The drive from Khao Lak to Patong Beach (on the island of Phuket ) takes about 2 hours. I will be staying here for just one night and then it is off to Bangkok for a couple of days.
The rest of the group will be staying here for a couple of days so this was our last evening with our new friends. Very sad.
Patong Beach is renowned for two things: the breath taking sunsets and the absence of any core moral values. I can tell you with absolute certainty that both attributes are true.
Since our HFH host knew that we were going to be breaking from the group they offered a private tour to watch the sunset. The experience was rather spiritual in nature.
I set up my tripod on top of a hilltop overlooking Patong Bay (I think). As the sun started to set on the horizon the crowd, consisting of locals and foreigners, started to ohm chant. I witnessed colours that I couldn’t describe but you can share from the picture above. Then in an instant the sun crested to thunderous applause.
I couldn’t help thinking that at the moment that the sun disappeared every witness, despite income bracket, colour, creed or religion shared a common experience. At the risk of sounding too dramatic; at that single moment we were all common.
We wanted to show our appreciation to our HFH hosts by taking them out to dinner at a steak house. They were apprehensive at first to accept the gesture of dinner but finally agreed.
Beef here is a rare commodity. Beef is shipped in from Australia and for about $120 Canadian we were able to thrill our hosts with a steak dinner which was truly a foreign concept.
I must admit that I have bonded with our hosts, Anne and Tom, and have made friends for life. I hope some day they will be able to come to Toronto so that I can show them the opulence, comparatively speaking, of our city.
After dinner we were taken back to our boutique hotel “The Gallery” and then I met up with a few of my team members for a night out at Patong Beach.
Oh my lord!
The best way to describe the Patong Beach district is to imagine what the ancient city of Sodom and Gomorrah; strip away all moral values add in intense heat and humidity and then hit yourself in the forehead with a ballpeen hammer.
To say that prostitution here is a problem would be an understatement.
We headed out bar hopping and stopped at various bar/malls where we paid way too much for drinks (on average about 200 Baht a beer). Visually imagine a long street packed with kiosk bars, each of the bars had stripper poles where lethargic Thai women danced and tried to lure in customers.
Everywhere you look there are aged men entertaining young Thai women. Flesh has a price here and the price is cheap.
There is no doubt in my mind that Patong is a place for the lonely.
Sad to say that I won’t be taking any photos here for fear that some tourist may get upset if I capture an image of them and their “Girlfriends”.
Nonetheless we had a blast.
But you are probably wondering about the title of this blog entry…
Well, at the last bar we went to there was this guy sitting across from me. I remarked to my friend Nicole that he was “checking me out”. Nicole thought that his attentions were being focused on her.
I guess my theory was correct when the bartender gave me a shot of some kind of alcohol supplied by the “oogler”. Poor Nicole….I mean…oh crap what did I do to deserve this.
Kyle, the youngest member of the group was offended that I had been offered the drink and made every attempt to solicit a free drink from the perv across the bar but to no avail.
Having taken the free shot from the guy across the bar I reciprocated by sending back a shot to him and a woman sitting beside him. This way I could thank him for the drink and at the same time subtly explain that I was just not that kind of guy. Then I would make a quick exit.
My plan failed. They both came over and after sitting down explained that they were husband and wife from Russia. My skin started to crawl for reasons that I will explain to you privately.
After a very brief conversation about ‘manly’ things like hockey and the summit series I motioned to my friends that it was time to leave.
This city is just too very weird for me.
We all came back to the hotel about 1 a.m. and needless to say I had a very restless night.
Experiences good or bad, this is simply the most life changing experience; outside of the birth of my Son that I have ever had.
Thanks for reading.
Hope all is well.
