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Toppling Trees, Black Faced Swedes, Hordes in Patong: Phuket NY Photo Special
By Phuketwan Reporters Tuesday, April 14, 2015
PHUKET: Nature marked Songkran on Phuket yesterday with a late afternoon downpour and buckets full of water that toppled a tree, crushing two cars and injuring a woman.
The Burmese unlucky enough to be struck by the falling palm at Tesco Lotus in Chalong was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.
Earlier in the day, five black-face Swedes who took over a Patong intersection and splashed passersby with dark water were told by officials from Tourism and Sport to stop ruining Songkran.
Just what the Swedes in the Jeep with the large sex toy in the back were doing was left to others to try to figure out.
Meanwhile, parts of Patong seethed with hundreds of tourists, turning what was once a gentle ceremony marking the passage of time into world's biggest waterfight.
So far, no bright spark has suggested that Songkran on Phuket is so much fun, it should run all week.
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Comments
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This was my 9th Songrkan on Phuket and I can honestly say I've never seen it being so quiet. I drive around Chalong, Rawai, Kata, Karon and Patong.
Parts of Kata and Karon were virtually a ghost town.
Only a couple of years back it used to bumper to bumper all over the place with streets full of people.
Personally I much prefer this to overcrowding but I just can't match what I see to the tourism numbers published by TAT.
There must be a very large portion of tourists who venture out neither daytime or nighttime.
Posted by
Herbert
on
April 14, 2015 11:34
@ Herbert - you must be wrong. According to official sites Phuket hotels is 78% occupied, about 5% increase from last year. Guess that people just stayed in their rooms yesterday.
Posted by
Sherlock
on
April 14, 2015 12:18
Frankly, I can certainly see why many Thais resent farang. I steered clear (as I always do) of the madness of Patong, and instead went north. What I saw was mostly Thais having simple fun...families and children stopping people for a friendly dab of paint and pail of water...just what it is supposed to be. Nai Yang was very crowded...with nothing but good clean fun. The only crappy behavior I saw was when I got near a big group of farang, hooting, hollering...girls drunken bimbos dancing like whores in traffic (not pretty either) and jerks heaving buckets of icewater...not fun. Things like this make me ashamed to be a farang, and help me understand why many locals can't stand farang.
Posted by
Ed Sanders
on
April 14, 2015 12:22
With you 100 percent Ed Sanders...
I left too, and will come back when its over..
Posted by
robert
on
April 14, 2015 14:02
@ Herbert I agree Kata beach etc is very quiet and after 10 pm the streets are nearly empty and where as before the bars were busy now about half are closed down and the bars that are still going (struggling) the ladies are not nearly as nice looking and often more interested in their smart phone than "working" I wonder why this is, greed, overpricing next property will go down here and also muggings will increase as after this month many will have no money.
Posted by
Welcome To Paradise
on
April 14, 2015 15:33
@ Ed Sanders
I am with you, I left Phuket as well until its all over. Sadly, I have also had foreign friends telling everyone what fun the madness in Khao San and Patong is with a huge waterfight. Ignorant idiot friends sadly.
@Ed
In the photos, is that really a fire truck spraying the crowd with a high pressure fire hose? Dear god......
Posted by
Discover Thainess
on
April 14, 2015 15:58
Editor Comment:
High pressure? I wouldn't be sure about that.
@Ed
Fair comment :-) I guess it's all relative, but I would have thought the fire department had better things to do....
Posted by
Discover Thainess
on
April 14, 2015 16:20
@ Ed and Co - Yea Thais never trow ice water or sells blocks of ice, only farang behave so badly.
Posted by
Sherlock
on
April 14, 2015 16:23
Editor Comment:
The point is, Sherlock, that most of us have yet to see farang adopt the gentle traditional way of splashing a little water and making a mark with flour. Plenty of Thais do that. But that's outside of Patong, which seems to be the only Thailand you know. And what an odd place it is.
@ Ed - OK outside Patong nobody splashes huge amounts of iced water, fact accepted. I thought having seen different, but I might have forgotten, how real Thais behave.
Posted by
Sherlock
on
April 14, 2015 17:25
I am starting to regret having signed up for this site. Not that I don't find the articles informative. What I really dislike is the disgusting comments levelled at the Thais. I have been to Thailand 5 times now and I have found the large majority of locals to be very friendly and helpful. I am ashamed at how some of my Aussie countrymen conduct themselves whilst in Thailand. As visitors, I believe it is up to us to conduct ourselves in an acceptable manner and honour local customs. Will be at Patong in 5 days and cannot wait. This is my view only and I accept others will not agree.
Posted by
Thin Blue Line
on
April 14, 2015 20:02
Editor Comment:
You don't have to ''sign up'' for Phuketwan, TBL. But certainly, there are bigots and racists galore out there - and not just from Australia. Good on you for standing up.
@ Thin Blue Line
There is a significant difference between visiting a country a few times and living there for a decade or more, speaking the language.
Perhaps there's something under the smiling surface that you do not see or understand ?
After 5 visits you are qualified to dismiss the comments of long term residents ?
That says a lot more about you than it does about those you berate here.
If you want to hear something really disgusting, I recommend you learn Thai so you can understand what they sometimes say right in your face, with a smile mind you.
As long as you keep paying rip-off tourists prices, of course everyone will be smiling and helpful.
Why wouldn't they ?
They are taking you to the cleaners and on top of it you thank them for it. I'd be smiling all the way to the bank too.
If you are interested in the real Thailand, I highly recommend locations other than Patong. Only place worse to visit in Thailand would be Pattaya.
Posted by
Herbert
on
April 14, 2015 22:26
@Herbert
they venture out not right on the street but into buses to some particular destinations.
this regards most of Chinese tourists of course, but more and more people are starting to look for package travel that gives some saving benefits as Phuket is gravitating more lower-middle/lower end by tourist pockets, but still is not there.
Posted by
Sue
on
April 14, 2015 23:31
As a visitor to Patong, and yes I did a circuit of the streets, I saw people enjoying themselves, both farang and Thai alike. Even in Bangla and outside Jungceylon, both of which were crowded, people seemed in good spirits and behaviour neither noticeably drunken nor unreasonable.
It may not be the traditional Songkran sprinkling of water, but both Thai and foreigner were joining in the revelry, hundreds of Thais on the back of pickups or on motorbikes circling the streets, dousing people and enjoying the festivities, and Thai children seemingly having the time if their lives.
That doesn't seem so bad does it?
And it doesn't preclude those who wish, as I did, engaging in the more traditional and respectful forms of celebration?
All that said, I wonder what happens to all of those thousands of brightly coloured water guns. Collected up, repackaged and sold again next year?
Posted by
Marty
on
April 15, 2015 07:29
I was in patong i see 2 motorbikes with sidecar full with industrial ice selling nearly every second splash place the joke !!!trowing in the ear or head , furlongs and thais !!this is reality drive 11.30 picked up my child he get full trow with ice water thanks !!!!!
Posted by
donaldo
on
April 15, 2015 09:09
You will find fire trucks spraying revelers throughout all provinces of Thailand in the dedicated area's for songran, a lot of these comments are obviously from people who have never been outside of Phuket for Songran, up north Thai's use ice cold water, get blind drunk, the girls dance seductively, its not limited to Phuket.
Posted by
coxo
on
April 15, 2015 09:13
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This was my 9th Songrkan on Phuket and I can honestly say I've never seen it being so quiet. I drive around Chalong, Rawai, Kata, Karon and Patong.
Parts of Kata and Karon were virtually a ghost town.
Only a couple of years back it used to bumper to bumper all over the place with streets full of people.
Personally I much prefer this to overcrowding but I just can't match what I see to the tourism numbers published by TAT.
There must be a very large portion of tourists who venture out neither daytime or nighttime.
Posted by Herbert on April 14, 2015 11:34