Patong - The Wake

[Patong2 308]

I for one, thoroughly enjoyed many of the contributions on the "Patong is dead" thread and  I am disappointed it was closed.

Xylophone especially made some really insightful and balanced comments with very interesting detail.

 

Having visited Patong for increasing lengths of time over 20 years I can say with confidence that the old Patong as we knew it is definitely dead and the new Patong seems to need some life blown into it. This is the lowest numbers of tourists we have ever seen here at this time of the year.

 

What were your favourite sights in the old Patong? We really miss the pain in the ass (literally for some) of Soi Crocodile. It was always flamboyant and vibrant, many times annoying, but the dancers were always an interesting focal point for tourists new and old.

[GiantFan 196]

I miss the 2 Black Sheep.  Great place to shoot the breeze.   Met most of my Phuket friends at that place.

[LivinginKata 9,143]

"Xylophone especially made some really insightful and balanced comments with very interesting detail."

 

I agree, I always looked forward to his informative posts.

 

But that old topic needed closed, just too long winded after 168 pages.

Edited June 25, 2017 by LivinginKata

[xylophone 11,702]

Thank you for your kind words Patong2 and I was sorry to see the thread closed, however it became necessary not just because of a vindictive poster taking aim at me, but because it had gotten a little stale and there seemed to be other ongoing disagreements/feuds.

 

We all have different points of view with regards to events here and how they affect us, however I used to find the posts such as, "if you don't like it why don't you go home" and "if it is so bad what are you doing here" type comments as unnecessary. Surely everyone has the right to comment on how they see the town in which they live and the things which affect them, and many times if it's a negative, it's purely because what could have been done to make the place better, simply hasn't.

 

Examples and instances of this abound from the beach fiasco to the overbuilding to the far too many tuk tuks and so on. Then of course there is the changing demographics and the TAT push into the Chinese market and all that this brings with it, debated by many and generally seen as a negative.

 

On that point I don't know if it's going to change any time soon as I was talking to a couple of guys in the real estate business and there are some of the "wealthier" Chinese buying apartments/condos here. There is a development which is offering a 7% return on the initial investment for 15 years, with the only proviso being that once the unit is bought it is allowed to be rented out and the owner only gets one month occupancy a year, so it sounds very much like the old timeshare model or indeed fractional ownership.

 

Having said that this particular development seems to be doing quite well along those lines although I'm not sure that I would "trust" the promises made of the returns and the fact that on one website these places are advertised with a "30+30+30 year lease".

 

Anyway, I digress, however I welcome you starting this thread and I had thought about doing something similar myself with a heading which would allow just about everything to be discussed, from infrastructure to corruption, to nightlife, to events, to property to low and high seasons etc, however perhaps your heading/thread can encompass this?

 

 

[xylophone 11,702]

11 minutes ago, GiantFan said:

I miss the 2 Black Sheep.  Great place to shoot the breeze.   Met most of my Phuket friends at that place.

Me too as I spent many hours day and night in that place when Kiwi Bill was running it and believe it or not I nearly bought a share of it sometime around 2006 (I think). Then John and his wife took it over and it seemed to be successful for a few more years and then they sold it. Never seem to be the same after that.

 

I do remember Bill hitting the booze a little too hard and when he did that, his "quiz nights" became a little too "off the scale" and I think selling the place was good for him because it may well have saved his liver! (No disrespect meant Bill if you are still around).

[dotpoom 8,185]

Just thought the headline was a strange choice of words....considering the times we live in.

[LivinginKata 9,143]

34 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

Just thought the headline was a strange choice of words....considering the times we live in.

 

I thought the title was quite clever. Previous topic was about Patong dying, and we all mostly agreed it was. So now we are into the wake period of mourning in the Irish party way ...

[jenifer d 459]

on my first ever visit to Thailand, in Sept/Oct 2008, Patong was where my traveling companion and i spent 25 days of our 

slightly more than 1 month holiday; staying at the Tropica and hanging out often at the Sailor Bar on the Beach road

(Bobby from there is still one of my dearest friends) and eating at Savoy and elsewhere... 

i got to know Patong quite well during this and subsequent visits...

when i visited again in Apr 2009, i stayed again at Tropica, for 12 days out of a 25 day trip, and explored even more of Patong

(this trip was also when i visited Koh Lanta for the first time; i would move to Lanta in Sept 09)

after moving to the Kingdom, i visited Patong every few months, for Thai friend's birthdays, Songkran (and my birthday, same time) 

and to consult with my Thai lawyer; at Thai friend's behest, i would often sit in w/bands and such at various bars-

i ceased going so frequently approx 3 years ago-

i was just in Phuket  for my dear friend Tikky's birthday this last December, and though she lives in Kamala,

her and i first met in Patong (she is my very first friend in Thailand, dating back to Sep 08, first day in the country)

where her and her husband Ole had a tattoo shop and then started quite a popular bar just a few bars down the walkway from Sailor Bar

2 years ago, they closed the bar due to the increasing number of ever-fatter brown envelopes they were required to pay;

she told me that 14 different people demanded money from them monthly and/or yearly...

we visisted Patong together a few times during my recent visit, and the changes were shocking-

Patong is now soulless and overrun with new development, but the tourist numbers, even in the middle of December,

were demonstrably down- i was quite saddened, Patong is dying, and i'm not sure if it can be rescued... 

[Destiny1990 7,300]

Maybe they can destroy patong beach simular like they did in Pattaya?no trees, more lanes for traffic,less space for walking and more parking slots for tuktuks.

[Prometheus33 41]

But, shouldn't it be , 

"Patong is dead . 

Long live PATONG !!"

[Honky69 3]

Lived there for 4 years and had a good time but all i can say about Patong  now is that it is far to expensive and they are pricing themselves out of the market. I have now lived in Pattaya for the past 6 years  and much more cost effective and see far less problems here compared to Patong. Many of my friends who use to go to Patong before only come to Pattaya for the same reasons I will not go back there. The other problem down there now is all the landlords are charging far to much for any leases on business places, making it very difficult to have a reasonable go. Patong deserves to Die a slow death.

[Monkeyrobot 1,045]

Full of Chinese, one of them walked up to me and started taking a photo of the shrimp yellow curry I was eating, strange people and the tuk tuk drivers don't like them either, they really haggle on the price, 

[Honky69 3]

3 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Maybe they can destroy patong beach simular like they did in Pattaya?no trees, more lanes for traffic,less space for walking and more parking slots for tuktuks.

Plenty of trees along Pattaya beach now, but not so keen on the water quality.

 

[NamKangMan 5,621]

6 hours ago, GiantFan said:

I miss the 2 Black Sheep.  Great place to shoot the breeze.   Met most of my Phuket friends at that place.

 

I liked the easy going music from the one man band there.  He would come and have a beer with the customers, and take requests. 

 

That bar had a relaxing atmosphere. 

[NamKangMan 5,621]

5 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

 

I thought the title was quite clever. Previous topic was about Patong dying, and we all mostly agreed it was. So now we are into the wake period of mourning in the Irish party way ...

 

 

So, is this thread the "wake" for the "Patong is dead" thread, or for Patong itself????