There are too much of Patong’s nightlife is packed into the strip of open-air bar-beers along Soi Bangla and the tiny sois that lead off it. The gay entertainment district is mainly concentrated around the network of small sois and dozens of bar beers in front of Paradise Hotel on Thanon Raja Uthit. If you’re looking for something else with your kids in the evening, the recommended place is House of Horror theme park on Thanon Prachanukho at the southern edge of Patong beach (daily 5pm-2am), where an old hospital has been converted into sixteen horror chambers, each inspired by a different horror movie and populated by role-playing actors to get you spooked. Alternatively, survey the nearby transvestite Simon Cabaret, or the spectacular show at Phuket Fantasea.
2008-05-26
AO PATONG
The most popular and developed of all Phuket’s beaches, AO PATONG 5km south of Ao Kamala and 15km west of Phuket town, 3km long good sand and plenty of shaded by casuarinas and parasols beach. There’re the densest concentration of top hotels, restaurants and bars including the island’s biggest choice of water-sports and diving centers. On the downside, a congestion of high-rise hotels, tour agents and souvenir shops disfigures the beachfront, and limpet-like touts are everywhere. Entertainment plazas are mushrooming all over Patong beach, each one packed with hostess bars and strip joints that make this the most active scene between
Patong beach just keeps on growing outwards and upwards, which can make it hard to orientate yourself. But the resort is strung out along the two main roads – Thavee Wong and Raja Uthit, that run parallel to the beachfront, spilling over into a network of connecting sois which in turn have spawned numerous pedestrian only “plaza”, while the landmark sois connecting them have become established entertainment zones: Soi Bangla and its offhsoots throb away at the heart of the nightlife district, while the more sedate Soi Post Office is dominated by tailors’ shops and small cafes and restaurants.
