Phuket's Sat Night

Now, I know we all went to Phuket for work function. However, given Phuket's fame around the ladyboys, I had to go take a peak. On Sat night, I went out with a hostful of co-workers to the "sin city" of Phuket - Patong. The city is famous for its ladyboys, Thailand's 3rd gender.

We took a van/minibus 30 minutes to Phuket after dinner on Sat. For B2,000 (roughly B30 = $1), the van/minibus will wait all night for you to be done partying and drive you back. Roughly 12 people can fit in (usually more since everyone is drunk). We all went to a club called Seduction (think of Prive or Pink Elephant but with trashy tourists and ladyboys). The place got so intense that I had to leave because I had no idea who was a girl and who was a guy.

Next, I went to Tiger Bar, where I watched from the balcony on these pole dancers on tables below (similar to the Spanish Medallion in Myrtle Beach). I tried to convince my two co-workers to go hit on the girls dancing to figure out if they are really girls or hot ladyboys. However, since both of them were married men, they refused.

A few more drinks in and we decided to wander around. It was 5 male bankers and me. Regular day in New York City but in Phuket, all the girl/ladyboy bartenders started pulling me into their bars on the street. They actually gripped my arms and wouldn't let me go! It all got very aggressive, but entertaining. Once we crossed the agressive bar street, an MD we were with still wanted a drink. The moment he said that, two small Thai men came out with menus that said free "ping pong" show. At this point, I had no idea what it is. But I wanted to be agreeable so I suggested we drink and maybe watch. My co-workers stared at me and said "do you know what a ping-pong show entails?" After their descriptions, I would say that going to a strip club would be considered G-rated by comparison. If you need to know, just google it. I am embarrassed just thinking about it.