i agree with nokna (is that you, chris?). phuket is great. pity that pp has gone downhill, but i still prefer the beer bars. and scuba diving in the day rather than muff diving! with the wonderful beaches and [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord117][CodeWord117][/url] it isn't really directly comparable with other places in los.
patong beach may be a bit over-priced compared with some parts of bkk. last time there i had 2 girlfriends in cowboy, drinking tequila like it was going out of fashion at 100 baht a shot, and they wanted 2000 baht per day full time each (!!!), plus 400 baht bar fine per day each, and the goddamned tequila and food bill besides. but 3 days of 2 girls in the same bed is kind of intoxicating, the sandwich/lesbo job is a pain at first, but keep persevering, get over the (other peoples') inhibitions, and it is real fun.
visitors should spend a while looking around in patong and getting to know some of the people, it is a great place. friendly, safe and accommodating. and there are very few russians at present, unlike pattayagrad. and you can probably get 2 non-tequila addicts in bed far cheaper in hkt than i managed in bkk (they were after all cousins of the thai wife of a friend, almost my own isaan family, so i was anyway obliged to pay the bills, shagging or not!). though i know from experience that after a 20 hour journey most people don't have a trip to macdonalds on their minds that first evening.
i'd also like to know where the tiger bar is, kojack. there is a place behind muay thai with some sort of fibre-glass giant tiger's head entrance, never went in there (anyone know it?), but i also heard there is a new small place. on top of ocean plaza may be right, anyone know?
soi sea dragon is also my favourite haunt, but only because i have tended to make friends there and so keep on going back (with no regrets over 3 years so far, touch wood!). the fff approach is fine for some, but i kind of like the thai gfe.
hope to be back in hkt in november - screw the northern winter! back to warm thai muff.