The new, ultra cool Coral Beach Hotel was put up at the extreme south end of Patong Bay. Before this, Sea View Bungalow was the last place to stay. Rumor had it that the far south end of the beach, “pirates” hung out and some had robbed Sea View Bungalow of it’s TV set...
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In Old Patong, every bar, bungalow, house in the village,etc had at least one dog, many had many more than one! When we moved into our little house near the bend of the road, by the cooling waterfall in the scenic village of SaiNamYen, we “inherited” a mess of dogs and cats! At first,...
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FatBob was as his moniker implies, really a BIG man! Bob rolled off a tuk tuk late one afternoon and ended up with a Singha in both hands by sunset. A person as large a Bob could easily keep up with the many expats drinking. Bob could out drink most of em, but the...
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Dutch Jeff lumbered into Thai Garden Restaurant early saturday morning. The big man dwarfed his little Honda 70CC step thru motorbike. Parking it on the north side of the building, he hoisted off his little son “Jep-noi”, immediately Jep-Noi ran over to Crazy Daves table, where David hadn’t noticed the little guy, until he...
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Our pal David “Crazy Dave” Polman wasn’t really crazy, but he had this wild “crazy” laugh that would spook locals and even those that knew him well! Dave usually had a smile on his kisser and his infectious bellowing laugh could be heard for 100 meters! Dave would let this wild laugh go out...
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Early one morning, Patong Patty and I were enjoying another fine breakfast of papaya, pineapple and banana, with a big hot mug of Milo, when Mr Singh, the owner of Valentine Bungalow came over to the little restaurant his sister had recently set up just south of the bungalows[it would right next to the...
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The friendly Swede, Gotland had one of the best pubs on the beach in Old Patong. He also was the first to have two bars in Patong! In those days, there were beach bars/shacks dotted along sunny central Patong Bay just south of Patong Beach Bungalows almost to SeaView Bungalows on the south end...
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Basse set up a great little bar on the southern corner of Valentine Bungalows, right on the beach road! The bar was unique, it was round! The first round bar/cafe in Old Patong. The big round Disco came later down the beach road in front of Lada Bar. Basse, a friendly Swede lived inside...
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After our initial bus ride from Bangkok during the monsoon season of 1979, the tuk tuk drivers at the Phuket bus station surrounded us, showing us many pictures of tropical beach shacks/bungalows. Some had real palm frond roofs, though most were tin with concrete block walls. After we’d seen several from Patong Beach Bungalows...
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An old pal, Gotland, the famous Swede who had several bars in Old Patong recently sent me this load of digital pix. It shows Old Patong along the beach and newly built Soi Bangla pictures of those fun beach shacks and shops before the bull dozer ran them over… Look carefully at...
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For all those injured and killed, a heartfelt cry, Rest In Peace.
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Margaret said she was going down the beach to Sams new shop, the Half Way Cafe. Sam lived there with Kangaroo Larry in their small thatched roof paradise exactly half way along Patong Beach. In those early days, there were still small shacks up and down the beach, starting on the north side near...
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Living in Old Patong, the visitors to the island were mosty northern Europeans in the early 80′s. As word got out of the wonderful beaches, inexpensive lodgings, great seafood of southern Thailand, the travel industry , even Lonely Planet didn’t know of Phuket. Friends and relatives that hadn’t been to South East Asia, particularly...
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The coolest bar on Soi Bangla, Hard Rock! Early on in Old Patong, one thing that seemed to knit the locals with the travelers, tourists and ExPats together was the language of music, more to point, Rock N Roll! Guitar Noi was the first rocker/musician we met or heard, he played local boy Dannys...
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We’d been on Patong Beach for maybe a week in 1979 when this little lady approached us as we sat over comfortably under the shade of a rented umbrella about half way between Patong Beach Bungalows and Sea View Bungalows. It had been a typical monsoon day, hot, getting hotter, everyone wishing it would...
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Setting around Thai Garden one morning, Fat Bob rolled in, the big man sat at the table on the left of Crazy Daves “throne”. The giant was already hungry and we listened as Crazy Dave told us about his “secret” chili receipe. As the tale went on and on [Dave rarely got to the...
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One thing Old Patong had plenty ofare dogs! Even in the earliest days of Old Patong, 1979 when we first stepped upon the pristine beaches of Ao Patong, there were already a pack of dogs running up and down the beach from sun-up til sunset, when these “wild” dogs ALL...
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Our little house near the waterfall in Baan Nam Sai Yen needed some sprucing up, so we hired local fisherman Knoc and our good friend Guitar Noi to do some light painting. The crew arrived about 10am the next morning, although an 8am starting time had been arrived upon the previous day over Mekhong,...
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Old Patong has it’s share of beach boys. Some were the guys you still see walking through the sunning tourists, most selling hammocks, Thai novelties, and sometimes GEMS! Waree, a Muslim trader we’d known for years in Old Patong always made a good living with the tourist trade. Once in a while he’d find...
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I first met the big Dutchman at Thai Garden Restaurant, at the time he, his wife Dao & newcomer, David Polman had formed a company, with Jeff & Dave being co general managers, while Dao really did everything from dishes to curry, and with a hardworking attitude and smile. Jeff was a large man,...
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