Diary Patong
2.April.2003
All foreign visitors coming from Singapore and four other countries must use face mask the first two weeks in Thailand. All Thais coming from Singapore and four other countries must stay home two weeks. All because of SARS concern in Thailand.
(Source: Bangkok Post)
Update 6 April 2003: A friend come back from Singapore today. She had no problems, but people that look sick are taken to the hospital.
My advice are to avoid Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam at all cost.
Going home in three weeks, but not because I am afraid of SARS.
1.April.2003
Low season is here with many quiet bars and not nearby so many people on the beach. But that do not mean no tourists. Still some months before September, the slowest month of the year. Even Soi Katoey have few people, that should say it all.
31.March.2003
NO SUN TODAY. Cinema next if they are open, but who knows since the webside of Phuket Gazette is offline.
2.35 PM: Looks like more rain is on its way.
2.55 PM: Raining now.
3.05 PM: Heavy rain.
3.07 PM: It stopped.
30.March.2003
THANK GOD!!! NO MORE RAIN.
Instead I woke up to a beautiful day with the sun shinning from a clear blue sky. If you haven't heard it, we had rain the last five days with very little sun.
I was so happy to be able to get a "sunburn" again that I must go out and party tonight (not like I need a excuse).
Yesterday, the weather was very bad with heavy rain in many places. And not far from Patong they had flooding in the evening. But in Patong it was only raining early in the day.
Rain in Phuket can be very local with heavy showers on one side of the hill and at the other side no rain.
29.March.2003
Many shops and most of the karaoke bars in Nanai Rd Soi 1 has been demolished almost over the night. I don't know what they are going to build here, but it's a sad sight going home at night with no lights and music from the karaoke bars anymore.
24.March.2003
Is This The End Of Life As We Know It?
It can be, with Soi Katoey almost empty after 01.15 AM last night.
Scandinavian Bar in Soi Seadragon and FBI Bar in Soi Katoey was my favorite bars last night. Scandianvian Bar was like being at a big party with a girl flashing in a nearby bar, just like the good old days when flashing was normal.
FBI is a french bar with girls dancing around three poles. Very intim. And a old man couldn't take his eyes from one of the girls dancing and I understand him.
There where many bars in Soi Seadragon that was more or less empty if I don't count all the girls working in every bar.
Soi Easy was dead around 00.30 AM so I didn't stay there. And they need to do something with the bad air inside the complex. The aircondition they have is not good enough, but so long people are drunk they will not complain anyway.
Tai Pan was busy as always. It looked the same at VIP, so long it last. As soon Star Wars open I would expect that VIP need to have happy hour all night, not only from 7 to 12 PM.
22.March.2003
New sign in Patong
Warning: No littering in public places. Maximum fine is 2000 baht.
That's good if they enforce it both for Thais and tourists and it's not another tourist trap.
My opinion is that Thais don't care that too much about garbage floating around, especially if nobody can see it.
Hopefully tourists and Thais will pay the same fine if police caught them for littering, but I doubt it.
As everyone can see from the picture there are some areas of Patong with too much garbage floating around.
But a much bigger problem is the smell of garbage at many places since it looks like nobody have heard about a garbage bin with a lid!
It's very warm in Patong, so it don't take long time before it smell.
18.March.2003
There was a fight outside a Karaoke in NaNai Road this morning, not far away from where I stay. It started as a fight but ended with one dead caused by a knife. This is not confirmed, have only heard it from a friend.
Read more at Phuket Gazette.
17.March.2003
Sunset at Laem Promthep. Nothing special, maybe better another day.
15.March.2003
A taxi driver was murdered outside Phuket International Airport today. Read more at Phuket Gazette.
14.March.2003
It was fun to look at, typing a SMS message when dancing. Your fingers was no doubt much faster than your feet.
Had lots of fun dancing at Banana last night. And I have never seen so many Thai girls here before.
Banana are still popular by Japanese and young European people. Had much better music last night than Tiger, but maybe the DJ had a especially good night.
Vendors are selling cold Heineken on the street for 50 baht.
Did only see one police man last night, good. Some bars was still open after 02.05 AM. But I am sure they will close in a few minutes (what can I else say).
13.March.2003
We have been to Railay Beach in Krabi today. Check out Phototour for pictures, but I am not happy with them. No good photo light. Very beautiful beach but the water was murky, not like I am used to in Phuket with it's clear water.
A friend told me that sometimes water very good other times not so good. Hopefully clear water next time we go to this beautiful beach.
There was a spectacular firework display on the sky tonight, just after dark, with a thunderstorm lighting up the sky. Most of the time a thunderstorm in Phuket only means we have a firework display high up in the sky, nothing to worry about.
But when we was eating out at a restaurant, we suddenly see a great light like it was in the middle of the day and next moment there was a big bang that could wake up the death! I don't know if the lightning stroke a building but everyone was shaken.
Temperature sank with 5 degrees in one hour to 24C and that must be record low for this year.
12.March.2003
Was at Tiger last night where we looked out on a sea of people dancing on first floor.
After we went to Tai Pan but with police everywhere taking notes we decided to go home instead. No fun going out with so much police!
3.March.2003
There is always a crackdown going on in Thailand. Latest crackdown is that children under 18 are banned from Internet cafes after 10 PM under a new national law (Source: Phuket Gazette).
Good for me when staying in Bangkok. Can use internet without worrying about that every computer is in use by school children. So long it will not lead to Internet cafes closing earlier.
Smoking marihuana on the beach is not the smartest thing you can do in Thailand.
OK, you did smoke on a deserted part of the beach. But when we can smell it, police can too and they are usually not far away. Lucky for you no police was around at that time.
Please don't use drugs in Thailand. If you didn't know, there is a anti-drug war going on here.
Warning Thai girls:
Never take a condom with you when going out for dancing. Sometimes police check and they are not too fond of finding a condom on you. It's better to ask your partner to buy in 7-Eleven instead.
27.February.2003
Do you want cheep draft beer before going to a disco? Try Irish Bar in Patong at 35 baht between 4 PM and 9 PM or Farang Bar in Karon at 29 baht between 3 PM and 8 PM.
26.February.2003
Soi SanSabai are almost death after closing time. After police raided the street, lots of tourists stay away.
25.February.2003
Pool party at Safari didn't last long time. Police raided the place last night and closed Safari down. It's now closed for a month.
I miss the good old days when Patong never closed.
Drinking and driving in Phuket is normal. Police normally only check for use of helmets and driving license. And police almost never check after sunset.
Last night two Swedish tourists died in a accident near Le Meridien, Karon - Patong. All had been drinking in Karon before heading to Patong. The driver tried to overtake a Tuk-Tuk while another car was coming from the opposite direction and he hit the Tuk-Tuk to avoid a head-on collision.
The Tuk-Tuk driver and his passenger escaped serious injury.
Be careful driving after midnight when many people have been drinking. There have not yet been a crackdown on drunk driving, but I am sure there will be if too many tourists complain!
At the moment police care more about stopping motorbike drivers without helmet. And many tourists drive right in to the trap. Thais are also caught, but soon after word of mouth spread so their friends can take alternate routes. But a fine of 300 - 400 baht should be no problem for tourists.
On April 1 the war on Dvd & Cd piracy will start in Thailand.
24.February.2003
With the experience from my last visa run to Andaman Club in mind, I wanted to see if going to Kawthaung (Victoria Point), Myanmar (Burma) would take less time. After what I had heard this was a much faster trip.
Instead of being picket up at the hotel, the minibus was waiting outside Thai Farmers Bank. Good idea, saving lots of time, more efficient than driving around Patong to pick up customers.
The biggest difference from this trip to my earlier report, was that it was designed with speed in mind: to get a new visa in shortest time as possible. And this time Thai food was included in the price. With one stop each way for approximate 30 minutes. The first at 10 AM and the second at 3 PM. But myself had preferred going non stop without food to save one hour.
Driving time from Patong to Ranong are only 4 hours, since the driver think the car is a plane.
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| Immigration Myanmar |
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| Shopping center, Kawthaung |
Then it was back to the boat while waiting for everyone to return. There is no time to shopping or looking around, but our guide took orders for cigarettes and whisky, which he would buy when we stayed at Immigration. Everything made in Myanmar.
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| Kawthaung |
Then we went back to Ranong, only stopping at two checkpoints for a short time.
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| Hot Natural Spring, Ranong |
If you want to know more, do a search on internet.
After a long day it was good to be back in Patong.
The whole trip cost 1100 baht plus 5 US dollars to Myanmar Immigration. Immigration in Myanmar only accept dollars in perfect condition. If you don't have dollars there is the option to pay 300 baht.
