Wednesday 5 November 2014

Goa, India VS Phuket, Thailand

Goa vs Phuket

October 26, 2014 at 8:55pm
Phuket Thailand VS Goa India

Now my previous holiday / excursion / budget trip I went to Phuket - thailand, and I recently came back from Goa India, so now I shall compare the two budget tourist destinations, just in case you’ve wondered which you should go for

So I am a 35 year old male looking for a good time while seeing beautiful places and meeting and doing weird things and people and partying obz...

So I will compare some basic things people will look for in a travel destination as well as both being in the 5 cheapest destinations that I have searched for, they are basically a few kays from one another and the same in many ways, so it would be either or, so here goes

Traffic, taxi’s and scooters – Goa wins, lower traffic and congestion and almost no air pollution compared to Phuket whom gave me a nasty lung infection last time I was there, that being said the Thai’s do behave and drive much more respectively that the Indians who has no idea how an indicator works and uses a horn instead, I also drove like a madman in Phuket without any issues,, I had a terrible scooter accident in Goa, due to the small curvy and very dark roads at night – Goa +1

Accommodation – Roughly the same price – same types of room, only a fan a western toilet and no TV for about U$ 20 – 40 per night, with A/C double that price, this is low cost accom not hotels... the big issue is the mattress, in Goa you can forget about sleeping on one, you get a type of a bamboo mattress extremely uncomfortable, where in Phuket you will get a perfectly normal mattress, Phuket +1

Drinks – Again basically the same price, but the kingfisher beer has nothing on Phuket’s local different kinds of brew,, now there is also fenny and you get local brew in Phuket (Mampoer), both are about as tasty as paraffin, but if your low on bucks what else can you do, I would have to give availability of the fenny to Goa, and the beer to Phuket, so it’s a draw

Women – Hands down Phuket sorry Indian women, Thais are fucking gorgeous, and the Russians who party there just seem more attractive and of a higher class than those in Goa. You can easily hire a prostitute in Phuket or get a happy ending in a massage parlour, where in Goa you won’t find anything, you will have to fork out some bucks to get a bitchy Russian drunk to drop her knickers Phuket +1

Party scenes – This is a tough one, and probably comes down to what you like, if your into beach parties and trance – Goa, If you like big clubs and bars with popular music gorgeous Thais shaking their near bare asses on the bar just for you, a huge street of walking from bar to bar, club to club it is really a sight to behold – Phuket +1

Locals – Goa has the friendlier people, but it seemed their punters selling shit on the roads are more aggressive with their prices and will try and sell you about anything for 5 times the prices, also look out for scammers – like a professional ear cleaner charging you a shit load of bucks to remove wax and rocks from your ears, in Phuket the constant screaming of “Taxi” and “Massage” drives you insane daily – draw

Prices – I would have to say on food Phuket wins, you get a much wider variety, Booze, Goa wins but the quality sucks, accommodation, Goa I found far more affordable places to stay than in Phuket and it is easier to find, and Goa is just a bit cheaper on clothing and jewely arts and crafts which are amazing – Goa +1

Scenery – Phuket itself is a huge industrial city with skyscrapers, bars clubs and a 7 eleven on every corner, so it’s far more modern, where Goa – is a village setup. No big buildings just hundreds of thousands of small shanty type of local garage spaces, selling whatever they do, with supermarkets a long drive from each other to get the essentials is quite hard, tiny roads which I found to be very dangerous at night with no lights and a lot of drunk drivers with no compassion big trucks racing down a one way lane. Phuket also has the better beaches by far, the scenery is immaculate, Goa is disgustingly strewed with rubble everywhere whilst Phuket has certain places that are filthy, but never the beaches, whilst in Goa the anjuna beach was littered with plastic bottles and all sorts of shit, you can take you scooter and drive into the wild oceanic forest and escape life in Phuket whilst you won’t get very far before getting irritated in Goa, a few spot do exist but they are mostly hard to find or kept secret – Phuket +1 +1 bonus

Comfort ability and ease of access - Pharmacies are everywhere in Phuket, not in Goa, small local shops carry some things but don’t expect a wide variety and expect to drive a few kays to get to them, ATM’s if you stay in heart of anjuna or other big touristy places this should not be an issue, but like me a budget traveller getting a place 20 kays from the beach to save bucks, forget about it,, Always carry some monies on you for fuel, just in case – Phuket +1

The people – In Goa you will find a hell of a lot of gangs of Wealthy Indian (Not Goan) men who came to swim in their jeans in the ocean and get wasted trying to score I don’t know who with? Then you get your English and Russians as I said before but the quality of sexiness is just nothing to compare, mostly hippie type chicks with dreadlocks and feminist anti shaving laws,,There is a huge expat hippy community of old people hanging out in their wierd clothes and dancing with the young ones,,, Phuket again has too many bloody Russians it’s like they took over the places but they are super hot, wearing clothes your mother would not be proud of, in areas you will find more of them than local Thais, and the locals are local, you won’t find hordes of Thai holiday makers freaking you out with their absurd behavior – Phuket +1

The green stuff – Goa wins this one hands down due to availability, quality and just the ease of being able to toke anywhere without getting parras of being locked up for life, the locals all smoke or chew cannabis, not really frowned upon and cheap good stuff Goa+1

General holiday feeling, activities and atmosphere – Goa is small village who is overrun with a million tourists every season, cramped not a lot to do and see, Phuket has been doing this for a lot longer and you can spend your monies on just about any type of water sport, activity or Thai masseuse you want, or go on a island excursion so much to do so little money,, hehe – Phuket +1

Festivities – Again Phuket has the upper hand, with loads of different western festivals for Christmas, the new season etc etc aswell as beach parties and and all the food stalls on the beach give you a real grandeur experience and the bars are overflowing with people just in the mood the party, Goa only has trance parties on the beach, some of the best in the world, but the bars are built up every season and torn down every season, scruffy and over priced,, awesome that you can smoke a phat one in the bar without anyone batting an eye, but its just not the same i give this one to Phuket +1

Now to tally up the scores
Goa - 3
Phuket – 9

Well there you have it,, if I had to go back I’d much purchase a ticket to slightly more expensive Phuket Thailand than Goa India in a heartbeat, but maybe you like arts crafts lazing on the beach with the smell of holy cow shit in the air, crazy people and in the nights tripping your ass off,, you decide