Patong Beach, Phuket

My first night in Phuket, or more precisely Patong Beach, I missed out on much of the debauchery.   But you can get an idea of the kind of place it is from only a short walk down the main drag.  Even during the day many bars along Bangla Road are open for business.  Foreigners, more often than not middle aged or older, drink beers while being served by young Thai women.  Many places have poles on the bar for dance shows.  Prostitution is rife.  Bangla Road, in short, is not a place where you want to take your kids.

Phuket, bottom left

typical bar along Bangla Road

along Bangla at night

Can you tell the two on each end are ladyboys?

And yet despite that I actually saw a number of families mingling in the chaos.  In addition to a hotspot for old European men looking for young women, Phuket also attracts families and genuine travelers.  To start, the island is big, so one can mostly get away from the Bangla Road type scene.  There are many full scale resorts and quieter beaches where one can relax.  It still looks funny though seeing a bewildered Chinese family walking through Bangla Road at night with their young child thinking, what did we get ourselves into?!

I had been told by several travelers that Phuket was generally a place to avoid, without much appeal for a real traveler.  Despite those warnings I wanted to check it out.  It is kind of like a terrible movie - you want to see it for yourself to determine if it is actually that bad.

On reflection, the complaints about Phuket are quite valid.  The level of sex tourism that exists is on one hand appalling and on the other just plain annoying - I may be interested in meeting a real Thai girl, but nearly all of them in Patong Beach are simply there for the money.  As they say, "no money, no honey."  Also there are far too many tourists and too many Thais working in the tourism industry to make it at all an authentic experience.  I couldn't help but wonder how many people come just to Phuket on holiday and think, "wow, I had not idea that Thailand is like this?"

good luck finding real Thai girls in Phuket

But one does not come to Phuket for an authentic "real Thailand" experience.  And the country relies so much on tourism dollars that Phuket is somewhat reflective - albeit an extreme case - of what Thailand is becoming.  I will not say that I liked the place, but it was good to see for myself.  There are many negatives, but on the plus side the craziness of Bangla Road can be fun (if not simply for people watching) for a night out, the beaches are decent, and like I said the island is big enough that you can mostly get away from the prostitute / old white guys / lady boy scene.

So after the long overview, back to my trip.  I spent two nights at a hostel before Bobby and Chaz arrived.  They are both English teachers in Korea and we met at the Korean language class while I was working in Seoul.  Bobby had been planning a trip to Thailand for some time, and it worked out for Chaz to fit in his vacation to join him.  I was glad to meet friends and travel with them for awhile - I enjoyed traveling alone but was ready for a change of pace.

Bobby had first been on one more island for some needed R&R, and took a ferry on Saturday, February 16th to Phuket.  Chaz flew in from Seoul on Saturday as well.  I had booked a hotel room for the three of us - I think Bobby, in his early 30s, and Chaz, late 20s, may be past their prime hostel years.  The hotel was called Cheap Rooms, but (at least for my backpacker travel standards, which are admittedly low) was a nice place.

Bobby (left) hiking with another expat in Korea

The three of us spent two nights at the hotel, which was within a 5 minute walk of Bangla Road, the main party area.  Bobby and Chaz are not party animals, but they still go out and drink, so both nights we went to the bars for a few beers and had a (relatively) tame night.  It's hard to have a truly tame night in Patong Beach though.

While in Phuket I found a gym - another plus, as they can be hard to find in the less touristy areas - and got in my first real workout in weeks.  On the morning of the 18th we had decided to take a ferry to another island, this one much more serene.