Phuket Island is the main tourist center in the Andaman region
The commercial center is Hat Yai close to the border to Malaysia. Over a year probably up to 2 million foreigners come to enjoy the freewheeling style at Patong, Phuket Town and the other beach areas, there is plenty to see and to do day and night.
This is a destination for a good time vacation,
Phuket Town Hotels are a good choice
if you don’t want to visit the beach every day and rather stay not so close to
the tourist crowd. At down town are all the important wet markets, big
and small shopping centers are at bypass road just at exit of the
town on the road crossing to Patong. There are several big hotels
on the upper prices scale and plenty of smaller ones and
guesthouses, also low priced apartments are available in the city and the beach areas.
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Phuket westcoast panorama with many hotels and resorts
showing Karon and Kata Beach
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The "Royal Phuket City Hotel", Metropole, Tavorn and Pearl are the biggest ones. The Pearl right in downtown has the biggest massage parlor where you can get all kind of special
Thai massages for the guys. There are lots of nightclubs with
shows, singing, karaoke and at some of the nightclubs dozens of pretty Thai
Girls are sitting around for a nice night out.
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| Loi Kratong Show in a nightclub |
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Phuket Nightlife Cabaret
Lady-Boy Travestie Show
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Pretty Phuket girls
play string instruments
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This is also the hub for any transportation outside of the island
unless you book a trip at your hotel or resort. On the way to the airport is the terminal for
long distance buses such as to Bangkok, Hat Yai, Trang, Ranong, Krabi, Surat Thani, Satun, just name it, most buses leave in hour
interval and are quite cheap in terms of prices, its mostly somewhere between $
10,- and 20,-.
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| Phuket Bus Station |
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| Phuket Bus Terminal |
The Buses leaving from the terminal are also quite
comfortable with service and toilet on board.
Seats easily mach business
class seats from around 20 year ago in an aircraft. The Airport Bus is a real mess better take a minibus at the arrival hall center.
Old Phuket Town Walk
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| Villas Sino Portuguese Style |
When you are Phuket town have a walk through the old
part around Dibuk street its worth it. The area is very compact and the sightseeing can be done within one
or two hours. You will see great old colonial villas in Sino Portuguese Style,
Chinese Temples, Art Galleries, pretty restaurants and some beautiful restored
houses from the last 3 centuries. There are also some small museums presenting the past, a very interesting one is dedicated to tin mining which was the big business before the tourist avalanche came.
South of the city is Wat Chalong, the most venerated on the island
.jpg "Wat Chalong Phuket") |
| Wat Chalong Phuket |
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| Wat Chalong Temple Building |
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| Chalong Temple Prayer Hall |
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| Sun Rise at Chalong Bay |
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| Chalong Bay Pier at the east coast |
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| Phangnga Bay Islands |
Around the islands, in the Andaman Sea and Phangnga Bay you will find happy fishes (maybe yes, maybe no), running crabs and plenty of corals to please your view. The sun is burning, nightlife is vibrant, the coast and the small islands around are the target for hundreds of tourists every day. If one is out for a day long island tour travel to Rawai Beach at the south west end and rent either a speed boat or a long tail boat for a marvelous day trip.
There are plenty of Phuket girls
in the nightlife scene and the ones who look like but are not, trying to make you happy and get some money out of it they work in plenty of bars, nightclubs, massage parlors, restaurants and
other entertainment shops.
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| Phuket girls entertainment |
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| Phuket nightclub girls |
Beaches are waiting for you to relax and enjoy your
vacations,
explore the emerald waters, do some snorkeling or
scuba diving or maybe a live aboard trip into
the waters in the north around the Similan Archipelago, Khao Lak and Surin
Islands. Plenty of other exiting targets are in the deep blue all the way up to
Myanmar or Burma, this is behind Ranong.
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| Yon Bay near Cap Panwa south end |
Yon Bay near Cap Panwa south east end, the
rafts in the center of the picture are the top end of a
pearl oyster farm.
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| Khao Sok National Park |
Interesting body art is created at many tattoo parlors, they are at Karon and Patong
Beach plus downtown.
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| Phuket Tattoo Parlor |
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| Phuket Kings Cup Regatta |
The first Phuket Kings Cup Regatta was held in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the
King of Thailand. Now it’s Asia’s
premier sailing and yachting race event and held every year in the first week
of December to commemorate His Majesty’s birthday on the 5th.
The famous Beach Scenery
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| Patong Beach and the Andaman Sea |
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| South end of Patong Beach |
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| Patong at Songkran |
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| Patong Phuket at Songkran |
Patong beach is legend but is only one among around 20 beaches big, small, overcrowded or
secluded you can have it exactly as you like. Distances are short and you will hardly have to
drive more than an hour from any place to any beach. Other waterfronts are Kamala, Surin, Nai Harn, Kata, Karon Beach and more. Sometimes the weather at the west coast bring strong
winds at that time some waterfront are closed.
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| Karon Beach Waterfront |
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| Karon Beach Andaman Sea |
Actually there are many people who don't care and see this
as just the right challenge to take the surfboard out and have a real surf. Because
of the underwater topology the water shows very different behavior at different places.
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| Patong Beach Tsunami Disaster |
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| Patong Beach Tsunami |
This was also one of the reasons why at some sectors of the west coast most of the structures near the waterfront were destroyed from the Tsunami and at at other almost nothing happen. The best surfing is at Kata just south of Karon, the best waves are there.
Restaurants, street food and food courts
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| Patong Sea food restaurant |
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| Phuket Lobster Fish and more |
Tom Yam Seafood and other tasty food makes your stomach happy during your stay, either it is with
chili and coconut milk or "nam sei", that's a little bit sour. But
not only Thai food is around, it's also German, Austrian gourmet
specialties, Italian-, French-,Spanish-, Indian-, Japanese-, Korean and so
on, just name it everyone try to make you happy and get (naturally) some money.
If you eat something with liquid, like a soup, make sure the restaurant is not
using water from the tub, even if they say its boiled,
don't eat it because you will have problems in your stomach afterwards.
It is very well known that all water from the tub in
southern Thailand is not drinkable. Even the water which comes in the 10 or 20
liter containers is mostly not good for drinking since the people who produce
this water simply don't have the technology, such as ROM, UV and more, because its
simply to expensive since it must be imported. Only a combination of this 3
technologies guaranties clean water, but ROM (reverse osmosis) is not very known here and
on top it's quit expensive.
City apartments rentals are quite low priced and makes sense if you stay lets say at least one month, costs are from around Baht 5000,- upwards.
Chalong Bay Public Sailing & Yachting Marina
The formalities for your sailing vacations, if you
come in from outside Thailand, are handled quickly and a safe place for your
boat is guaranteed. Beside the pier are a couple of good restaurants, small
hotels, supply shops, travel agents, dive supply outlets and transport
facilities. To down town it's only 30 minutes by car. There is also a ship repair facility at the right side of
the pier, about 100 - 200 m looking outwards.
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