Phuket itself is a very interesting town in the fact that it offers far more services than can be used or consumed by the tourists that come there. It is weird because in Phuket you see literally hundreds of travel agencies, hotels, internet cafes, restaurants and bars, and there is no possible way there would ever be enough tourists to fill the supply. Even though we weren't there in the busiest season, you can just feel that there is no way that Phuket can ever really be full.
It's the equivalent of putting a football stadium of 80,000 into a town that only has a population of 20,000. I think the bombing in Bali and the outbreak of SARS has really hurt tourism there, but even so, I think a lot of it was wishful thinking. Phuket had been building up the last few years just as tourism really started to head south. I think people probably saw this trend coming, but it is too tempting to jump on the tourist services bandwagon, especially in a country that provides few other options to make a buck.
Even though this is bad for many merchants competing for fewer dollars and euro, this is obviously good for the traveler who has a lot of options and is likely to get a good price.
One of the notable things about Phuket are the "girlie bars". Walking out to get a beer one night took us to the heart of downtown Phuket, where there are a huge amount of bars to choose from.
There is one particular area in Phuket that has a very high concentration of small bars (many not much bigger than 6 X 12 feet). The one common denomonator about these bars is the girls that work there. Each bar hires a "staff" of anywhere from 3 to 9 or so girls to try to get the customers to come into the bar. Each of these girls is typically not paid a salary, but a small commission on the drinks that they can get the customer to buy. Some of these girls offer other services, obviously, besides just being a hostess, but many are there just to try and make a legiitimate living. It is a little sad.
Given that there are an average of 6 girls to every bar, and there were probably 30-40 bars on this one particular strip, There were probably 200 or so girls working in this area.
At the time we were there, there were few tourists in Phuket, and the competition was pretty fierce. As we walked by, the women would whistle or call out, "Where you from mista?", "Hello, handsome!", and by far the most popular, "Hello, welcome!". It was a strange feeling to be walking down the street and have dozens of women call out to you like that. Others resorted to more aggressive tactics, like grabbing your arm and in some cases tackling you to try to get you to come into their bars.
Vince at once time was literally tackled and lifted unto a bar stool by one of the bigger girls. The look of surprise on his face was classic. When you finally give in a agree to get a beer at one of the bars, the game then becomes to get you to stay as long as possible so you can spend more money. Since in most cases the girls have limited english skills, so after "Where are you from", What do you do", and "How long you in Thailand" are covered, there isn't much else to talk about. They are covered for this eventuality.
Then they whip out the games. The game of choice in Thailand just happens to be Connect Four. As you sit down at a bar stool, inevitably some Thai girl will bring out the Connect Four board, and you will find yourself in a game. Since I hadn't played in a while-probably since I was like 10-the girls were killing me, but after a while I figured out what I was doing and started to win some games. I was determined to at least win a game of two to save face, as I drank a few more beers. Mission accomplished for them, I guess.
Phuket town itself was a little disappointing, very touristy in that chintzy way. Not as bad as Fisherman's Wharf, and not as good as Lahina in Maui. Not my taste. Disney-fied Thailand, basically. Vince and I saw little of intersest in Phuket-bettering our Connect Four skills notwithstanding- and planned to leave for Ko Samui after only a couple days.