first post, been to phuket 5 times so shoot me
the last time was 5 years ago and even then it was starting to grate
the underlying threats of the tuk tuk cartel, and their open savage violence, the undermining of thai values, etc etc
now i hear that phuket is a resort of choice for oz lumpens and boorish russians
dont get me wrong, most peeps from these countries are great, but if you have a significant minority [Mod edit: obscenities removed, there is really no need for it here.]
im hoping to go to los this year but i dread going to phuket, firstly because of the above, secondly because it would spoil my memories of los from the first time i went 15 years ago
ok i will bore you no longer and ask the question
is hua hin the place to go if you are sick of the way phuket has become?
ex phuket visitor here
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Re: ex phuket visitor here
I first went phuket 13y ago. It was similar in mood to hh today. There was a contained gogo area restricted to soi bangla and none elsewhere. I hh today there is nothing like that even today. No tuk-tuk violence minimal street crime. By no means crime or rip-off free but tolerable.
Re: ex phuket visitor here
Too many foreigners, too much money, and the paradise turns into hell...
Re: ex phuket visitor here
I first went to Phuket in 1981 and it was paradise for a scuba diver and underwater photographer. I first came to Hua Hin in 2003 and it was paradise for a newly retired person. No place stays paradise forever for the very reason that it is paradise and once it becomes known as that then it's downhill from then on....
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
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Re: ex phuket visitor here
I have a relative in Phuket, who has lived there for 30 years. He is a Thai fellow who surveyed the whole island. He lives outside of Phuket City on the way to Kata and Karon beaches. In the last 10 years he tells me the place is over ran by a lot of Europeans, and now more Aussie and Russian people. Driving around the area is more dangerous than it was as some of these foreign drivers have no respect for the traffic laws, and don't seem to know how to use the roundabouts as well. I still enjoy my visit to Kata Beach, but even it has changed in the last few years. I like Hua Hin because there is a lot of activities for entertainment, lots of Expats and tourists and travellers to chat with, and the pace of life is better and more family orientated. During my last visit I went to the Makro at the north end of the City and enjoyed the shopping there. I have heard that a Big C is being developed somewhere else, as well as some other market places. Something was getting started on Soi 112 and hopefully will help with having more places to shop at. All in all I would rather retire to Hua Hin or Cha Am than to Phuket.
Stargeezer
Stargeezer
Pluto is my favorite planet!, especially now that we all can see close up
pictures of it.
pictures of it.