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Patong Beach... it even sounds a little sleazy. Actually, the beach itself is rather nice. Soft sand, big waves -- went for a relaxing walk (is it wrong to listen to California Dream'n in Thailand) on the beach this afternoon.
The town, though, is another matter. The main drags are littered with little kiosks selling CD’s and DVD’s, Gucci sunglasses, offensive t-shirts and a variety of beachy clothing, tacky objet d’art, switch-blades and flick knives. Oh, and then there is the countless massage places (most of which do not appear to offer the ‘happy endings’ that Thailand is apparently famous for.)
And then there are the bars… now this is a thing to behold. Countless Asian women standing around beckoning men to enter these very dubious ‘bars’. I found it laughable that this country goes to such length to keep porn out and then has places like this. LOL.
Two nights ago I went for a little walk though town. I was walking down a street that has these ‘bars’ (they are open air bars) on either side. Then, as if by magic, all the lights went out and everyone (okay, it was probably not everyone, but it was loud) screamed! Then, to my utter shock, the chairs that were set out on the sidewalks just left… quickly. We went from no breeze to chairs flying!! It was so exciting. Then the heavens opened and started to rain warm water down on us so hard that the road became a river in seconds. I had to duck into one of the sleazy bars, none of which had power at this point. I started to think about the movie Dusk Till Dawn.
There was this odd vampire feeling about these little places. The bars were crowded with people avoiding the rain. I ended up in the middle of about 12 Thai women of ill repute, telling me how cold they were and how I should help them! I put up with it as long as I could, but when the groping and squeezing (theirs, note mine Karl!) got too much, I decided to brave the elements and head for home!
On the whole, I rate Patong as a “give it a miss” or “see it once” - and that’s without considering the parking ticket I got -- no signs, nicely painted parking space but yet, still a ticket. In fact, the parking ticket was not just a ticket, they ran a chain through my steering wheel (open-topped jeep) so I could not drive away!! It was rather funny.
Anyway, tomorrow I get in the MONSTOSITY (see pics of my jeep tomorrow) and tour the island with pics! Sorry no pics this time!
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dynamicmike
non-member comment
life is an adventure
hey eric, i'm SO pleased you have found the time to write some of yr adventures... i know from experience that you'll look back and laugh when you re-read yr own writings. it's really cool to sit here and read yr stories. Most exciting for me today was going to see another venue which looks FAB! i had a great venue in SECC (Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre) in Glasgow in March when we had notable spkrs such as Sir Bob, and this time i've topped that!! i've got even better venue and even bigger names lined up to appear... so watch this space... just busy with website in background at mo b4 we announce to the world. hey, this was supposed to be one-wee comment, not a life story... can't wait to read yr next adventures. Mx ;-)