phuket

[SEAJ]

Originally Posted by donatello14

Hi bros,

will be going to phuket come 24th may for 5 days. staying in patong, and understand that it's more of the paid services scene there. not really into that, but am interested to head somewhere (clubs/pubs) with more tourists etc. Any recommendations bros will be greatly appreciated!

Phuket is not really a prime destination for Civvie action, but there IS some hope!!

As you already mentioned, Patong IS the center of Pay-to-play action there, but invariably, there would also be the curious gawking tourists who - with a bit of liquor in them and in such a heady sex-charged atmosphere – somehow become less inhibited and probably more open to approaches. Another place to hunt for tourists in Patong is the Jungceylon Shopping mall there – lots of cafes, open air seating areas, restaurants etc. where pick-ups are quite natural.

If you like Local Civvie pick-up, then the place to go is Phuket Town – lots of pubs, clubs, bistro etc where the locals go to – Timber Hut, T2 Live etc etc are where the supposed Phuket Hi-So hangs around at. But do be careful as lots of the girls are with their “own Crowd” and Thai young guys can be quite hot-headed….and are quite brash especially when in a gang!!

Otherwise, there are a lot of 5 star resorts in Phuket with their own little lounges where some of the tourists have their cocktails etc. The Laguna area has half a dozen of these nice hotels and of course there ARE Luxe resorts all over Phuket.

The main area for the expatriate community to hang at is around the Surin/Bang Tao area – and there are a lot of nice bistros, bar/cafes etc there as well as all over the island. These expatriates are quite friendly.

Good Luck!

SEAJ

[SEAJ]

A samster has just sent me the following PM:

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1) is surin and laguna in the same area? from googlemap it seems so..
2) are there any hotels in phuket town which you can recommend? am thinking of staying a night in phuket town..
3) do you know of any good clubs with good music in phuket (patong, phuket town or surin)?
4) if i'm thinking of travelling to phuket town/surin (i have a hotel booked in patong for 4 nights), is it best to get a car?
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Since there is nothing of a personal nature in the questions, I hope he doesn’t mind that I reply publicly below; hopefully it is of some use to others too.

1. Surin/Bang Tao beach is about 10 minutes by car to the Laguna area across Cherntalay village. Laguna used to be an old tin mine grounds that has been developed into basically a separate and distinct area of deluxe hotels, shopping centers, marinas, lagoons (the old dug out tin mines flooded), golf course, and luxury housing development. The whole area practically feels as if it is not actually in Phuket / feels more like Hawaii or the Australian Gold Coast etc - very clean, well laid out, orderly and unfortunately, also a lot more costly. Also, there is NO part of Laguna where lower class local residents/villagers live at.
Surin Beach is next to Cherntalay village and is typical of Phuket – more rustic, disorderly traffic, tiny/dirt roads, locals, shops and restaurants haphazard all over the place and….. charming! It is also the area where a lot of expatriates seem to live and congregate at.

2. I really would NOT recommend any hotels in Phuket town itself as these are usually chock-a-block with PRC and other cheaper tour groups. On top of that, IMHO there really is NOT any nice hotels in Phuket town itself.

3. Good clubs/good music – all depends on your definition of what is good! Lots of night entertainment all over Phuket and I’m very sure you’ll be able to figure out which ones you’d like to go to; as soon as you arrive at Phuket airport, gather up all the Tourist brochures which will give you more than enough information to allow you to do so!

4. This is my strongest recommendation to you – YES, do hire a car for the whole time you are in Phuket; in fact, you should pre-arrange for a car-rental company to meet you upon your arrival at the airport there. They will be right outside the arrival area with your name on a placard, take you to their office to sign the rental contract (or even just do it kerbside if you arrive too late at night and the office is already closed) and you’re on your way.

I usually get a fully air-conditioned, automatic Honda Jazz (or similar) for around THB 1,000/day all in and use it until the time I drive it back to the airport to go home. This allows me to never have to patronize any of the way over-priced/rip-off taxi/Tuk-Tuk mafia and ends up costing me not only less money, but more importantly, less hassles, arguments etc with these dangerous crooks. Phuket is an island and except for inner Phuket town, it’s very easy to drive around yourself. Having a car at your disposal, you will be able to truly enjoy all that Phuket has to offer, and of course you can now just check in and stay in one hotel the whole time there; just jump in your car anytime and go wherever you want to go.

These taxis will rip you off each and every time you take them - even from when you arrive at the airport, they will insist on not only over-charging you, but will also way-lay you on forced/unwelcome shopping stops and time-share sales pitches etc

SEAJ

[Langolier]

The roads in Phuket to and in Phuket Town are not easy to navigate and you'll probably need a GPS(or google maps on you phone) to help you get around if you do decide to rent your own car and drive if you aren't familiar with the roads.

If you're looking for local clubs,(Phuket Town) there's Sofa, Kor Tor Mor, T2, to name a few. You can actually bring your own bottles(duty free or from 7-11) into these clubs without paying a corkage, but you'll have to pay for ice and mixers and probably the cover charge to get in. Bottles from these places are pretty cheap as well. Places like these usually are a mix of dance music and a live band, a combination which the locals seem to like very much.

Expat-mostly clubs will be in the Surin/Bangtao area, like Bliss, Catch, the newly opened Nikki Beach Club, and the Laguna area has Xana(in partnership with Singapore's own Attica). You'll find mostly tourists here, and the thai version of the SPGs

In the Patong area, there is Famous, on the rooftop of Jungceylon, Seduction, and of course Hollywood along Bangla, and Banana along the beach road. The first two are mostly tourist joints(Famous is a russian club) with the occasional working girl, but I'd say the most unpretentious place is Hollywood where people actually have a lot of fun. However unless the girls you meet inside are undoubtedly tourists, almost all the Thai girls you will pick-up there are freelance working girls.

Hope this helps!

[perogol]

is there any curfew in phuket during the military coup?

[natto3]

Originally Posted by perogol

is there any curfew in phuket during the military coup?

got news that the clubs will open on Monday.

[tcss7]

Originally Posted by natto3

got news that the clubs will open on Monday.

That's will be good..
Im heading to Phuket on 7 June...

[Ninja_Assassin]

Originally Posted by natto3

got news that the clubs will open on Monday.

The clubs are already opened...... but starts to closes at 9.30pm so the staff can go home before 10pm.

[Ninja_Assassin]

Originally Posted by perogol

is there any curfew in phuket during the military coup?

Yes the 10pm to 5am curfew is applicable here.

[mole2]

Hi guys,

I will be heading over to phuket during July, can I know roughly the amount of money you spend there as it is my first time going. Like for cab, drinks, girls roughly is how much so I dun get chop too hard

[rapier1978]

Originally Posted by mole2

Hi guys,

I will be heading over to phuket during July, can I know roughly the amount of money you spend there as it is my first time going. Like for cab, drinks, girls roughly is how much so I dun get chop too hard

Bring around $2K sgd for 1 week should be more than enough for you to have a gal every night and not be like a cheap charlie.

Gals depend on your mouth how much you nego hard to tell you cos i have paid from $0Bath to $5000B a night for gals.. it is very much depending on urself how much does a gal worth

[wows]

I just came from Phuket. Maybe this July is good timing for you to visit there. For me, it may be wrong timing because of curfew that caused many pubs and restaurants closing down at 10pm to 5am. No great fun!!!

[mole2]

Originally Posted by rapier1978

Bring around $2K sgd for 1 week should be more than enough for you to have a gal every night and not be like a cheap charlie.

Gals depend on your mouth how much you nego hard to tell you cos i have paid from $0Bath to $5000B a night for gals.. it is very much depending on urself how much does a gal worth

I see, thanks alot, will give FR when I am back.

[mole2]

Originally Posted by wows

I just came from Phuket. Maybe this July is good timing for you to visit there. For me, it may be wrong timing because of curfew that caused many pubs and restaurants closing down at 10pm to 5am. No great fun!!!

Haha, I hope the curfew would be lifted by then.

[AzerothJr]

Curfew changed to 12am ~ 4am.
So hopefully you can enjoy more fun then let me know.
I might want to schedule there also.

Thanks.

[natto3]

Just read the Phuket gazette.
New curfew hours from midnight till 4am. I bet the clubs in town will close the doors and party till 4am then go home. It's not uncommon for them to party till six in the morning at the beer gardens like James garden in phon pon.
Going on Sunday.