The countdown has begun and pressure is starting to mount.
In about a month – the already busy island of Phuket’s population will jump from 400 000 to a whopping 2 million! And it will stay that way until about February.
With the mass migration, comes mass price hikes.
What would cost you 800BAHT a night in low season – as far as accommodation goes, will soar to 1600BAHT overnight!
So it leaves me – who has just decided to make Phuket her home base for the time being, under a lot of pressure (from myself) to find myself decent accommodation and transport to see me through until the madness has passed – to ensure my economic sanity and survival.
As is, the fact that I’m a pale face does not count in my favour. The minute renters or real estate agents see me coming – they slap at least another 5000BAHT to the price.
For a Thai local, a 2 bedroom house in Chalong will cost roughly 5000BAHT a month – I’ve even heard of some places going for 3000BAHT a month. That same house in Chalong doubles for a farang. And it’s the same for food at the markets, transportation via taxi/tuk tuk/rental and for general admissions and activities.
Because they think we’re ALL rich tourists.
A farang by the way is what the Thai people call whites. A farang is a guava with white flesh on the inside instead of pink. You may often hear about Thai jokes involving farangs eating farangs… same, same?
I doubt it little guy!
And don’t think you’re getting away with it either if you’re from african decent – you’re known as a farang dam – a black farang. If you’re planning on coming to Phuket and causing mischief and mayhem over the silly season – you might be referred to as a Farang Kee Nok, which losely translates to ‘bird shit farang’.
In the end – I’ve come to the conclusion that if you are not Thai by natural selection – you are farang.
A word, which may have originated from the Persian word for foreigner: Ferangi.
Nevertheless… all I want, is to rent a nice little house/apartment/studio for the next 6 months or so, and hide while 0.04% of the entire planets population pour in and unsettle an otherwise well structured – yet still frantic, Phuket.
Another thing I can’t get out of my mind is how quickly space is going to be sucked up. The mere thought unhinges my brain and I’ve actually been contemplating catching a longtail over to one of the quieter islands until the lunacy subsides. I’m not one for crowds – or standing in lines, or sitting in traffic.
I imagine it’s going to get SO jam-packed that it will take us an hour to travel the regular 15 minute drive to school because of conjestion. The roads are already something to approach with caution (today I learnt that the only law on the road that there is over here – is that you can do anything – as long as it’s safe!) so I don’t even want to think about ANOTHER 1.5 million scooters added to the equation.
Most of which will have come to Phuket to overindulge in life’s pleasures, meaning there will probably be countless accidents involving drunk holiday makers.
It’s no surprise really that they do hike the prices either. If someone came into your house and trashed it without a second thought and left you with the mess to clean up after they’d had their fun and left – you’d probably do a lot worse than overcharge them. But – fair enough – if people are going to act like idiots – then the locals deserve to get their own back.
But what about me? And the others like me? The ones who want to make an honest living and are budgeting to make ends meet at the end of every month? We’ve come here to contribute to society and teach the youth. Are we to double our tutoring fees? I can’t see us getting away with that. We have no option but to work our lives and plans around the ‘way’ of the island. And as mentioned before – time’s a ticking…
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Nicky Vermeulen