Patong
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2006
1
177
230
Trip End
Jun 18, 2007
Phuket, Thailand
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Balancing on the walkway
! Bangla road is the main road, it's like a bigger Khao San road, shut off to traffic of a night and packed full of bars, it's a cross between Tenerife, Blackpool with a bit of seedy Las Vegas chucked in (but not on the same scale), there's a huge shopping complex that would be right at home in the states, then there's the Subways, McDonalds, Burger King, Boots.... Patong, in Phuket, is the package tourist destination for people who want to go on holiday, but feel like they've never left Europe. It's a bit like Tenerife in that way, very English but with sun. That's what it feels like here, I can recognise it a mile away.
It might not be my cup tea, it;s certianly not what I came travelling to see, but it's hugely popular. Packed full of tourists with wads of cash to spend, baking in the sun on the beach all day then living it large during the evening, eating and drinking to excess.
The night time scene here is relentless, music pounding from every single bar, packed so tight into all the streets, each trying to compete with each other for customers. Right in the middle of the main drinking street, Bangla, there's a section of, erm, girlie bars
Balancing on the wobbly walkway
. Nothing too sinister, nothing like the seedier parts of some of the other places we've been too, but girlie bars none-the-less. Basically trying to get punters in to drink and spend as much money as possible, it's great fun to watch to be honest, Lee and I had a wander around some streets played spot the ladyboy. I couldn't believe how many man were, erm, shall we say, 'getting friendly' with the 'ladies' dancing for them, obviously after a few beers, but failing to spot the fact that these ladies were infact men! I'm not sure how many knew and didn't mind or how many didn't know because of the beer and woudl be horrified if they did know.I'm probably painting a bad picture of the place, when I say ladies dancing on the tables, I mean a bunch of girls wearing probably more clothing that you'd find on a girl in a Northern nightclub, kind of jigging about on top of the bar, rather than dancing in the true sense of the word (or in any mucky sence, if you get my drift). It's more comical than erotic and to be honest, I don't think it's mean to be erotic. The girls are just trying to get people in (men or women, they don't mind) and get them spending money. But it was highly amusing watching all these ladyboys, some of them are just fab. I mean it took even me a while to suss some of them out and they had better bodies than most of the girls.
Outside is where the seedier stuff takes place, judging by the amount of western men talking to the girls hanging about outside and then wandering off with them
Budda figures inside monkey temple
. It was quality people watching to be honest, so much so that Lee and I bought some beer and sat watching everyone for ages. Trying to guess the boys from the girls and then giggling as some drunk western bloke would proposition (we assumed!) a thai girl, except it wasn't a girl, it was a lady boy - ho ho ho! Eating in Patong was also expensive, but we found a thai place just off one the main road, down a little side street and while we were munching away on our thai curries and noodle soup the heavens opened and it poured down. I couldn't believe it. Absolutely bucketed it down. Haven't seen rain for so long I had to ask Lee if I was seeing things. It doesn't surprise me though, it's been so cloudy and dark for ages. Maybe the monsoon season is starting early.
Once we'd finished our food we had a wander until we were both throughly fed up of being asked if we wanted a suit/dvd/neacklace/scarf and then ducked into Scruffy Murphys', the obligatory Irish Pub. It was packed (as usual) but there was a really good band on so we stayed for a while and I treated myself to a can of English Cider - cost a fortune (compared to Chang beer, the local stuff) but my God was it delish! A pint of apples from Shepton Mallet (just around the corner from Glastonbury as it happens, how funny!)
Climbing in the monkey temple cave
. If there's anything I miss apart from football, salad, spinach, ham and tomato rolls and Marks & Spencers, it's Cider. No matter how much beer I drink I still haven't got a taste for it at all. I can't stand the stuff, but being a backpacker a pint of the local brew is normally the cheapest, a G&T costs double, as does wine (which isn't that nice over here anyway). I've taken a shine to Spy wine coolers, which are basically wine alcopops but are cheaper than wine and taste a lot nicer.The ride back in the tuk tuk from Patong was just as entertaining as the night in Patong itself, the roads over here are really hilly, windy and steep, the tarmac is it's usual haphazard self and the amount of traffic on the roads doesn't help. We both clung on for dear life and hoped that the car behind, that kept trying to over take (while going uphill and on a sharp corner) would make it without making us crash as well!
Getting back to Karon, it just all seemed really quiet and tame in comparason. Quiet until the rock and roll band starts anyway ;)
