April 2nd, 2007
This morning we rented a 115cc Honda Click from our hotel and headed north/west towards Patong Beach. Located about 15kms west of old Phuket Town, Patong IS the centre of all the action in Phuket. Along with the so-so turquoise waters of the Andaman Sea, you’ll find every tourist flavor here; tonnes of street style shopping stands (yes, uhm more bikins, shorts, t-shirts, hand bags for sale!), hawker food stalls, shopping malls, beer gardens & bars, nightclubs…I think you’re getting the idea…!
For many this place seems like the ‘place to be’, but for some its just another beachy area heavily covered with tonnes tourists, many of them Europeans…and with the popularity comes a premium; cabs charge way more++ to take you there, street vendors charge an arm-and-a-leg for fake, low quality shit and refuse to negotiate price, food costs a few more bahts, and many of the above average accommodations never come super cheap. Patong Beach itself is okay, with huge stretches of sands, fully lined with hundreds of beach chairs + umbrellas (apparently a government run operation). I guess I didn’t find anything special with this place, but I can appreciate why young people (& families) love it here.
After woofing down a ‘double filet-O-fish’ (where have you ever seen that???) at McD’s we strolled the streets in search of accommodation on Phi Phi Island for the next 2 nites. It didn’t seem hard as every other stall was either a tour excursion operator or a tourist booth, or a guest house or an internet facility, or etc…..We ended up at Patong Swiss Sea tour with this lady (I thought was a guy) who hooked us up with a decent deal at PP Casita for 2 nites followed by a nite at Baumanburi, just down the block on Rat-U-Thit Road. The only thing that got our attention was how much CHEAPER the Phi Phi Cruiser excursion was going for here in Patong….well, no best deal this time, but a very good lesson for all of us; BOOK ALL TOURS/EXCURSIONS in town where you find the best prices amongst the hundreds of local competitors.
After veggeing at the beach with some coconut juice and some Singha, aC decided to fulfill one of her many things on the ‘to-do’ list, parasailing. For about $20, she got a 2-minute ride in the air with this dude kneeling above her shoulders, twisting and leaning between the lines while guiding the parachute through its course.
We ended the day at Jungcylon, Patong’s newest shopping complex. Sports World (aka Sporting Life/Sport Check of Thailand) ate up most of our time as we made a few purchases (thanx to the ‘grand opening sale’ + the VAT tourist refund)…and we even got a few free bottles of water & baseball cap for being such big spenders!!!
This morning we rented a 115cc Honda Click from our hotel and headed north/west towards Patong Beach. Located about 15kms west of old Phuket Town, Patong IS the centre of all the action in Phuket. Along with the so-so turquoise waters of the Andaman Sea, you’ll find every tourist flavor here; tonnes of street style shopping stands (yes, uhm more bikins, shorts, t-shirts, hand bags for sale!), hawker food stalls, shopping malls, beer gardens & bars, nightclubs…I think you’re getting the idea…!
For many this place seems like the ‘place to be’, but for some its just another beachy area heavily covered with tonnes tourists, many of them Europeans…and with the popularity comes a premium; cabs charge way more++ to take you there, street vendors charge an arm-and-a-leg for fake, low quality shit and refuse to negotiate price, food costs a few more bahts, and many of the above average accommodations never come super cheap. Patong Beach itself is okay, with huge stretches of sands, fully lined with hundreds of beach chairs + umbrellas (apparently a government run operation). I guess I didn’t find anything special with this place, but I can appreciate why young people (& families) love it here.
After woofing down a ‘double filet-O-fish’ (where have you ever seen that???) at McD’s we strolled the streets in search of accommodation on Phi Phi Island for the next 2 nites. It didn’t seem hard as every other stall was either a tour excursion operator or a tourist booth, or a guest house or an internet facility, or etc…..We ended up at Patong Swiss Sea tour with this lady (I thought was a guy) who hooked us up with a decent deal at PP Casita for 2 nites followed by a nite at Baumanburi, just down the block on Rat-U-Thit Road. The only thing that got our attention was how much CHEAPER the Phi Phi Cruiser excursion was going for here in Patong….well, no best deal this time, but a very good lesson for all of us; BOOK ALL TOURS/EXCURSIONS in town where you find the best prices amongst the hundreds of local competitors.
After veggeing at the beach with some coconut juice and some Singha, aC decided to fulfill one of her many things on the ‘to-do’ list, parasailing. For about $20, she got a 2-minute ride in the air with this dude kneeling above her shoulders, twisting and leaning between the lines while guiding the parachute through its course.
We ended the day at Jungcylon, Patong’s newest shopping complex. Sports World (aka Sporting Life/Sport Check of Thailand) ate up most of our time as we made a few purchases (thanx to the ‘grand opening sale’ + the VAT tourist refund)…and we even got a few free bottles of water & baseball cap for being such big spenders!!!
The ride home was quite the experience as local traffic along Thaweewong Road (main beachfront boulevard) was getting busy. Lets just say that I’m quite the expert now at starting and stopping a scooter without intruding on the space of the many other weaving-in-and-out/passing riders)
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