Patong is one of the main towns on Phuket. It is incredibly commercial an touristy, filled mostly with Aussies an Russians, plus a handful of Europeans. The beach is packed and filled with chairs and umbrellas for rent as FAS as the eye can see. But you can try to close your eyes and picture what it looked like probably 20 years ago without the throngs of people and construction, just leaving the crystal clear water, long tails and palm trees.
Perhaps what Patong is most known for is its nightlife, particularly on the infamous Bangla Road. Bangla road is a short stretch of road perpendicular to the beach in the center of town that is filled entirely with bars and clubs and is shut down to all motor traffic at nighttime. Prostitution runs rampant and it is quite easy to spot who has taken up the services of a Thai hooker. Most of the bars and clubs have some kind of dancers or strippers, many of whom are "ladyboys", the Thai phenomenon of cross-dressing or transsexual teen and 20-something boys. In a good number of cases, it can be pretty difficult to tell the ladies from the ladyboys.
We stuck mostly to the bars, but we're approached about every 10 feet walking down the street to see if we wanted to go to a "ping pong show" (you can google it if you don't know what that means; I'd rather not discuss it) or a number of other different types of "shows" that we immediately declined. The number of strippers and hookers in Patong puts Vegas to shame easily.
It's kind of sad to walk around there at night and see that there is such a market for this type of thing. We kept wondering what it's like for these Thai people and if that really is the only, or the best, way that they can manage to make a living.
All in all, despite some nightlife oddities, we had a great time in Patong, but are definitely looking forward to moving on to our next destination!
Photo 1: Patong Beach
Photo 2: Bangla Road
Photo 3: Inside a bar on Bangla Rd.
No comments:
Post a Comment