Patong (Phuket) Night Walk
An evening-to-nightcap stroll as I usually do. This time still along the waterfront (Thawewong Road) of Patong Town on Phuket Island. Yes, per plan at least, this should be farther than this afternoon's walk, where from HIE, I went only as far as the Surf House! That's because, my 'must see' place this evening was Bangla Road, which is another 2 blocks more (I think) from the Flowboarding thing of Surf House!
Definitely shorter than my Singapore Night Walk, as this bustling Patong night-time district is probably only 2kms long! Well, as usual, also included on this stroll's "objectives" were: to find something to eat (as needed); to see interestingly worth-watching spots, people or activities; and to bar-hop if possible!
Teka, just FYI, my usual rule in bar-hopping is: not more than 2 bottles of beer in one place!
Off I merrily went, walking from HIE, turning left at the beautiful neo-classical-looking building on the corner. However, next to this building is what they call the Loma Market, now busier, so I dropped by.
See that jolly group of young tourists at left? They saw me 'aiming' my phone (actually not at them but this whole place 'in general'). But they cheered, so I turned my focus a bit, to put them at "near-center" yet still capturing the entrance over at the end of the 'aisle'. If only all 'crowds' would be like them, 'no?
In contrast, look at the lower-right corner of the same picture. The girl in blue, a waitress at one of the food stalls immediately ducked to hide from my shot! I eventually sat at that table due to her coaxing! Dalawa sila, talagang yumuko; I asked why they hid from my shot, they said "so you get good picture"!
Sabay tawanan ng malakas. Mga bungisngis! Here's proof that they're not against being in my shots:
Because of this 'interaction', these girls kept recommending that I eat here, ayun na, "dinner here na"!
On hindsight, I was happy to have eaten here (Loma Market) as it is not often that I dare a full meal on 'street food'. Not that I'm picky or 'maarte', it's just that I don't know how to judge spicy versus brutally spicy, fresh versus 'not really', and/or what kind of sour is 'edible sour' versus 'stale sour' and the likes.
Those two girls were very helpful to me by describing the foods, ingredients or condiments. They even went as extreme as instructing their cooks on how to tweak their usual dishes to suit my preferences!
"My Pet", a phrase I learned sometime in the early '90s, was very helpful here. That means "Not Spicy" or "hindi maanghang"! Actually, especially with Thai women, it sounds nearer to "mye pet". In any case most Thais understand me when I say "my pet" - at times, coupled with fanning my hand vigorously in front of my open mouth! Those who can speak a little English may even say "oh, okey nowt sapai-see".
Ah, since this is Thailand, I knew (even if bigger) that during this walk, there'd be something like this!
Anyway, I had to wrap this 'dinner' up as Loma Market (more of a food street really) was getting busier with more tourists streaming in, therefore more interesting to watch. But if I didn't get up and out after that bottle of SML, I'd get stuck again, unable to reach my night walk's final destination: Bangla Street!
Hey, one more thing.., on my way out of Loma Market, I looked at the kinds of things cooking up at the many stalls. Comparing them to places I've been to (including Bangkok), I think I might be right to say that Phuket offers the 'mostest' in terms of variety of street food in Asia. Maybe even the whole earth!
Thus, my foodie friends and my blogger/vlogger friends, sugod na sa Phuket! Take note, Loma Market might not even be the biggest (I recall there was a wide place like this at downtown Phuket City years ago). Basta, if you see a "market" that is not busy during the day, it must be a "night and food market"!
A few steps from Loma Market, I heard good music and saw this bar called "Jamin Reggae Patong"..,
However, just before the entrance path to the reggae bar, that tattoo house also attracted passers-by, not so much for the tattoo (I think), but those two Harley Davidson vintage motorbikes! I saw tourists would pose by them for souvenir shots. Oh, maybe I stood admiring them a minute too long, because I was surprised that, a man behind me (wherever he came from) said "nice eh, wanna try it?" and even attempted to toss me the keys! Nge, I don't know if he was real or bogus, but I said "no, not this time"!
Those toys really looked cool. But I dared not. Aba, malay ko kung 'for rent' pala ang mga 'iyon! O kaya libre ngang ipinapa-hiram kaso pag-andar mo eh biglang maghihiwa-hiwalay! O kaya naman, biglang lumipad at wala palang preno, o hindi pala lumiliko at nabangga?! Malaking bayarin! Kaya 'wag na oi!
I proceeded onwards (binilisan na ang lakad), ignoring other interesting distractions, until I reached..,
My first impression? "OMG it has grown denser, the buildings have grown higher, and the 'spectacle', a lot crazier! What 'spectacle'? Well, this is the "red light district" of Phuket. May I say "the original" since there are other places where this kind of 'entertainment' are also sprouting! When 'go-go bars' started displaying their 'wares' at very visible spaces of their premises (e.g., at doors, windows or even out on the sidewalk), tourists got curious and started flocking to the area at night, many just to see or watch!
Due to the number of people passing nightly, enterprising locals (even foreign visitors) started putting up shops like restaurants, bars, massage parlors and the likes. There is even Bangla Market. So all the more that visitors added this street to their itineraries, the road thus became like a nightly "spectacle"!
By the way, this is a normal street during the day, but is closed to vehicular traffic at sundown.
Note too: not all who come to this road eh nahahayok at naghahanap ng makamundong kaligayahan.
Now now.., if you are the one who really intends to get into those bars but don't want to be seen by the madlang public lounging around with sexy girls in pekpek shorts hovering around you, do not despair! What you see from the street are only the 'tip of the iceberg'! All the bars have their "better appointed" inside or upstairs areas where the dancing is more 'maka-mundo', the lingkisan, sagi-an are 'alams na'!
Sabi nga ng isang kanta sa Samar... tikang ha may pusod, sukla ngan dangawa ngan harapihapa!
As I said above, it's not all about the 'kahayukan sa kalamnan ng kaputahan'. There is a thing like this!
Look here.., at 11:20PM, there was such a long queue of people of all kinds waiting to enter Illuzion!
But I was not ready to sweat it out 'til sunrise this time. I just went by and found myself back at this..,
Especially if you just came from all the ear-exploding sounds of Bangla Road, this is a nice respite..,
Look! Here are some 'permanent-residents' in this calming place..,
This one is freely roaming, making the rounds of the restaurant.., a fantastic color, ang pogi 'no?!
Anyway, two bottles downed, I needed to move to another bar, perhaps even go back to the hotel! So I started retracing back my walking path. Whoa, Bangla was all the more crowded, and there seemed to be a 'music war'. All that had sound systems were blaring out loudly, as if in an effort to drown others.
Noticeably, there were also more waiters and dancers out in the middle of the road, some with their menus in hand, some without, trying their very best to entice passers-by to visit their establishments.
There were even the "parades" that (I realized) were awaited by many in the crowd. What parade? Ah, a group of ten to twenty to even more dancers and/or entertainers from any of the establishments in the area, walking like in a parade, to showcase their presence (with pictures, pamphlets and banners) to invite people to visit them. Cameras especially awaited the gaybar pretty boys and macho dancers!
And of course, the mugger-looking touts, offering their "pingpong show" by directly and very discreetly approaching foreigners. They do have pics of their shows, taken out only when they're already talking to you. What's a "pingpong show"? Ah, nude dancers who let their pekpek "eat" and disgorge pingpong balls, among others! Hint: the fact that they are so 'illicit' about it easily means, bawal yan. So be wary.
Okay, so I reached the 'entrance', the corner of Thawewong and Bangla Streets. I should have turned right to continue my walk back to HIE - that's still about 1km. But I headed left instead, to visit this..,
I just stayed at an outdoor table, ordered beer (they have no SML) and listened to the band's music.
After two bottles, I started off on my final walk of more than a kilometer back to my hotel. However..,
Hmm teka.., ano nga ba ang surname ni Jollibee? Baka "Young", kasi 'di tumatanda eh!
Anyway.., I arrived at HIE 1:30AM. So, a total of about 4kms in 5 and a half hours!
Tomorrow, let's talk more about my Phuket roam, okay?!
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