New Year's in Phuket 2018

[Thailandbound]

I'll slap up a few pics of Phuket that I took a few weeks ago. Went with a few friends to rest and recover mostly. I took a few pics when I wasn't hacking up. The last time I was there was the one year anniversary after the tsunami (11 years I believe). Phuket has really built up and is super expensive now.

Spent a lot of time at Kata beach and some time in Patong.




High season in Phuket




My hotel had a nice pool. Stayed at Sugar Marina Resort near the beach. For the price, it wasn't a bad hotel. It was about 1000$ CAD for a week.





Don't have a pic of the room, sadly.


Another hotel from the window of my hotel.




A few sunset pics.. always loved the sunset at Kata best.






Yum yum!






Tom Kaa Gai - most delious soup ever

[Chittychangchang]

Nice pics, i see they still have the loungers on the beach.

Funnily enough last time i was in Phuket was the year after the tsunami.

Cheers for sharing.

[Thailandbound]

Spent time at the Foto Hotel in Kata area. It is set atop a huge hill overlooking Kata and Kata Noi. It was super beautiful as they had a rooftop pool and restaurant. Expensive as heck though.. We paid about 600$ CAD for three nights.

Room was super nice, with a great view.




Infinity pool was amazing!



We caught the sunset once and it was worth it.







Couldn't get away from the Chinese folk.

[Thailandbound]

Was really wishing I had my DSLR, but I had my Iphone only.





We moved over to Patong halfway through the trip. The beach sucked compared to Kata. Way too many people and craziness. New Year's was fun though.

[Thailandbound]

Nice pics, i see they still have the loungers on the beach.

Funnily enough last time i was in Phuket was the year after the tsunami.

Cheers for sharing.

Thanks.. yes and they weren't too expensive. I was charged 200 baht for the day. I'll post more tomorrow.

[Thailandbound]

Alright, back and more awake then late last night.

Shoddy internet atm, so let's try this.



No sex, ya hear.



Hangin' with the locals for a few drinks. That's not me btway!



Too good with connect four game, so had to buy the lady a drink.. a 180 baht one! lol

[Thailandbound]

That JungCeylon mall is pretty nice. First time I've been to it. They have an open area with many restaurants.



Pretty nice fountains

[Thailandbound]

Totally random pics here.

lotsa ice.. haha.






This one is funny. Penis on a rope!
All colors too!

[Thailandbound]

Thanks for the couple of greens. A few more and I'll be out of your hair.

Patong has pretty impressive fireworks with thousands of lanterns being fired into the sky. It really was a triumph end considering I was in the hospital less than a week before for ll days. Almost had to cancel my trip.

[Thailandbound]

Bangla road was beyond packed afterwards.






Didn't stay here too long..Couldn't breathe and was being covered in some crazy spray.


Two of my South African buddies. Happy New year ! Thanks Dragonfly and others for helping me get my pics from my phone.

[Chittychangchang]

[QUOTE=Thailandbound;3694828]Thanks for the couple of greens. A few more and I'll be out of your hair.


Where are you going next? cool thread and pics!

[Thailandbound]

Thanks, Chitty. I'm hopefully heading to Bali in June. Fingers crossed.

[Thailandbound]

Thanks for the greens.
Dr. Bob, just for you I'll post a few more. I went back to check.. some of the pics didn't show up on the first page.


The Foto hotel had a rooftop pool with great views.










Room on the hotel with partial seaview.




View of Kata beach from the roof



Highly recommend staying here to relax and enjoy the views. It isn't far from the beach, but very high on a hill even to walk down is hard on the knees.


Watched this amazing Thai band who sung everything from AC/DC to Diana Ross.
Even had me up on stage to sing a few songs. Fun times.
--

[Dillinger]

Nice thread and pics TB

Im not overly keen on Phuket tbh. Much prefer Ao Nang/ Samui/Koh Chang.
Great sunsets and ooks like you had fun though

[Thailandbound]

^Thanks dill, much appreciated. Yes, I did have a lot of fun considering I was under the weather.
I've been to all the other islands you mention and they all have their charm. Phuket is overly touristy and very packed, but sometimes you have to make your own fun/adventure.

[Dillinger]

In December moreso.

I never liked that Bangla Road or the shifty taxi drivers. Saw my first and last ping pong show there. She was popping out live animals and a budgie when i left

There was one thing i wanted to do there though and thats dunk some bargirls and ladyblokes

Did you see this on your travels.....

[Thailandbound]

^Haha, no I never saw that. I don't even know if that is still around. You know I've never been to a ping pong show. I've heard about it from many people, but just can't bring myself to see something like that. Maybe a male might like it, but just the thought of it disgusts me.
Bangla road, I walked down a few times. Had a beer there Ny's eve, and watched a band. Other than that, not my thing. Phuket is quite beautiful though in a lot of places. Naiharn beach is lovely, and Kata noi is also gorgeous.

[Dillinger]

I think the best thing ive liked about Phuket both times ive been was the hotel

Thats how underwhelmed ive been by the place. The last time i hired a car and drove up to Phan Nga and round to Ao Nang which are much more scenic IMO.

[Thailandbound]

^Well I don't find there much to do in Koh Chang, Koh Samui or Ao Nang either. It is the beach experience. More to do in Phuket than Koh Chang imo. Nice to visit the islands though from all islands. Anyway, must take off and do what I told you.. NY's resolutions forefront.

[petercallen]

Naiharn beach is the nicest beach on Phuket, Patong is mainly for first time visitors, Rawai is the preferred area for long time expats i know a but its getting expensive to buy property there after that Chalong, its cheaper to buy property there and a lot more traffic as well and has not got a good beach if you want one

[Thailandbound]

Naiharn beach is the nicest beach on Phuket, Patong is mainly for first time visitors, Rawai is the preferred area for long time expats i know a but its getting expensive to buy property there after that Chalong, its cheaper to buy property there and a lot more traffic as well and has not got a good beach if you want one

Thanks for the green. I wanted to stay at Naiharn, but the places I looked at were quite expensive near the beach. I've been there before and the beach is lovely. I always found more to do on Kata, which is why I spent half of my time there. I only went to Patong for shopping and New Year's eve, but Patong is very very popular during high season. The traffic was insane in Patong. I also looked into staying at Chalong for once, but as you said, the beach didn't look that great (lots of tourist boats going to the islands).

[petercallen]

In My honest opinion as a self funded Aussie retiree i do not think Phuket is expensive to live in compared to Australia, even a Aussie aged pensioner can live a lot better life here than they can in Australia
Having been to samui Island 3 times as tourists which is the only place you can really compare to Phuket as a strictly tourist destination i find it more expensive than Phuket, which is OK as everything used there has to go by ferry but it does not have the shopping centers and infrastructure that Phuket has

If your main interests are bars, nightlife and shopping its best to stop in Patong or Phuket town both have plenty of all these things, i prefer Phuket town myself for the shopping

Kata/Karon is a good place for tourists to stop if they want to get away from Patong and still be close enough to go there for the night life and get back to where you are staying easily

Rawai has a big population of expats who mainly are in long term relationships and the successful bars and Restaurnts cater for them as well as the single males and they generally do very well financially, also there is a lot less traffic there and its easier to get around which is the reason we bought a house here about 7 years ago
Chalong is very similar with a lot more traffic and no decent beaches

If you really want to get away from it all try Khao Lak, its like a lot of holiday destinations were years ago, nice hotels and beaches, restaurants but no shopping, you have to go to Phuket for that, mainly couples have there holiday there

[Thailandbound]

^ Thanks for that breakdown. I bet living in Phuket would be cheaper than Australia. I have never been to Khao Lak yet, but hope to at some point. I was in Phuket 11 years ago and I was really surprised at how built up it is now, even some of the highways are new.

Recently, I was there in tourist season and I found the rates quite high. The food was also expensive for small enough portions. I found the food geared towards tourists. I’d like to talk to you more about Phuket and costs of rent and areas around. I may be moving there at some point, but hesitant on a number of things, one being the traffic and tourists.. haha.

[petercallen]

Food is only expensive if you use the tourist restaurants,once you live here it does not take long to find the good restaurants that sell both Thai and western food of high quality at very reasonable prices, we were in Perth WA recently and found all types of food and restaurants a lot more expensive than Phuket about twice the price on average

Traffic is mainly only bad at certain times of the day if you can avoid those peak times its usually not to bad most of the time as long as there are no accidents, they have a stupid rule here that the vehicles involved in even a minor accident cannot be moved until the police and insurance company rep arrives, be booked for obstructing traffic in Australia
Once the tunnel construction at Chalong circle and the airport turn off is finished traffic should flow reasonably well again

Rents can very a lot according to where you want to live and what features you want in a house. it can vary from 12K baht a month for a 2 bedroom furnishes house in Chalong on a 1 year contract to about 100K or more a month for a fully furnished and fully quipped mansion, Taking a long term contract for 6 or 12 months will get you a lower rent
No reason to hurry their are plenty of Guesthouses and houses to rent just about anywhere on Phuket,have a good look around and once you find the area you think you would like to live in you will find houses and flats/apartments to rent usually just about everywhere you go just ask the local people what is available, negotiate and tell the landlords you are looking at other premises that helps lower rent they are all looking for long term tenants if they can get them

[Thailandbound]

^Thanks for that information, Peter. I hope you don't mind if I contact you if I do get a job there.