A Night Out In Patong.

Michael Finn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:54:53 +0000

Patong nightlife is something that almost all tourists will experience or at least try to when they come to visit Phuket. Most people have heard of the go-go bars, the lady boys and bar girls. Patong however is not for everybody, if however you have never made a visit is worth knowing what all the talk is about even if you visit only once. As you visit Soi Bangla which is the most visited area for the particular night life of Patong, you will find what appear to be beautiful women dancing around poles or other people. You do however need to keep in mind that these women or girls may not in fact be women or girls at all and could possibly be lady boys. It is often difficult to spot a girl or woman from a lady boy as the feminine features are often the same. Of course there are some lady boys that are very obvious and perhaps they are just getting into the scene of Patong. Not only will you find all the dancers in the various bars but there will also be a variety of street merchants selling their wares. There are also many off streets from Soi Bangla and surrounding Soi’s with bars and clubs. Many which offer the same sort of sights that you can see when you are visiting Soi Bangla. On occasion you will also find fire dances which are a spectacular sight and enjoyed by all. Patong is also home to a wide variety of stalls and markets selling “original copies” of everything you could possibly imagine. There is also very close to the go-go area a large shopping mall, Jungceylon. This shopping mall has designer the stores, fast food outlets as well as local souvenirs and arts and crafts. If you carry on further to Kata or Karon beaches you will find that there is a similar atmosphere but on a much smaller scale and more often those who are nearer this area of Phuket prefer these two spots. Patong is most definitely the area that the tourists will visit when they want one of the most well known experiences of Patong, which is the bizarre and unusual nightlife. One of the other lesser known industries in Patong are the pharmacies selling all manner of medications all of which are available much cheaper than tourists can purchase them in their own countries. As with some medical tourism that goes on sometimes in Phuket, there are also people who come not only for the wonderful sites of Phuket but to purchase medications that they cannot purchase in their own countries without a prescription. Costs in Thailand being a major in for the tourists as if it was in their own countries they have to pay a lot more for them. To get a taxi or a tuk tuk in Patong is an experience in itself as well. Often you will find there are lines and lines of tuk tuks and less you are going a reasonable distance they often are unwilling to take you. I would say that it is quite a little mafia ring running regarding tuk tuk operations in Patong, all without proof of course. As well as the lines and lines of tuk tuks that will not take you anywhere, is very difficult to find parking in Patong. This is one of the other reasons that very few foreigners who live in Phuket actually will visit Patong. In some cases in Patong you will find there are cheap offers for drinks however for most items you can purchase you will be paying tourist prices and there is almost no

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Phuket, Kitchens, Roadside Foodstalls

Michael Finn — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:39:04 +0000

A Thai kitchen cannot be described simply. You don’t need one.
For example, take our house and the house across the road that is rented. Both built at the same time.
When you walk into your newly built house, you only know where the kitchen “may be” from the model on show in the “site office”. There are no hints otherwise in the house. An outside water supply is supplied in the form of a tap, in the front garden and outside the rear door. The inside water supply is run to the bathroom only.
To have a kitchen, you employ your own builder.
Instead of having our kitchen built inside the house, my wife had our “backyard” covered in and there she had a “built in kitchen installed”, less the cooker.
My wife was living in the house without a cooker for a number of months before I arrived. Here you can live very well without a kitchen.
We went “cooker buying”. My wife chose a single gas ring cooker. She was not interested in a twin or four ring cooker. The cooker and gas bottle was duly installed.
Rice is cooked throughout Thailand in an electric rice cooker. They are brilliant. Put in the rice and the correct amount of water, give or take a drop, switch on and when the rice is cooked the cooker switches to “keep warm” mode. You have hot rice all day long. Or switch off and a few hours later, add a little bit of water and reheat.
The cooker is used only for the food you have with the rice. A wok is used mostly but a pot gives you stews. So in a way one only needs a single ring. No ovens. I don’t think the Thai’s have ever heard of “a roast”.
The rented house across the road has no kitchen. The owners did not pay for one to be installed. The tenants either brings their own “camping cooker” or buy already cooked food nearby. The “kitchen tap” is out the back.
In Phuket you are always within walking distance, sometime only a few steps away from a food stall, serving a take-away or offering a few tables and chairs for a sit down meal. All food stalls specialize in one or two types of food. A few steps away will be another offering different food. Within a short walk you will find the type of food you want to eat at the time.
There are these little food stalls operating outside their houses in our estate. The cooking area and tables are on the footpath.
Five minutes walk from our house is a food market. This consists of a communal dining area with different food stalls surrounding the tables, all under cover with open sides. Here you can choose from all the Dishes that Thailand can offer plus a few Europeans ones as well.
Cheap? Yes. very cheap. This is not a tourist area. Only the locals use it so the prices reflect this. All the food stalls offer “take-away” at no extra charge.
Phuket is Heaven for food and the accessibility of cooked meals. In away there is no need for a kitchen in a house. Even in the countryside you will see a food stall on the roadside.

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A Night Out In Patong.

Phuket, Kitchens, Roadside Foodstalls