Thanks for the update Xy, yep, just too many cars.

1 hour ago, Priorexpat said:

Thanks for the update Xy, yep, just too many cars.

Yes I agree @Priorexpat and if you combine that with the shirtless idiots driving large motorbikes, weaving in and out of the traffic, then you have a recipe for disaster IMO.

Having said that I decided to get on my scooter and carerfully pop down to Churrasco restaurant on Thursday night because, "when the body needs a good steak, you have to have one" – – and that was spoken by a German guy who was sitting on the table next to mine! For the record I believe that Churrasco serves probably the best steak I've ever eaten and combined with a nice glass of quality red wine, it makes a great evening for me.

The restaurant was reasonably busy, which I am pleased about, although the same can't be said for the restaurant opposite my condo block which has seating for about 80 people, but of late I've noticed anywhere between two and six people in the whole place, so they must be struggling to survive.

I did pop into Dunkin doughnuts in Jungceylon for a coffee and was able to observe the folk passing by and noticed quite a few huge/extremely fat men and women ambling past and all of them were of Arabic extraction, and a couple of them were so extremely obese that they had difficulty walking!

I have a good weekend lined up what with the All Blacks playing on Saturday, and England playing Norway on Sunday, although I may visit the massage/beauty shop owned by my Thai friend to have a manicure sometime in between those games.

It's a hard life.............

..............but someone has to do it 👍😄

Following on from a couple of previous posts where I mentioned food and restaurants, yesterday I noticed that a bar in Nanai which served fairly decent and standard "pub grub" when it was owned by an amiable Aussie, called Frank, has now closed and is in the process of being demolished or similar.

As I recall, when Frank sold it, it was bought by a Czechoslovakian guy who was retired/retiring here in Patong and after that it was not the same place, as Frank had quite a few friends and acquaintances who would pop in for a beer and a chat, whereas that was not the case with the new owner, unfortunately, and I often drove past it and wondered how long it would last – – now I have the answer, sad to say.

I've mentioned previously, that many smaller restaurants and bars will be struggling now and when I ate out in the middle of the previous week, my friend and I were the only two people in the restaurant, yet it was just metres from a relatively busy Bangla Road.

On 6/1/2026 at 7:54 AM, zzzzz said:

give a man a fish, he eats for the day
teach him to fish, he eats forever

Unless he was a close personal friend, and from what u said of his past
i'd tell him to F#@K off

An update on the German acquaintance – – I received a garbled and very short phone call a couple of weeks ago, which I could hardly make out, but seemed to say that he was in Phuket Hospital after having a stroke.

I had to go to that hospital for a routine checkup, so I took some grapes as a present and to see if I could find him, but despite the receptionist trying to locate him in that hospital, as well as two others, she had no luck, stating that he wasn't there, so I gave her the grapes as a thank you present and left.

I did a bit of phoning around to some folks who knew him, again mostly acquaintances, and did get a reply from another German guy here who said that he was in Patong Hospital and when I enquired if he was going to visit him, in a round about way, he said that he wasn't going to do so as he was "merely an acquaintance and didn't want to get involved".

I got in touch with another person who knew him, and whom I knew also, and she shed a bit more light on his situation, stating that he had been on overstay here for at least five years (no money for the visa) or perhaps seven years and that she was in no position to help him, nor did she want to.

To put all of this into perspective, I have done my bit in the past to help him, but he has done nothing to help himself with regards to being able to stay here legally, and with his health being poor at the moment, I really don't want to become involved, as I said previously. My only hope is that somehow he is transported back to Germany, although he says he has no family there, at least he will be there legally!

I feel I have done my bit and I have to focus on my life here and that of my daughter and on occasion, her mother, so as I said much earlier on, we are all responsible for our own savings/financials for retirement and it appears that this guy has done nothing like that, so whatever befalls him, rests entirely on his shoulders.

On 7/23/2026 at 3:08 PM, xylophone said:

An update on the German acquaintance – – I received a garbled and very short phone call a couple of weeks ago, which I could hardly make out, but seemed to say that he was in Phuket Hospital after having a stroke.

I had to go to that hospital for a routine checkup, so I took some grapes as a present and to see if I could find him, but despite the receptionist trying to locate him in that hospital, as well as two others, she had no luck, stating that he wasn't there, so I gave her the grapes as a thank you present and left.

I did a bit of phoning around to some folks who knew him, again mostly acquaintances, and did get a reply from another German guy here who said that he was in Patong Hospital and when I enquired if he was going to visit him, in a round about way, he said that he wasn't going to do so as he was "merely an acquaintance and didn't want to get involved".

I got in touch with another person who knew him, and whom I knew also, and she shed a bit more light on his situation, stating that he had been on overstay here for at least five years (no money for the visa) or perhaps seven years and that she was in no position to help him, nor did she want to.

To put all of this into perspective, I have done my bit in the past to help him, but he has done nothing to help himself with regards to being able to stay here legally, and with his health being poor at the moment, I really don't want to become involved, as I said previously. My only hope is that somehow he is transported back to Germany, although he says he has no family there, at least he will be there legally!

I feel I have done my bit and I have to focus on my life here and that of my daughter and on occasion, her mother, so as I said much earlier on, we are all responsible for our own savings/financials for retirement and it appears that this guy has done nothing like that, so whatever befalls him, rests entirely on his shoulders.

Visit the sick and the prisoners. Give blood. We can do all that for free. Nothing about being "involved". You should merely have compassion for his situation. Even a stranger's visit help.

5 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Visit the sick and the prisoners. Give blood. We can do all that for free.

I think and hope you meant to say; " Visit the sick and the injured and sufferers and prisoners. Give blood. We can do all that for free.

And prisoners!

49 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Visit the sick and the prisoners. Give blood. We can do all that for free. Nothing about being "involved". You should merely have compassion for his situation. Even a stranger's visit help.

Well I have had compassion for his situation and it has cost me money and I have bought him food and drink in the past and I now learn that he has been "borrowing" money from others and not repaying them, so that's why I didn't want to get involved again.

As I have said before, we are all responsible for providing for our future, and in his case he has not done this and he alone is responsible for the situation he finds himself in, especially bearing in mind that he has been an "illegal overstayer" and not having any funds to support his stay here. Nothing much else I can do, or want to for that matter.

6 hours ago, xylophone said:

Well I have had compassion for his situation and it has cost me money and I have bought him food and drink in the past and I now learn that he has been "borrowing" money from others and not repaying them, so that's why I didn't want to get involved again.

As I have said before, we are all responsible for providing for our future, and in his case he has not done this and he alone is responsible for the situation he finds himself in, especially bearing in mind that he has been an "illegal overstayer" and not having any funds to support his stay here. Nothing much else I can do, or want to for that matter.

C'mon, who are you to judge? The guy had a stroke, fer Chrissakes! Bring him some more grapes. You're not on any hook to give him money. Visit!

8 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

C'mon, who are you to judge? The guy had a stroke, fer Chrissakes! Bring him some more grapes. You're not on any hook to give him money. Visit!

I am not judging him and have helped him in the past, on many occasions, and I feel that I have helped him enough over the years, but he has done nothing to help himself........and that for me is of paramount importance. For the record I have been very generous to folks here and would have spent around 1.5 million baht in helping them, because they had tried to help themselves, and not sponging off others (or lying about repayment).

On 7/25/2026 at 4:08 AM, unblocktheplanet said:

C'mon, who are you to judge? The guy had a stroke, fer Chrissakes! Bring him some more grapes. You're not on any hook to give him money. Visit!

Another who doesn’t read a thread before commenting.

Wash your hands of this Xy, and move on feeling good. Not your matter you did what you could. 👍

On 6/26/2017 at 8:56 AM, phuketrichard said:

Having  lived in Patong in 1985 thru 1996 and now living in Kamala, all i can say is Patong never died,

just constantly reinvents itself for a changing tourist market.

Patong looks like a economical tourist ghetto, but not much if you are not a "Sexpat". 😄

From my foodie map of Phuket

Old town: 14 restaurants

Downtown (Patong): 4 restaurants

Kamala (Little Russia): 0

But since you lived there so long you probably know more about local Thai food on Phuket island than me...

Where's the best Khao Yam (Southern Thai Rice Salad)? 😏

@SiSePuede419 said "Patong looks like a economical tourist ghetto, but not much if you are not a "Sexpat". 😄

Well Patong certainly "died" during the Covid years, but then again many other places did likewise, but the "argument" is, did Patong fully recover??

It has recovered on some fronts, but there are a lot of low rent tourists now, as well as troublemakers, and the overweight Aussies with the wifebeater T-shirts on can still be seen sitting at various bars around the place, even as early as 10:30 AM, so some things never change – – that is apart from the traffic which is now horrendous, especially since the "roadworks" have meant that cars and m/cs can now park either side of the road, narrowing the potential traffic flow.

As I have said in previous posts, small businesses are suffering and the owners have told me so, that also includes Tuk Tuk and small bar owners, especially as the "high season" wasn't that high!

On 7/25/2026 at 1:38 AM, unblocktheplanet said:

C'mon, who are you to judge? The guy had a stroke, fer Chrissakes! Bring him some more grapes. You're not on any hook to give him money. Visit!

@ Xylophone, ignore this guy - he is simply trolling you......

On 7/24/2026 at 6:25 PM, scottiejohn said:

I think and hope you meant to say; " Visit the sick and the injured and sufferers and prisoners. Give blood. We can do all that for free.

You can visit prisoners for free, too. Visit Zhang Xinyan at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre.

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

@SiSePuede419 said "Patong looks like a economical tourist ghetto, but not much if you are not a "Sexpat". 😄

Well Patong certainly "died" during the Covid years, but then again many other places did likewise, but the "argument" is, did Patong fully recover??

It has recovered on some fronts, but there are a lot of low rent tourists now, as well as troublemakers, and the overweight Aussies with the wifebeater T-shirts on can still be seen sitting at various bars around the place, even as early as 10:30 AM, so some things never change – – that is apart from the traffic which is now horrendous, especially since the "roadworks" have meant that cars and m/cs can now park either side of the road, narrowing the potential traffic flow.

As I have said in previous posts, small businesses are suffering and the owners have told me so, that also includes Tuk Tuk and small bar owners, especially as the "high season" wasn't that high!

I only ever went to Patong for the lovelies.

On 7/29/2026 at 2:59 AM, unblocktheplanet said:

I only ever went to Patong for the lovelies.

...and best these days stay in BKK for that, as the Bangla crew of lovelies is atrocious. Let the Indians have at it.

On 7/31/2026 at 10:16 AM, Priorexpat said:

...and best these days stay in BKK for that, as the Bangla crew of lovelies is atrocious. Let the Indians have at it.

Well I did venture out to Bangla last night to catch up with some friends at the Blue Beach Restaurant and Café, and although it was not anywhere near crowded/full, it still has a very nice atmosphere to it and the food is good and the staff are great, so couldn't want more really. Oh, and the guitarist Moody was playing and that added to the atmosphere and joviality as he is a very accomplished musician.

The small group I was with decided to hit a couple of bars in Bangla and I followed suit even though I don't drink beer these days and anyway after a few glasses of wine at the restaurant, I was getting near my limit, although no one had to twist my arm to visit the bars and whilst they visited the Kangaroo Bar, I popped along to the Black Horse bar which has some people in it whom I know, so it was good to sit down and have a chat.

Whilst I was doing that I was able to observe the people milling about in Bangla and walking up and down, without too many of them popping into the bars, despite the bar girls encouraging them to do so, and one Thai guy whom I'd known for years pointed out to me that the bars were never full these days because there were so many "Arabs" in amongst the potential customers and when I paid attention to this, I realised that a great proportion of the ever moving crowd of potential customers were in fact Arabs or of that nature – – I also noticed that quite markedly so when I wandered home via Soi Sansabai and saw it was full of even more Arabic style restaurants.

The fact is this long time Thai guy friend actually said it was the Arabs and the Indians who were clogging Bangla up and not spending any money, but then again that doesn't surprise me as it has been moving this way for a few years now.

Nothing exciting happened, although when I walked past my old stomping ground of Red Hot (nightclub) I was quite shocked to see no more than a couple of handfuls of customers watching the band, and in fact the band has swollen so much that there were almost as many people on the stage as there were in the audience, which was a sad state of affairs for a place which used to be absolutely "rocking" (at least when I was singing there!).

Overall an uneventful night out but one that I decided I should take because of a recent suicide in my close Thai family and I needed to get my head around why a 34 year old happily married young man would decide to hang himself, so being out of my condo and in amongst others I thought might help, and it did.

Finally, on the point made by @Priorexpat I have to agree that the "quality" of the girls and bar girls in Bangla/Patong has fallen off quite markedly, so having had a steady girlfriend for quite a few years, I didn't need to avail myself of their services.

9 hours ago, xylophone said:

Overall an uneventful night out but one that I decided I should take because of a recent suicide in my close Thai family and I needed to get my head around why a 34 year old happily married young man would decide to hang himself, so being out of my condo and in amongst others I thought might help, and it did.

Finally, on the point made by @Priorexpat I have to agree that the "quality" of the girls and bar girls in Bangla/Patong has fallen off quite markedly, so having had a steady girlfriend for quite a few years, I didn't need to avail myself of their services.

Sorry to hear of your loss, XY, depression is a sneaky malady.

Thanks again for the Bangla update. 👍

On 8/22/2026 at 11:44 PM, Priorexpat said:

Sorry to hear of your loss, XY, depression is a sneaky malady.

Thanks again for the Bangla update. 👍

Thanks again for your kind words and I've just spoken to my daughter who has returned from the funeral up north and it would appear that this young 34-year-old man seemed to have had some problems with depression as he had mentioned in the past that he felt he was unloved, was always short of money and had talked about killing himself – – and unfortunately Thailand is not a good place for a male to seek help in situations like this.

My main aim is to ensure that my daughter (unofficially adopted from her mother) never gets into a situation like that and I have told her that if EVER she feels she needs help in that regard, then I will always be here for her, and she has said she is grateful for that.

Sadly Xylaphone sometimes with all the will in the World some cannot be helped as there to far gone. I have lost 2 good close friends through Drink, we saw what was happening with his decline in health and all the help we tried was to no avail, heartbreaking to watch but you tried your best in the circumstances. some people hide there depression from friends and you never know what there thinking behind doors when there alone.

17 hours ago, xylophone said:

Thanks again for your kind words and I've just spoken to my daughter who has returned from the funeral up north and it would appear that this young 34-year-old man seemed to have had some problems with depression as he had mentioned in the past that he felt he was unloved, was always short of money and had talked about killing himself – – and unfortunately Thailand is not a good place for a male to seek help in situations like this.

My main aim is to ensure that my daughter (unofficially adopted from her mother) never gets into a situation like that and I have told her that if EVER she feels she needs help in that regard, then I will always be here for her, and she has said she is grateful for that.

It's all about how you get off the canvas. Life punches you in the head, up we go, back at it.

That's easier said when one holds a college degree and a trade to fall back on. As you state "unloved" o.k. clear sign of depression, "no money"......do you know how to work(?), maybe you need to sleep at an auto shop and work on cars for food for a year. Flip burgers at McD's? Make it happen.

Again RIP and all the best to you and your Thai fam XY.

25 minutes ago, Priorexpat said:

It's all about how you get off the canvas. Life punches you in the head, up we go, back at it.

That's easier said when one holds a college degree and a trade to fall back on. As you state "unloved" o.k. clear sign of depression, "no money"......do you know how to work(?), maybe you need to sleep at an auto shop and work on cars for food for a year. Flip burgers at McD's? Make it happen.

Again RIP and all the best to you and your Thai fam XY.

The guy was a qualified electrician...........IMO the bottom line is that some folk are prone to depression, no matter who they are or what occupation they have; some form of mental unbalance prevails and that affects their life. Often, all the help in the world simply doesn't help.

Anyway, thank you for concern and kind words.