So town is set to be a bit livelier from the 3^rd to the 7^th of March, as homesick sailors from USS Patriot, USS Rushmore and USS Cleveland enjoy ‘morale, welfare and recreation’ (MWR). What exactly this means is not clear, but apparently many sailors take the opportunity to go on diving trips and catch up on sleep.

Now maybe times have changed, but I’m sure that’s not the traditional image of sailors on shore leave I’ve been brought up with, and I have no doubt you will find at least of few of them enjoying the less-wholesome delights of Phuket.

Both tourists and locals have been advised not to hang bags from the handlebars of their motorcycles or leave things in the front baskets, as petty crime is set to increase on the island.

The news comes after a man was arrested on Friday after robbing the 7-Eleven on Wiset Road, Rawai, and getting away with no more than 360 baht.

He entered the store brandishing a brick at 4:00 and demanded that the shop assistant hand over all the cash.

Unfortunately for him, the small amount was delivered in 10 baht coins and he was arrested soon afterwards.

Mongkhol Pintajan, 33, was arrested after the police examined the CCTV footage of the incident.

He said he robbed the shop as he had no money.

It’s a sorry state of affairs for all involved if the current hard times lead some to such desperate measures.

 The funds from the parties, which have been designed to match the success of the Full Moon Parties on Koh Phangnan, will go towards some sort of charity which aims to help tourists ‘in trouble’.

What is meant by ‘trouble’ is pretty unclear, as is what sort of help you would received if you happened to get yourself in a pickle, but as the Full Moon Parties have been condemned in certain circles for encouraging binge drinking, it seems rather comical that the funds for this charity will increase with the amount of beer that is drunk.

I have some friends in Karon Beach who have been complaining recently about the increasing noise at the weekends from the beach parties that have been held there.

It has also been a rather long and controversial decision process which will finally result in the first official party tomorrow night.

I like a party as much as the next person, but I can’t help wondering whether this ‘Tourist Assistance Fund’ will cause more trouble than it solves.

Apparently, and unbeknown to me, Phuket and Thailand as a whole have been experience a bit of a slump in visitor numbers recently.

The latest air passenger numbers tell a different story, however. Even the recent difficulties with Cambodia and the notorious ‘sit-in’ don’t seem to have put them off.

Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, which is the main gateway to Phuket, has seen a rise of almost 30 per cent on last year’s peak season passenger figures.

In total, the amount of happy sun seekers on their way to Phuket’s sunny shores between Christmas Day and January 5^th were no less than 1,668,863 this year. Pretty amazing for just 10 days.

Apparently the biggest resorts in Phuket are already reporting a better month this February than last month, and while I’m pleased that our local business are thriving, I can’t help feeling a bit like a kid with a new toy when I hear about figures like these.

Can’t these people find their own piece of paradise and leave mine alone?

Road rage is pretty common in hectic places such as London and Rome, but who would have thought that driving on Phuket’s coastal roads could ever get that stressful.

Sure, you may come across the odd upperty tuk-tuk driver who’s a bit happy with his horn every now and again, but this latest incident is beyond belief and allegedly provoked by a ‘farang’.

 Pittaya Srijitraporn, 32, this week confessed to stabbing German Wolf-Dieter Eugen Kesselheim, 66, three times in a fight. Mr Kesselheim, who was apparently beeping the his horn and swearing at the motorcyclist near the Chalong Circle on Wednesday, died from his injuries.

 It is not clear why the altercation occurred, but Srijitraporn claimed that he stabbed the German tourist after his was held in a headlock prior to stopping his bike.

The Thai national said that he didn’t think his actions would kill Mr Kesselheim and that he often worked with tourists. He is well known around the Kata viewpoint area for helping photographers take pictures of sea eagles.

Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob this week said that a trial of metered tuk-tuks could be rolled out in Karon and Kata this year.

The move comes as an attempt to solve the transport problems in Phuket that essentially revolve around tourists and expats being ripped off by opportunist tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

It’s true, that despite living in Phuket for quite a number of years now, tuk-tuk drivers still try it on with me simply because I have a white face. My protests that I actually live here and know what the real price is also doesn’t always cut it, especially in the most touristy areas, as the drivers know they can always refuse me and pretty much guarantee picking up a less difficult customer who will simply take their first price without question.

While I’m sure the tuk-tuk drivers aren’t going to welcome this proposal with open arms, foreigners who are in Phuket for more than just a short holiday certainly will.

A company known as the European Bartenderschool (EBS) have spread their wings a little farther than Europe and opened up what must surely be the greatest classroom in the world in Phuket.

The organisation, who train 1,500 students every year in their other centres in London, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen and Greece, is Europe’s largest bartender training company.

The brand-new contemporary centre can be found towards the southern part of Patong beach, where an 18-metre bar sits atop the centre’s roof so the future bartenders can practice pouring, shaking and stirring until they get it right.

As well as great views of the city, there is even a pool up there for so they can cool off after a hard afternoon of mixing drinks.

I’ve always quite fancied myself as a cocktail shaker, and at only five hours a day, Monday to Friday for four weeks, it strikes me as an opportunity worth staying sober for.

This cost-cutting measure is certain to make the three-star ibis Phuket Kata a roaring success, according to company bosses, as the normal ratio for international hotels is usually one-to-one.

The Accor group is launching this addition to its “worldwide economy hotel brand” as it continues to set new standards of utilising technology to make its hotels cost-effective.

So the whole resort will have around 260 rooms but only 80 staff members under general manager Frederic Garnier.

And once again it is the world wide web which is the instrument of change here, as well as a centralised system of accounts based in Bangkok.

The ibis Phuket Kata is the brand’s sixth new hotel opening during its 18-month lifetime and adds to its claim to be Thailand’s ”leading brand of economy hotel”.

The only downside will be if you happen to be looking for a job in Phuket’s hospitality industry, as should it succeed, there are sure to be many more that follow suit.

With over-the-top costumes, wacky buildings and elephants milling about, Phuket FantaSea is a must-see stop on any itinerary. The evening climaxes with a glorious stage show, but elephant rides, carnival games and restaurants will keep young and old entertained.

The stage is massive but performance makes it seems small as every part of the theatre space is used for the show. Modern effects like explosions, smoke, lasers, soaring people and rain get the nerve synapses pulsing. And the show has its roots in traditional Thai dance so you can get away with pretending this is an educational outing for the kids.

And although the story is not the easiest to follow, the emotion of the tale is plain to see with humour and pathos galore.

Sometimes, when I feel like socialising and going to the city for a cold beer, I meet this Thai middle-aged dude in my favourite pub, always starting this discussion about the sex trade on Phuket, while furiously attacking the farangs, from which too many only visit Phuket looking for sex. He’s convinced that most of us simply pay a considerable amount of cash for our beautiful young girlfriends or wives and only look down on Thai cultural traditions.

I always try to make him understand that his generalising point of view certainly does many foreigners a huge wrong. No doubt about it! This kind of traveller does exist and a certain amount of Japanese, Chinese, European, and American visitors do come regularly to Phuket only for getting their sexual kicks. Sex tourist is the name what we collectively give them and to the majority of the common travellers they are trash.

Who firstly appeared, the sex tourist or the bar lady? They dually evolve via demand and supply. In Thailand as well as in other South East Asian countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines there is an enormous contrast between poverty and wealth, providing the standard hotbed for developing a sex industry along with an influx of its customers.

So now you might think that getting rid of extreme poverty will probably solve the problem as all the ladies could quit their disrespectful jobs in the bars and once there aren’t any bar girl anymore there also won’t be any sex tourists. Phuket nighlife scene online

After looking at numerous of the sex industry workers’ family backgrounds, It became very clear that most of them certainly weren’t gamblers, alcoholics, drug addicts or members of broken and troubled families at the time they started to work. Some of these girls got involved with alcohol and drugs at a later date.

I’ve told the Thai guy in my favourite little pub that he not should blame the sex tourists but instead better trying to figure out the economic and social situation, providing the availability of these young girls. Finding the correct answers isn’t easy. Could it be the lack of honest jobs, low self-esteem, lack of decent education, laziness, not knowing how to plan the future or acceptance of fate.

All of you who are planning to meet a bar lady in a Phuket night spot, I would like you to ask her one simple question. Would she give up her present life style for a job at McDonalds, making about 4,500 baht per month? Perhaps I may not be right, but probably a bar girl who just started would prefer frying hamburgers all day and the more experienced lady would rather keep her present job…

Comprehensive Bangkok evening entertainment guide