News Forum - Recent crimes in Phuket are damaging its reputation

[vlad]

4 hours ago, LoongFred said:

The moral is to learn Thai first. Second is to stay away from tourist dives. Third, make some real Thai friends

So are you saying Fred is that if I want to go to Crete I must learn basic Greek or Spanish if I go to loret del mar for a week. ??

[Alavan]

2 hours ago, Bangkok said:

What's really damaging to Phuket is the lowlife sexpats, beach mafia, taxi mafia and corrupt police as well as the useless government. Most of the Thai men and sexpats are losers.

I think you won't find so many lowlife sexpats in Phuket. For that you have to go to Pattaya.
Phuket is a bit more expensive for them. Will you find sex tourists? Yes, like in Pattaya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other tourist places where you have such a night life. But sexpats... haven't seen so many in 30 years Phuket, expats yes, sexpats no

[Lowseasonlover]

8 hours ago, Marc26 said:

And I think that is where Thailand becomes extremely attractive to live

Hotels are very affordable so you can do a lot of trips if you want

If we go away for a weekend in Canada, the hotels add up

Im not complaining we pay 1200 baht a night for a huge suite room with a nice pool can park the car and within walking distance to lots of nice places,

Phuket town has now got a International feel to it some trendy wine bars an Asian fusion atmosphere 

Even a Turkish restaurant proper kebabs and a belly dancer once a month

[Marc26]

1 minute ago, Lowseasonlover said:

Im not complaining we pay 1200 baht a night for a huge suite room with a nice pool can park the car and within walking distance to lots of nice places,

Phuket town has now got a International feel to it some trendy wine bars an Asian fusion atmosphere 

Even a Turkish restaurant proper kebabs and a belly dancer once a month

It's at least 6-7 years away but my wife worries how I'd get on if we build a house in the village

 

But I plan to travel every few months to different parts of Thailand and neighboring countries 

 

And the affordability of nice hotels allows that 

And cheap flights 

 

 

Oh and her village is a 20min drive to a lively big city

[Lowseasonlover]

Taxi ripoff's only happen in Phuket hey? It happens all over the world check this one out

 

Rogue West End pedicab operator charges two women £180 for a THREE-MINUTE, 500-yard ride from Chinatown to the Garrick Theatre before council tracks him down and demands a refund

 

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, Lowseasonlover said:

Taxi ripoff's only happen in Phuket hey? It happens all over the world check this one out

Rogue West End pedicab operator charges two women £180 for a THREE-MINUTE, 500-yard ride from Chinatown to the Garrick Theatre before council tracks him down and demands a refund

That's a scam

I actually don't think there are many taxi scams in Phuket 

But I guess you can call the high prices compared to other places in Thailand, a "rip off"

 

It is quite nice being in Ao Nang or Chiang Mai and you pay 60-80 baht to get around town when you are used to Phuket prices 

[LoongFred]

10 hours ago, JamesR said:

So you are still at stage2 then? 

Don't we have to go to tourist dives first before we can stay away from them as most people have never been to one?

It's not stages it's all in one.

[LoongFred]

9 hours ago, Alavan said:

I think you won't find so many lowlife sexpats in Phuket. For that you have to go to Pattaya.
Phuket is a bit more expensive for them. Will you find sex tourists? Yes, like in Pattaya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other tourist places where you have such a night life. But sexpats... haven't seen so many in 30 years Phuket, expats yes, sexpats no

So Phuket caters to the history sexpats? What about regular people?

[Artemis080]

9 hours ago, JamesR said:

I have never seen unequal hidden rip off pricing in Phuket, the prices are on display.

That goes for restaurants or anything else.

It is slightly annoying that I have to pay fifty pence more than a local to go to the aquarium for example but even that is displayed in the open so you can decide to go in or not.

Phuket Aquaria does have a dual pricing system. There's a standard price in English and a concessional one in Thai, for Thai IDs and foreigners residing in Thailand. I show my work permit and I pay the lower price.

This isn't too dissimilar to some of the dual pricing that you will find in any theme park worldwide between locals and tourists, although usually on a state level. Or you can buy a substantively discounted locals annual "all pass".

I think you would struggle to find many restaurants with dual priced menus nowadays. LINE and FB changed that, with promotional or discounted pricing being targeted through those platforms. Many of them are in Thai and not readily accessible to tourists. But then, the target is repeat and loyalty business, not someone who will only ever eat or use services once. 

I'm not excusing rip-offs, of which that is not an exclusive problem to Phuket, but I think there has been a lot of evolution in the way at least that business model works nowadays.

[LoongFred]

18 hours ago, Guest1 said:

That is because you just don't know, where to look.

As mentioned before, Prostitution is a local thing for ages. You find it in every area of the country, mostly dark and quiet houses with red numbers are pointing it out. Aside the motels with the parking space curtains. But there you have to bring your entertainment. Mostly. There even some real life couples going, sometimes, for rollplay in the theme rooms. The tousist part of this is , in numbers of service personal, the smaller part of the business. With an higher moneyflow for the people, but still, the local part is much bigger

The US did not invent it, during Vietnam. They just used the already established structures for their Gi's, to relax.

And, btw., have centralized it a bit more in the Pattaya area.

This service orientated boys and girls go, where they can make more money. And twice or three times is more money.

Oh, and the US Army has also pointed it out to the world, the "sextourism" got started around in the 70s. Just not on the level like from  the 90 to now, with charter and scheduled flights cheaper and more affordable for the mass.

The western sex tourism, because the Malay and Singapore sextourism was there long time before that.

Oh, and even Phuket has the "local" part of that business, with local prices, cheaper than a thai massage (for tourists) on the west coast beaches.  And you most likely dont wanna try that local business part at all!

In the 60s and early 70s the customers were primarily younger unattached soldiers. Mostly fit and well groomed.  The sexpat group now is mostly old fat men well past their prime. It looks really funny seeing a 20 something girl with a 60-70 + dudes. Looks like their daughter or granddaughter.

[Guest1]

29 minutes ago, LoongFred said:

Looks like their daughter or granddaughter

Oh, do they wish. (The girls)

[LoongFred]

1 hour ago, Guest1 said:

Oh, do they wish. (The girls)

I guess my point was that some girls genuinely fell for some young servicemen. Although some marriages didn't last some did, but the age difference wasn't large. Now, it all business. 

[AussieBob]

On 2/15/2022 at 6:15 AM, JamesR said:

The downsize is it is full of Australians thinking their desert at the arse end of the world is the best country in the world, it gets boring hearing about it.

It is the last place to go for many people, I meet many like that in Phuket and I ask if it is so good why are you living here.

Aussies in Thailand vary a lot - some are the loud mouthed tattooed p**heads only there for the lovely cheap girls and even cheaper beer/grog - some are not there for that at all - same as all western countries. 

[Lowseasonlover]

Add this one to the list 

 

Patong currency exchange robbed of B200k at gunpoint

https://www.thephuketnews.com/patong-currency-exchange-robbed-of-b200k-at-gunpoint-83114.php

 

[King Cotton]

2 minutes ago, Lowseasonlover said:

Add this one to the list 

Patong currency exchange robbed of B200k at gunpoint

https://www.thephuketnews.com/patong-currency-exchange-robbed-of-b200k-at-gunpoint-83114.php

Am I right in assuming, @Lowseasonlover, that you live on the nicer bit of the island? . . . certainly seems so, from all this condemning Phuket news!

'Keep your head down' might be the best call until the island's bobbies have rounded up and deported all these bad guys  !

[Guevara]

45 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

Aussies in Thailand vary a lot - some are the loud mouthed tattooed p**heads only there for the lovely cheap girls and even cheaper beer/grog - some are not there for that at all - same as all western countries. 

And I'm sure you'll agree Bob, some are little more than hypocrites with a 'holier than thou' attitude. I reckon it's similar the world over.

[AussieBob]

20 minutes ago, Guevara said:

And I'm sure you'll agree Bob, some are little more than hypocrites with a 'holier than thou' attitude. I reckon it's similar the world over.

True. But the disparity in Thailand is dramatic - one extreme or the other 

[Guevara]

24 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

True. But the disparity in Thailand is dramatic - one extreme or the other 

Yes Bob, I'd certainly agree with you there.

[Soidog]

12 hours ago, Lowseasonlover said:

Taxi ripoff's only happen in Phuket hey? It happens all over the world check this one out

Rogue West End pedicab operator charges two women £180 for a THREE-MINUTE, 500-yard ride from Chinatown to the Garrick Theatre before council tracks him down and demands a refund

Agreed. There are crooks and scammers in every country. The good news is that this one was tracked down and will need to refund the people he cheated. 

[Stonker]

On 2/15/2022 at 6:24 PM, oldschooler said:

I Know all that . My point made clear. What is yours ?  Is is perhaps Prostitution is Everywhere & Oldest Profession. Yeah …. we all know that .Actually in UK it is “ soliciting” that’s illegal not the sex act of prostitution Done Here.

Funnily enough, despite the all too frequent claims, that's the same in Thailand - solicting is illegal, but paying for sex isn't unless it's "... in a promiscuous manner ..." or soliciting for sex "...in an open and shameless manner..." or  "...causing nuisance to the public..."

 

http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/WEBTEXT/46403/65063/E96THA01.htm

[oldschooler]

On 2/15/2022 at 4:24 PM, Stonker said:

Well ... perceptions "here on forum" are a bit like going to a KKK meeting and thinking that's how BLM supporters feel.

Most of my farang friends here are based in or around Pattaya as I used to live near there (Huay Yai), and while it's not a cross section none of them are "skint to boot so can't move anywhere decent" as even ten years ago their houses there cost over a million (pounds sterling, not Thai baht).  Things everywhere are different to "one visit twenty years ago" .....

you referenced opinions here so I responded. I refer to the Pattaya tourist main town inhabited by low- grade farangs in their one bed shoeboxes not the golfing or yachting mansions 15 -30 miles away which is not the Pattaya we all mean here.

[LoongFred]

On 2/16/2022 at 9:41 AM, Artemis080 said:

Phuket Aquaria does have a dual pricing system. There's a standard price in English and a concessional one in Thai, for Thai IDs and foreigners residing in Thailand. I show my work permit and I pay the lower price.

This isn't too dissimilar to some of the dual pricing that you will find in any theme park worldwide between locals and tourists, although usually on a state level. Or you can buy a substantively discounted locals annual "all pass".

I think you would struggle to find many restaurants with dual priced menus nowadays. LINE and FB changed that, with promotional or discounted pricing being targeted through those platforms. Many of them are in Thai and not readily accessible to tourists. But then, the target is repeat and loyalty business, not someone who will only ever eat or use services once. 

I'm not excusing rip-offs, of which that is not an exclusive problem to Phuket, but I think there has been a lot of evolution in the way at least that business model works nowadays.

If you go to tourist places like Phuket you should expect to be charged tourist prices. Get over the dual pricing thing and stop being so cheap, even places like Disneyland have special pricing for select groups or place have ladies nights, etc. Pay the price or don't go. 

Those that cry the loudest are probably trying to get something themselves. 

[Stonker]

14 hours ago, oldschooler said:

you referenced opinions here so I responded. I refer to the Pattaya tourist main town inhabited by low- grade farangs in their one bed shoeboxes not the golfing or yachting mansions 15 -30 miles away which is not the Pattaya we all mean here.

 Well ..... yes and no, in my view.

The thread's about Phuket and its reputation, and in my view that reputation's a thing of the past that's not coming back and can't.

You said that "..Phuket is clearly wayyyy higher overall standard than Pattaya" and I'm not sure that even that's true anymore. 

When I first moved to Thailand it was to Pattaya and I lasted less than a year, even though I'd bought a pleasant, quiet house with a pool and garden and wasn't living in a one bed shoebox.

First I moved to Naklua, where I rented a very pleasant house on the beach next to the Sanctuary of Truth and we stayed there for several years until the owner gave the property to his son as a 21st birthday present and he immediately sold it for a few hundred million baht - its now the Modus Ocean Resort.

We then moved out to Huay Yai where we bought a couple of rai in a beautiful quiet spot near Phoenix Golf, with my own lake and a very nice Thai house on stilts, and stayed there for several more years until my partner and I decided we didn't need the city anymore and it was time to move up to Issan and the 'home town' which was in one of the most beautiful areas I've ever been to and which was joining the 20th century with reasonably reliable electricity, mains water, and a Lotus, Big 'C' and Macro about 50 kms away in the provincial capital. 

Since then, the beautiful quiet spot in Huay Yai has a dual carriage way near one side and a 4 lane motorway near the other and our 'spot' is surrounded by other new builds (including one now belonging to an aunt-in-law).

The thing with Pattaya (and I mean the Pattaya area) was that it wasn't just about the sexpats and Walking Street and Boyztown, or Pattaya and Jomtien beach, but for tourists and those living there it had decent shopping malls, entertainment, hospitals, doctors and clinics, vets, bookshops, sports facilities, and decent beaches all within an easy drive and if the sex industry closed completely everything else would still be there for tourists and expats and there was room to spread.

In Phuket, on the other hand, it's an island and all about the unspoilt beaches and natural beauty but it's only about the same size as the Pattaya area from Naklua to Huay Yai so once it's developed then the attraction's gone.

It's paving paradise and putting up a parking lot, and you can't undo that.

[Guest1]

On 2/14/2022 at 7:31 AM, AussieBob said:

If you want great beaches then Australia is the place to come - including idillic islands with real fantastic corals a short goat trip away - some even within swimming distances.

Swimming distances, Australia Beaches, eh, yes!

I had to come back after I did read this today:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/sydney-shark-attack-victim-named-26029158

[Guest1]

8 hours ago, Stonker said:

but for tourists and those living there it had decent shopping malls, entertainment, hospitals, doctors and clinics, vets, bookshops, sports facilities, and decent beaches all within an easy drive and if the sex industry closed completely everything else would still be there for tourists and expats and there was room to spread.

Just the question is:

Would the tourist still come in needed numbers? Because just with locals, that could quickly shut down. As the past 2 years have proven, imho? 

 

It's paving paradise and putting up a parking lot, and you can't undo that.

You are so right with that. Just a look on google earth, they have now (bad quality) 1985 pictures on, scroll through till now: It is horrible