|
New Articles
A Plug for One of my Favorite Places in the World Thailand Continues to be AMAZING! Meet John Roberts—Director of Elephants || Back to Cover Page || |
Asia
Phuket's Patong Beach
November 2003, Phuket Island, Thailand (A four-minute read)
Dear Kids,
The government of Thailand declared a holiday to lighten the load in Bangkok during the APEC summit last month, and I chose to revisit Phuket. My regal Thai friends may approve of my pale complexion, but I wanted to sharpen my tan line.
After dreamy vacations luxuriating at the best that Phuket has to offer (see links at the end of this letter), I chose to stay on Patong Beach to find out if it really deserves its reputation of having the worst type of tourist, tacky shops, and outrageous night life. Well, someone has to do it.
Thanks to the Internet and local friends, I chose to stay at Impiana Phuket Cabana, the only hotel actually on the beach.
Eighty attractive rooms look at each other, the gardens, or the sea. Ask for numbers 119 – 123 that have unimpeded views of the gentle surf, the bay beyond, and some of the best sunsets to be seen anywhere.
Ceiling detail
The view from my cabana (#120)
Just yards from the snarled Beach Road, The Cabana, as it’s called, greets visitors with a Thai-style welcoming lobby and very friendly front-desk staff.
My fellow guests run the gamut of pairings and ages. They all seem to have things in common: a sense of place, a respect for others, and dignity. Yes, I was surprised too.
If you never want to leave the hotel and its restaurants you can have a serene, comfortable vacation. The staff is thoughtful, the pool enticing, and the rooms more than adequate. Not at the Aman level but we’ve all done that already, right?
Impiana Phuket Cabana, 41 Taweewongse Road, Patong Beach, Phuket 83150, Thailand; Tel: 66-76 340 138, 342 100;
email: cbana@samart.co.th
website:
Where to eat:
Owned and managed by The Cabana Hotel, each of the following is a few steps from the front door:
3 Spices—street-side on the main Beach Road with food from Europe, Thailand, and Australia. A live combo counterpoints the frantic street sounds.
Sala Bua Restaurant, just off the beach and the location of the buffet breakfast, has just been voted “Best Restaurant” on Phuket Island by Thailand Tattler restaurant guide.
La Salsa—oversized cocktails, Cuban cigars, and the fiery rhythms of Salsa, Mambo, and Meringue. One of the few bars with air-conditioning right in the middle and directly on the hustling, bustling main drag of Patong Beach.
La Mousson, Restaurant Français
Strolling the town, the oversize Burgundy glasses of this provincial Provençale restaurant caught my eye. Inside, slate floors, pale apricot walls, the occasional, antique, ex-Pat treasure (I’m talking furniture here), and the Louis XV caned chairs complete the illusion—you’d never have a clue you were in Thailand. Rene Leduc, the manager, kindly suggested from the menu, and I enjoyed an exquisite lobster salad, followed by a fillet of lamb enhanced with mushy cloves of garlic—wonderful! On the plate, a little basket carved from a cucumber held a bunch of seven-sided veggies that demonstrated the chef’s roots of classic training. The taste proved it. There are only 8 tables so you better book.
3 Soi Sawatdirak, Patong Beach. Tel: (076) 341468; email: lamousson@yahoo.fr
After Dark
For those who have come to this beach because it is in Thailand and on Phuket will be rewarded with sunsets as good as anywhere, and strolling the beach under the stars will always be one of the most romantic memories of any couple, of any generation, who comes here.
Patong Beach is also famous for its bawdy nightlife—glitzy, tacky, and fun. Every street is jammed with very friendly bars with very friendly barmaids--heaven for heteros and much too numerous to mention many here.
The best:
10 minutes by motorbike from the center of town and nestled in a jungle setting with mountains, waterfalls and watering holes, The Safari Club is the oldest disco complex on the island. This unique building embraces a distinctly prehistoric theme, with a disc jockey and two live bands nightly shaking the surrounding rocks with a fusion of very loud house and funk styles. Its Treetops Restaurant, set in the center of a lagoon pool, serves a mix of dishes into the early hours, from Thai items priced at THB80 to steaks going for THB260.
28 Siriat Road, Patong Hill, Phuket TH, 83150 Tel: +66 76 340 310; 340 311, Fax: +66 76 341 079, email: safari@loxinfo.co.th
These days all clubs in Thailand close at 2AM, but if you’re still game, go out the back of Safari and up the hill to the Secret House. An open-air, candlelit disco with house and techno music, it’s open until 5AM! (Don’t tell anyone!).
In keeping with Patong’s reputation as a wild spot for everyone, the nightspots for gay men are generally found in the "Paradise" loop.
Tang Mo and Boom Boom present numbered lads for your choosing. I’d have sworn the numbers between 12 and 16 were their ages, those above—their IQs.
My Way, the most popular, also presents a happy stage show of lip-syncing drag queens with an entourage of broadband hopefuls.
Boat Bar’s hopefuls are less commercial.
Read about my previous visits to Phuket at the upper end of the island (and the market):
Autumn 2000 and Autumn 1989
*********************************************************************
DID YOU FIND THIS FREE ARTICLE INTERESTING AND/OR VALUABLE?
Please email me your travel tales, "postcards," and questions. I'll publish the most interesting, appropriate or outrageous in Correspondence - All the best, Ted (short for Edward)
|
|
| copyright © 2006, EDWARD CARTER |