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GATOR420
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This field report is mainly based in Phuket, but there is a necessary prelude in Bangkok that must be stated before the reader can understand where everyone falls into place. Sorry for any typos, grammer errors, it started getting pretty long and I'm too tired now to proofread.
So it’s the day before I have to check out of my hotel and go to Phuket. I’m staying at the JW Marriott, and of course I have waited until the last minute to make any reservations, or do any advance planning to Phuket other than reading this forum and based on recommendations to stay at the Burasari. I’m meeting up with Tyler in a bit to go to a travel agent.
I start getting ready for the day and Tyler calls and says he wants to go to an MP before we go to the travel agent. I reluctantly agree as it is Saturday and I don’t know how long the travel agents are open until. I’m just hoping we’ll be out in time before they close. He says no problem, and off we go.
Come back from the MP and feeling much relieved, we stop off at one of the places that’s right in the station. I can’t remember which station, but it was for Japanese tours only or something. Not good.
Get out of the station and head down Sukhumvit Rd. looking for a travel agent and pull into one place right near the Landmark. We stop in and Tyler helps to explain where I want to go, and where I want to stay. They say no problem. Good. The exact answer I want to hear.
They start giving me some pricing and ask if I want business class for the flight to Phuket. It’s only $20 difference, so what the hell. I’m on vacation. They ask me for my preference of hotel and I explain that I would like to stay at the Burasari. No problem, but they don’t have one room for my entire stay there and I’ll have to switch rooms in the middle of my stay from the deluxe room to the junior suite. OK, it’s a bit costly, but as I said before, I’m on vacation, and what the hell.
It comes time to pay, and it comes out to something near B20000. sh_t, I don’t have that much money on me and I’m going to need to visit the ATM. I told them to hang tight while I go to the ATM. I make a run to the ATM, grab some money and come back. This was easier said than done. Apparently the ATM wasn’t going to give me all the money I need. I run back to try a lesser transaction and I have about ¾ of the money I need, and if I spend all that, that will leave me empty of funds for my last night in Bangkok. Unacceptable. So, I give her half in cash, and charge the other half accepting the 3% surcharge. Trip is booked, and I’m ready to go.
Go to Pantip plaza with Tyler and his girl. Shop around and get some interesting necessities. I had plans to meet up with this “good” girl I met off of the Internet and had been talking to for about 6 months. I promised I would meet her while I was in Bangkok. After we finished our shopping, Tyler was going out to eat with his woman, and I was meeting my date for the evening back at the hotel. I split off from Tyler, and make my way back to the hotel.
At the hotel, I’m sitting in the lobby, waiting for my date to arrive that I’ve never met before. This isn’t the first time I have met a girl from the Internet, and every experience has been quite unique. You can never be sure of what to expect. She gives me a call and tells me that she’s just arrived. Great, I explain where I am and what I am wearing. She comes walking through and I can easily tell it’s her. I get up and walk towards her. At first glance, she’s pretty cute, and maybe this will turn out OK.
We had plans to go out to dinner for the evening and she was starving (as was I). She asked where I wanted to go and I suggested that she should pick the place as she would know Bangkok much better than I. This turned out to be a great thing.
We grab a cab and head off into parts of Bangkok I have definitely never seen or been to before. We end up being dropped off on what looked like a very small Soi off of the main road (whatever that was). Walk down this small Soi a short way and there is this restaurant tucked back away in on the left side. The name? Eat Me. Quite unique. OK, Eat Me it is.
Walk in and this would be a pretty upscale restaurant in New York. It turns out this is some French art restaurant. She comes here pretty often and knows all the waiters and staff. Intriguing as I’ve now been handed a menu and it’s quite expensive for Thailand. I don’t really mind paying as comparing this class of place to what I would expect to pay in New York; the total could easily be 3x as high. I would recommend eating here to anyone else that’s wants to eat at a classy upscale French restaurant with great décor, and good food.
In any case, while we were dining on the balcony, one of those guys with a baby elephant shows up and is looking for people to buy food and feed it. As I kind of have a thing for elephants, I had to go down and buy some food and feed it. It was pretty cool. I got my date for the evening to take some pics of me with the elephant and feeding it. I had a great time.
After we finish eating and I’ve now paid the bill at around B3200, she asks if I want to come out with her and hang out with her sister and her sister’s friend at some bar in Khao San Rd. I’m a bit hesitant as I’m waiting for the scams to start rolling in. I’ve got all defenses up just in case she turns out to be anything less than what I’ve expected but agree to go along.
We get to Gulliver’s in KSR, and they won’t let me in because I’ve forgotten my passport at the hotel. sh_t. She calls her sister out, and they start talking with the guys at the front, and eventually they decide that they can let me in. My date said that they thought I was Thai. I certainly don’t look Thai in any respect, and am not even Asian. Just a regular American white guy.
We get in, and this is my first time to Khao San Rd. and to Gulliver’s. It was packed, and there were several pretty stupid acting farangs in there. This would certainly not be my choice of hangouts if I was Thai or farang. I decide to just suck it up and enjoy the environment for what it was, and just hope that 2am comes quick. While I was there, Fortunately it wasn’t that far off and the bar soon closed.
We get out and they offer to drive me back to my hotel, I accept and off we go on perhaps the longest walk I have ever walked to a parked car. I’ve been to concerts and parked closer than these people have parked to KSR. Finally make it to the car and they start heading back to my hotel. Get to the hotel, and I thank everyone. Sister and friend are sitting in the front with my date and I sitting in the back. Sister gets out to let me out, and not being sure where this relationship was going with my date, I didn’t want to press things and invite her in. Fortunately, sister does the work for me. She asks me if I have told my date to stay in the car or go home, and I explain no that I haven’t. Sister asks me if I want my date to stay with me, and I said sure. She then says something to my date in the car, and next thing I know I have a sleeping companion for the evening.
I bring her up to the hotel room and try to play the good farang. I had a room with two beds in it and offered to let her sleep on one while I slept on the other. I was pretty tired as it was, and didn’t really care one way or the other, laid down on one bed, and just started to pass out. It had been a long day.
I woke up occasionally and she was still sitting on the other bed. I made the offer that she could come and sleep with me in my bed, or sleep on the other bed. It didn’t matter to me. She didn’t accept, but she did make her way over to my bed and the next thing I know, the foreplay game is on. OK, works for me.
I enjoy the rest of the evening with her, and when I wake up, I have to pack and get all my gear together. My flight to Phuket leaves at 1pm. As I am taking a shower and getting ready, I decide that maybe I might just take this girl with me to Phuket, or better yet, have her meet me there so that I have a couple days on my own, and then I can hook up her. This also works out well financially as I don’t have to pay her anything. I decide that if I pop the question about her joining me now, she’ll still need time to make arrangements. When I get out, I ask her how difficult it would be for her to go to Phuket. She said that it wouldn’t be hard at all. I explained that if she could cover her own airfare, I would promise to cover hotel, meals, transportation, and entertainment while with me. OK. I made my invitation, and she said that she would see what she could do. She came with me to the airport and I told her that I would call her when I got to Phuket. At this point, we’ll call her Bangkok Girl.
Get into the airport and try to find my flight, and they direct me in the complete wrong direction so that when I get to the destination that they told me to go to, I was promptly turned around and told to go back the way I came. This was just a little irritating. After finding where I needed to be, I get checked in, and walk to the gate. They start boarding shortly afterwards and it’s a walk out to the plane on the tarmac. Walk up the stairs to the plane, and I have to say Thai Air business class is OK. It’s only an hour and a half flight, but the seats were big and comfy and great service. Couldn’t complain too much.
Arrived at Phuket International airport, was one of the first off the plane, and so was my luggage. Walked out to get a cab to Patong. This being my first time here, I wasn’t sure how it worked at this airport. You know, with the hustlers inside Bangkok airport charging high prices, with the taxi line outside charging normal prices. This however does not seem to be the case here in Phuket. First quote I got on a taxi fare was B600. This seemed to be a bit ridiculous to me (not knowing where I am going, or how far it is). I then got quoted the group bus price of B150. OK, I’ll try the bus thing.
I get my ticket and head outside. These guys take my luggage and sling it onto the top of the bus. I have a pretty big bag, and I can just see it now getting lost or falling off on the way there. He straps all of the luggage down and the best I can do is cross my fingers and hope that my luggage and I arrive at the hotel together.
On the way to the hotel, one guy sitting next to me is apparently going to Phuket Town, and the driver wants to drop him off to catch another bus. The guy going to Phuket Town doesn’t quite understand the driver, and doesn’t want to be let off at the bus stop. The driver tries to explain to him that it’s his best and quickest option, but he declines for another alternative. The bus driver says he’s not going to get back to this location for at least another couple of hours. The guy says that’s fine, as he doesn’t want to get off at the bus stop. OK, onward we go.
Arrive at some little travel agency of some type where they sort out which hotel each of us are going to, and were willing to book us a hotel if needed. Fortunately I already had my reservations, but just out of curiosity, I asked them how much they could have booked me at the Burasari for. They say they could have gotten it for about B200 less. Next time I tell them. Waiting until the day before to book my hotel is bad enough for me, let alone trying to get a hotel on the same day. I don’t know how some people do it. I just like knowing in advance that I have some where to stay for sure.
As they are busy sorting everyone out, the people that have been sorted are waiting in the bus. One German guys starts getting cranky about the driver taking so long to return and starts honking the horn of the bus. Another American and I try explaining to this German that he’s certainly not going to speed things up if he keeps doing that sh_t. He doesn’t seem to understand why, and he’s only here for one day so he wants to get going. OK, I tell him, you just keep honking that horn and see how much you speed anything up. He decides to stop honking the horn. Good idea German guy. Now sit back, relax, and shut up.
Eventually the driver comes back out and we get underway. This is quite the trek to Patong, I had no idea it was this far in reality. I saw the distance on a map, but it didn’t look that bad. I was wrong.
We continue on and start dropping people off at their respective hotels. We come along one road and I ask the driver if it is the infamous “Soi Bangla”, and he says it is. OK, now that I know where that is, I just have to figure out how to get there from my hotel. Continue to drive along and pass Christins MP. Big giant pink building that stands out from the crowd. OK, mental note as to where that is. Then finally we arrive at the Burasari.
At first glance from the road, the Burasari is nothing to be impressed about. It’s tucked away pretty nicely. The bus driver guy unloads my bags, tip him, and some bellhop grabs my bags. Great. Now, off to reception.
Get to reception, give them my name, and they ask to see my voucher. I show it to them and they say that apparently my travel agent hasn’t confirmed with the hotel, and they are booked solid on at least one night of my intended stay. This is not a good sign. The last thing I want to do is start searching around for hotel rooms. They ask me to have a seat, while they get it straightened out and bring me a towel and a glass of juice. OK, I can wait a bit.
After a while they just decided to get me into a room, and that they would let me know what the outcome was. OK, no problem. I also mention to them that I might have my new friend come down from Bangkok to join me. They say no problem and give me a breakfast coupon for two in the morning. Fair enough, and off I go.
I get to my deluxe room, and I have to say, it’s about average to me. Great giant big bed, pool view, OK size bathroom, and OK décor. One thing that did bother me a bit was the door. You can hear anything that’s going on out in the hallway, and I imagine it’s the same for the rooms if you were standing in the hallway. I get myself together and plan to go out and do a little exploring as well as find myself something to eat.
Another thing I hate is when I have to leave my hotel key at the front desk for whatever reason. This means I always have to come back to reception to pick it up. Not something I like to do when I have a girl with me, or several different girls over consecutive nights. Oh well, I drop off my key and they ask me if I have my breakfast coupon with me as they want to exchange it for only a one person breakfast until my friend gets in and she checks in. OK, seems fair enough. I ask them about my reservation status and they say it’s all worked out. Great, glad to hear.
I make my way out and decide to walk away from the beach and see what’s around and where is good to eat. OK, going this way is apparently a little longer than I anticipated to get over to Soi Bangla which is apparently where everything looked to be near. No matter. I’ve got time, nothing to do and living and working in the NYC area here in America, you walk everywhere. So, walk on it is.
I walk past several Middle Eastern places on my way to Soi Bangla but I’m not a big fan of the food. Being kind of picky about what I eat, I’m always concerned about what’s going into my food and how it was prepared. So, I try to go with the least risk possible. My target today; pizza.
I finally make it over to Soi Bangla (not without walking past Christins), and find this place called Pizzeria Shack. I grab a seat, order myself a drink and a pizza and just enjoy watching the street scene. Overall, I have to say this place has got some pretty good pizza. I make a note of that, finish up, and by now it’s getting close to 7PM. Time to visit some beer bars.
I walk out and cross the street to where most all the beer bars are. I am determined just to walk up one side of the street, then come down the other before I choose which bar I want to choose as my own. I walk up along the right side going towards the beach and I have to say that there wasn’t anything that particularly caught my eye. I make it to the end (successfully without being dragged into any bar) and then cut over to the other side to walk down and away from the beach.
Get grabbed by some girl standing outside of one bar and I have to say that she was a bit less than attractive but she would just not let my arm go. No matter how many “mai ow khraps” were said, she wasn’t giving up. I finally managed to convince her to that I would come back later and she let me go.
I walked down several feet and then again got grabbed by another less than attractive girl. This time I looked into the bar that she was trying to drag me into and although the girl grabbing me was less than attractive, there were several pretty hot girls standing behind the bar. What the hell, I’ll stop in here for a few, and then move on.
I find myself a seat at the bar and sit down. Apparently I’m in Kangaroo bar. I order up a beer, relax a bit and enjoy the view. Hey, it’s someone’s birthday. A couple of guys are in towards the back lighting candles on a cake. They start walking it over and it lasts about 5 seconds before all the fans in the place blow them out. The group they are with all laughs and they do the birthday song anyway. As they finish they are walking the cake back and as they were handing it over to have someone cut it, the cake falls to the floor. One of the guys has now got cake on him, and decides it would be funny to smear cake on the other. And he does, right on his face. Now ensues a brief cake fight in the back of the bar until they are both covered with cake. Quite funny and I had to take out my cam and snap a pic.
After a couple of beers an Aussie chap sits down next to me and we begin what would be a fairly lengthy conversation about world politics and such. Oh well, at least he’s interesting company since the girls seem to not even be interested in customers other than serving up drinks. OK, I think to myself, I just need some more time to figure this out as I’m sure the other bars must be like this one. Once I figure this one out I can move on to the next and work it appropriately.
Some time and a few beers later into the conversation with the Aussie fellow, he asks me if I’ve figured out the system yet. I tell him nope, I haven’t a clue. At that point he tells me that it is his first time to this bar as well. OK, I think to myself, he’s not going to be much help.
During this time that the Aussie fellow and I have been chatting, one particular bartender is doing drinks with a couple of guys next to us, and a little bit later, we get propositioned to buy her a drink. May as well, this is about the first contact we’ve had other than to replace our drinks. My new Aussie friend buys her a drink, and I do the same. She pours herself a couple shots and downs them both. After the shots I have already seen her do, I’m actually pretty impressed. This girl can drink.
A bit later, I decide that I’m not going to be able to figure this one out. Maybe I should try my luck at another. I ask for them to total up my check bin and I settle up. Right as I’m about to get up and leave, the cute bargirl that can drink stops by and drops a beer off in front of me. On the house. OK, can’t be rude and leave the beer behind. I stay a bit longer with Aussie chap and have the beer.
Not too much later, drinker girl comes back and asks if we can buy her another drink. OK, sure, she bought me a drink, I suppose I can buy another for her. And that’s pretty much how the night continued on. I was a two fisted drinker from that point on. Every time I bought her one, she bought me one. And of course I’m thinking I’m getting a good deal as at least I’m getting two drinks for one even though I’m not drinking the other. Just made me feel as if I was getting more for my baht you know? This continued on like this until 2:30am when the boys in brown rolled through.
By this time I’m about three sheets to the wind and the bar is closing down. All the girls seem to be dispersing at fairly quick rate, and ALONE. What the hell? I spent the whole night here and didn’t figure sh_t out. Now I’m going back alone.
I unfortunately didn’t pay that much attention when leaving my hotel to figure out which Soi I have to walk back down to get to my hotel. I just remember there being a Holiday Inn on the same Soi as the Burasari. On my way back I get accosted by every taxi driver insistent on giving me a ride but I have convinced myself that I need to figure out how to get back on my own. I eventually find my way back after walking back what seemed like twice as far as I came. This is of course not true, just that it seemed a lot longer walking back drunk. A few times I second guessed myself and wondered if I passed it, but I didn’t. I made it back, picked up my key, and crashed for the evening.
Wake up in the afternoon and I feel like sh_t. Completely miss breakfast, and call Bangkok girl to see what her status is. She’s not going to make it until tomorrow, OK, works for me. It gives me another day on my own.
I decide to go out for a bit and check in with the front desk to drop off my key and explain that Bangkok girl will not be down until the next day. They seem to not understand what I’m talking about and begin telling me how I booked a single, so they are going to have to charge me for Bangkok girl.
Oh great. I don’t remember booking a single, or a double for that matter, but they show me my voucher. Yes, apparently I booked a single. OK, how much is this going to cost me? I’m quoted a price of B600. I tried explaining that everything was OK when I checked in and I told them that I have my friend joining me, so much so, that they even gave me a breakfast coupon for two. Why is it an issue now? Blank stares. OK, whatever. B600 it is, and it’s only for a couple more nights here.
I decide to text Bangkok girl and give her the new hotel status. I give her the rundown on what transpired at the front desk. She asks me a few questions then she starts complaining too and asks for the hotel number. She says she is going to call and get it straightened out. OK, chok dee.
She gives me a call back a little later and says that she couldn’t do anything, and feels bad that I am now going to have to pay extra for her. Mai bpen rai. It’s only two more nights, and then we leave to go to Phi Phi anyway.
I decide to go out and get some lunch, do some shopping, exploring, and get a TT massage. Not necessarily in that order. I achieve all of my afternoon goals and head back to the hotel to drop off my goodies. Still not quite feeling so well from last night and decide to take a nap.
1:30am is when I wake up. I decide it’s probably not worth going out now, and since I now have to pay this joiner fee, it’s really put a bad taste in my mouth about this hotel. I make a note not to stay here again (Even though I know it’s my fault that I didn’t book a double. This is just something they wouldn’t ever try to pull here in the States). It’s not like it’s costing them extra to have a guest stay with me and that’s the principle of the matter for me. I figure I may as well try to get some more sleep and get an early start on the day.
I wake up in the morning and head down to get some breakfast. The buffet is OK. Certainly not what I have been used to at the JW Marriott back in Bangkok for the past 9 days, but it will put some food in my stomach. After breakfast I decide I had better go to the front desk and pay for Bangkok girl so that when she gets in, she will have no problems.
I stop by the front desk and there is a new guy here and it says he is the director of something or other. He asks if he can help me and I explain what I want to do. He then proceeds to explain to me about how the joiner fee is B1400. B1400! What are you talking about? It was B600 yesterday when I was making these arrangements. He starts explaining to me how he can show it to me in the hotel manual, blah, blah, blah. I don’t care. I tell him that I could get another hotel for that much. He looks at me like that might be the better idea. What the hell?
At this point I’m considering my options. One of them was just canceling the rest of my reservation at the Burasari and finding a new hotel. I guess he saw that I was contemplating options and then asked me if she was my girlfriend. I said yes, she is my girlfriend. He says OK, if she is your girlfriend, there is no fee. Are you sure she is your girlfriend? Yes, she is my girlfriend. OK. I ask him if there is anything else I need to do, and if he will be here all day so that the staff will know I have spoken to him. He said don’t worry about it, he will speak to the staff and it will be no problem. Alright, nothing I can do but trust and believe him.
I head back to the room to wait for Bangkok girl, who should be arriving shortly. She arrives, checks in, gives me a call, and I tell her to come on up. Sure enough, she had no problems at the front desk. Little does that director guy know just how much he saved this hotel’s reputation in my eyes. Before I wasn’t about to ever step foot on this property again, and here I am thinking I might be able bring myself back here. We get her situated in the room and decide to head off to the beach.
We get to the beach and are instantly asked if we want beach chairs, parasailing, and I already knew that I wanted to rent a jet ski so I asked them if they had any of those. Sure they do. B1200 for the both of us. Well, Bangkok girl didn’t want to go, so I said how much for just me. B1000. Expensive, but, I wanted to do it anyway, so the money was paid. I got on what appeared to be a newly purchased jet ski. This thing was FAST. I loved it and had a great time. Afterwards we went swimming for a while until it started to get dark and then went back to the hotel to shower and all.
Got back to the hotel and took showers together. We never did made it back out of the hotel that night.
Wake up the next morning and decide to get some breakfast down at the hotel. Now Bangkok girl is angry because she didn’t get a breakfast coupon when she checked in and feels that she should get one. She doesn’t want me to have to pay for her, when she believes she should be getting it for free. OK, so she runs off to talk to the front desk to speak to them about it. 5 minutes later she comes back and from the look on her face, it doesn’t look like she was successful. I’m feeling pretty relieved that I’m not paying the B1400 or B600 joiner fee so I just tell her mai bpen rai, I’ll pay for her and it’s not that big of a deal. This doesn’t seem to comfort her much, but eventually she gets over it and heads up to get some food.
After we finish breakfast we decide to go back to the beach. I want to rent a jet ski one last time before we leave and try to convince her to come with me this time. She is hesitant but agrees to come out with me.
We head out to the beach and I am sure jet ski rental guy is going to want to go back to charging me B1200 now because we are two people, but he doesn’t. B1000 it stays. Good. I figure since this is my last day here, I may as well rent them twice today. We go out and have a pretty good time on two different jet skis. The new one that I rode on the day before apparently had some issues and had to be taken in for repairs. Bangkok girl said good that it didn’t happen to me while I was riding it yesterday. I had to agree.
Finish up our fun on the jet skis and head back to the beach. Next thing I know she’s on the phone with someone. Whoever it is, he is coming over to join us. It’s her friend Tom. Who the f_ck is Tom? Someone she has known for a long time I am told, that lives here, and she had promised to see when she was in Phuket. OK, whatever. He’s at McDonald’s right now, and she is asking him to bring her some food. She’s hungry again.
Tom comes by and sits down with us. He’s a younger Thai guy, and just going by his actions, he seems like he might be playing for the other team. They talk and chat for a while and I try to get her to come swimming with me. She doesn’t want to leave Tom by himself and he doesn’t have anything to swim in. She wants to borrow a pair of my shorts for Tom. Not likely. I tell him to just go buy a pair off the street, being Thai, he should be able to get them cheap. He says that not really, he is getting charged the same price. I don’t feel sorry for him.
Eventually, Tom says he has to leave, and I’m not sorry to see him go. Apparently she wants to go out with him later tonight, and I say that’s fine, as I have my own plans. She asks if I want to come out with them and I decline. This is my vacation and I have other items on my agenda to attend to. We go swimming for a bit and while we are there, I just start digging around in the sand to see what I can dig up. I end up digging up a hermit crab and Bangkok girl wants to keep it and take it back to the hotel. It is her “friend”. I ask her what she is going to do with it back at the hotel, as we are leaving the next day, and she’ll just end up killing it. She refuses to leave without it, so I give in, and get her a cup to put it in. Whatever. We then pack up and head back to the hotel.
Shower again, and take a short nap. Wake up and start to get ready for the evening. We end up going to some outdoor place on the road alongside the beach. They had a band, so it wasn’t too bad. The Elvis impersonator could use a bit of work though. We get our drinks and about 5 minutes later, she orders a bottle of water as well. OK, whatever. Well, little did I know, Tom was on his way to join us for dinner. He comes in and sits down. I’m starting to realize that Bangkok girl has an agenda of her own that she is going to attend to. OK, all I have to do is make it through dinner, and then she can go off with him, and I can go and do my own thing.
We finish dinner, I pay, and I’m ready to split off. She asks me again if I want to come with them, but no thank you. I’ve got appointments on Soi Bangla I must keep. OK she tells me, she probably won’t be back to the hotel until around 2am. Fine with me as I doubt I’ll be back before that. I bid her a good night, and head off to find an ATM. Get some cash and I’m off to Soi Bangla.
I start to make my way down the Soi Bangla, determined to go to a few new bars, and also get down to Star World before I end my night. As I’m walking down, the same girl that dragged me into Kangaroo bar sees me and drags me in again. OK, 1 or 2 beers here, and then I’ll head out to seek other pastures.
I grab a seat at the bar, and tonight it’s pretty busier than it was than the last time I was here. The bartender girl who I was buying drinks for last time recognizes me and we chat a bit. I get a drink, and pretty much it went on much like the first time I came here. I would buy her a drink; she would buy me a drink, and so on.
There happened to be an older farang woman there, and she started talking to me. She mentioned that it was this particular girl’s birthday. Ah-ha. Good information to know. I waited until midnight and wished her a happy birthday. She said that I was the first person to say that to her. Brownie points for me.
The night continues on, and I don’t know what it is, but when I get in that bar, I can’t get out. It’s like quicksand. I never made it to another bar, I never made to Star World. Mission failed. However, as the bar is closing, drinker (now birthday) girl comes around and thanks me for everything and I say no problem, and I ask her how old she is now that’s it’s her birthday. She tells me 30 and I give her some trouble about being the big 3-0 and she takes it well. She then asks how old I am, and I ask how old she wants me to be. She tells me 28. Well, I’m close I tell her, 27, will be 28 in a few months. 
She then asks me what I am doing tomorrow, as she would like to hang out. sh_tgoddamnit. I’m leaving tomorrow for Phi Phi, and even worse, I’m stuck with Bangkok girl who is staying in my hotel room. I tell birthday girl that I am leaving for Phi Phi tomorrow and she acts disappointed. Damn it, damn it. If I only had one more day, and if only I wasn’t with Bangkok girl… If, if, if.
Birthday girl heads off and that leaves me to head back to my hotel. On the way back I get accosted by some ladyboy who would not leave me alone. She must have followed me for like 2 blocks until I finally convinced her that I was not interested. I don’t know if it was for sure a ladyboy, but it was dark, I was drunk, and it was questionable. If it’s even questionable, I always try to take the safe bet and decline.
Get back to the hotel, pick up the key, and at least I know I got back before Bangkok girl. About 5 minutes later though, she arrives. Tom is in tow. She gives him a nod, and off he goes. We talk about our nights, and she tells me how I probably wouldn’t have liked the type of place she went to with Tom, and I was perfectly fine on my own. I think it was a well needed break from each other. We get changed and head for bed. We have to get up early tomorrow to catch the bus to the boat to Phi Phi. Set the wake up call, and off to sleep.
Wake up call goes off and I start packing up the final things. Go down stairs to check out and what not. The bus was supposed to pick us up at 7:30 and the guy at the front desk says that it will not be here until 7:45. At this time it’s about 7:15 and he says we would have plenty of time to grab some breakfast. I call Bangkok girl and she is coming down already. In her hands she has the cup with the hermit crab in it. We start talking about maybe getting some breakfast and what she is going to do with that hermit crab. As we are doing that, the bus driver shows up and he’s ready to go. OK, grab the luggage and off we go.
On the way out, Bangkok girl stops at the front desk and asks them to give the cup with the hermit crab back to someone who is going to the beach so that they can return it to the ocean. This was the whole reason I told her not to take it in the first place. They look at her strangely, then inside the cup, and seem to understand what she wants. Off to the bus.
From there ensued a bus ride to several other hotels to pick up other people who were also going out to the same pier as we were going. Arrived at the pier and then took off to Phi Phi. And that concludes my Phuket field report.
Not as exciting as I’m sure it could have been, but it was supposed to be more relaxing for me than the 9 days I had just spent in Bangkok. I still never figured out the system at Kangaroo bar, and never made it to Star World, or any other bar for that matter. I was quite disappointed in myself, but I do hope to make it up on my return trip. And this time, I am determined to make it to those places that I didn’t make it to last time.
-G
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 5:00 am on Dec. 25, 2003
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Manuel bkk
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Nice FR.
At least you figured two things out, I think.
-Never bring a girl when they are there anyway, better meet up later again in BKK.
- Phuket is very relaxed - see Kangaroo bar, just downing a few cold ones and the girls are evenly relaxed.
You have to make it back to see some more bars though!!
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 5:22 am on Dec. 25, 2003
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GATOR420
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What I learned most importantly was to keep my relationships short and sweet while in Thailand. The significant part about bringing that particular girl with me from Bangkok was the fact that I didn't have to pay her for her time. She was not a working girl.
However, when I got back to Bangkok with Bangkok girl, I explained that she could not hang out with me back in Bangkok, as I planned to catch up with some other friends. She got upset and told me that she had told her family that she wasn't going to come home until Sunday (3 days later), and that she couldn't go home yet. She would lose face for coming home earlier than she said.
I told her that I made no promises about her staying with me when we got back to Bangkok and she shouldn't have told her parents that. Then she started complaining about how she didn't have any place to stay, and in some ways, I felt a little sorry, but was sure that she could always go and stay with a friend, or at the very least, JUST GO HOME and tell them plans changed, I left early, whatever. Lie like they usually do to save face.
For the next 3 days after I bet my mobile rang 8 times a day, with how much she misses me, how much she wants to be with me, how she wants to spend the night with me before I go to the airport and how she wants to go with me to the airport. I couldn't deal. I just started turning my mobile off as it was really interfering with my sanuk. Before I did that though, I told her that if she really wanted to see me, she could meet me at the airport when I arrived, and and could see me off then.
Sure enough, on the day of my departure she was at the airport at like 3am, and waited for me for 3 hours before I got there. I've already started to break the news to her since I've been back that we just don't have the chemistry to maintain a relationship. She got all upset, but I'd much rather get this one dealt with right away, otherwise, she'll be waiting at the airport for me when I get there in February.
-G
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 9:23 am on Dec. 25, 2003
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dagul
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Hi Gator!
Painful FR... Sounded like you had a mountain of extra charges you could of avoided. Never heard of needing a passport to getting into a bar in BKK - weird... The Bus ride to your hotel in Phuket sounded pretty sh*tty. I at least know now to avoid that one in the future.
Quote by Gator:
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This continued on like this until 2:30am when the boys in brown rolled through.
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You write that so nonchalantly. It has been a while since I have been to Phuket, I guess that is something to expect now.
The BKKgirl must have annoyed the hotel staff with her phone call trying to clear up your situation. A 1400 Baht joiner fee is absolutely ridiculous. One thing you can do in the future is to book a hotel that cleary states there is no joiner fee on the website - i.e. Expat Hotel, Orchid Residence. In addition, no breakfast coupon for your companion after all that mess - seriously, you should have switched hotels, which is so easy to do with so many around every corner.
Tom dude - horrible
Hermit crap - I can sense your annoyance...
I guess you never made it to Christins - that's a sin, especially given your situation...
Another quote by Gator:
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For the next 3 days after I bet my mobile rang 8 times a day, with how much she misses me, how much she wants to be with me, how she wants to spend the night with me before I go to the airport and how she wants to go with me to the airport.
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Maybe I'm being cynical but definitely sounded like BKKgirl had an agenda.
Don't give up on Phuket bro - it can be so sweet if done right. Next time I'm sure you will do much better. It just kind of sucks knowing how far you came to get there and how you really didn't get the chance to fully enjoy its pleasures.
BTW - just curious, how long of a time did the 1000 Baht give you on the jet-ski?
Take care Gator, better luck next time! 
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 10:11 am on Dec. 25, 2003
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bkkz
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Interesting read.
I cannot understand the passport BS at GT KSR. That's bloody wierd!
That Tom guy was bad news. Should have used him as an excuse to drop BKK girl, so that you could have had the drinker. Oh well... there is always a next time.
On the brighter side, you didn't have to pay for her airfare.
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 11:43 am on Dec. 25, 2003
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GATOR420
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Hey dagul,
Actually, the bus ride wasn't that bad, just crowded and took maybe 1.5-2x the amount of time that it would take if you just got the taxi for B600. In the future though I'll probably take the taxi, but the bus isn't that bad for the budget conscious.
It seems that the police come through at different times. I talked to one of the hostesses there for a bit after closing and she said that sometimes the police come at 2am, and sometimes they come at 5am. But whenever they come, they of course have to be closed. No check bins, and it's all cash after 2am.
The hotel thing, I've already been looking for a better place to stay while there. I really wanted to switch hotels in the middle of all that mess, but didn't want to be put on the spot of packing up my crap (again) and moving. Next time I was thinking of staying at the Thara Patong.
I tried to explain to her that she was only going to kill her "friend" the hermit crab by taking it from the beach. I bet he never did make it back. My bet is they just dumped the cup out on the ground at the side of the hotel.
I certainly could have done without Tom.
I am looking forward to making it to Christins this time, and several other places. I just know I have to steer clear of Kangaroo bar until I'm ready to end my night.
I don't know what Bangkok girl had going on the side, but I tried not to let it ruin my fun. In Phi Phi it was definitely just the two of us, it turned out quite interesting.
We get on the boat out to Phi Phi, arrive at the island, check in at the Phi Phi Cabana hotel (which is a pretty nice hotel, would stay there again). As we are making our way to the hotel, she sees a poster about a beach party and wants to go. I say sure, and we keep walking.
We get there before noon, and they have a snorkeling trip to Moneky Beach going out at 2pm. I ask if she wants to go, she agrees and we make the arrangements. Only B250 per person, pretty cheap.
Head down and grab something to eat before we go out as we are both starving not having anything to eat, and little sleep. Eat outside at the restaurant by the pool, and before you know it, it's pretty close to the time we have to leave.
We go out and snorkel around until about 4:30pm, and arrive back at the hotel at 5pm. The only thing that bothered me about this was that one of the crew members on the ship was fishing off the back of the boat, and every time he caught a fish, the boat would stop and we would have to wait until he brought it in before we could get underway again. He caught around 6 tuna on the way out and back. I wouldn't have been so bothered though if he would have given me a line and let me fish too. 
We get back to the hotel, shower, clean up and were going to go out and get some dinner. I laid down on the bed and thought a nap might be nice. By now it's about 7pm and I'm thinking maybe just a two hour nap, after all, I've only had about 3 hours of sleep, been traveling and snorkeling all day. Just a small nap.
Well, I do end up falling asleep, and when I wake up, I've slept for a bit longer than 2 hours. Bangkok girl is gone. Hmm, OK, where did she go? Maybe she went to go eat, or get some food without me. Maybe she went to the beach party. I see her two mobile phones are on the desk in the room, so I know she is going to come back, and just close my eyes and go back to sleep.
I wake up a bit later as I hear her entering the room but just act like I am still sleeping. I can hear her walk around to my side of the bed, stand there for a bit, then go back over to the other bed. She starts talking, trying to get me to wake up, and I act like I'm just waking up and ask her what's up. She wants me to talk to her.
Ugh. What do you want to talk about? Didn't you wake up at all, she asks? Yes, I did. I woke up, saw that you were gone, saw your mobile phones on the desk, knew you were going to be back, and went back to sleep. Didn't you read my note, she asks? Note? No, what note. I didn't see a note. The note that I wrote for you and told you to come down and meet me at the pool. I've been waiting this entire time for you to come down she says. Ugh, nope, I missed that one.
Now she's all pissed off at me because I didn't see the note and didn't come down to meet her. I try to get her to understand that even though that yes she did write a note to tell me where she was, if I didn't see it, it's the same as her not having written a note at all.
This situation seems to escalate a bit, and it's getting emotional. I start asking questions about Tom and what the deal is with her. I'm getting no answers and no matter how I ask the question, no information is coming forthwith. OK, I tell her, I'm giving you until 1am to start talking, and stop going in these roundabout circles of getting nothing accomplished.
1am comes and nothing is being resolved by talking, or it's more her just not answering my questions. I tell her I am going out, and she is welcome to come with me if she wants, but I am not going to spend any more time on this issue.
I prep myself for the evening, grab the keys, and begin to walk out. As she sees I'm serious, she says she ready to answer everything. Another 30 minutes goes by and she answers nothing. I leave for the beach party.
I get to the beach party, and it was OK. Mostly farang, and people there as couples. They had a fire show on the beach with fireworks and a small bonfire. It was pretty cool, but a pretty drunk and obnoxious crowd. I just stayed for about an hour and headed back to the hotel room.
I get to my room, and the door is locked and there is a 3 page note under the door. I take it out, and start reading. It says I need to get the key at the front desk as well as this long sob story about how we just got off on the wrong foot, she really likes me and wants to be with me on and on. OK. At this point I'm expecting to get the key from the front desk, get into my room and find it cleaned out.
I get the key, and get into my room. Everything is there, including her stuff, so I know she will be back. I decide to just try and get some sleep and forget about this whole situation. All I have to do is wait until morning, catch the ferry back to Phuket, catch my flight back to Bangkok and I can lose her there.
She comes back an hour later and wants to do the whole discussion thing again. Knowing I'm not going to get anywhere, I tell her just to forget about it, get some sleep, and we'll wake up and get breakfast in the morning. I didn't want to spend all night talking around in circles. I'd much rather sleep. She takes some convincing but finally agrees.
I wake up in the morning as if I've forgotten about everything and wake her up to come down to breakfast as we have to pack for checkout. After we finish, we get back to the room, and she wants to stay another night. I'd certainly like to stay as it's really a nice place, but I've already paid for my last two nights in Bangkok at the JW. Now I'd be paying for two hotel rooms on the same day.
I try explaining this to her and she seems not to care, she only wants to stay another night "so that we can spend more time together." As if that's what I need. I make an agreement to do a late check out and change my flight time to leave later so that we can stay a few more hours and spend some time on the beach. The hotel was nice enough to charge me 50% of the room rate for that late check out.
In any case, we made it to the airport together and her flight left 30 minutes before mine, so I dropped her off at her gate, wished her a safe flight, and said goodbye.
Made my way to my gate, sat down in the lounge and was glad to be on my own again. The only thing I was concerned about was her waiting for me at my gate when my plane landed. Fortunately she did not.
It was after that when all the messages and phone calls started. I had to turn it off as the other girl I was meeting up with in Bangkok kept asking me who it was. I was running out of excuses as to why my friend was calling me so many times.
Finally, for the jet ski, B1000/30 minutes time. Expensive, but it's not like you can't shop around for a better price. They all seem to be charging the same amount.
-G
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 12:39 pm on Dec. 25, 2003
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ColoradoGuy
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Quote: from GATOR420 on 9:23 am on Dec. 25, 2003
but I'd much rather get this one dealt with right away, otherwise, she'll be waiting at the airport for me when I get there in February.
Tell her your plans changed and you are not coming to BKK any time soon (or ever). She'll likely stop communicating with you.
When you do get to BKK, just buy a new SIM card so you have a new phone number.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 12:45 pm on Dec. 25, 2003
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Danger Mouse
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I very nearly made the mistake of taking a BG with me from BKK to Phuket, it seemed so right at the time as I was smitten, but i`m just glad now that I didn`t...
Nice FR
I dont think anyone whose been to Phuket hasn`t been in the Kangaroo Bar, or knows where it is... I found myself stopping there rather than heading off elsewhere too...
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 12:55 pm on Dec. 25, 2003
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GATOR420
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CG, if it comes down to that, I might just do it. She actually an OK person to hang out with when she doesn't have other things to attend to. I was hoping we could make it out gracefully as just friends. Doesn't look like it's going to work out that way.
BK, I'd glady trade you my sim card for yours. I'm sure your phonebook is much more extensive than mine! 
DM, the important thing for me was that I was not gorging myself on women like I was in Bangkok. It was starting to run me a pretty nice tab. I needed the financial break of not paying for it during the time I was there. I was saving my last splurge for when I got back to Bangkok. Next time I'll just try to budget myself a bit better and Bangkok and save some fun money for Phuket.
-G
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 1:24 pm on Dec. 25, 2003
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