Police Crackdown on Patong Bars

[Bonzo]

Just rang a mate who has a bar, not on Bangla (but not far away), and he has been open till 4am or later. He says that Tiger upstairs is also staying open past 2. What surprised him was that Taipan was closing at 2. He is convinced that when the BKK MIB go home it will return to normal. Not that he has been inconvenienced.

 

[classicvince]

Whats the relevance of the living in Australia bit???????55555555555!!

 

[Midnyte]

Gee, what fun!

Lessee, you can call it what you want, and in Thailand you're probably more right than I am, but in the USA the two ways most people get to the airport (if they don't go in a private car) are the Airport Limo (usually a large van), or a taxi. The difference is the limo makes several stops on the way to pick up people, and the cost is a little less than half of what a cab (taxi) would cost. I'm sure there are many other ways to get to the airport including helicopters and huge Cadillac limousines, but the most common are the first two.

I realize there are lots of ways to get from the Phuket Airport to Patong Beach, but for a visitor, the choices are usually one of the two readily available when you leave the terminal - what you're calling a mini-bus, and a taxi. The first is 150 baht, involves being squeezed in with lots of other people, and a stop part way to Patong where you might change vehicles, and are asked if you want to change hotels to one they can provide. The second is the taxi. I know (now) that there are at least two more choices, if not more, but for most people the choice seems to again be one of the first two, which you get to choose from as you're walking out of the airport terminal.

Nice to see all the piccys posted up above. The van (mini-bus) looks like a smaller version of what we've got in the US. Nowadays many people call it a Shuttle, and the company Super Shuttle are moving into many airports all over the country. It's a less expensive and very reliable way of getting to the airport. The "Taximeter" photo looks like a regular taxi. The Limo in the third photo looks like a regular street car - a Limousine in the USA is usually assumed to be quite long (sometimes extremely long), with a very fancy interior. They're usually pretty expensive to hire. Most of the time they used to be Cadillacs or Lincolns, but nowadays you can find many high-tech cars that have been converted into Limos - but these are usually one-of-a-kind vehicles.

The photo of the big white "Limo" posted above would be quite an eye-stopper in the USA. It's made from a Corvette, and I've never seen one of these before, ever. Since all the cars in the photo are Corvettes, I'm guessing this is a show car, designed for attention. It's probably the only one of its kind in existence!

Limousines.... go to Google and select "images" at the top line. Enter the word "limousine" and do a search. What you see there is what I think of when I hear the word "limousine". I doubt if one of these ever has, or ever will, be available for transport from Phuket Airport to Patong Beach.




We might all be speaking English here, but it's obviously different depending on where we live(d), and so on. Not even sure why I'm posting this now, other than that it's a nasty storm outside and I couldn't sleep.

 

[Tea]

Can one of our more enlightened American BM please explain why so many of your fellow countrymen come onto a Phuket forum with the sole intention of telling us how things are said or done in the USA. I imagine if people want to know about the USA they would join an American forum.


As for Thaicam see below.

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[CJ G]

Just trying to get this right! Are you on holiday here?

Sitting on streets with the Thai's drinking beer and listening to thier 'real-life' issues (There is a daytime in Thailand and most of us here relate to Thais of all walks of life and persuation on a daily/nightly basis).............then dashing to the internet massageplanete to relate your vast experiences in an holier than thou, gospel according to Saint Thaicam way, consists of your holiday down time here! Up to you I guess, however, the same scenario could be played out in any country in the world.

Is it all so very new to you? Has it has shocked you a little bit? Thinking of buying a buddha necklace? There are plenty of charitable organisations you can either get involved with personally.............or donate your money too*

*(In your case, maybe forget that last one)

 

[mrsCULLEN]

This is the last off-topic post I'll make in this discussion, only as an answer to Dupree. No, if I were a typical tourist, Patong would be like most other tourist destinations, where people visit to see the country, not to pay for sex. I think I've read where some of the Thai politicians would like to see that happen here, but there's so much money involved, that changes everything.

What goes around, comes around - and people living in glass houses ought not to throw stones. A friend explained this far better than I did - the reason some people here are so angry at what I say has nothing to do with me, but is simply a way to make them feel good about doing something that they could never do back home. Even the term "the going rate" is used to justify pay-for-sex in their over-inflated ego. It makes it sound legitimate. Most people in the world would consider pay-for-sex as exploiting the other person, no matter how much money was involved. By getting upset at me for mentioning a low amount, my friend says that the rest of you are simply trying to feel good about what YOU do, ignoring the fact that in the eyes of most people, what ALL of us are doing is completely wrong and unacceptable.

I agree with my friend, having thought about it for a while. In the same sense that I'm wrong in paying "only" 300 for something, in the eyes of most people those of you who are paying 1000, 2000, or whatever, are also wrong. In that sense, every one of us is exploiting the local people.

With that being said, if anyone wants to discuss this further, please do so in the "tipping" item in the general forum, at least until when/if Dodger closes it. Maybe I'll see if I can figure out how to change the topic of that item to something more general. Let this discussion here go back to what it's supposed to be about.

Anyone who's bothered by any of this can simply ignore that one discussion, and go on with things as they were before.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Last night at least 3 bars where shut down by the local MIB. Arrested one from each bar. 1 bar from Bangla Area, 1 Club in the safari area and 1 karaoke bar in Patong. All for serving drinks past 2 o'clock. Even with lights switched off and no music playing. One drink to much can mean big problem for the owner already even when no bills are on the counter. The night before a bar in Soi Sansabai was busted by the Camo Guys. even the pulled down shutters were no security for the party people. Tough tmes for bar owners!

 

[Lyna]

....................Cough!

 

[miss fabulous]

I might be being a bit thick here; but how does shutting your bars completely hurt anyone other than yourselves & BG's? Or perhaps I've misunderstood what strike means in this instance

 

[Wallace]

When someone digs my grave, please do not call upon Thaicam ,cos I want someone who has done it loads of time before not someoene who has potted a few pagonia's!!!!

Dog, bone comes to mind, no idea why?????

 

[happygirl52409]

I dunno. I agree with some of what you said, but not all of it. First of all, I read that the law was 2am in designated areas. Now you're saying it's 12 or 1. Were the other people wrong who posted the later times? Me confused...

Jet Ski operators - of course you're right, and the operators probably charge far more than they should for repairs, but if the people renting them would stop crashing into each other, there wouldn't be any repairs. I've watched the end result of some crashes, and if the goal is to repair the jet ski to like new, the prices might even be reasonable. If you ignore the no insurance signs, and have a wreck, you're in trouble. I don't know if you're right or not, that they're charging way too much. The answer of course is to not rent one, or if you have to do so, be prepared for huge bills if you mess up.

Touts - you walk down Bangla and every so often there's a group trying to hand out flyers, or get you to come into some place for a show or a drink. If you're not interested, they move on to the next person. They might be annoying, but no more so than the annoying people trying to sell you new shirts or suits, or anything else. They're just trying to earn some money, the same as everyone else around them. Maybe the ones you're referring to I just haven't seen, or maybe they ignore me because I just ignore them. There are a few that I got to talk with, and after a few minutes, it seems like they're just people, the same as anyone else. If they're selling tickets, or shows, or suits, or cigarettes, or a ride in a tuk-tuk, is that any different than walking down Soi Erik only to have people at several bars pull you into their bar? (The difference might be something that you want more or less, and someone pulling you into a situation you enjoy might seem better, but they're really doing the same thing.)

Tuk-tuks. Never had that experience. If the agreed on price was a certain amount, and they got to the hill and asked for more, I'd be stubborn enough, or stupid enough, to tell them that they either go the full distance for what was agreed upon, or they get nothing - I'd get out and start walking. On the other hand, if they're asking for too much to begin with, just move on to another one. Paying the inflated rate just justifies it for everyone else who wants to charge more.



By the way, if Patong were to grow up and become more or less just like other places in the developed world, would all of you still be going there? Nothing in life is perfect, but isn't Patong still far better than just about any other place you could be going to?

 

[darknowhere00]

This comes round all the time, things adjust then readjust- even Purachais crusade didnt really kill things outside of BKK, they just move and people adjust. Saloon bar days of the 90's are long gone though ! Dep Mayor now a Rio investor as well - i think he may be the mayors brother even, have to check that one !

 

[magicbird]

I don't think this will last long.
You have to take in account that police here in Patong is making milions from discos or pubs that have to stay open till late to make a profit.
I personally don't believe that they will let this fortune go away.

 

[nowhereman]

Ofcourse it hurts us, but if we can gain later closing time then we benefit in longer term.

 

[Twinklestar]

Hey, when it starts raining, you head for the closest place with a roof. All BK did (besides keeping me dry) was make me even more hungry. They've even got lots of chairs you can sit in while you wait out the rain.

 

[blue03neon]

Talk amongst the \French in Kamala is that BKK have given PHuket politicians 3 months to comply with national law after which time bar owners ill be arested if not observing the 1am deadline. Unfounded rumour so far, perhaps someone has heard something to onfirm or otherwise??

 

[mrsd]

To be onest,for most of them its notting worse in life than a "wealthy" parasite h:

Its about pride,and they would probably be the first one to share plentiful with you if they could.

Opposite of what you are doing down there.

 

[Cortnie]

LOL ... katoeys .... brrr ... chill ... let me know when someone feels like asking my question ... meanwhile I'll be trying to figure out a way I can have a "Groundhog's Day" effect for my trip to Phuket ...

 

[Curious Joe]

Patong or Kathu police isnt the problem, they support us, but if high ranking people in BKK say something they have to obey. (Or be punished).

I do however think things will be back to normal soon.

 

[adthepie]

to be honest, all this limitation of what the girls can wear almost reminds me of what Muslims do with their women

i can understand them not wanting girls to maybe reveal too much dancing on bars, but to not allow Sharky's uniform when any family can turn on tv and see britney spears/tata young in same outfit is absurd