Touch Down

Patong is a crazy place. It houses Bangla Road, which is even crazier. In my years of travels I have yet to see a place like it. Pubs lining alongside each other, blaring music together, against each other. Ang Mohs taking off their shirts to dance with their Thai counterparts, grinding against the pole while some Justin Timberlake song about bringing sexyback fueled their passion. It was a riveting sight.

The street was packed with people, but the human traffic never came to a standstill. Fabulous drag queens thronged up and down, batting their luscious fake lashes, winking and waving to passers-by to persuade them to take a photo against their eye-popping breasts. The Thais hawked their wares, from cigarettes to ping pong shows, from photo opportunities with iguanas to a night with their vaginas.

Of course I mean it in the nicest possible way.

I absolutely love that road and I love walking down that road. It's sexy, exciting, dangerous and intoxicating, even without alcohol. I think I'm a sucker for bright lights and loud music.

When we landed at the airport, the trip to Patong by taxi cost us 150Bht per head and lasted about forty-five minutes if I didn't remember wrongly. We stayed at Burasari Hotel, which was cool but they screwed up, giving us the Classic Room instead of the Premium that we paid for. We're still trying to get them to compensate us. A guide book listed it as "expensive", just one rung below "luxury" so we were rather disappointed. That being said, it was still a nice place to stay.

We had dinner, Pad Thai and Tom Yam soup, walked around and soaked in the atmosphere. The weather was fantastic - not too humid and a little cooler than what we were used to in Singapore. Shopping was not that good - repeated goods found everywhere but that just gave better ammo for bargaining - competition was fierce.

We had an early night so that we could hit the beach the next day.

I'll save that for the next entry!