Tourism News

Tourism News Phuketwan Tourism News
facebook recommendations

NEWS ALERTS

Sign up now for our News Alert emails and the latest breaking news plus new features.

Click to subscribe

Existing subscribers can unsubscribe here

RSS FEEDS

Patong's one-way: where right becomes left, and it just isn't right

Patong One-Way 'Will Change Before Carnival'

Thursday, October 14, 2010
PATONG'S new one-way system will replace the present wrong-way system before the Patong Carnival begins on December 15, a source at Patong Municipality said today.

The one-way system has been contentious because, although it eased congestion on the roads, it forced vehicles to travel on the right rather than the left on some sois between the beach road and Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road.

Newcomers find it a nightmare. Old hands don't have much time for it, either.

What's not clear yet is whether the long-standing gripe of zebra crossings that expose pedestrians to even greater danger - because they just don't work - will also be addressed.

The carnival this year will again be sponsored by Chang, with the December 15 parade being extended to start behind Jungceylon mall, head towards Simon Cabaret, then swing right before continuing down to beach road and along to Loma Park.

The longer route is yet another indication of Patong's growing size and shape.

There will be one stage outside the Holiday Inn, a larger one at the football field at beachfront Loma Park, and smaller stages in Soi Bangla.

Thai superstars are expected to be among the performers, but no names are available yet. A one-village one-product ''shopping mall'' will be set up at Loma Park.

The theme this year is described as ''cultural.'' It is not clear at this stage whether this means Thai culture, Phuket culture, Patong culture, or all three.

The carnival runs until December 20.
US Woman Held for 'Visa Run' Overstay Blunder
UPDATE The US Embassy in Bangkok is investigating an alarming case in which an American woman on a one day visa run from Phuket to Ranong found herself under arrest.
US Woman Held for 'Visa Run' Overstay Blunder

Phuket Jet-Ski Heroes Save Tourist from Drowning
Latest Jet ski operators at a popular Phuket beach have been credited with saving the life of a tourist from China who was lost off Patong for two hours.
Phuket Jet-Ski Heroes Save Tourist from Drowning

Fire Rips Phuket Dive Boat, Seven Hurt: Photos
PHOTO ALBUM A dive boat being readied on Phuket for high season trips to the Similan islands bursts into flames, injuring seven people, one seriously.
Fire Rips Phuket Dive Boat, Seven Hurt: Photos

Phuket Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Photo Album Two days to go, and the women take to the streets of Phuket to add a dainty edge to the daily Vegetarian festival street processions.
Phuket Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Phuket Bids Bye Bye Bangla, Hello Blingla
PHOTO ALBUM High rents and gentrification are taking the bang out of Soi Bangla and replacing it with bling. Fresh projects mean the old Patong is going, going, gone.
Phuket Bids Bye Bye Bangla, Hello Blingla

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

gravatar

Brilliant sum up!

Posted by donmphkt on October 14, 2010 16:23

gravatar

Wow, huge carnival this year. Last year's carnival was not good IMHO.

Posted by Grimes on October 14, 2010 17:24

gravatar

here's a thought for the zebra crossings

employ some locals at a sort of minimum wage to be crossing guards like the old lollipop ladies back in the UK. They get people across safely.

stick a tip box on the post where they sit so generous farangs can drop some small change in there to supplement the income.

kit them out with a notebook as well so anyone who drives at them and ignores them can have their plate number written down and handed to the police for a fine. The guard gets a small bonus payment for reporting the idiots to the cops. In the UK the crossing guards used their signs to note numbers down.

I dunno...maybe it would work.

Posted by Sandman on October 14, 2010 17:40

gravatar

Oh Mr. Sandman, that kind of control belongs in England and hopefully will stay there. If foreigners come to live here they should not expect everything to be changed to their standards. I came here to escape all that control and although Thailand has many faults, I love the lack of order that you no longer have anywhere in western society. Phuket does not need such vigilante wannabe police in uniforms to grass on minor offenders.

Posted by Mac on October 14, 2010 18:49

Editor Comment:

Lollipop ladies? Police informers? Well, you live and learn.

gravatar

So are they planning on reversing the whole one-way system, or just the flow in the trouble-spot sois?

Posted by CaptainJack on October 14, 2010 19:16

Editor Comment:

All that's known is that right will become left. To do that, though, the system may have to change drastically.

gravatar

I am really looking forward to it, my journey to and from work will be cut by about 3 km a day! Why they didn't do it first time round who knows! It will work, next stop sort the parking problem!

Posted by Anonymous on October 16, 2010 00:17

Editor Comment:

Does this mean the journey of some others will be increased by 3km a day?


Saturday May 11, 2024
Horizon Karon Beach Resort & Spa

FOLLOW PHUKETWAN

Facebook Twitter