Sleepless in Patong

Sleepless in Patong

Patong bustling with tourists at 2 AM

Phuket certainly boasts of a dazzling night life. The city apparently doesn't sleep! We strolled around the streets and lanes of Patong late into the night and all could be seen was merry making people, jam packed discotheques and bustling restaurants.

Go-Go dancers perform in open air bars on Patong’s streets

It is no secret that Thailand is majorly known among tourists for its massage parlours and Go-Go bars. We too found them aplenty across Phuket. Massage parlours, especially, were located at every nook and corner of streets with dainty Thai girls trying to catch hold of prospective customers. Amusingly enough, we also saw a lot of these parlour attendants dragging many male tourists in their den vehemently and insisting to atleast ‘try them out’ once. Phew!

Our piece of advice to the eager lot would be, go for it if you are keen, however, it is always good to stay away from shady parlours promising you ‘a trip to heaven’.

Also, be assured of the hygiene and price factors before you step in! Most of the parlours provided services anywhere between 200 to 500 Baht

Dancers entertaining patrons in an open air club

Another feature about Patong that could appear ‘interesting’ to many was girls performing raunchy pole dance at open air bars.

There were also attendants inviting people over to watch gay, lesbian, drag, peep shows etc at various clubs. The rates were kept between 700 to 1200 Bahts. We decided to give it a miss and continued strolling, till we decided to hire a tuk-tuk for the rest of the journey.

Tuk-Tuk ride

Tuk-Tuk is the Thai equivalent of auto-rickshaws. They are the most economical way of exploring the local sites, markets and tourist spots. Don’t forget to bargain with Tuk-Tuk wallahs who tend to quote high price with tourists.

We had a nice time on our Tuk-Tuk while touring Patong

Patong also boast of a vibrant commercial area comprising discotheques,flea markets,eateries serving Thai and World food.

Vendors selling colourful stuff on a street

People relaxing at Patong beach in the wee hours

Colourful lanterns embellish the streets

Flea-marets across Patong are quite crowded with sellers of Indian,Pakistani,Nepali and Sri-Lankan origin dominating the scene.One can pick bikinis,flip flops, sarongs and other fashionable stuff from these make-shift shops.

An important tip - Bargain firmly and slash the price by half. Clever traders quote different rates for tourists from different nationalities. Like European and Americans, given to their high spending power, end up shelling more.  Be calculative and strike the best possible deal.

Decked up restaurants often attract food enthusiasts

Pubs,clubs and discotheques remain in full swing all night long considering the large number of tourists flocking to Patong for a  a good time. 

Outside a pub

Most of the hotels on Patong have restaurants offering a wide range of delicacies considering tourists from all across the world.

Outside a discotheque

We landed up at Phuket's oldest disco 'Banana' located within Patong Beach Hotel after walking for quite long. The disc was packed to the hilt owing to its affordable entry charges and complementary drinks. 

We paid 200 Bahts per person and got our complementary cocktails :-)

The music and ambiance was pulsating and we sure had a lot of fun.

 Try not to carry any handbags here unless you have plans to shop at Patong just like we did. The spot being very crowded had no place where we could deposit our baggage. I eventually had to join the group of people dancing while carrying their bags :-)

Screen at the disc

Party lovers kept pouring in till almost wee hours. We too let our hair down and danced till we couldn't anymore.

It is common to find drag-queens and cross dressers entertaining people on Patongs streets. They insist tourists to get pictures clicked with them for keepsake.

You can too strike a cool pose but don't forget to tip them generously post snaps.

Cross-dressers enticing passersby

The cutest part of the evening: These puppies were on sale at an exorbitant price on the streets. They, however, found many takers.