*** Disclaimer: *** If you don't feel like reading a ranting cathartic invective, then please stop reading this entry now.
So yesterday we arrived in Phuket via Ferry from Ko Phi Phi, and bought our plane ticket to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. We decided to spend an extra day here before leaving to explore the place a bit and are now suffering acute buyer's remorse.
We knew this place was overly developed and touristed, but those claims were also leveled about Ko Phi-Phi. However, they cannot even be put into the same league. This place has got to be one of the most charmless, cheesy, grating places on the planet.
First of all, in no other place in Thailand have I ever felt so much like a walking wallet. Touts from Bangkok and Ko Phi-Phi must score in the top percentiles on their ATATs (Annoying Tout Aptitude Test) before being accepted to the PhD program offered here in Phuket, where they ply their skills with reckless abandon. I'd sooner walk along the busy roads than endure the constant harassment along the sidewalk.
This place likes to bill itself as 'The Pearl of the South', and compares itself to St. Tropez or Rio. However, last night, walking down the main drag and passing the 'Dino Bar' a Flinstone-esque restaurant with cartoonish plastic boulders, I realized that the most appropriate comparison is Las Vegas.
I also had the glum realization that our natural environment is doomed. I suspect this used to be one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand. But are not azure bays, white sand beaches lined with coconut trees, and tropical rainforests enough in their own right? I'd be a hypocrite to diss the tourist infrastructure that gets put in place because people want to enjoy such stunning beauty. By what compels people to think that things like a cheesy overpriced trinket shops, schnitzel houses, and Dino Bars can only make the place that much better? I pray this contagion will not spread further, but I suspect this will be the final outcome for all the islands. In the end, its all about money, and Dino Bars bring more upscale clients than backpackers.
We're very much forward looking to leaving here for Chiang Mai tomorrow.
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I'm sorry you had to suffer the shithole that is Phuket.
In all my years of providing Thailand recommendations to friends, I have never suggested anyone go to Phuket, yet I still suggest Phi Phi. And, yes, unfortunately the other islands are going to same way. Pattaya is arguably worse already and Ko Samui is getting up there too. Next up, Ko Samet and Phi Phi. Very sad indeed.
It boggled my mind that many people I met while travelling, who did not do their homework, continued to flock there and then wondered why it totally sucked. It's because they are listening to people who were there 20 years ago and not doing their own research.
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