Patong Beach, the Asian Wasaga

The past two days Ray and I have been at Patong Beach, Phuket. Patong is located off of the Andaman Sea off in a huge Bay that is inset about 2 miles from the ocean. It has white sandy beaches and clear green water. You can go parasailing or rent jetskiis right off the beach. The surrounding area have mountains that rise up up about 1000 ft or so and are covered with beautiful green vegetation. The beach itself was affected by the Tsunami a few years back. But has since recovered, and very well. There is a main road that runs parallel to the beach with tonnes of shops and restuarants. There are so many tourists here it is unbelievable, there are more blond people here than in Toronto!
You could never tell this area suffered from such a devastating Tsunami only 2 years ago. The restaurants, some of them quite posh, are lavishly decorated and can seat large numbers of people. There is a Nike shop, and McDonalds, and tonnes of biker bars and cafes.
We spent most of our two days here scooting around the city and vegging out at the beach. This place is more about people watching than actual sight seeing. On Sunday night, we went to the main Bangla Rd., which is closed off for pedestrians. There are mostly bars that line the street, and people soliciting you the whole way down. They sell things from cigarettes to tailor suits to Ping Pong shows(sex shows). Thailand also seems to have a substantial population of what they call "ladyboys" which are really just drag queens. They stand on the street in thongs, high heels and feathers and try to get you to watch their burlesque shows. We've been tempted to go just for the hell of it, but it's too expensive. This place really comes alive after dark. The restaurants fill up, the "Thai girls" start lining up in front of the bars trying to get guys to come in and spend all their money there. It's a pretty awesome spectacle. Needless to say Patong Beach is more for "mature" travellers, there are very few kids here I've noticed.
Ray has rented a scooter for the 3 days we've been here. Last night he parked on the wrong side of the street and his bike got chained. He had to pay the police 500 baht to unlock it! It's funny, we were joking that he managed to get a parking ticket halfway around the world too! Anyways, tomorrow off to Koh Phi Phi for relaxing, snorkelling and diving.