I Second That!

The New York Times and The Phuket Gazette (!) talk about how tourists, particularly Australian tourists, are still phlocking to Phuket, despite Thailand's political troubles, tempted by cheap flights and the general superiority of the Land of Murders On The Beach over Bali, Land Of Explosions In The Bar.

We (Aussies) used to love Bali once, but now, for some reason - like local Muslims extremists want to kill us all, not once but twice - not so much...

Australians who switched to Phuket from Bali seem to prefer its greater level of development and its more freewheeling style.

“Here’s more of a big town,” Wayne Trimboli of Adelaide said as he downed a lunchtime tequila at the Kangaroo Bar. “I’ll never go to Bali ever again.”

Phuket's my favorite over Bali by the distance you can run when a bomb goes off and then some.  As you can see in my photo, the electricity infrastructure is top notch and the Kangaroo Bar (as mentioned in the NYT!) on Soi Bangla, opposite the transsexual show, is a friendly place, suitable for a quiet ale and a nap in the shade while your buddies look after your stuff.

And it doesn't hurt that there is a special place being set aside by the local council as police are struggling to understand the amusingly aggressive peccadilloes of drunken tourist wankers.

German Honorary Consul Dirk Naumann asked for more understanding from police officers when drunken Germans swore at them.

Thai police aren’t used to this kind of abuse,” he said. “From our side we can only request that Thai police understand that in most Western countries the police do not have the same status as Thai police.” [They've been watching Underbelly as well!]

V/Gov Smith said that many tourists came to Patong to get drunk [and...?], which meant security measures there should be different to other areas.

"In future, a special area for drunk tourists will be set up to hold them for a while until they sober up. There’ll be no need to go to the police station,” he said.

Phuket Tourist Police Superintendent Ekachai Pramanakul said police handled drunken tourists with understanding, but in some cases the tourists were bigger than they were, so they had to control them by force. [My emphasis]

Sigh. Looks like it's back to Hua Hin this year for

E@L