long term and just sussing out the place for a permanent move or are really here escaping the war?

 

A friend of mine here who is very friendly with the BIB, with many contacts throughout the island, has told me that they are very worried about the Russian "organised crime" here and especially in Rawai! No doubt they are orchestrating many other scams around the place and I wonder if the advertisements on Facebook regarding getting a driving licence here, without having to do anything, are part of that?

 

So schlog, may I wish you the best of luck with your move and ask to where it is you are moving (don't have to answer if you don't want to) and to stay safe and well.

[LivinginKata]

4 hours ago, schlog said:

<snip>

Sold motorbikes 8 month ago and will not renew DL for MC. @xylo watch your back and better drive only car.

 

 

Last DL renewal I did not bother get a MC DL. Stopped driving MC over 10 ago. Too dangerous for an old timer.

[London Lowf]

5 hours ago, zzzzz said:

old # 3 police was transferred to Kamala an is now #1 in Kamala, time to make some $$

 

There's a breathalyser checkpoint virtually every night on the Kamala-Patong road but they recognise me now and wave me through.

 

[London Lowf]

5 hours ago, zzzzz said:

5 nights a week out in Patong?? my god, haven't done that since the 80's  You must love crowds and drinking
Rather you than me   :-)

 

I enjoy watching people and Patong is perfect for that. I also enjoy a few beers!

 

The ride there and back from Kamala is also (mostly) good fun.

 

[schlog]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

So schlog, may I wish you the best of luck with your move and ask to where it is you are moving (don't have to answer if you don't want to) and to stay safe and well.

Thanks alot xylo. Wish you the best!

To Ko Kaeo near from boat lagoon into my daughters house. So still on Phuket but in a nice quiet gated community. 

[stoner]

can anyone tell me 

 

when going over the hill from phuket to patong. why are people honking their horns at the top ? 

[Olmate]

13 minutes ago, stoner said:

can anyone tell me 

 

when going over the hill from phuket to patong. why are people honking their horns at the top ? 

 Temple  that celebrates end of dope free for all! Your gonna fit in well there.😂

[LivinginKata]

44 minutes ago, stoner said:

can anyone tell me 

 

when going over the hill from phuket to patong. why are people honking their horns at the top ? 

 

Chinese Temple there. Honk to say hello to the spirits that live there.

[stoner]

1 hour ago, Olmate said:

 Temple  that celebrates end of dope free for all! Your gonna fit in well there.😂

 

you're not going to fit in by the looks of it. 

[xylophone]

Thinking about Patong nowadays, especially with the influx of Russians and Chinese, and the awful driving by the French Arabs, I don't believe I would have moved here at this present time, because back in 2007 when I bought my first house here, it was an entirely different place.

 

Now the traffic is appalling and is gridlocked on many occasions, apart from the idiots weaving in and out of the cars and the majority of these idiots don't even abide by the law with wearing a crash helmet. The state of the roads is pretty dismal and there are patches of road where one has to be very careful if driving a motorbike, this as well as steering clear of the large drain covers in the road, some of which have sunk quite a few centimetres below the road level, thereby creating a danger.

 

True enough there were a few rowdy visitors back in the day, but I always felt safe out there, whereas these days, not so much.

 

I'm hoping that this Russian influx will only be temporary as I have only ever met one Russian guy I thought was genuine/good, and he was a "digital nomad" working from a place in Rawai. I sold him my old car and his English was good and we got talking about the few Russians that were around the place and I was perfectly honest with him and said that although I thought he was a good guy, I didn't like any of the others I'd met – – and his response quite astounded me, when he said that neither did he, so we weren't getting the best of them here even back then.

 

To add to that I have noticed that we are not getting the "quality tourist" from Russia, inasmuch as many of them look like steroid junkies and even the women are heavily tattooed, even if they haven't got the rubber plunger lips!

 

I would move out of Patong however I have made some friends here and it's always good to have friends when you have moved country; I have also made friends with several restaurateurs here and am able to take my own wine along and the main reason I won't move now at the age of 76 is because my Thai daughter will be finishing university in three months time and wants to come down to Phuket to live, which is where she lived for more than half of her life, and it will be great to be close to her after many years apart, and I'll probably try to buy her a little house in Phuket town, which is where she wants to live.

 

So staying here is the easiest option, but probably not the best for my sanity!
 

[London Lowf]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

So staying here is the easiest option, but probably not the best for my sanity!

 

Do what I do - base in Kamala and just pop over to Patong for the evening.

 

While on this thread, peak season seems to have finished! I was going to comment earlier but have now spent three evenings on Bangla just to make sure. The ride along Rat-U-Tit is still a nightmare but the beach road and the parking is much easier. It's still busy, but I have no problem getting a ringside seat at my favoured bars (I've now overlooked Blue Lotus's poor employee relations) when In arrive at about 11pm and by the time I head home at 1am it is starting to empty noticably.

 

I had a run-in with some Indians last night - the usual thing of buying a bottle of water at the Seven and then sitting down at a bar with no intention of buying a drink. What are these people thinking? The thing is, the bar staff just turn a non-confrontational blind eye but I always feel an urge to send them on their way.

 

And on the international ticket, considering the vast numbers of Russians here with their muscles and kiss-me-quick hats (the guys) and their Botoxed pouts (the girls), very few seem to go for the bar scene.

 

[DrDave]

6 hours ago, stoner said:

can anyone tell me 

 

when going over the hill from phuket to patong. why are people honking their horns at the top ? 

When passing the temple at the top of the hill, they honk for good luck.

[xylophone]

I have mentioned the atrocious driving in Patong, many times, and some of the worst culprits over the years have been the French Africans, so I was not surprised to hear the following from a friend who manages a shop here.......... 

 

Thai friend: – you know Big C, outside, have big crash yesterday (this was a couple of days ago).

 

Me: what happened?

 

Thai friend: – French chocolate man do wheelies on big motorbike and crash into other motorbikes, and have blood in many places!

 

I could find out no more about this and I haven't seen it on any the news yet, so I would suppose that the guy is just injured and not dead, but it sounds like he got his just rewards through being an idiot on a motorbike – – mind you there are many of them here at the moment, sad to say.

[xylophone]

On 2/1/2024 at 8:50 PM, London Lowf said:

Do what I do - base in Kamala and just pop over to Patong for the evening.

IMO, Kamala is the pits and even though I am tired of Patong, nothing, nothing would encourage me to move to Kamala!

It's a "one road, one horse town" and that road is considered a racetrack by many motorbike idiots.

 

I'm not that desperate yet LL! And as I recall you come over to Patong on your motorbike and have a few beers, so it's not something I would want to do; drive back to Kamala from Patong after having a few glasses of wine and a couple of shorts, especially as I do not drink and drive these days, although I have to say that I did a little in my youth, but that was decades ago!

[London Lowf]

4 hours ago, xylophone said:

IMO, Kamala is the pits and even though I am tired of Patong, nothing, nothing would encourage me to move to Kamala!

It's a "one road, one horse town" and that road is considered a racetrack by many motorbike idiots.

 

The main drag through Kamala is no more (or less) the defining attribute of the town than Bangla is the defining attribute of Patong - at least you can get from one end of town to the other in minutes at any time of day.

 

Anyway, each to their own - I can't stand the racket coming out of Red Hot every evening!

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, London Lowf said:

 

The main drag through Kamala is no more (or less) the defining attribute of the town than Bangla is the defining attribute of Patong - at least you can get from one end of town to the other in minutes at any time of day.

 

Anyway, each to their own - I can't stand the racket coming out of Red Hot every evening!

Me neither LL, but it was better when I sang a few songs there!!

[zzzzz]

19 hours ago, xylophone said:

IMO, Kamala is the pits and even though I am tired of Patong, nothing, nothing would encourage me to move to Kamala!

It's a "one road, one horse town" and that road is considered a racetrack by many motorbike idiots.

 

I'm not that desperate yet LL! And as I recall you come over to Patong on your motorbike and have a few beers, so it's not something I would want to do; drive back to Kamala from Patong after having a few glasses of wine and a couple of shorts, especially as I do not drink and drive these days, although I have to say that I did a little in my youth, but that was decades ago!

I love kamala, been here since 96>
theres the main road which is a mad house with <deleted> on bikes

BUT the eastern side of the main road is Thailand with an abundance of condos, villas and the Local population, the western side  tourists>
Plus we have everything one needs,  I only go out of kamala 1/2 x /week to central and Makro in Phuket town
dont drink and bars have held no interest for me in more than a decade.

Patong :  ONLY to get to town!!!

went down to Chalong last week thru Karon, kata, nai harn, rawaii chalong>  dam have they ruined that part of phuket
and as far as the northern part; 6,000 new units being built in Laguna>
6+ years from now the island's traffic will make it nearly impossible to move around

[xylophone]

50 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

I love kamala, been here since 96>
theres the main road which is a mad house with <deleted> on bikes

BUT the eastern side of the main road is Thailand with an abundance of condos, villas and the Local population, the western side  tourists>
Plus we have everything one needs,  I only go out of kamala 1/2 x /week to central and Makro in Phuket town
dont drink and bars have held no interest for me in more than a decade.

Patong :  ONLY to get to town!!!

went down to Chalong last week thru Karon, kata, nai harn, rawaii chalong>  dam have they ruined that part of phuket
and as far as the northern part; 6,000 new units being built in Laguna>
6+ years from now the island's traffic will make it nearly impossible to move around

Thanks for offering up another perspective, always good to get another viewpoint, however it won't change my opinion of it, but everyone to their own.

 

Agree with you about the main road, and I observed some of these idiots on the motorbikes as I was driving through it, luckily in my car!

 

Also agree with your last paragraph regarding the "ruining of that part of Phuket" and for my part, Patong has already reached that stage – – i.e. been ruined one way and another, and particularly with the traffic which is gridlocked much of the time during the week.

[chercheur888]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

 

Also agree with your last paragraph regarding the "ruining of that part of Phuket" and for my part, Patong has already reached that stage – – i.e. been ruined one way and another, and particularly with the traffic which is gridlocked much of the time during the week.

Bets are now accepted for how long it will take for Phuket to become a concrete jungle.

I am in Rawai and doing cycling early morning in small Soi's. I can see there that a piece of land is flattened or a forest/trees cut at least once every 2 weeks. Terrible.

I also ask myself, what if...?

Recently there have been terrible wildfires on a Hawaiian island, on several Mediterranean islands etc..

So what if that happens on Phuket?   I am not sure about sufficient equipments.

I am aware that it has not much to do with Patong-The Wake, but still

[xylophone]

6 hours ago, zzzzz said:

went down to Chalong last week thru Karon, kata, nai harn, rawaii chalong>  dam have they ruined that part of phuket
and as far as the northern part; 6,000 new units being built in Laguna>
6+ years from now the island's traffic will make it nearly impossible to move around

For some reason, as I was out this afternoon picking up a few things for dinner, the words of a Joni Mitchell song came to mind, brought about by your comment above: –

 

"Pave paradise and put up a parking lot"......not quite the same, but I'm sure you get my drift! 

[LivinginKata]

I read about all the trashing of Karon/Kata area. I have to say the construction is not all that bad. There is only a limited amount of building land and it is mostly all regulated, much more regulated than Patong. I have done more than my fair share of building pollution in Patong and Kata. But my Soi in Kata is a well balanced and stable community. Developed with no more building possible. No land available. I enjoy the panoramic sea view from my balcony each morning over Kata Bay. I sigh, marvel, and think how lucky we are.