Patong ( , ) refers to the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

and town on

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

's west coast. It is the main

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

resort on the island of Phuket, and is the centre of Phuket's nightlife and shopping. The beach became popular with Western tourists, especially Europeans, in the late-1980s. It has numerous

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s and the area has expanded into a tourist place.

History

Patong Beach is known for its

nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

and 2850-metre (1.77 mile) beach that runs the entire length of Patong's west side. Nightlife is centered in two main areas, Bangla Road and the "Paradise Complex", with Bangla Road being predominantly

straight Straight may refer to: Slang * Straight, slang for heterosexual ** Straight-acting, normal person * Straight, a member of the straight edge subculture Sport and games * Straight, an alternative name for the cross, a type of punch in boxing * Str ...

and Paradise Complex

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. Both are lined with many

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

discotheque A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and ...

s, and go go bars.

Prostitution in Thailand Prostitution in Thailand is not itself illegal, but public solicitation for prostitution is prohibited if it is carried out "openly and shamelessly" or "causes nuisance to the public". Due to police corruption and an economic reliance on prostitu ...

is illegal, but tolerated, as is the case in Patong. On 26 December 2004, Patong Beach along with many other areas along the west coast of Phuket and Thailand were struck by a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

caused by the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

. The wave caused a great deal of destruction to the waterfront of the beach and immediately inland and only one woman was killed in a basement seafront grocery store. Patong was one of the worst affected areas of Phuket, although the destruction was not as bad as nearby

Khao Lak Khao Lak (, ) is a small village in Phang Nga province, located South of the main mountain. Tour operators like to use the popular name as location for a series of other villages, now tourist-oriented, mainly in the Takua Pa District of Phang ...

. Patong has largely recovered since the tsunami.

Environment

the waters off Patong Beach exceeded Thai Pollution Control Department standards for

fecal coliform A fecal coliform (British: faecal coliform) is a facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, gram-negative, non- sporulating bacterium. Coliform bacteria generally originate in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Fecal coliforms are capable of growth ...

bacteria (FCB) and

enterococci ''Enterococcus'' is a large genus of lactic acid bacteria of the phylum Bacillota. Enterococci are Gram-positive cocci that often occur in pairs (diplococci) or short chains, and are difficult to distinguish from streptococci on physical charac ...

bacteria. To avoid paying the municipal wastewater treatment fee of five

baht The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...

per cubic meter, many households discharge their wastewater untreated into canals and the sea. Patong also has limited capacity to treat wastewater. The municipal wastewater treatment plant is nearing its capacity of 28,000 m³ a day. An upgrade be operational in 2018 which will increase capacity by an extra 9,000 m³ per day.

Municipality's Efforts to Maintain Cleanliness at Patong Beach in Phuket

Patong Beach, attracting a large number of visitors every day. Unfortunately, this influx of tourists can sometimes lead to pollution and garbage on the beach.

Nightlife

Bangla is considered as the most popular walking street in Phuket. Along the street is full of beer bars and go-go bars, which makes tourists stay there longer or in a whole night.

Gallery

File:Вид с вертолета на Патонг (март 2013) - panoramio (1).jpg, Aerial view of Patong File:Patong Beach Phuket November 2012.jpg, Patong Beach File:PhuketStreet.jpg,

Songthaew A songthaew (, , ; , ; ) is a passenger vehicle in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar adapted from a pick-up or a larger truck and used as a share taxi or bus. Overview The songthaew takes its name from the two bench seats fixed along eith ...

s, Thawiwong Rd, Patong Beach File:PatongBeach.jpg, Patong Beach from Thawiwong File:Thanon Thawewong Patong Phuket.jpg, Traffic in Patong's streets File:Jungceylon Patong Thajsko 2018 1.jpg, Jungceylon Shopping Mall File:Night market Patong Thajsko 2018 1.jpg, Banzan Night Market

References

External links

*
Patong videos

Patong Beach video guide
{{Prostitution in Thailand Populated places in Phuket province Beaches of Phuket province Red-light districts in Thailand