Phuket Reports

Anybody up for some mongering and morning golf this weekend (4-5 April)?

Honker

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Freeler
[i]...taxi from the airport to PhuketTown or Patong ...[/i][/QUOTE]
Hi,
there's a minibus-service from Karon/Patong (Phuket-Town, else?) to the Airport; i don't remember the price (THB 150?) and the duration of the trip. And you have to ask for schedule and stops. The only stop I remember is near PS Hill but at PS Hotel they will give you information on request (I was offered minibus and taxi).

Frog,

The returntrip of the service I meant started at ThaiAirways office on RanongRoad, PhuketTown. Then at B60 and 100% reliable.
It was much like the ThaiBus from Pattaya to BKK-Airport, meaning: quick, safe, cheap, 100% reliable and NO stops at all.

The old Shar Club has or will reopen under the name StarWars, it will have the same owner as Tiger Disco. I have not bin there yet, but it suposed to go under 10-15 million THB resuration.
TpyBoy you were asking for why the Pink Åanther has changed name, the old owner Harald ( the norwegian Biker) as far as I know don't own the place anymore, he got in to trouble with his wife and she striped him for most of his assets ( they was in her name) and he is stucked in Thailand becuse of a "biker-
War" back in Scandinavia between Hell's Angels and Bandidos. Somthing abouth a headquarter that was blow up by a car bomb.
Else I will say that Patong is quieter than usual, specily now lait in the seson.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Freeler
[i]...service I meant started at ThaiAirways office on RanongRoad ...[/i][/QUOTE]

Sorry, cannot tell you anything about this item.

Hi rabagast,

Thx for the info on Shark plans. Any news on the timing of the reopening? It will be good to get it back open again, stupid for one of the best pieces of real estate in Patong Beach to lie rotting because of some local politics. Do you know who owns Tiger? That must be one well-connected dude if he is getting Shark as well.

Also the story on Pink Panther is interesting. The first time I have heard of a Thai "wife" doing a dirty on the expat "husband". But it has always seemed a real possibility to me, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

I like Patong at this time of year, even into July. The weather can be fresher, some rain, though most of the girls stay around until the rains start properly in August/September. Fewer punters so less hurry to find your bonk for the night. I've never noticed any real effect on the prices though, except for hotel rooms, which mostly become dirt cheap after April.

Cheers,

Toy Boy

Shark alias Star Wars opened. See

[url]http://phuket.as/Bar.asp[/url]

philo,

Looks good.

Thanks for the link.

I agree with Frog 3/23 about the Seabreeze Inn at Karon Beach. It is not special, but clean, the airconditioner works well, good water pressure in the shower, cheap and a super friendly staff. In general I much prefer Karon to Patong, being much quiter and cleaner, and only 10 minutes away by tuk-tuk. The bar girls are locals, and some not bad looking. I also tried the Grand Plaza in Phuket Town and Christen in Patong. Would not really recommend either one. The selection was skimpy. The one I chose at Christen turned out to be about 20 years older than she looked in the fish bowel. Not a sexsessful experience.

this is a post from my friend who is currently in phuket, he gave me permission to submit this. i'm arriving in bankok april 24, and will look forward to posting some experiences as well.

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well, i never bought panty liners before, but i guess when you have assumed the role of sugardaddy, you're not just in for the penny, you're in for the pound. including the minutes for the cel phone upon which she calls her mother every day, (2 calls, 1st to get someone to go get mom and 2nd to talk to her), and calls to all her buddies to tell them she landed a rich farang who is treating her to an all expenses paid vacation at phuket. i can't understand the language but she laughs and giggles a lot and looks at me when she does it.

let's talk toilets. it appears that there are several kinds here. the regular western toilet, that you can sit on or leave the seat up on, we are all familiar with this one. the first night at our hotel liy climbed up on this one and squatted with both feet on the sides of the bowl, which i thought was a little strange until i saw the toilet at coral island today. it is a porcelain bowl about 12" high with no seat which you squat upon with both feet on the bowl. the bowl has a hole for the waste, but no tank with water to flush. you throw a bowl full of water in the thing to flush it. and then there is what i used to call the "turkish bomb sight" when i lived in turkey. this is a porcelain bowl set flush with the floor with foot pads on either side and again you squat on this thing and hope you hit the hole. hence "bomb sight". for the last two examples there is no toilet paper, just the kitchen sprayer ga! dget. you just drip dry. in the big dept stores there are stalls with modern toilets but the toilet paper is at the door to the restroom, you roll off as much as you think you will need and take it into the stall with you. let's hope you haven't underestimated. so much for toilet talk.

liy and i were traveling on sunday the 13th which is the thai new year. a long trip, about 8 hours on the bus. i highly recommend a bus trip to see the country. but the whole population had gone nuts for the celebration. evidently sprinkling some one with water is good luck, so of course the more water the better. people set up road blocks and have huge vats of water if not hoses to supply as much water as possible to throw on people. they put big vats of water in the back of pickup trucks and drive around having water battles. i suspect our bus trip took an extra hour or two because of the road blocks and the traffic jams. when we got to phuket town we had to get a taxi to patong beach. we were offered an open tuktuk but i said no way, thinking of the a/c. what a smart if unintentional decision. it took over an hour for a normally 20 minute ride, what with the water fights and the road blocks. ! ; we didn't open the windows either. patong beach was crazy, with all the farangs joining in the festivities. we made it safely to the hotel but of course as soon as we exited the cab we were soaked. we stayed in the rest of the night to avoid the craziness. the sonkran festival lasts for 5 days. over 200 were killed the first two days in car/moto accidents. only about 200 people worldwide have died of the sars virus in a month!

today we went to coral island for a snorkel tour. what a disapointment and waste of money and time. the boat over was old and decrepit. i was half expecting it not to make it. the snorkel gear didn't fit properly, liy's life vest was up over her ears. they charged us an extra 100 baht each for flippers. i flippered out to the reef and the coral was dead, few fish, garbage in the water and a 1 1/2 knot current to fight against. i was pissed and flippered back to shore(which was littered with garbage) and complained , demanding my money back for the flippers. a total disappointment. and we had to stick around until 3:00 pm for the ride back to chalong. last time i did this trip it was pretty good, but we snorkeled the other end of the beach which was off limits this time. lunch was good, tho. deep fried fish, fried chicken and three different thai dishes with fresh fruit. our english friends woul! dn't eat the fish because the head was still on it. i didn't tell them that they cook them with the guts still in sometimes too. so think i may schedule a speed boat trip to phi phi island, which i know will be good. we came back to the hotel and headed directly to the pool for a swim. very nice pool. liy has been working on her strokes and is doing well, but she hasn't learned how to breathe yet. so when she runs out of air she stops swimming. she has become a real water sprite.

last night we went out to dinner on the beach rd. filet mignon for $3, t-bone steak for $2.50. thai food for a $1-2. and for dessert you can have "ice scream", no joke.
this is phuket bike week, the town is full of bikers and hd motorcycles. it seems one can't get away from the overly noisy and annoying harleys no matter where you go in th world. i remember taking a hike up baldy and stopping at the viewpoint half way up. you could hear the harleys roaring around town like they were right next to you but they were a mile away. and as long as i am bitching, the first winter i was here i drove over galena pass and stopped at the overlook for the view. as soon as i stepped out of the car i could hear the buzzing of the snow mobiles over 5 miles away and the whole valley was blue with exhaust smoke! arrrgh! now they want to put the atv trail in copper basin so we can have the same conditions there in the summer. double aaaarrrrggh!
tomorrow we have to take care of some housekeeping. liy wants to send some of my/her money to her parents, i have to make arrangements for my flight back to bangkok, arrange for transport for liy back to samui, and extend my home air reservations by a week. i am going to extend my stay by a week or two. no reason to come home right away.

talk to you later.

Here's another post from my buddy in Phuket. Right now, sounds like he's having a bit of rough time!

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400+ killed, over 12,000 accidents so far for Sonkran. Mostly drunk driving and 89.9% involving motorbikes.

Tourism down by 30% because of the war in Iraq and the Sars scare. Last time I was here it was the bombing in Bali. I bring bad luck to SEAsia.

I am not feeling well again today. My upset tummy has returned. I always seem to get some minor affliction when I come here. Last visit it was a big sore on my lip which appeared the day after I arrived and took two weeks to heal. A definite impediment to a full and satisfying social life. A pain in the knee when I got to Patong Beach, which still bothers me a little. Then I got the stomach cramps a few days before I left. This time I developed the stomach problem right away, and then I got the prickly heat rash which started on one shoulder and progressed to stomach and then back and left arm. When you have a minor ailment here you go to the pharmacy, describe (or show) your symptoms and they give you some medicine. Only diarrhea, no vomiting? Take this and it will go away in a few days. Rash, does it itch? Rub this ointment on, it will go away in few days. Last time I went to the Dr here (for my swollen knee) I had an exam, a shot for the inflammation and two prescriptions, cost $41. That is the entry fee to the waiting room in the US. Excising the cyst on my back cost $21 including the pain pills. Having my teeth cleaned and repaired cost about $40. Having my fat suctioned (oh, vanity! Thy name is legion.) in BK will cost bout $1200. Such deals.

Yesterday and today are cloudy and relatively cool, mid 80s. We took the moto for a ride over to Kata and Karon beaches, ended up just sightseeing and shopping for clothes and souvenirs. An early HBO evening as I could feel my malaise coming back .
So, off to the pharmacy for some medication.

As told, Star Wars the new disco in Phuket have opened, in the old locality to Shark Club, during the Songkran festival it was packed every night, last night less people. The serviced is good, probably the best sound system in Patong, good light and laser shows, the dance floor have bin reduced since the DJ-Boot have bin moved downstairs to the end of the dance floor, good selection of pro and semi pro freelancers or bargirls (the can often leave their bars at 1 o'clock). I had a good time there, was there with some friends from Europe and they all loved it. It has the same owner as Tiger in Bangla.

Zidaho

what relevance has your post to the hobby ?

That's a good question JD! I almost didn't post it, probably shouldn't have. Future posts about hobby.

jack - some of us (er...I do anyway) like to read something besides "this once is OK and wanted so much...".. the local flavour is helpful in understanding. (my opinion, of course)