What a huge difference 14-days can make. Along Patong Beach in Phuket tourists are again jogging along the crystal clear water of the Andaman Sea, while the gently surf slowly breaks on the shoreline and Jet-skiers are racing over the flat sea surface. Patong beach in Phuket is back in business.
Thai construction teams are still working on some buildings along Beach Road in Patong, but all the debris, litter and wrecked cars has been hauled away many days ago with the help of thousands of volunteers and units of the Thai army.
Forbidden Black-market videos and CDs of Tsunami footage are on sale at many street-stalls along Patong Beach and normal life has returned to the many small sois (backstreets) which are again jam-packed with food and souvenir stalls. Most restaurants, pubs and bars are open but only few tourists are to be seen in Phuket.
In the evening, along Bangla road, Phuket's nightlife entertainment area, hundreds of mini-skirted Thai bargirls are parading around their open-air beer-bars. This whole area did not even have a window broken when the tsunami hit Phuket.
It's midnight and the few tourists who are here are enjoying the cabaret shows, while others are concentrating on their game of pool or simply enjoying a cool beer while sitting on their barstool surrounded by Thai bargirls. Foreign men in the Fun Zone of Phuket are currently outnumbered 10 to 1 by the many smiling Thai bargirls.
The transvestite cabaret shows and gay bars are also all open and touts in front of those venues are advertising extended "Happy Hours" with a pint of cool draft-beer only costing 35 baht (US$0,85), this in an attempt to attract the few customers walking around to visit their entertainment venue.
The occupancy rate in Phuket hotels has fallen from a usual 95%, this time of year, to less than 10% and tourist who either stayed or did not cancel their Phuket holiday are having the Luxury Holiday of their live with very personal service in any restaurant, bar and hotel and discounted prices all over the island due to the shortage of tourists. It's like having your own personal waiter in the beachside seafood restaurant, where before you needed to book a table the day before, a German tourist said.
Some holidaymakers decided not to cancel their holiday to Phuket in support of the Thai economy and the many Thais that work in the tourist industry, but instead of spending a Chatity-Holiday among mourning and Sad-Faced Thais, those tourists are treated as Kings by smiling Thai people that Sawadee (Welcome in Thai) them and thank them for coming to Phuket.
An older couple, who decided not to cancel their trip, said that a Thai waitress in the hotel told them in broken English: Thank you Madam for coming Phuket, we like farang (Thai for foreigners) to come to Phuket, if we no have farang come, we can not make money to send to family in Isaan (North-Eastern Thailand). We are really happy we came back to Phuket, the couple added. The Thai people are so friendly and they respect us so much for coming back to Phuket on holiday.
Hopefully tourists will very fast start to come back once the world realizes that Patong Beach and Phuket are back in full swing and that coming on holiday to Phuket really means coming on holiday while supporting 200,000 Thais with lower-income to maintain their Job in the tourism industry.
