Party Town

Nai Harn beach

To be clear, Nai Harn Beach isn’t a party town – it’s the sort of place holidaymakers bask on the beach for a fortnight. But our reason for being here wasn’t to bake ourselves pink; it was for more practical purposes. We wanted to run the watermaker in clear water so that the filters wouldn’t get clogged within half an hour. And because it was calm enough to do some more underwater cleaning, I plunged myself in to give Jamala a rub down.  That was just as well, the propeller was starting to look like a coral reef.

Although there is a dinghy dock here, it is made out of floaty squares that interlock to create a wobbly pontoon. Because of that, and with Maria’s one usable arm and clear instructions from Dr Wipoo not to get the unusable one wet, we thought it prudent to watch the holidaymakers from the boat rather than join them on the beach. That seemed a fair deal – the tourists seemed to like watching us.

Patong

A short distance from Nai Hearn beach is Patong, which indisputably is a party town. And because it has a fixed dock to park the dinghy (price from 200 baht  – 500 baht depending on time and attitude), we were able to witness it for ourselves,

Jonathan and Tristan, friends whom we met on the Sail 2 Indonesia rally, were already at Patong with their friend Tim, who was staying with them for a few weeks. We picked them up from their boat and headed off to find somewhere to eat. Ashore is bonkers. There isn’t a problem with the number of restaurants, just a problem with deciding where to go. We decided on a place with an upstairs dining area – and some surprising quirkiness.

The slight oddness started when a waiter asked if we wanted a set of playing cards. We opted for drinks instead. But the real bonkerness started when a gorilla in a bikini arrived.

Things progressed towards utter lunacy when the guards from Squid Game arrived. The game was to cut a shape out of a biscuit without breaking it. The staff chose Maria to be the victim on our table, an act of cruel impracticality resolved by Jonathan taking the hit.

Jonanthon was doing very well until he wasn’t. They shot him later.

After dinner, we took a walk down Walking Street. The photos below show what you are walking into, which I can briefly summarise as beer, girls, restaurants and tattoos – probably in that order.

Our route back towards the dinghy dock took us past a number of massage parlours catering to different, erm, requirements. Many of the girls were sitting outside. As we passed one of these places, I was grabbed by a very tall woman with uncharacteristic strength and a deep voice who was very insistent on giving me a massage. She assured me I would have a good time and would be happy in the end. I was happy that Maria, who had been walking behind me, talking to Jonathan, rescued me from her not inconsiderable grip.

We took a walk around town the next day to see what Patong looked like when the party people were tucked up in bed, then treated ourselves to a relaxed dinner by the waterfront before leaving the next day for Chalong.

And then it was time to move on, back to the relative sanity of Chalong.