The island of Phuket in Thailand, which ranks high on the list of most popular tourist destinations among tourists, has many advantages. But for travelers to appreciate this resort realistically, it is necessary to have an idea about some of its shortcomings. As a blogger who lives in the “land of smiles” found out, there are five main disadvantages that it is better to know in advance and be ready for them. He announced this in his blog, let’s list them.
First, there is a corrupt police force on the island, so tourists should be careful. Local law enforcement officers “catch on” to everyone, because used to “shake money out of the pockets” of visitors, rather than maintaining law and order. Bribery is especially common among representatives of the traffic police. The author of the post believes that the tourists themselves trained the police to do this. “Phuket’s police officers have become greedy and greedy, partly the fault of the guests of the island, who constantly break the rules and have accustomed them to bribes… At the same time, if you suddenly really need the help of the police, there is a high probability that they will not do anything if they do not have additional motivation to do so,” he noted.
Secondly, the taxi industry in Phuket is controlled by the local mafia. For a long time, they did not allow aggregators such as Grab and Uber to operate on the island. There were cases of drivers being beaten and their cars set on fire. This was done to support the increased tariffs, for example, 1,000 baht (about 1,060 hryvnias at the current exchange rate) for a half-hour trip. Currently, the situation has changed a little, aggregators are working, but drivers often refuse to drive at the offered price and demand more money from tourists than the tariffs. There is practically no public transport, except in Bangkok. As an alternative, tourists are offered to rent a bike or scooter, but this can lead to another problem (see point one).
Thirdly, Phuket has crazy traffic and crazy drivers. Thailand regularly ranks first in the world ranking for the number of road deaths, the leader in this anti-rating is the resort island province of Phuket.
Drivers there behave completely recklessly: they generally do not follow the speed limit and are often in a drunken state. Renting a car or scooter may seem like a convenient way to move around Phuket, but at the same time, it is the most dangerous. If the traveler does not have confidence in his driving skills, then it is not recommended to start “pumping them up on the roads of Phuket”, as there is a high risk of getting into an accident involving a drunk driver.
Fourth, locals perceive foreign tourists as walking ATMs. Due to the huge number of vacationers concentrated in a limited area, residents formed the association “foreigner – money”. “There are kind and pleasant people everywhere, including here, but the vast majority of residents look at a tourist like a wallet on legs,” the blogger stated. – A similar picture is observed in other popular resorts such as Pattaya and Samui. At the same time, the contrast with non-tourist Thailand is simply huge – I have never met as many friendly and completely selfless people as in this country. Outside of tourist reservations, obviously.”
Fifth, is safety. Even though Phuket can be considered a safe place, as the probability of encountering crime is small, tourists are still a welcome target for scammers and thieves. In the tourist areas, which occupy a large part of the island, thefts sometimes happen – in houses when the owners are not there, or directly on the beach. There are rare cases when ladyboys remove jewelry from tourists right on the entertainment streets when they try to hug.