Article Category - Phuket Nightlife

The answer to how Thai magician Amorn Nueangkanya got the stage name Stoneman is a simple one; it was given to him by Batman; his trainer at Batman Magic school in Bangkok.

MUSIC and Chang flowed in equal abundance for the Rhythm on the Beach music festival on Saturday night at Patong beach. As the sun went down on the peaceful bay, a wealth of Bangkok superstars were setting up decks, checking microphones and preparing to bring a little Hip Hop flava to us simple island folk.

IT IS NO secret that this low season has been challenging for everyone that lives and works on Phuket. There are those, however, that just shrug their shoulders, strap on their guitars and go right back out there and rock. Colin Hill is one of those people.

A RECORD number of music fans turned out for the first night of the Phuket International Blues and Rock Festival last weekend. More than 800 people flocked to the Hilton Arcadia site and almost as many were there for the second night. Organiser, Andy Anderson, said this year’s line-up was one of the best ever.

PHUKET is set to explode on New Year’s Eve. Fireworks will light up the skies right across the island, the beaches will be full of revellers, and people will be out partying hard everywhere. As the clock strikes midnight on Wednesday night, the boys will be kissing the girls, the girls will be kissing them back, and shouts of ‘Happy New Year’ will echo across the island.

Loy Krathong, which translates literally as “floating krathong”, is one of the most affecting festivals in Thailand. It dates back about eight centuries, and probably originated in the ancient northern Thai capital of Sukhothai. In modern times, ponds and waterways all over the country are covered with flotillas of krathongs -- little lotus-shaped banana-leaf boats carrying flowers, incense sticks and coins -- the light from their candles reflecting delicate motifs on the waters.

The Phuket Fringe Festival has a simple-yet-grand mission, explains founder David Shrubsole. “I want this Fringe Festival to grab the rest of the world by the hair and say, ‘Look what we can do!’ I want it to bring the extremely high standard of various performing arts that we have here and showcase them to the world.”

Phuket has seen an explosion in nightclubs and discotheques over the last few years with the opening of Clublime, D-Club, Seduction, and more recently Hollywood Discotheque, which opened only last month. Blend this together with long time establishments such as Tiger, Banana and Tai Pan, and you have a well-saturated market place offering everything from chart music, dance and hip-hop to trance, electro and the kitchen sink.

What goes up must come down. It’s only logical, since Isaac Newton told me so. Everything comes crashing down to Earth eventually, whether it’s a burst ego, a superbly lofted sand iron shot or a tyrannical military dictatorship. The laws of gravity and downward motion affect everybody and everything around us. The ups and downs and the positives and negatives are all part of life’s own yin and yang. So, recently it was saddening to hear about the immediate closure of two of Phuket’s most diverse restaurants and bars.