Do You Really Know About Phuket Girls?

One of the most interesting parts of life in Phuket is watching the large number of tourists who flock to the island in search of girls. There are, of course, lots of girls in Phuket, but outsiders often come with a distorted view of what it's really like on the island. You may have heard stories about how easy Phuket girls are and how Phuket is like paradise on earth. Well, yes, it may be to some people, but there is more to Phuket girls than a stereotype.

It's amazing how often people seem to forget that the term "Phuket girls" is not simply a reference to bar girls. To bring everyone up to speed, a bar girl is a lady working in a bar, usually selling drinks, dancing or mingling with the punters. These girls will more often than not be there to pick up clients who will pay for sex.

So that's what a bar girl is, but on an island with a population of something like one million people, there are more than just bar girls. It may seem unfathomable to some people, but there are, in fact, girls on the island who don't work in bars and who have never even considered working in bars.

You can meet these girls easily enough. You can even ask them to go on a date with you if you have half an ounce of personality about you. Being connected is definitely one of the easiest ways to meet people in Phuket. Social butterflies expand their circles daily, so it pays to put yourself out there and meet people.

But what if you're only on the island for a few weeks? How are you going to meet the Phuket girl of your dreams and have a whirlwind romance? Well, you're reading this, so you're evidently able to use the Internet and are also fairly nifty with a search engine.

There are lots of websites that make it easy to meet Phuket girls. And no, they are not all websites offering Thai brides and whatever else in a package deal that usually ends up with you buying a house somewhere in Northern Thailand. Most people seem fairly adept at using Facebook and MySpace. These resources are your friends for meeting people in Thailand.

There are dedicated networks for Phuket on both of these websites, so you can connect with people without having to do more than click your mouse a few times. Though you may not be keen on meeting people through the Internet, it's really no big deal in Thailand and most people end up doing it at some point.

Another website, although this one won't be to everyone's liking, is ThailandFriends.com. This website is more like a dating site and it can at times feel a little overcrowded with foreign males searching for Thai pretties to try and seduce, but you can meet some decent folk through this website and there are regular get-togethers that you can also be a part of.

You can get all kinds of information and pics about Phuket girls over at the Phuket Vogue website.

Touching the Heart of Thailand

Situated at the heart of Southeast Asia, Thailand is one of the most frequently visited holiday destinations in this region. Amidst mountains, dissected with blue rivers, Thailand is a green, Asian paradise abounding with Nature's best flora and fauna and home to some of the world's most colorful cities.

Thailand has a history dating back several millenniums and has developed a culture molded with several influences like Chinese, Burmese, Indian and Cambodian. This rich heritage is preserved till date and is what makes Thailand the exotic tourist attraction that it is. Many 5 star hotels in Thailand have been established by the foremost names in global hospitality. A land that is known to spoil and pamper the senses, these hotels offer you the very best in terms of luxury. Visit the most splendid of Asian monuments in Thailand like gold-peaked pagodas, Wats and ancient palaces.

While in Thailand, the great Thai cities like Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Koh Samui are a must visit. 5 star hotels in Thailand are easy to locate. These are the places that have painted Thailand with the characteristic picture it portrays to the rest of the world. 4 star hotels in Thailand are also available. Experience luxury at the grandest of hotels and resorts so you can have a fulfilling holiday.

Experience Luxury at 4 Star Hotels in Thailand

From beige, sandy beaches in Phuket to the glowing night lights in Bangkok, this country promises a vacation loaded with one of a kind adventures and experiences. 5 star hotels in Thailand reek of luxury and promise to pamper guests in every way possible. Indulge yourself in the richest of interiors and sinfully cozy rooms, tantalizing cuisine and opulent ambience. 4 star hotels in Thailand are also easily accessible to vacationers seeking a regal stay in Thailand.

Thailand's activities extend to adrenaline pumping adventure sports like hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, rock climbing, scuba diving and parasailing. These sports do more than giving you that excited rush; they also show you the most elevated, panoramic views of one of the most beautiful destinations on the planet. These picturesque views are often captured from the windows of the 5 star hotels in Thailand. Located in the country's most imposing structures, they open into a magical world of sights and sounds that can be experienced only in this Asian paradise.

4 star hotels in Thailand also offer the region's best cuisine. Guests can further avail the best Thai massages from the hotel's in-house spas, the perfect finishing touch to a gratifying vacation.

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Cheap Airfares In Europe, Not So Much In America

Getting cheap airfares these days isn't so easy, especially if you live in North America.

Meanwhile budget airlines are booming elsewhere in the world. In Thailand for example, you can fly from Bangkok to Phuket for about 30 dollars on Air Asia, a relatively new budget airline. Of course in Europe, you have airlines like Ryanair that offer incredibly cheap airline tickets between many European cities. You can go from London to Paris for fifty bucks, as long as you don't mind having no preselected seats and a very strict weight limit.

Those types of discount airlines haven't really made it over to this side of the pond. Still, with companies like Jet Blue etc you can find some decent deals, especially if you buy plane tickets early; or take advantage of last minute deals. In Mexico recently we've seen companies like Azteca Airlines, Volaris, and Interjet attempt to replicate Ryanair type of budget service; with varying degrees of success. In Canada cheap flights are very hard to come by. There's basically nothing in the domestic market...internationally, Zoom Airlines has just started offering cheap flights to Europe. Otherwise you may get lucky if you're traveling when a charter is.

With the web, shopping for air fares is easy. There are many companies selling plane tickets on the internet. From the comfort of your chair you can surf many different web sites until you find the best fare possible. This is power that only travel agents had just a few years ago!

Carefully check out exchange and refund policies - sites like Expedia for instance are known to be quite strict in that area. Most online air ticket sales use E-tickets - typically the company that sells you the tickets just emails it to you. Print it, bring it to the airport and have a safe and stress-free trip!

The author recommends Really Cheap Airfares for some great deals.

Early Bookings for Hotel Reservations

For every traveler there is, expect a travel expert to be close by. Those who go overseas will have their own travel tips upon their return. These have been organized, with the cooperation of some travel advisers from a major airline, for first time travelers and those with a limited budget. Each one has been assessed and could protect you on the trip.

To pay for taxi fare to the hotel, change $5 or $10 to the local currency at the airport when you arrive, also use this for tipping. Usually, a major airport has an official exchange counter. Only convert a small amount of money at a time. When you want U.S. dollars, it may not be as easy to convert them. Do not fall victim to street people who may present higher exchange rates for your money. It is possible for them to give you counterfeit money. Check the official rate of exchange and count your money after having it converted.

An airport coach or metered cab should be taken to the hotel. Hotel travel via cab is much faster, but the coach option is cheaper. But if there are two, three or four people in your party, it might be just as, economical to take cab. A cab that is unmetered is not a wise option to take. Incurring more costs is highly possible.

In the Far East, beware of tourist nappers, unscrupulous cabbies who get you into their cab, then tell you that your hotel has no rooms available. Agreeing to a different hotel is what the driver will persuade you to do next, third rate hotels pay them to do this. These wildcatters might tell you anything, that your hotel has closed since you made your reservations or that it burned down last night.

When it comes to hotel rates, European hotels will normally include the service charge, taxes, and even breakfast, and this is what you need to check out as you confirm the rate upon arrival. Concerns about anything under the sun can be dealt with by your hotel concierge. He is going to be a dependable go to person, a nice tip will be good.

If your hotel rate does include a service charge, you don't have to cross every palm in the place with cash when you check out. Considering staff members who made your stay more special, you may want to remember them by handing out tips. It is not mandatory to tip the people responsible for the transfer of your clothes should you have them washed and pressed. With a rotational system applied for all staff members, the hotel allows them to earn equal tips.

There are a lot of hotels that do not give soap or washcloths. Bringing items to your room may lead to a tip and this is why maids may forget to supply your bathroom with these items as they should. An easier way of avoiding this situation is to have your own soap and washcloth. Tipping is no longer necessary when a service charge has been added to your food bill, take note of this when you visit fancy restaurants. When there is a service charge, this is equal to 10 to 15 percent of your food bill. Be smart and make a reservation at the restaurant you want. Part of the expenses you might encounter can include the use of American style toilets abroad.

Always pass up the people who advertise different stores while on the streets. Shops like these are below standard and the peddlers get a cut if you make a purchase. You can negotiate prices as you shop considering that bargaining is customary in that particular area. Get a copy of your room charges some time earlier, the night before you check out perhaps. You will have enough time to check if the charges are correct.

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Owning A Bar On A Tropical Island - Is It Really A Dream?

In a good year, in excess of four million people visit Phuket in Thailand. A lot of those visitors will love it. Some will love it so much that they want to live here.

Every year thousands of people come to Phuket hoping to set up a new life on a tropical island. Many of them need to make a living and quickly discover that employment opportunities for foreigners are very limited. So what are their options? Well one of the most likely avenues is to invest in your own business. And what is the easiest business to get into? Owning a bar.

To many people it sounds like a dream. A life on a tropical island, days by the beach and evenings partying in your bar. But does the reality match the dream?

It is something I considered doing when I first arrived in Phuket. I checked out the options; spoke with estate agents, bar owners, even bar girls. In the end, I decided it just wasn't worth it.

I was new to Phuket and still naive to many of the pitfalls that await bar owners but even then, I could see there were so many problems with owning a bar in Phuket. To begin with, 'owning a bar' is a misnomer as you will almost certainly be leasing and probably at very unfavourable terms.

It is difficult to make a decent living from a bar and in fact most fail in the first two years. Even if your bar does make money, your working status will probably be illegal. The laws in Thailand are stacked against foreigners owning a small business.

As much as all these things concerned me, they were not my biggest concern. The biggest factor in turning me away from owning a bar was the lifestyle. I got to know quite a few bar owners and when I looked at their lives, I knew it wasn't for me. It is just such a crap life.

Don't get me wrong. I love a night on the beer. Even several nights on the beer. But having to do it every night at the same bar as a job? It would soon lose its charm not to mention the obvious health problems that go with such a lifestyle.

Since I made that decision to leave the bar business alone, there has not been one second when I have looked back and regretted it. I know plenty of bar owners and consider several to be friends but I never envy their lives. Recently, the untimely death of one of those friends really drove it home for me.

He was not yet 50 years old. He owned a bar in one of the sois (side streets) off Soi Bangla in Patong. He was a nice guy, easy going and easy to talk to. Although I saw him no more than once a week, we always enjoyed a good chat and he was one of my favourite bar owners.

Over the previous year, he had a few health problems. He had been in hospital several times and the advice from the doctors was plain and clear - stop drinking!

The problem is it is very difficult to stop drinking when you are a bar owner. The two things that bring customers to these small bars are the girls and the owner. And often the girls will not work very well if the owner is not there.

Regular customers like to have a chat with the owner. Often, if the owner is not there they will just move on to the next bar. Quite simply for these bars to work, the owner has to be there most of the time.

So couldn't my friend have drunk soft drinks? Well he did that for a few days but the boredom got to him. You spend the evening sitting at your bar, bombarded with the deafening music that these bar complexes seem to think is a good drinking ambience. For a good part of the evening, you may not have any customers, but still you need to be there just in case. You can watch the TV but you can't hear it. Your only company is the bar girls who are probably nagging for time off or free drink.

And when the customers do arrive, they want to get drunk and they want you to get drunk with them. Of course, it is okay for the customers. If they are on holiday, they are only doing it for two weeks before they return to their regular lives. The bar owner is doing it night-after-night, year-after-year.

They offer to buy you drinks and it is bad business not to accept. If you do keep your discipline and stay sober then the evening is insufferable. Drunks are very entertaining when you are drunk with them. When you are sober, there is nothing worse than trying to laugh at their inane ramblings.

So despite the doctor's warnings, my friend was soon drinking again. It just goes with the territory of owning a bar; you are going to drink a lot.

It all caught up with my friend. He had a bad motorbike accident. He never drove drunk but motorbike accidents happen easily out here. He discharged himself from hospital too quickly, again ignoring doctor's advice. His next boozing session was too much for a body that was tired of it. He passed away in his sleep.

The crazy thing is he didn't even need the bar. He had worked hard in his home country and was in a position to retire. I and other friends had tried to persuade him to give it up. The problem was he was one of the few bar owners who was making a good profit and he found it hard to walk away from a good business. In the end he was too good at being a bar owner for his own good.

The strange thing is most of the people who buy into bars have come to Phuket for a better lifestyle. They want to live in a tropical island paradise. Phuket is their dream home and owning a bar is how they will fund their life here. The problem is owning a bar excludes them from enjoying the island.

Most bar owners wake up mid-afternoon with a hangover. They lounge around their budget apartment shaking off the hangover until it is time to go into the bar and start work again. They could do this anywhere. Phuket's glorious beaches, islands and other tourist attractions are irrelevant to the bar owners because they hardly see them.

I know a couple of bar owners who did not even know there had been a tsunami until the evening when they set off to work. I know another who after three years in Phuket had not yet seen Phang Nga Bay, Phi Phi Islands, Nai Yang Beach, Nai Harn Beach, in fact anywhere more than a few kilometers from Patong.

I don't want to totally put off potential bar owners. I just want to open their eyes to the sort of life they will be buying into. I think for the right type of character, under the right circumstances, it is an okay option. If you are young, you can handle this lifestyle much better. I know when I was in my twenties I did lots of boozing and was always able to shake it off ready for the next session. As you get older, your powers of recovery diminish.

For somebody who is looking for a couple of years partying and is willing to get in and out, owning a bar in Phuket is a decent option. If you have the sort of discipline where you can go to the bar and entertain customers without getting drunk every night, then maybe it is for you. But as a long-term source of income - for most people it is just not worth the sacrifice.

Another bar owner friend decided to sell up after a couple of years in the business. He was a young guy and his bar was making him a living. The problem was he had got to the stage where he hated his bar. He hated going to the same place night after night, he was sick and tired of dealing with bargirls and their petty squabbles and he was tired of feeling crap all the time.

So he sold up and got out with a nice little profit. It wasn't until after he sold the bar that he discovered the reason why he felt crap all the time. It wasn't just the hangovers; they were masking the real problem. He had Leukemia.

I'm not saying that owning a bar actually caused his Leukemia but it certainly did not help his body deal with it. What it did do was put him in a frame of mind where he thought it was normal to feel bad all the time and he accepted it. Fortunately, he got out in time, was diagnosed and returned to his home country where he was successfully treated.

He is now all clear and he hopes that one day he can move back to Thailand. At the moment, his regular check-ups prohibit that. He says that now he looks back at his time in Phuket and realises he was in a rut. He was making enough money to live but he couldn't save anything. His life revolved around going to his bar every night so he was just not doing the things that drew him to Thailand in the first place. He would never return to the bar business in Patong.

So to recap. If you are thinking about becoming a bar owner in Patong, what can you expect? Well you will spend most nights sitting at your bar waiting for customers and listening to dreadful, loud music. You will struggle to make a worthwhile profit. You will have to deal with the antics of your bar girls. You can decide to either spend your evenings sober and bored or drunk and happy.

Assuming you go for the drunk and happy option (most bar owners do) you will eventually pay for it. I don't know a single bar owner who looks like a picture of health. It is a demanding life and if you do it long term you are probably taking a few years off your life expectancy.

You could take the attitude that work is always crap. It is crap in your my home country so you might as well have crap work in Phuket. Well fair enough, as long as you go into the bar business with your eyes open and not with some rose-tinted vision of days by the beach and nights partying.

The author has lived in Phuket, Thailand for seven years. If you want to read more about the colourful island of Phuket then please visit http://www.knowphuket.com where you will find more articles and visitor information.

Safest Airlines in the World

Many air travelers wonder what exactly are the safest airlines to use when they travel. Here are the winners according to several criteria:

Safest Airlines

Likely the most important criteria for a safe airline is the amount of fatalities the airline has over a period of recent years. This may be the best way to judge the record of maintenance but also of personnel, including pilots and engineers.

Qantas is a name well known to those interested in airline safety. Based out of Sydney, Australia, Qantas safety rating has plummeted as of late, but still ranks fairly high among other airlines of the world in terms of overall safety.

Other airlines considered to be most safe in terms of least passenger fatalities include America West, EasyJet, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue, North American Airlines, Southwest and Virgin Atlantic. In addition, many smaller, regional carriers are among the safest airlines including Ireland's national carrier, Aer Lingus, Air Europe, Air Jamaica, Austria Airlines, BahamasAir, Canadian North, Corsair, Estonian Air, Eurowings, EVA Air, Finnair, Frontier Airlines, Fujian Airlines, Icelandair, Midway Airlines, National Jet Italia, Novair, Ozark Airlines, Portugalia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Oman Air, Sahara Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Spanair, Syrian Air, Sun Country Airlines, TransAsia Airways, Tunisair, Ukraine International, Uzbekistan Airways and WestJet Airlines.

It's interesting to note that many smaller carriers may have a safer reputation than larger carriers simply because of the vastly larger amount of flights that larger carriers have each day. Quite simply, the more flights, the more chance that something will go wrong.

Most Secure Airline

El Al airlines, Israel's national airlines, is considered to be the world's most secure airline company. This is due to their tight security measures and protocols used to prevent terrorism and hijackings on their planes. Founded in 1948, El Al airlines has a fleet of over 30 planes. El Al has prevented and stopped numerous attacks on their airlines from terrorists and has also managed to stop hijackers. El Al scrutinizes and interviews every passenger prior to boarding. Also, plain clothes security officers as well as uniformed officers patrol the areas where passengers gather to board.

Worst Airlines

In addition to safe airlines, there are also known bad airlines. These include Indonesia Airlines, Ukraine's Volare Air, Phuket Airlines from Thailand and North Korea's Air Kyo. The criteria used for worst airlines is the number of aircraft lost, so it's a good idea to stay away from these airlines.

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Thailand Festivals - The Best Time to Visit Thailand And Enjoy Their Famous Festivals

Thailand is abundant with festivals and quite honestly there is no time of year when you cannot find a festival to enjoy, however here are some of the more popular festivals around Thailand throughout the year.

Beginning the year, the month of January offers the Chiang Mai Winter Fair in Chiang Mai and the River of Kings Festival in Bangkok. The Chiang Mai winter fair offers booths, music, competitions, and even beauty pageants, while the River of Kings festival is a bit more formal with a theatrical production describing the history of Thailand.

February continues the year by offering the Chiang Mai Flower Festival complete with flower covered parade floats and the Bangkok China Town Festival which celebrates the Chinese New Year.

As the peak season begins to wind down, March brings about the Asean Barred Ground Dove Festival where dove owners from around the country gather in Khwan Muang Park, in Yala Province to display their doves and compete for prizes.

April celebrates the Thai New year with the Pattaya Festival, followed by the Songkran Festival which also takes place nationwide but is particularly colorful in Khao San Road, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai.

May is a particularly celebratory month with the Royal Ploughing Ceremony in Bangkok which celebrates the beginning of the rice planning season and the Visakha Bucha, a religious celebration of Buddha celebrated nationwide and the Yasothon Rocket Festival which awards the most explosive rockets. It's an eye and ear opening festival sure to please both young and old alike.

July brings about the well known Candle Festival in Tung Sri Muang, Muang District, Ubon Ratchathani Province. Visitors will find tall, beautiful, candles displayed and presented to local temples.

August celebrates the nationwide Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen.

September is the world famous Phuket Vegetarian Festival (famous for the gory displays of people impaled by a variety of objects and not for the faint of heart) and the significantly less gory Phichit Boat Races along the Nan River.

October celebrates the Wax Castle Festival celebrated nationwide but is particularly spectacular in Sakon Nakhon, the Chon Buri Buffalo Races, and the Illuminated Boat Procession Festival along the Mekong River.

November begins the peak travel season by being another celebratory month with the Loy Krathong celebrated Nationwide, the Surin Elephant Roundup, the River Kwai bridge week in Kanchanaburi, and the Phimai Festival.

December ends the year with a nationwide celebration of the King's birthday and the Phuket King's Cup Regatta.

Festivals in Thailand are planned on the lunar calendar. Check for the exact dates of each festival before you make your hotel reservations and travel plans.

The author is an Asia based frequent traveler and runs a number of travel and Thailand related websites including Thailand Hotel Reservations, and Thailand Vacation News.

Attractions In Phuket Thailand

Phuket Thailand has many attractions one can discover either on day trips or longer. The Beaches are by far the biggest attraction to Phuket because it has many beaches for one to explore. You can keep yourself busy all year round with the many attractions in Phuket other than just the beaches however.

Taking day trips can be a lot of fun. I have rented long tail boat and gone to the many different islands that are about thirty minute boat rides from the many different piers on island. It's not hard to find a long tail boat as even many of the beaches have them lined up just off shore. A day trip is very inexpensive and will remind you of a time when life was simple and uncomplicated.

Rubber tree plantations are plentiful on the island and watching and learning how locals make latex from the rubber trees is educational as well as interesting. This age old tradition can also be viewed at night where the Thais find it cooler to work at night or work it as a secondary or night job to supplement their income.

Taking a sea canoe off the eastern part of Phukets calm waters to go cave exploring can be a fun way to get a little extra sun as well as a good workout. There are many little islands, coves and caves to explore with a canoe off Phuket's east coast and water is tranquil and turquoise blue.

The island offers many shows also like monkey shows and snake shows. Many bus tours will take you to the caves in Phang Ngn bay and to visit James Bond Island. Another famous day trip is a boat ride out to Phi Phi Island for the day. I find this boat ride rather boring but I have made the trip many times so now I am partial.

If you enjoy Thai boxing, there are several places you can go and watch Thai boxing and even train with the young men. I personally enjoy watching a fight every now and again. The action is real, not staged and the hype is almost as good as wrestling on TV. There is Thai boxing in almost every small town in Phuket.

For those who enjoy the nightlife in Phuket there is none better then that found in Patong Beach. The town has many discos and a nightlife like no place else in the world. Patong has been voted the number one nightlife spot my several men's magazines. The many beer bars and night spots can be fun to explore is a relaxed and laid back attitude one would expect to find in the islands of the Andaman Sea.

If you find you want to get away from the average tourist hangouts, Phuket town can offer some interesting shows and live entertainment. It even has some great festivals like vegetarian festival and Chinese New Year's.

I have now lived on the island for several years and grown to call Phuket Home. The island is more than just a great tourist destination; it's a great place to live.

Scott Riefler is an expert in dealing with Phuket Real Estate and finance related matters. He has written several informative articles on topics like mortgage, home refinancing, real estate loans and real estate insurance. He regularly contributes articles to web guides on real estate and home refinancing. Sign up for our free informative newsletter at: Phuket Apartments Newsletter