I came to Phuket without booking, since this is my first time there it was hard for me to imagine the place, I dont want to book first without knowing the location. My criteria : beachfront, clean and comfy, nice bathroom and within budget of 1000 bhat, Patong Inn fits all that (and I got a discount, it cost me only 800 bhat per night)! The rooms are by an open-air corridor so its nice and breezy. I was really pleased with the hotel, and it was great that I can go to the beach by just crossing the road. The hotel has a restaurant and computers for internet at the reception. The staff were very friendly too and made my stay really enjoyable. They can even help with tour bookings or there is also a tour agent at the front of the hotel.

My Patong Beach essentials : 1. Breakfast - coffee, croissants and cocktails (substitute for fruit juice) 2. Snacks - chips and cocktails 3. Water 4. Shades / sunnies 5. Flip-flops 6. Books 7. Money for renting beach chair and buying from vendors 8. Sarong and Towels 9. Dont forget sunscreen! 10. Camera for all the beautiful view and camwhore moments

I like this restaurant, its simple and sweet - looks like old style restaurant, clean place and tasty food.

The center of Patong nightlife is in Bangla Road

Pics and reviews on Patong Beach, Phuket

For our last day in Patong we did some exploring around, walking through the markets and shops, took a walk to the beach which was rather unimpressive and for the most part took it pretty easy. Milky and I had been craving some western food so we all went and got Subway which to my surprise was just as expensive here as it is at home. After lunch we started bargaining for Bus/Boat tickets to Koh Phi Phi for tomorrow and it took about 6 or 7 vendors but we finally found a girl that would sell them to us for pretty cheap(300 Baht instead of 450 Baht)

As per usual with the Irish guys, we didn’t wake up till close to 1pm so most of the day was already shot but Sean and Milky made they’re way to the beach and Mark rented a scooter for the day to see if he could find the friends he was supposed to be meeting in Patong. Bernie spent most of the day with Ashley(guy) and Charlie(girl) as they woke up an hour or so before us and left us a note saying they’d be back sometime later. Nagle continued sleeping and I spent quite a bit of the day wandering around Patong, looking through shops and stores for gifts to bring home but I must be picky cus I couldn’t find a damn thing. Later in the day I was sitting in an internet café when a friend from Calgary walked in with his girlfriend(Will and Hannah)! I knew they were in Asia but I hadn’t talked to Will in a few weeks so I had no idea he was in Thailand, let alone Patong. It’s seems like such a small world when that happens and I was excited to see a friend from back home since I’m starting to miss my close knit group of friends back in Calgary. Anyways, they were planning to stay a couple nights in Patong and then head to Koh Phi Phi so I told him to message me when he wants to meet up for dinner or drinks and we’d go from there since they had a day trip booked for tomorrow and weren’t planning to go out tonight. When I got back to the hotel Mark was waiting in our room and told me how he got pulled over twice while driving around on his scooter and had to pay a 300 Baht fine for not having a license and the police made him walk to the police station to pay the fine which was over 2 km’s away! I kinda laughed because in all the crap he had went through during the day, he still didn’t find his friends so he’d have to try it again tomorrow.

Around 5am or so we arrived in Surat Thani and had to wait an hour for the bus to arrive and take us to Phuket which was still about 4 hours away. Even though I had got about 5 hours sleep on the boat I was still dead tired and when the bus finally arrived I think I was awake for about 5 minutes on it before completely passing out. The Irish guys and I all sat by ourselves on the bus so every couple hours I’d wake up and have a different person sitting beside me which was kind of funny considering I’d wake up and notice I was almost drooling on them a few times. We got to Phuket about 11am or so and took a while deciding where we wanted to stay cus Bernie wanted to meet up with some friends of his from England but didn’t know whether they were staying in Phuket town or Patong which is the busier section of Phuket. Eventually he got a hold of them and found out they were staying at Baan Patong Guesthouse in Patong. While waiting around to hear from Bernie’s friends we ran into a guy from England that was on our boat and was traveling alone so we invited him to come with us to Patong and if he wanted to hang out with us for the day then he could since we were only planning to stay the one day.

Well today I woke up on the coach in the common area of the hostel with close to 10 people sitting all around me which was kind of awkward. I wonder how long they were all sitting around me and they probably thought I was a douche bag for passing out there. I then noticed that I had passed out with my laptop on and hadn’t even said goodnight to anyone so they were all like “wtf dude, did you pass out?” I also took a look through some of the message logs and oh man, I shouldn’t have been anywhere near a computer lol

Good place if you don't mind the noise of nightlife. But some bungalows are quiet. Helpful staff. Bathrooms needs to be refreshed. Good breakfast,, if wake up early enough to get it, you won't need a lunch. The public beach is just across the road. Right in the center of Patong Beach. It's so close to Bangla road that you are like sleeping in the middle of a bar if you get a bungalow on Bangla road's side. No way to sleep before 4 the morning !! But I got another room and then the end of the stay was more relaxing. The bungalows are in an amazing tropical garden. The staff was very nice and helpful. I would not recommend to have meals at the restaurant because to expensive compared to small eateries you can find around Patong.

This was a day I was waiting for for a long time.  Several years ago after II heard about the damage to Phuket with the tsunami I decided I would go one day.  The original plan was for me to visit last time I was in Thailand but I simply ran out of time and never got there.  So this time I made sure I had the time to visit this island province.  Time was still a bit tight so I knew we had to fly down from Bangkok.  While we were still at Jomtien we visited a travel agent and purchased two tickets on One Two Go Airlines bound for Phuket International Airport.  This would be very exciting for Benny as she had never flown before.

So after one of the shortest flights for me, and of course the longest for Benny we arrived in Phuket.  Actually the the trip began with some excitement as we were about to taxi out from the Bangkok airport's terminal a lady suddenly passed out just a few rows behind us and ended up needing medical attention.  The flight crew handled things very well but it took over 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive by which time the crew and a doctor that happened to also be flying had things under control and the lady walked of the planed without further help.

We arrived in Phuket during a raging tropical rainstorm.  I love the rain, which is a good thing as I live in a rain forest, but this was a bit much.  I looked like all the water of the world was falling on the Phuket airport.  All the rain meant I took a long time for us to get a taxi to take us to Karon Beach where we were planning to stay.  Not sure it was because of the rain or just how people tend to drive in Phuket but we actually got a driver that followed the rules of the road and did not scare the crap out of me during the 40 minute drive to our hotel.

We chose Karon Beach because I was told it was quite but close to the fun of Patong and they were right.  We stayed in a very nice hotel called Woraburi Phuket Resort which I would recommend strongly and I will right a review when I have time.  The hotel was very close to a great beach, it was just across the street.  The beach was very quite and did not have the ever present vendors selling everything you can imagine.  This area has everything you need, from good eating and pubs to banks and tuk tuks to Patong.  The hotel even had a nice market next door that was good for gifts for the folks back home. 

For the night life or a bit more action you needed to take a tuk tuk to Patong.  Phuket's tuk tuks are different then the vehicles of the same name I found in Bangkok and Chang Mie.  Really the tuk tuk of Phuket are just small Daihatsu trucks that have covered backs with a couple of bench seats to carry up to 4 or 5 people.  The price from Karon Beach to Patong was some times as little as 350 baht and as much as 600 baht depending on how busy it was and how good I was a bargaining.

The biggest problem with Karon Beach is it way to expensive for the average Thai person.  The only Thai people I saw around this area were working or traveling to work.  Just about 1 km up the hill from our hotel was a small village that did seem to house many of the local workers.  As I travel more and more I find I prefer to normally stay near where the locals stay so that I get a better fell for the place I visit.  Karon Beach seemed to be visited by mostly Chinese and Europeans from Sweden and Finland. 

Of the beach areas I have been to Phuket is the most beautiful area.  The beaches of Koh Samet are better but the surroundings are just quite as beautiful.  The beaches of Phuket are still very good and the water is incredibly warm but the it is the combination of the jungle hills and the remarkably green islands that dot the Andaman Sea the make this place special for me. 

Phuket Current mood: ashamed Greetings from Phuket. Arrived in Bangkok at midnight, caught a taxi to the hotel which on the brochure was 20 mins away. Biddy and I got there in 10 mins as our taxi man took advantage of the empty highway and decided he'd travel at a steady 200mk/h!! Arrived at our hotel to find a very excited Milney. Day 2 Flew to Phuket the next day and got into our hotel (Expat Hotel in Patong Beach) in the afternoon. Nice hotel with our room on the bottom of 3 floors overlooking the pool. Got settled in and went for a walk to check the place out, ended up at Aussie Bar and chillaxed with a few drinks. Had tea at our hotel (which we found out had happy hour everyday from 6-8 where all drinks are 50baht ($1.80) and it all went loose from there... Went back to Aussie Bar for drinks where we met some guys from Victoria who were all very smashed when we were there (just got called to the bar from the bar chick telling me the Umbrella song is on!) in the mid afternoon, we couldn't believe they were still there when we went back! Ended up being the guys Milney sat next too on the plane! We got pretty well smashed there, and got taken to a ping pong show, for those that don't know what that entails then imagine string, goldfish, golf balls, finches, razorblades... Ended up sitting next to four Swedish guys who couldn't believe what was happening either and we ended up leaving there after about an hour or so. We went from there to about 4 different clubs, we all went back to our hotel for a late night swim, but got stopped by security, so we decided to go back out (well actually... i went back out with the swedish guys minus one who thought it'd be nice to stay in our hotel room!!). Stayed out with them for another couple of hours, and ended up back at the hotel by about 5am... Got their numbers and have organised to stay with them in Sweden. Massive hangover the next day... Day 3 (Oz Day) Pretty much did nothing as I wasn't feeling to well. Listened to a bit of the Hottest 100. Went to the beach in the arvo had a beer while watching the sunset. Went for tea, then back to Aussie Bar, i struggled to drink, but i soldiered on of course we ended up back at Ping Pong show, where we took some people we met from Lonny at Aussie Bar, and a brother and sister from somewhere in Oz. Went to a club after that, then went to the 7 eleven to buy cheap vodka and cheap redbull. I ended up going home at bout 3ish, while the other 2 barged home about 6ish after a short swim at the beach on the way home! Day 4 Rest day which included little drinking as we were getting ready for our boat trip the next day... Day 5 Left our hotel at 8am to catch a boat to Maya, Phi Phi and Khai islands. Boat trip was very rough, but still fun. We stopped at Maya Island first which is where the movie The Beach was filmed, only had about 30 mins there. Then we went snorkelling around the corner. From there we went to Phi Phi Island which is the one that the Tsunami went straight over the top of. Looks really good now though. We had lunch their and looked around for about half hour. We went to Monkey Beach to feed the monkeys, then we went to Khai Island which is about 70 metres wide and about 150 long! It has a reggae bar, and beach chairs, and a volleyball net. Awesome spot. Went back and had some tea at a nice restaurant where I got a hip flasked sized bottle of whisky to have with tea for 190baht ($7)... Went back to Aussie Bar and waited for the arrival of the Lane Train, which after flight delays wasn't until 2am. Had some drinks with him and got in at about 4! Day 6 (29th) Slept in till 11am, done nothing all day really... Went to a cinema and watched the Flock, weird movie with Richard Gere and Claire Danes. Very hot today, the weather has been at a constant 33/34 degrees.

more from Phuket and Phi Phi
Current mood: amused
Category: Travel and Places

 29^th Jan Tuesday
Did nothing! Rest day in preperation for our stay at Phi Phi Island tomorrow. Ordered a suit from our man Bater. Nice indian guy who came for a drink with us one night after he finished work. He said it was the first time he'd ever done it!

30^th Jan Wed
Caught the ferry to Phi Phi Island. Arrived around 4ish. Eventually found our hotel (P.P. Infinity Guesthouse) after being given the wrong directions (all i could remember was the hotel part... isn't that right Mo!). Went to Apache Bar for happy hour 4-10pm! Buy 1 bucket, get another free! Had 1 bucket before tea, of Sangsom(thai whiskey) and Redbull. Went out for tea then met up with Sam and Sarah who we met a couple of nights earlier at Patong. Got some more buckets from a guy in a bucket stall. About $6 each! With a full hip flasked size bottle of Whiskey!

Went to the beach to drink them, ended up drinking half of Milneys as well! Went to Reggae Bar (surprise boxing ring in the middle) watched some Thai boxing, then after that you could fight your friend and the winner received a free bucket! Two chicks got up, funniest thing I have ever seen! I tried to pay Biddy and Milney to fight each other but they wouldn't!! Got a video which I will upload to myspace.

Went to Carlitos Bar for a bit, but closed, then to Hippies bar, and went back to our Guesthouse.

31^st Jan Thursday
Went canoeing at Phi Phi, it was awesome, but very "hung" so i didn't enjoy it too much. I decided to go back to Patong (Phuket) to see the boys (Laney, Wooz and crew) who arrived today. Biddy and Milney stayed on Phi Phi another night. Still "hung"

Took me a while to get back into drinkning, they guys came to our hotel to eat (very cheap) and then to happy hour. They went silly, i just watched!! We went to Aussie Bar, got the Swedish guys to come around to meet the guys. Laney, Wooz, Kris, Eric, Klaus and I ended up at some tiny bar where Wooz kept falling asleep! He ended up behind the bar pole dancing and then shouting the bar (1000Baht = $36) which equalled about 40 shots!

We then went to Seduction club where we danced the night away, Laney ended up carrying Wooz home! I stopped to get pizza (not Mev, but it was nice!).

1^st February
Another slow start, Laney and Wooz slept in my room coz they had booked the wrong nights at their other hotel. Girls decided to stay at Phi Phi another night. Laney and I went 10 pin bowling to get away from the heat. Went to visit the gang for a while, then left them to meet up with Kris Eric and Klaus for tea, we then went to Bushrangers to play 8ball where we had to step over the sleeping dog to play our shots! Early night, about 030hrs.

2^nd February Saturday
Another slow start (ASS for short) Spent the whole day alone, shopping for shorts to wear out with pockets in them, got a polo polo as well for $9 (fake). Biddy and Milney arrived home from Phi pHI this arvo. WE went back to Bater (our suit man) for my fitting. Looks pretty good, should win Fashions on the Field at Dev Cup for sure! Had maccas for tea (rice can be boring) and then got some longnecks from the 7eleven to drink at our hotel before we went out. Rained for about an hour, so when that stopped at about 2300hrs we made a run for it into Bangla Road. Went to Aussie Bar for a few drinks. Chewing Gum Boy (Pang Pong) came up to say goodbye, he's going to visit his family in Bangkok for two weeks. Pretty sad goodbye, he asked me to sign his hat for him and he gave me a cigar to keep! (he is only 14!) but loves to smoke! I gave him some money to take on his trip with him, he seemed prety grateful!

From there we went to Banana Bar with Laney and Co. Laney pretended all night to be Irish (Patty O'Furniture) worked well for him! Pretty cool bar, but closed at 2. Took Wooz to his first Ping Pong show. It was disgusting, never going again. Got home about 5am after eating pizza again!

3rd Feb today
Just watching the cricket at the moment, bloody Brisbane weather! Peace out my friends.

Patong at night - I was at a thai boxing camp near there and we went out in groups of 10 or so to watch fights, eat meals and drink. This seemed to be the best way as we got a lot less attention from the local bar girls who will pick off single males or men in small groups. Women seem to have a lot fewer problems dodging the affections of Thai men. If you are male and stand out from the crowd (are not Thai) you will get groped! This is NOT why I put this down as a 4 star rating but the people I was with made it a place I will always remember having a great time in. The night life is totally based around western tourists, expect to see a lot of western men with young(ish) beautiful thai girls and thai girls offering sex for money in the clubs (subtlety of course). If you set yourself a high moral standard you might want to avoid this place. The drinks are cheap in comparison to England but for Thailand its a bit more expensive, again testament to the strong tourist trade. Tiger bar can be found on the main strip and has plenty of people in most of the time. Its actually several smaller bars under one huge roof so look around before sitting at a bar. The girls (and some boys dressed like girls) are pro active in generating custom to the point of grabbing hold of you and dragging you over to their bar. Most people are good natured and seem to genuinely enjoy the atmosphere but a few will try and squeeze as much money as possible from you! If a bar girl asks you to play connect 4, pool or any other kind of game for money (100baht was the going rate for me) don't play unless you want to loose money fast! They WILL win but it can be a lot of fun. During the day Patong provides good shopping and a big beech which is often crowed and can appear pretty dirty. There are strong currents in the sea so be careful! We only found this out as a friend was dragged 50m from land before he knew it. Several people, mainly tourists, die in the seas around Phuket each year. The shopping is very much like everywhere else in Thailand - bartering is the name of the game! NEVER take the first price unless your in a supermarket or established shop. The price will double when they see you are western. But this adds to the fun of the place and the good sense of humour I found the Thai people to have was not lost in Patong. I hope this brief review is helpful

"It's bloody cheap, mate," said in a Thai accent is something we have come to hear atleast 20 times a day here, all you have to do is walk down the main beach in Patong.  Luckily we are staying back from the beach and up the hill a bit!! It is a beautiful place though and you can definitely see why people love it here.  For us though we are happy just chilling out away from the tourist mecca!  Last night we went to an absolutely outstanding attraction (thanks to Mum and O telling us how fantastic it was and giving Mike a ticket for his birthday)!  Fantasea Elephant Palace was awesome!  Inside the palace is the most amazing theatrical, acrobatic, animal and evey other kind of show you can think of.  For me the highlight was the elephants walking down through the crowd.  The fact that we had booked in advance meant we had a seat two rows back from the stage.  We could feel the heat from the fires and the rain that fell from the top of the stage!!!!! You can't take cameras in here so I just have one photo on the blog to give you an idea but it is truely awesome! By the way, I REALLLLLLLY want an elephant!!