Patong - the life of Phuket

A calm Patong beach during the day

This tenth visit to the exotic island happened during the short Diwali break. An invite by Marriott Vacation club to stay in their property for 3 days, coupled with our love for Phuket was an incentive for the entire family which one could not resist.  Marriott  vacation club is located at Mai Khao beach, which is pretty near the airport. We have never stayed at this northern side of island. But Marriott would wait for a day for us – I had booked a hotel at the bustling Patong beach for one night before moving on to Marriott.

To get the plan right it was important that the flights would be on time and we would actually reach Patong by 9 PM. Patong is around an hours drive from the airport. If there had been a delayed flight, it would have deprived us of an evening at this lively destination.

The hills in the background look beautiful

Patong Beach

As we climbed up the hill over Kalim Bay, a huge sign welcomed us to Patong City. Patong has evolved from being a simple small village to a full blown city in last 20 years. It is the most happening part of the island and many people like avoiding Patong as they find it too chaotic , too noisy , too over-crowded , and too sleazy.  Initially we used to stay here but then decided that it was better to stay to quieter areas like Kata or Karon beach and come here for evening activity and dinner. Last few times we had stayed at Kata beach, which is around 15 minutes drive away and as you cross the hill you can see LeMeridien hotel down below..We made an exception this time and stayed at Patong as we specifically wanted to taste the action of the late night Patong before moving to sedate Mai Khow beach. If we were to reach on time we would have 16 hours at Patong beach including the night.

Thankfully, we reached on time and were out on the streets by 9.30 PM. As we walked to Mr Good's sea food restaurant for dinner ; the place, the smell, the bars , the pubs and restaurants all looked too deliciously familiar. We were back at our favourite holiday destination after a gap of 2 years.

I am always reminded of our first visit here in 1992. It was our honeymoon time and we were staying at a hotel at Karon Beach.We had reached the hotel in the afternoon and being stone tired had gone off to sleep. 

At that time we knew nothing about Phuket and had never met anyone who had been here. We didn't know what to expect.

Looking out of window on getting up we were greeted by pitch darkness. This was depressing as it was Devicka's birthday and we wanted to do something special. In the lobby someone suggested that we should go to Patong. A 10 minute tuk tuk ride and we were engulfed by the most happening night life that we had ever seen. There were lights everywhere and rows and rows of open bars playing loud music. The streets had carnival atmosphere and thousands of people were enjoying themselves just walking around, shopping, or sitting in some bar or restaurant. We loved it . We loved it then and we love it even now. 

This time around, as we just had a night in this part, I booked Patong Resort for the night. It has fabulous location and you could walk in 5 minutes to either the beach road, Bangla Road or Ratuthit road as it has 3 different paths leading to different directions. The sleep quality was good as the grounds of the hotel are large and is not affected by any noise. The hotel has a couple of pools and from our 6^th floor room we had some view of the sea.  

The beach road has some nice restaurants and roadside shopping. It has many good hotels like Holiday Inn. You need to be a good bargainer for the roadside shopping. Normally we eat at Patong seafood or Tropica. Tropica has good variety of food including seafood and they have rooms at the back which serve as hotel. It happens to be one of the many places we have stayed in the past.

Advertising for  Thai Boxing

The Ratuthit road is  parallel to the beach road. This road has really grown in last few years and  now has a big mall called the Jung Ceylon. Jung Ceylon has shops, restaurants, bars and even a food court. Robinson department store is also located in the premises.

Many people go to Thailand for the massages. Those who like massages can go to the Christine Massage which is famous for sexy, soapy massages where you select your masseuse from a glass display window – Amsterdam style. They have a normal massage place also on the ground floor. Normal does not mean that some naughtiness is not allowed there. Ratuthit road has Hard rock café, Mr Good's seafood, the Kitchen and many many restaurants. It has some nice hotels like Millenium and Burasari and many 'Go Go' bars where you can see topless pole dances by bored looking women. You can spend several hours in the area as there are many alleys, and nooks and corners which even we haven’t explored.

Soi Bangla or Bangla road connects the beach road to Ratuthit road. The place is pretty dead till it gets dark. Then it gets converted to pedestrian only street. Some activity starts at around 9 PM. The bars start getting filled up, hookers and pimps get into the action, the lights start flashing and music gets loud. The place comes fully alive after 10 PM and this carries on till small hours of morning.

Soi Bangla gets jam packed as night progresses

As you walk on Bangla Road, you will come across names such as Kangaroo Bar, Wow Wow bar, Honky Tonky bar, Shipwreck and World famous rock hard go go. The new addition was a huge bar complex opposite the ocean department store called the Tiger Bar. It seemed to have hundreds of open bars with very fascinating names. But the place had a lot of gloss and glitter and is very popular as it gives a feeling of openness. 

The Tiger Bar Complex  at Soi Bangla is all gloss and glitter

To attract customers many of the bars have weirdly dressed women and lady-boys. Tip : Don't take their photograph without permission or things can get nasty and they may force you to shell out lot of money. My friend, Bobby had a tough time last year when he had confrontation with some of these women and their pimps regarding photograph. Funny part is that he hadn't clicked any photograph. They snatched his camera and his spectacles and started acting funny. They fleeced 1000 Bahts from him before someone from tourist police intervened and got his money back. You may not be so lucky.

Tip no. 2: The attractive Thai girls at the bars entertain you by playing games like 'connect 4.' They are pretty good at it and often want to play for the prize of a drink. Be assured that they will beat you each time and this will leave a big hole in your pocket as the drinks for these ladies are specially priced.  

Another tip: Try to avoid the bars which are located on high floors. They may write that beer is for 80 bahts and the Go Go show is free but may force you to pay much more. I have had a few bad experiences in Patpong area of Bangkok but I must admit that I have never had a bad experience here though I have gone to these go go bars a couple of times. You do get tired of strolling up and down so you have a choice of sitting in one of the bars and have beer; have dinner at one of the restaurants; or maybe just a burger at McDonalds. Or you could just turn in into Ratuthit road and get a nice foot massage. All foot massage places are open till early hours of morning.

There is an attempt to expand the influence of Soi Bangla and we could see a lane having a big signboard saying Bangla 2. So far this remains a non starter.

The strangely named pub ‘FBI  Tai Pan’ is just across the road from Soi Bangla on the non beach side. With huge signboards and flashing lights you can’t miss it. It is quite popular and gives you discounted drinks till about 10.30 PM . Often they have some good band playing and with a nice dance floor, the place starts to rock at round 11 PM. Besides this, there is everything a Thai bar or pub has including the attractive hookers.

Phuket seems to have Tsunami evacuation plans in place now after the disaster of 2004.

Patong is known for its nightlife but pleasantly, it is a fun place during the day as well. The umbrellas on the beach open out giving a lot of colour to the beach and the massage shacks on the beach get busy. In some areas water sports are allowed and they offer good value for money. The streets remain crowded and the roadside vendors continue their brisk business. You can find a lot of fake brands and have to bargain hard to get prices down. The Tsunami in 2004 had destroyed this part of Patong. Hotels and shops were destroyed. Many street vendors were killed and all the shops had been claimed by the huge waves. It took them some time but they have surely bounced back- stronger and better than before.

The beach road is chaotic but good fun.

Patong is quite large actually. We had come from the airport from the Kalim bay side. You could exit it towards Karon Beach which is the other direction. On the way you will see the auditorium which has ‘Simon Cabaret’ . It is a song and dance show with special effects and attractive lighting. The show is very popular and has been running continuously for more than 20 years. The fact that most of the cast consists of transvestites, makes it a must watch atleast once. We have been visiting Phuket since last 20 years but went for the show only during our last visit in 2010. We still haven’t seen the other big show called the ‘Phuket Fantasea.’

The next morning was spent visiting Jung Ceylon Mall and walking up & down the beach road. A quick beer and some nice food was eaten at a beachside restaurant called ‘The Port.’ The restaurant served good Thai food, continental food and Pastas and played some great music. With our 16 hours over- we started our one hour journey to Mai Khao beach for 3 days of relaxation. Little did we know at that time that we would be back the next evening to spend a few hours more in Patong. This is why the place is so special.

You will get all kinds of food in Patong.