Phuket.com Magazine
March
2007
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Patong is always the place to be, but
with three festivals in the coming weeks, it’s going to be
a veritable smorgasbord of colourful entertainment. First up is
Phuket Pride, the annual gay festival, which
is looking to be the biggest and wildest yet – a visual feast
for anyone who enjoys a good spectacle. While we’re in the
neighbourhood, we meander through the centre of all things gay in
Patong: Soi Paradise.
Then we look at the story behind Songkran,
Thailand's crazy annual water festival. This year, Phuket Bike Week
coincides with Songkran and the island will
rumble with big-bike fans from around the world. We tempt you with
reviews of Kaab Gluay and
Seahag restaurants; inform you
with the inside scoop on condominiums
in Patong; and sleep on the job – twice – at the Holiday
Inn Phuket and the Rising Sun
Residence. To top off our super menu for this month, we are
featuring a new column on diving.
At Phuket.com you'll never go hungry for information or entertainment.
Enjoy!
Rungtip Hongjakpet Izmen
editor@phuket.com
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Phuket
Gay Festival
Be Free and Be Happy is
the theme for the 2007 Phuket Gay Pride Festival opening
March 29 culminating in Thailand’s largest gay themed
parade starting at 16 hrs, the afternoon of Sunday, April
1.
Read more... |
Patong 'Paradise
Complex'
Phuket Island became
a popular destination around 20 years ago for international
travelers looking for incomparable beaches, sunshine and
pleasures. Many of those visitors were men looking for
male companionship...
Read more... |
Simon Cabaret
It’s a spectacular
display of colour, originality and fun. Phuket’s
Simon Cabaret has become one of Southeast Asia’s
outstanding entertainment attractions drawing a thousand
enthused visitors from around the world each evening.
Read more... |
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Boat Bar's Owner
Poonsak Sanchan
Ask people in Phuket if they know Poonsak Sanchan and
the chances are that you’ll get blank looks. But
ask them if they’ve heard of Daeng of The Boat
Bar Disco & Cabaret in Patong, and most will know
who you mean – Khun Daeng is one of the pioneer
of Patong’s gay community.
Now 48, the Bangkok-born economics graduate of Thammasat
University abandoned a high-profile international business
life to move to Phuket and open a gay bar. Phuket.Com
went to find out why.
Read more...
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Patong
Condominiums
Phuket condominium and apartment projects are on the rise in Phuket.
With diverse locations – ranging from ocean views to golf course
fairways, overlooking marinas to hotel managed units – there
is something to meet most budgets and tastes.
Read more... |
Holiday Inn Phuket Resort
The Holiday Inn Resort Phuket is famous
for two things – it’s great for families and the staff is
amazing. Not a bad reputation to have, especially when combined with
its other attributes: It’s close to the action of Patong Beach,
but protected and peaceful. It nearly has enough pools to warrant
a new sea be placed on the map. It has four restaurants, a spa, conference
facilities, and a cooking school. And the beach is across the street.
Read the hotel
review...
Read the Interview with Mr Wolfgang
Meusburger, GM of the Holiday Inn Phuket. |
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Rising Sun Residences
A stay at the Rising Sun Residences
is probably going to be an indulgent experience for you, as I discovered
during my visit to one of the 3 bedroom villas. The concept envisaged
by owner Methee Tahmanatragul was “to give people a real alternative
to the hotel/resort option”, and he should know what people want,
with over 30 years experience in the hotel management industry and
currently a consultant to three different hotel groups. Read
more...
Read the Interview with Khun Wipa,
Assistant Managing Director of the Rising Sun Residence. |
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Kaab Kluay
(Patong) and The
Sea Hag (Patong)
If all this talk about Phuket’s ‘alternative
lifestyle’ scene is making you hungry (and why shouldn’t
it?), you’re in luck. Sam Wilkinson found a pair of restaurants
in Patong that are as different as a king and a drag queen, but find
common ground in fantastic food and cute quirks. In keeping with this
month’s theme, The Seahag
and Kaab Kluay restaurants
both provide a fabulous alternative to the typical dining scene –
not to mention hunger.
Read more... |
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Magical Phang Nga Bay Cruise on
June Bahtra
Three ships cruise in parallel –
distinctive sails raised – through the Phang Nga Bay, each pulling
an empty dingy that chases behind like a tagalong sibling. These boats
are solid; no stomach churning motions, just a smooth push to the
northernmost reaches of Thailand’s aquatic mangrove-and-limestone-cliff
playground. I’ve been here often – and by varied means of
transportation (loved the speedboat’s expeditiousness and the
quite serenity of a kayak powered by someone else) – but the
area hasn’t lost a single rice-grain of charm.
Read more... |
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Diving for the first
time in Phuket
We all agree Phuket is becoming busier
and busier and more hotels, resorts and condominiums are being built
on what seems like less and less land. I often hear visitors and residence
alike comment how it’s “not the same as it used to be. I
miss the old Phuket.” While the idea of going back to no telephone
service, no paved roads, warm beer, tapping rubber to make a living,
and electricity blackouts most of the day and night may sound romantic
to some, I doubt many people really want a return to those ‘good
old days’. Read
more... |
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Phuket’s spa phenomenon
It all really started when Phuket’s
first luxury spa, the Banyan Tree Spa, opened in 1995. Seeing how
popular this venture was, many island businessmen jumped in. Spas
opened in resorts and hotels. Stand-alone day spas popped up like
mushrooms on empty plots of land all over the island. In this month’s
Health column, Phuket.Com looks at the growth and increasing maturity
of the island’s spa industry.
Read more... |
Songkran
& Bike Show
All over Thailand, the three-day Songkran
holiday is celebrated in a riot of intense but totally friendly street
battles with water pistols, buckets, garden hoses, even fire hoses.
Everyone – but everyone – gets wet as people mark the arrival
of the traditional Thai New Year. In Phuket Songkran is extra special
because the festivities also coincide with the arrival on the island
of hundreds of big bike fans and their extreme machines for the annual
Phuket Bike Week.
Read more... |
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Smiles and polite body language
Do practice your smile:
Smiling is consider one of the trademarks of the Thai people –
this is, after all, The Land of Smiles. Thais tend to smile about
anything. You may find it a bit odd at first to have complete strangers
smiling at you on the bus, in a restaurant or passing on the street.
But to Thais, smiling is a friendly, quiet, Thai way to say hello.
So smile back; it’s polite and it will make you feel happier
and more relaxed, too.
Read more... |
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Top
10 Must See in Phuket
If one is the loneliest number, then
ten is the ‘list-iest’. This particular list is packed with
action, glam, meditation, and culture from every corner of Phuket.
Spas. Historical architecture. Snakes. Temples. Boxing. Ladies (or
are they?) dancing. As an added bonus – and for an unlimited
time – each item on the list comes with its very own voting button.
Like it? Click it!
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