Any advise on Phuket? Patong Beach?

[natto3]

bro cool, i will back on 16nov tiger152. i have a group of friend coming up to play golf over the weekend too. so keep chic resto warm for us. c ya, cheers.

[c00ls0ul]

Sorry i was busy and away from this forum for so long. Its the high season afterall. But i should be free the whole next week

I was at Chic last night. Met your dream-girl again last night! The Chiangmai girls went back home but she chose to stay on here apparently. Waiting for you?

Drop by Chamois too, apparently not closed from 31st Oct as we thought, but its deserted anyway. Only 3 bartendress and 1 ugly chick on the sofa. Guess now Cafe is the in-place for Pink.

Checked up Up-To-You Pub aforesaid (near Merlin Hotel on the way to Central Festival). Sadly not quite our kind of joint bro Natto.

I heard the old Planet disco has reopened and is now named San Francisco. Supposed to be a disco run-like Bangkok's RCA/Forte style. If i'm not too pissed i'll check it out tonight.

btw DJ Aoh of the old Fantasia is coming to visit next week from Bangkok. Remember her bro natto? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......~~~~~

[natto3]

Originally Posted by c00ls0ul

Sorry i was busy and away from this forum for so long. Its the high season afterall. But i should be free the whole next week

I was at Chic last night. Met your dream-girl again last night! The Chiangmai girls went back home but she chose to stay on here apparently. Waiting for you?

Drop by Chamois too, apparently not closed from 31st Oct as we thought, but its deserted anyway. Only 3 bartendress and 1 ugly chick on the sofa. Guess now Cafe is the in-place for Pink.

Checked up Up-To-You Pub aforesaid (near Merlin Hotel on the way to Central Festival). Sadly not quite our kind of joint bro Natto.

I heard the old Planet disco has reopened and is now named San Francisco. Supposed to be a disco run-like Bangkok's RCA/Forte style. If i'm not too pissed i'll check it out tonight.

btw DJ Aoh of the old Fantasia is coming to visit next week from Bangkok. Remember her bro natto? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......~~~~~

bro cool, i'm coming on wed. tell her to pussy on ice till then.mmmmmm

[natto3]

hi bros, the latest in the war between pink and fantasia hots up. pink cafe has officially opened a large hall in saphahin. pics will be at the exchange plaza.
bro cool, hows the news on my sweety pie?

[c00ls0ul]

Originally Posted by natto3

hi bros, the latest in the war between pink and fantasia hots up. pink cafe has officially opened a large hall in saphahin. pics will be at the exchange plaza.

Didnt see your pixs, where's the thread? You didnt paste my face online did you???

Originally Posted by natto3

bro cool, hows the news on my sweety pie?

On Monday night she went to work at 9pm. She was expecting you. We didnt know why they told you no such person. Anyway as i told you, i was down with flu for 3 days and didnt go anywhere. So yesterday i was turning up better so i called Woo up and went for drinks. She brought along the whole gang of five! And yes, your dream girl-Or too, so now we know no mistakes. We drank at Chic and followup at Timberhut. And they were HOT.
Wet yet?

[natto3]

Originally Posted by c00ls0ul

Didnt see your pixs, where's the thread? You didnt paste my face online did you???

On Monday night she went to work at 9pm. She was expecting you. We didnt know why they told you no such person. Anyway as i told you, i was down with flu for 3 days and didnt go anywhere. So yesterday i was turning up better so i called Woo up and went for drinks. She brought along the whole gang of five! And yes, your dream girl-Or too, so now we know no mistakes. We drank at Chic and followup at Timberhut. And they were HOT.
Wet yet?

bro i having problems trying to upload pics. too big, so try to reduce, still cannot fit . look in your pm. i have deal for or. do you think she take?

[natto3]

bro, coolsoul, i'm coming up again on tues 6th dec. i take it that u would have returned from similan. c ya.

[dxbboy]

I am going for the christmas break to Phuket.Would be ther for three days.I would like to know the best place to get decent girls.Any suggestion..........?

[natto3]

Originally Posted by dxbboy

I am going for the christmas break to Phuket.Would be ther for three days.I would like to know the best place to get decent girls.Any suggestion..........?

bro please read thru this thread and numerous others. anyway if you staying patong you will get the dark country girls. where as in town you got the chioce of whay you want. the to two main rivals are pink group an fantasia. thats for paid wls. pick ups abound in chic resto at ocean, timberhut,yarumba, kosomo to name e few. go with friends and have fun. beer gardens can be fun after the pubs and bars etc are closed. have fun.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Thursday 22 December 2005 :-

More than 6,500 to attend tsunami memorial services

More than 6,500 people, including 1,359 foreign guests, will attend the tsunami memorial service in Phuket, Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop said yesterday. Suwat said 6,596 people – 1,359 foreigners and 4,761 Thais, along with 476 VIPs – had confirmed they would attend the service on Dec 26. The five countries most heavily represented will be Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and France, he said.

The king of Sweden would not attend because he was be required in his home country to mark the loss of his citizens on the same day.

Swedes, however, will be represented in the greatest numbers here, with 400 people coming to pay their respects.

The Thai government has allowed a Bt300-million budget to pay for guests’ travel expenses, accommodation and other related costs, but some 500 foreign guests had insisted on covering their own bills, helping the government save Bt30 million, Suwat said.

Some 500 students from seven universities had also volunteered to help guests during the event. There would be one student for every 13-14 visitors, he said.

Memorial ceremonies will be held at seven locations, at 10am on December 26: Phuket’s Patong beach, Kamala beach and Mai Khao morgue, Phang Nga’s Bang Nieng and Ban Nam Khem beach, Krabi’s Phi Phi Island and Trang’s Chao Mai beach.

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will attend a ceremony to lay a foundation stone for the tsunami monument at Phang Nga’s Khao Lak-Lam Ru National Park. At 8.20pm Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, who lost her son Poomi Jensen in the tragedy, will preside over ceremonies for six religions.

Meanwhile, Suwat dismissed a warning by Australia about possible terror attacks during events to remember the tsunami victims.

“The Australian travel warning has had no impact on our foreign guest list,” Suwat Liptapanlop, a deputy prime minister responsible for organising the anniversary commemoration events, said.

“We are not panicking or worrying, and no matter which country issues a warning, we have been reassured by our national police office that they have laid out security plans,” he said.

By Piyanart Srivalo
The Nation
Agence France-Presse

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Sunday 25 December 2005 :-


Japanese-style memorial : Bid to fight bad luck among tourists

By Anchalee Kongrut

A Japanese-style tsunami memorial is also being opened for the Japanese community today and it will have a special function - to allay fears of bad luck among Japanese tourists. Hajime Ohno, vice-president of the Phuket Japanese Association, said the number of Japanese tourists enormously decreased after the tsunami which killed scores of Japanese.

The opening of the memorial, which is located on Kamala Beach, will include a religious ceremony by Thai and Japanese monks.

The place, totalling 4x4 metres in space, comprises a wooden pavilion where a tsunami alarm bell - a typical bell found in seaside villages in Japan has been installed.

Mr Ohno, a businessman and long-time Phuket resident, said he believed Asians were superstitious and they might be waiting for some period of time to pass or a proper religious rite to be performed before flooding back to Thailand and its beaches.

According to a common belief in Japan, Korea and China, a memorial or a shrine must be built at a specific time - 7 days, 45 days, 100 days or 365 days after a tragic event.

The construction of the Japanese memorial cost two million baht and was financed by donations received from the Japanese community in the province and the association.

At present, there are six memorials under construction. Built by local administrative bodies and the affected communities with donations from foreign agencies, the memorials are to be opened tomorrow to commemorate the tragedy's first anniversary.

The official memorial and tsunami museum, built by the Thai government, is located at Hat Lek beach in the Khao Lak-Lamru national park in Phangnga.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Sunday 25 December 2005 :-

Memorial to be built under water : Moving scene was discovered by divers

By Onnucha Hutasingh Amornrat Mahitthirook

A glimpse of an ``underwater city'' left by the tsunami has inspired officials to build a memorial to remind tourists of the disaster when they come back to Phi Phi Don resort island. The scene was discovered by chance by a group of volunteer divers who helped clean the seabed off the island early this year. Near the scattered garbage, swept into the sea by the powerful waves, were what they described as an underwater city with a complete set of furniture and personal belongings ranging from a bed, a washing machine, clothes, a television, a VCD player, credit cards, watches and many foreign bank notes with a total value of 400,000 baht.

``That gave us an idea to preserve this rare picture for tourists because if we just let it go as time flies, everyone would eventually forget it,'' said transport permanent secretary Wanchai Sarathulthat in Bangkok.

The ministry, which sent officials to inspect water channels in areas hit by the tsunami, has teamed up with Krabi Technological College to build an underwater memorial about 700 metres off Ton Sai bay on the island.

Part of the two million baht memorial will be set aside as an area showing the devastation caused by the tsunami.

College students gathered wood, collected from the seabed, to build a small temporary house with furniture including a table and radio, to find out if it disturbs water currents and marine ecology.

Environmental officials were asked to inspect the site and so far they have not found any negative changes to the nearby environment.

The other area will feature three rectangular granite slabs with bronze panels on which will be written words of mourning by foreign embassies for their citizens who died on Dec 26 last year.

Watches found on the seabed will be placed on top of the granite. One of them stopped at the time the mammoth waves slammed coastlines on that Sunday morning. The ministry plans to replace the small house with a wooden shelter and lay the granite stones on the seabed in February next year.

The memorial will be the second underwater memorial in the world following the one at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, where several American ships were sunk by Japanese planes in 1941.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Monday 26 December 2005 :-

New Year’s Special: Phuket, Krabi bounce back

But problems still plague Phi Phi, Khao Lak. Phuket and Krabi, two of the provinces hardest hit by last December’s tsunami, are almost fully recovered and deserving again of “Pearl of the Andaman” status, according to the Phuket and Krabi tourism-business associations.

However, Phi Phi island in Krabi and Khao Lak in Phang Nga will take some time to recover because the process of public infrastructure reconstruction is incomplete, and tourists are still concerned about early-warning systems.

Pamuke Achariyachai, a member of the Phuket Tourist Business Association and president of the Kata Group, said tourists from Europe were returning to Phuket for the high season, which has just begun and ends in April. Most hotels are 80-per-cent booked through to February. Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarankura said the island province’s infrastructure rebuilding was now complete. Patong, Kata, Kamala and Karon beaches have been relandscaped. Early-warning equipment has been installed at Patong and will be in place on the other beaches within the first half of the new year.

“We also have drills with the early-warning system, which will boost confidence in it and encourage people to use the beach,” he said.

Udomsak said the province expected between four million and 4.5 million tourists this season.

Krabi province has cleaned up Ao Nang beach, Koh Lanta and Phi Phi Island, though the reconstruction at Phi Phi is not yet complete, pending a plan being drafted by the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta).

Krabi Governor Somsak Kittithanakul said the government had approved a budget of Bt623 million to restore the power supply, Bt166 million for water, Bt35 million for waste treatment and Bt28 million for water treatment.

But the provincial government cannot spend the funds until it has the new plan from Dasta, he said. Still, other tourist destinations in Krabi have recovered, and hotels are seeing occupancy rates of up to 80 per cent.

Somsak added that the latest boost to Krabi’s recovery had come from Scandinavian airline Nova Air, with charter flights of 350 passengers a week. Looking at the big picture, he says the province expects up to two million visitors this season.

Somluck Srimalee
The Nation
Phuket

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Tuesday 27 December 2005 :-

TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY: Thousands mourn the dead

Events too lavish, too upbeat for many villagers and relatives of disaster victims. The government-organised tsunami commemoration yesterday drew heavy criticism from local villagers and returning survivors as being too lavish, commercially driven and too exclusive.

Yesterday, thousands of survivors and relatives mourned the deaths of their loved ones one year after the tragedy struck, killing a quarter of a million people throughout the region.

The Boxing Day disaster also destroyed homes, villages and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people, and the government’s commemorative ceremony in the six provinces of Thailand that were worst hit was intended to help people grieve and to show the world that the tourism-reliant areas had recovered.

“Four hundred million baht [for the ceremony]? It’s too much,” said Prasith Kaetkrai, a village leader of Baan Thungwa, who lives just a kilometre from the site of yesterday morning’s commemoration service.

The sea gypsy village of 70 families lost 42 members, including Prasith’s wife, to the savage power of the tsunami waves.

“The money could have been put to better use by helping us, the victims,” he said. “We have not had a single baht from the government. Our whole village was rebuilt by help from private donors and foundations. We still have no tap water in the community.”

Prasith organised a three-day event to remember the disaster and invited various grassroots groups to join the people’s commemoration instead of the government’s.

He said the event was needed to highlight the continued plight of the poor in the six provinces who are still suffering from the impact of the December 26 tsunami.

It was in stark contrast to the government service, which featured a chamber orchestra and Miss Universe as the MC in the afternoon.

Thousands of survivors and relatives joined in the memorial services or held their own yesterday at seven locations in Thailand where the earthquake-generated waves killed 5,395 people one year ago.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, attending one of the bigger ceremonies in Phuket, said he hoped all the victims “will be happy in their next life”.

Many foreigners who arrived at Phuket Airport for the ceremonies were handed a 96-page booklet filled with a shopping list and a special “Andaman Grand Sale discount card” that had the government’s tsunami logo printed next to it.

The message in the booklet by Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop stated that the government was hosting a “gigantic Andaman Grand Sale” but nothing about remembrance.

Some people, like Inger Ostergren, head of the Regional Tsunami Response team of Save the Children Sweden which is helping both Thai and Swedish children recover from the traumatic experience, questioned the government’s spending.

“Of course it’s to attract tourists again,” said Ostergren, who felt however that she was not sure if spending money on the fares for foreign relatives of the victims and their accommodation was appropriate.

Twenty-seven-year-old Pole Marta Rabska, a survivor of the Boxing Day tsunami who came back to compliment the Thai government said it was money well spent.

“I don’t think they’re pushing [the sales]. They’re helping tourists to come back.”

“I think the government did a very good job. It will heal those who were suffering,” said Adel Jala, a Saudi Arabian diplomat who works in Germany and another survivor of the gigantic wave who lost a friend at Khao Lak’s Sofitel Resort.

“We came with tears in our eyes and sorrow in our hearts. It will help us get on with the future. If you look at it, in a way we’re remembering the dead and celebrating those who survived,” he said, adding he wanted to openly thank His Majesty the King and his government.

Thais who were critical of the events did not feel confident about identifying themselves, however.

One was a lecturer from a top Thai university and a guest of the afternoon's Tsunami Memorial foundation-stone laying ceremony at Khao Lak-Lamru National Park.

“We’re not a rich country. What the government is doing is overdone. It’s wasteful,” he said. “Villagers’ problems are not being solved yet and it’s like the rain isn’t falling to soothe everyone evenly. But I think it’s too risky for me to stand and talk to you. It won’t be good.”

As the Chamber Orchestra played inappropriately joyous music – Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nacht” (a Little Night Music) – the afternoon event resembled at times a posh concert at an exclusive beach.

In the morning, MC Natharadee Vajraprichanond used over-hyped English expressions like “I am thrilled to welcome you ...”, and again there was joyous Thai pop music.

“I felt it was festive. They were selling tragedy for tourism,” said a Thai staff member of an international aid agency who asked not to be named.

“The staff at the airport were in such a good mood, as if it was a celebration.”

At Khao Lak-Lam Ru National Park, Prime Minister Thaksin laid the foundation stone for the Tsunami Memorial. However, there was criticism that the construction of the memorial in a protected area would affect the forest.

While some villagers did not know about the museum project, some foreigners agreed a museum should be there.

“I returned to Phi Phi Island for my beloved wife who was lost in the huge waves,” said Mischol Luduic from Switzerland.

“I prayed for her this morning on Phi Phi Island alone. Now my heart and soul has recovered a little bit. Then I joined the memorial here and agree that the Thai government should have a museum to learn about the disaster.”

Phatarawadee Phataranawik,
Pravit Rojanaphruk
Phang-nga

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Tuesday 27 December 2005 :-

Gone, but not forgotten : Emotional scenes as thousands attend commemorative ceremonies on Andaman coast
By Post Reporters

Thais and foreigners mingled, tears flowed, and many embraced to console each other yesterday along the Andaman coast as the country's most devastating disaster that struck on the day after Christmas last year was remembered. Thousands of Thais and foreigners who are tsunami survivors or relatives of the dead congregated on the beaches of Phangnga, Phuket and Phi Phi island to pay tribute to the dead in a ceremony marking the disaster's first anniversary.

Over 10,000 participants packed the sandy beach of Bang Niang in Phangnga province shortly before sunset to share their remembrance for the victims in the commemorative event highlighting the government's One Year in Memory of Tsunami Ceremony.

There were also morning memorial services at seven locations in these provinces, and a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the official tsunami memorial at Khao Lak-Lamru national park held during the day.

Interfaith memorial services were performed by Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic leaders before two young tsunami survivors, Thai boy Patiwat Komkla and British girl Tilly Smith read poems to commemorate the event.

``It wasn't devastation or death that won the day. It was Humanity that triumphed, the shining victory of Generosity, Courage, Love,'' Tilly recited the poem written by noted Thai writer Khunying Chumnongsri Hanjaneluck Rutnin.

Addressing the crowd, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that after the disaster, people had learned another side of truth.

``It was hospitality that we had shared with one another. As long as we have it, our shattered lives one day will return to normal. The incident has made us learn better about the value of our lives, and human's faith,'' he said.

Survivors from foreign countries, families of foreign victims, and VIPs attending a memorial service earlier in the day on Bang Niang beach praised the government for organising the moving service.

The tsunami killed almost 5,400 people in Thailand, about 2,245 of whom were foreigners. And 2,800 are still listed as missing.

Invited guests lined up in the scorching sun to lay flowers and photos of their loved ones and signed a book of condolences. Many burst into tears and embraced as they consoled each other, while hundreds of local people watched from a distance.

Several foreign nationals, such as those from Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan, also held private memorial services at the sites where their compatriots died.

About 500 Swedish people attended a private memorial service in Phangnga, chaired by the Swedish ambassador to Thailand. More than 540 Swedes died in the catastrophe.

Sally Jean Nelson, from the United States, who lost her 15-year-old daughter, Kali, thanked the Thai government for having organised this emotional event.

``After going back to the States in January, our family have felt alienated to the others because the tsunami has changed our thought. So, we want to come back here and be with people who've had similar experience and feeling. This is a great healing opportunity for us,'' she said.

Lord David Triesman, minister of the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, thanked the Thai government for cooperating with metropolitan police force from London in the search operation and body identification, even though many were still missing.

Japanese Senator Kiyohiko Toyaman, who headed the Japanese delegates to the memorial service, said : ``The ceremony is an important event to mark the turning point of the calamity, from mourning for the victims into a stage of new development of the Andaman coastal provinces.

Thousands of foreigners, including some 200 relatives of the dead and survivors, attended a memorial service on Phi Phi island.

Emma Lacey Williams, 22, a British volunteer who had spent five months on the island helping with rehabilitation work, said that as soon as she heard the news about Thailand's plans for a memorial service, she knew she had to come back.

Christ Patterson, 52, a British man who was plucked out of the sea by some islanders, said he returned because he wished to meet his rescuers again.

In Phuket, Patong beach was awash with candlelight when more than 100,000 candles were lit at 7.09pm in remembrance of dead tsunami victims.