Thailand Travel on ReviewTrip.com

If you’re headed for Phuket and are looking for somewhere cool to stay over the festive season – make sure you drop in to a flashpackers called Bodega in Patong. It is (so far) the coolest budget accomodation I have found in the world. Not that I’ve been to every place on the planet – but I have stayed at my fair share of flash packin backpackers!

What makes Bodega so cool is the infusion of the international travellers with the local Thai community. And when I say travellers and Thai community – I don’t mean old Austrian dudes and Thai bar girls!

I’m talking eclectic children of the earth whose souls are free flowing and infused with penetrating perceptive expression, whose synergy is conscious of their respective individuality, their collective influence and their contribution in keeping the world real.

I am of the opinion that there are only a few elements on earth that can bring people from such diverse culture, creed, age and gender to a place where there is effortless collaboration between each individual, harmonising and enhancing the experience for the other. Music and art above others involve infinite expression and creation from deep with in your soul.

As mentioned before, Bodega is a flashpacker – which is basically one evolutionary step up from a backpackers. Gone are the days where sharing a dingy dorm with 11 other people was your only option for budget accomodation. These days – having your own zen’d up double room with clean crisp bed linen is far more convenient with regards to privacy and price.

What was not mentioned before is that Bodega is a flashpacker – with a bar/art gallery.

The actual accomodation portion of the Bodega business is across the road from where the real magic happens and will soon finish being renovated into the zen’d up white rooms I was talking about a moment ago. The prices are decent – ranging from 1600BAHT per night over the December High season down to 1400BAHT per night between January and May and even further down to 800BAHT a night in low season which falls between May and October.

Owner Robin Donovan bought an already established ‘love hotel’ in March this year and has since made it his own by creating the fusion between the local Thai music and art scene and the international market. In conversation with Robin, he explained how his travelling guests keep him young at heart and how he has given special effort to creating the laid back coastal vibe one would find in destinations such as Cape Town – where he ran Cape Town Backpackers in South Africa.

The bar hosts open mic nights, reggae nights – featuring Jason Jen from the Nai Harn reggae scene, a few Thai rock acts on Sundays and hopefully in the not too distant future – jazz nights. Then there are the other themed parties happening frequently – masks and crazy sunglasses are just two that were brought up as examples. Also on the cards for the not too distant future is the opening of the Hip Hop floor upstairs – apparently that party is going down within the next two weeks or so and Bodega is holding thumbs for Phuket Town’s Southside Boys to open up their boudoir themed dance floor. New Years eve also promises a night to remember with a cross dressing party on the cards.

Ha ha – You Farang ladyboy?

To find out more about Bodega Phuket, visit their website at http://www.bodegaphuket.com/

or join their facebook page – Bodega Man

Ask anyone you know who has visited Phuket where to go for a party and the first place they will direct you to is Patong’s famous Bangla Road. Even on a quiet night, Bangla is a bustle with thousands of tourists throwing their names away at Hollywood, Seduction, Tiger, Suzy Wongs or any one of the other hundreds of bars lining Phuket’s sinful street. It promises to be a big night out followed by an even bigger hangover the next day.

It’s another story however, after being in Phuket for four months. You’re ashes over Bangla’s high prices. You’ve seen your fair share of ladyboys and quite frankly are over the entire experience as well as the crammed tuk tuk ride there and Bangla’s weary pop soundtrack.

Another thing you start to get pretty emo about, is that it’s REALLY hard making friends in a place where the majority of the peeps you meet are only here for 2 weeks before they return back to their glam city lives.

You start reminiscing about being ’scene’ in Jozi Town with it’s intimately debaucherous social circle, and a night life ‘heat’ magazine would be proud of. You had your homies and you had your routine: Margherita Mondays, Tequila Tuesdays, Wednesday night was chill night so you could partly recover from Monday and Tuesday, but also to brace yourself for the long haul from Thirsty Thursday through to Hangover Hell Friday – where ‘hair of the dog’ is the only way to survive and then the epic arrival of Sinful Saturday. For some reason – Johannesburg locals subconsciously seem to suspect that the world is going to end every Sunday and that Saturday night is to be spent as though it were your last night on earth.

Needless to say – sitting on the opposite end of the social scale, is VERY frustrating. For starters – I’ve been spending FAR TOO MUCH energy trying to convince a bunch of Korean wakeboarders to come out with me. They’re here for at least the next five months. Which would mean -if they ever actually agree to hang out – that I’ll be able to spend Friday nights interacting with some people who I share a common interest with – despite the fact that they can’t speak English, instead of sitting in my single serving apartment by myself watching Gossip Girl and shuving yet another jumbo can of cheddar Pringles down my pie hole.

It’s like us western girls in Thailand are wearing a cloak of invisibility. The only thing the western guys see is fluttering thai eyelashes with money magnets built into their underwear! They’re fine! They’re fulfilling their adolescent fantasies of petit beauties with long flowing dark hair and a fiery passion burning from deep within those big brown eyes.

Then there is the Thai mans opinion of the Farang woman living in Thailand… what follows should leave your jaw hanging on the floor:

According to a Thai newspaper writer up in Bangkok “single white women… experience a precipitous plunge in self-esteem” after moving to Thailand because attempting to compensate for our “inability to interest farang men by engaging in humiliating episodes of attention-seeking, such as drunkenly removing her shirt and clambering onto the stage of a go-go bar to arrhythmically shift her heavy frame among the stable of bored-but-still-sexy bar girls” is “typical of the female farang experience.“ After all: “how can she not be sickened by her blotchy face and hairy forearms when everyday she must witness the smooth, faultless skin of the local women that all her male friends date?” This – of course, encourages us to hunt “unsuspecting male tourists in the backpacker districts for intoxicated, careless and regret-laden intercourse.”

Said newspaper writer continued to write “It’s almost inconceivable that she can remain totally unaffected by how poorly her sweaty, hulking figure compares to those of the much more slender and lithe Thai women who surround her,” and furthermore “It may be that she is unconsciously suppressing her anguish, which could eventually explode and result in a series of self-destructive acts, such as throwing herself from an upper-story window of an RCA nightclub in front of all her friends.”

SERIOUSLY!!!WTF???

It’s like we have leprosy!

The last time I experienced a social oppression of such epic status crushing proportion was when my mom caught me smoking spliff in high school back in the 90’s and she grounded me for a year!

All I can say is THANK GOD (and my blogging boss) for giving me the assignment of going to hunt out the best spots to stay in Phuket! As fate would have it – while I was trawling the backpacking district for some hip digs in the budget accomodation category – I found Bodega – a flashpackers in Patong that I will write about in my next post.

After interviewing the owner Robin, myself and a friend decided to hangout because the joint was pretty cool. WAY cooler than the generic dives along Bangla Road…. but again – more details about Bodega in the next post…

Over the course of the evening I meet a girl – a Farang girl named Ashley – who is also teaching English here in Phuket. Ashley’s been here for two years and has herself an awesome Thai guy for a boyfriend. Ashley and I get speaking about the difficulties of being a white girl on this island and she brings up www.chickynet.com

A social networking site for farang women in Phuket!

I don’t remember ordering this wish from my genie – but apparently he thought my silent longing for some girl friends was his command….

So I punch in the address, sign up and wait to be confirmed. About an hour later I have access to the five month old chickynetphuket network of over 300 potential female friends who meet up regularly for various events.

HALLELUJAH!!!

A SOCIAL LIFE ON THE HORIZON!!!!

The Northern chicky’s – meet up for brunch once a month;

The ‘Yummy Mummy’s’ – is a social circle for moms with children over 4 years of age;

The ‘Kamala chicky’s’ - who clearly live in…. well…. Kamala;

The ‘Green chicky’s’ - for all those who love nothing more than spending time in the garden;

The ‘Party chicks’ – need I say more?

The ‘Dancing girls’ – Salsa, belly dancing, jazz, ballroom dancing lessons, etc…

‘Chicky Book Club’ – meeting on the last weekend of each month – this month they are discussing Eat, Pray, Love…

‘Southern chicky’s’ – from the South end of the island meeting up monthly too;

‘Teenz’ – for mums with bored teens;

‘Chicky Dinner Club’ – dinner at a different restaurant each month – boyfriends welcome;

‘Sporty girls’ – for the aspiring athletes out there – muay thai,yoga, golf, sailing, running, etc…

‘Charity fundraising’ chicky’s - are busy organising Christmas dinner for some orphans on the island;

‘Ladies tennis club’ – speaks for itself;

‘Andawomen Players’ – for those interested in the performing arts;

‘Meditation and tai chi’ – Aaaaaaaauuuuuuummmmmmm……..

‘Doggy walking club’ – so you have company next time you’re out excercising Rover;

‘Farang girls with Thai guys’ – you might be surprised about what you hear in this group;

‘Desperate Hotelwives’ – for those married to men who are married to their hotels;

and then ‘Grace Division’ – a group I started yesterday in hopes of finding more girls to wakeboard with….

From what I can tell from taking a sneak peek at some of the members profiles – is that these girls genuinely have become friends and help each other out when they can – whether it’s a lady looking for a decent hairdresser or a good ol’ western style wax – because God knows how impossible it is finding those here, someone wanting to swap something, advice on finding work or other services and secrets about the island – the ladies do what they can to help solve the problem and have fun while they do it.

Another cool element of the Chicky network is that there is the Chicky Privilege card which you can use at selected places for AWESOME discounts in and around the island.

The network is PURE GENIOUS!

I have no idea WHY nobody’s thought of it before…. It may have saved us white girls from public disgrace a long time ago….

The girl who created it deserves a nobel peace prize!

The blood on the pavement has barely had a chance to dry and the Thai’s are celebrating again.

October (the ninth lunar month on the Chinese calender) saw the annual Vegetarian Festival and its madness pay homage to the nine Emperor gods with abstinence and volunteered mutilation. November (the 12^th month of the traditional Thai calender) has just seen the Thai culture evince serenity and gratitude to the goddess of water, during the Loy Krathong Festival and December – although not spiritual, is still HUGE reason to celebrate. It’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday.

Every year since it’s inauguration 22 years ago – to celebrate the King’s 60^th birthday – Phuket (and more specifically Kata Beach) hosts the annual King’s Cup Regatta – which is THE most prestigious regatta event in Asia. The celebrations begin the week before his birthday and continue through until his actual birthday, on December 5.

Then there are the full moon parties.

And the half moon parties.

And the two quarter moon parties.

And the black moon parties.

Basically – whether you see the moon, or not – Koh Phangan is religiously delivering salutation and praise to ’she who sheds her light at night’.

And seeing as though the 12^th month of the traditional Thai calender has just rolled through town – I suspect a traditional Thai new year gracing us with it’s presence rather soon.

It seems every month there is an excuse to celebrate something – and why not – life SHOULD be a celebration.

November’s flavour – the Loy Krathong Festival – is a celebration I’ve been looking forward to since I arrived in Thailand. And I’m super stoked I got to experience it because I almost missed it. I didn’t have a clue what the festivals name was. All I knew was that there is a point in the year when the Thai people send all these lanterns off into the sky. And that I REALLY wanted to be there when the time came.

I didn’t even know it was happening until the night of November 2, when my partner in crime, Russell (he’s been upgraded from activity partner) hollered at me on Skype and asked whether I was going to Patong for Loy Krathong or not.

SAY WHAT?

One of the Thai teachers at school invited me to go with her on Monday night and I couldn’t make head or tail of what she was saying – I just assumed it was the language barrier – but – after learning it’s name it dawned on me that she – as clear as day, had invited me to accompany her to Loy Krathong. And I had shot her down. IDIOT! This is how you lose friends and alienate people….

Regardless…. I hopped on the scooter with Russell and we headed in the direction of Patong Beach. As we got closer, the tiny orange glints we noticed grew, and eventually – when we got to the beach, hundreds – even thousands, of lanterns were floating through the air gracefully as they were swept along by the warm sea breeze. It was divine, to say the least. It’s beauty touched my soul. There were families kneeling and praying with banana leaves filled with flowers and incense arrangements, giving thanks for their blessings before sending the banana leaf gifts off on the water surface to Phra Mae Khongkha – the water goddess, to honor and thank her.

It is believed that Loy (meaning float) Krathong (a hand sized raft made from intricately folded banana leaves) is a custom that derived from the Indian tradition of Deepavali to thank the river goddess for giving life throughout the year. Thai buddhists take the opportunity to honour the original Buddha, Siddhartha Guatama.

Apart from lavishing Buddha with light, the floating flames are symbolic of letting go of grudges and anger and starting over. Those taking part in the festival have also been known to cut their hair and nails and add the clippings to the floating arrangements to signify that they are letting go of bad parts of themselves. They also believe it creates good luck.

The khom fai (floating sky lanterns) are believed to represent jellyfish floating in flocks, gracefully through the skies to help rid the locals of their troubles and strife.

Also included in the festivities and traditions are fireworks displays, live bands and beauty pageants. It’s a must see for those in Thailand at this time of year as it’s a custom celebrated throughout the country, and if for no other reason – to set your own troubles free and watch them drift away into the tranquil abyss.