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Back in 1994 when I first visited Phuket we found ourselves in Phuket Town in a bar with a local band playing a range of songs including House of the Rising Sun. Now as the only westerners in the bar we were called up to the stage to join the band on this song not once not twice but at least 3 times that night, despite the fact that we knew no more than 3 lines.

We paid our bill most of the way through the light then carried on drinking, but after about the fifth reprise we legged it on a motorbike taxi and went to our hotel. Despite sore heads the next day we still had chicken biryani for breakfast because the lonely planet book recommended it. To be fair it was good.

2 days later we were in Patong walking down the street when a guy starts shouting our names and comes over. We had no clue who he was but he tells us we were all drinking together and chatting in the bar in Phuket Town 2 nights previously and we were up-and-down singing with the band. He knew our names so we figured it must be true and we went and had a drink together. It was then that he told us about his sister who planned to move to England and work as a nurse, but his mum was really worried about it. Would we go back with him to his house, have lunch and meet his mum to help put her mind to rest about the UK.

At this point we had hired motorbikes so we were able to follow him to the house where we enjoyed? a lovely soup with load of fish heads in it but, surprise surprise it turns out his mum wasn’t there but his uncle was so he came down to meet us and have a chat. It just so happens that he was a croupier on a cruise ship that was going to be travelling between Australia and Tasmania which is somewhere we’ve already said we were heading to.

This is where they made their play. The suggested plan was that we the way go on the cruise ship and play poker with uncle’s money at his table where he was the croupier and he would ensure we win, then we split the profits. Sounds simple andno risk but it was a long way in the future and of course they asked us if we knew how to play poker. We hesitated so they said no problem, we can show you now and pulled out a packet of  cards. At that point we knew we had reached the end and all that could happen was them winning whatever money we had on us and maybe building a travellers cheque debt, so we suggested we were going to the toilet and legged it out of the back door. Scammers 0, us 1.

Patong was hugely affected by the Tsunami in 2004 and has been continuously developed since then, changing significantly since I was last there in 2008. It is a massive tourist resort and a busy working town so the traffic is near constant.

Bangla Road is now a full on assault on the senses with huge nightclubs and masses of people trying to steer you into them with drinks offers or more often flyers with details of sex shows. I missed how it used to be when you could move from one small bar to the next without hassle and it was still possible to chat over a classic Rock soundtrack.