Patong

Phuket is famous for its nightlife, so on our second night we went to the epicenter of it all, Patong Beach. The center of Patong is a pedestrian-only bar-lined street, packed with people from all over the world, vendors selling everything from street food to jasmine leis to photos with giant iguanas. It is absolute madness, and the lights and music from the various bars compete to get your attention. I went in with high expectations for a crazy, fun night, but it was more than disappointing. It was dirty, the bars smelled horrible, and there were prostitutes everywhere. I mean everywhere. These girls were walking around in tiny little outfits, and half of them were lady-boys (lady-boys are an infamous sub-set of the Thai population, and as the name suggests, are men that dress as women. Some look so much like women you have no idea they are actually men). A few years ago I read a book about a woman that was sold by her parents into the Cambodian sex trade as a young girl, and only after being abused for a decade was able to escape. She now goes back and tries to help other girls out of the cycle she was once stuck in. That’s all I could think about while in Patong. I wondered how many of these girls were there by choice and how many were forced to be there. It was so sad.

The only interesting thing about the night was the “bug” vendor that came into one of the bars we were in. I was with Cas, who wants to try anything and everything that is even somewhat edible, so he called the lady in and dove right in. She had about 10 different kinds of bugs to try, and the only one I was brave enough to try was a tiny grasshopper (it wasn’t much bigger than a small fly). The texture wasn’t all that bad, it was just crunchy, but the seasoning they had on it ruined it for me. I managed to swallow it, but I now have much more appreciation for the people on shows like “Fear Factor” who have to eat huge, slimy bugs.

Picture: The array of bugs from which I got to choose; The "girls" of Patong.