Phuket -- what's in a name?

The owners must have been up all night thinking of a name for this place. Hmmm, let's see, we're a resort and we're in Patong. Hmmmm ... Ooh, I know, Resort Patong. Hmm, no. C'mon let's think laterally folks. Um, hmmm ... Patong Resort? Yes, perfect! Genius!!!

In a way the name says a lot about this place. It is unpretentious and it does the job if you're looking for a comfortable and mid-range stay right slap-bang in the guts of Patong Beach. Walk out the back entry and you have shopping centres, restaurants, mini-marts, and massage joints ('MasssaaaaaAAAAGGGE!' a dozen girls chorus simultaneously). Walk out the front entry and you have shopping centres, restaurants, mini-marts, and massage joints ('MasssaaaaaAAAAGGGE!' a dozen girls chorus simultaneously).

If you're not distracted or sidetracked by the joys of the Bangla Road bars (Soi Eric is particularly fun, but each to their own), it's only about a two minute walk to the myriad of umbrellas that signal famed Patong Beach. Otherwise it might take you a couple of days to reach there.

This hotel must have been built some time ago. Not that it feels old, but certainly a little dated in style. But this is more than made up for by the space it affords. The corridors are wide enough for semi-trailers to drag race down, side by side. And the rooms, well, have a look at the photo for space (er, please ignore the boxer shorts in the bottom left corner which I just noticed. I think they belong to a previous guest). And what you can't see in this pic is the balcony -- I heard that the Superbowl final was once staged there. Jing jing! Well, it could've been, it's that darn large.

So nothing flash or fancy, but a comfy place to throw your head down and recover from rigourous bouts of swimming, bar-hopping, massaging and whatever-elsing.

For your information, I was up all night thinking of that last word.