Patong beach is one of the most popular beaches in Phuket with tourists and now the place is swarming with ladyboys. I was in Patong beach a few years ago and there were quite a few kathoeys working on the streets and in open bars at night but rarely would you see them in the day. Ladyboys are notoriously nocturnal creatures but on a recent trip to Phuket I noticed many kathoeys walking along the sandy strip of coast line and sitting on beach chairs on Patong beach. Even scattered throughout the popular market stalls and local tourist shops were numerous sexy looking ladyboys smiling at tourists as they strolled by.

Phuket has always been a regular hangout for working katoeys for as many years as it has been frequented with high volume tourist traffic. Since the tsunami that devastated Patong beach and other areas of Phuket at the end of 2004, the area has been steadily growing back to its usual hot spot for water sports enthusiasts, fitness freaks, drinkers, party goers, men chasing bar girls and of course ladyboy lovers. Now in 2007 the place is cranking again and overall it looks a lot cleaner and more organized than it did before the Boxing Day tsunami.

Many Thai people are afraid of evil spirits and many of them would never visit Phuket after so many people lost their lives there a couple of years back. However, it certainly hasn’t kept away the ladyboy population, there are more ladyboys in Phuket than ever before. The local katoeys are smart and they know where the money is and there are serious tourist dollars flooding back into Phuket.

While I was in Phuket last week, just after I had finished lunch one day, I asked a group of ladyboys I saw standing just up by the road next to Patong beach why they were out so early in the day and why are there so many ladyboys in Phuket at the moment? After they all gave me the Bangkok handshake by grabbing me between the legs (this is normal ladyboy behavior in Thailand and best just to let them have their fun) they went on to explain that so many ladyboys have come from places like Pattaya and Bangkok to make money as it’s the new boom area in Thailand for ladyboy lovers. It seems a lot of people are heading to Phuket and away from overcrowded Bangkok and want to swim in cleaner beaches than the often dirty beaches of the Pattaya area and of course everyone knows that tourists have money and this is exactly why many katoey working “girls” are making Phuket their home.

So all of this makes sense but why are you walking around in the hot sun in the middle of the day I asked them. What they told me I found rather interesting and a bit funny. They said that many older rich men like to drink in bars around the beach and on the beach during the day and these older guys are easier to pick up during the daylight hours. They told me many of the younger guys like to pick up ladyboys at night in the local bars around Patong but the younger guys want to have harder sex and don’t pay as much money. The old timers spend more time talking, less time screwing and pay more money for much less work and wear and tear on their body.

I found this very fascinating and it lead me to ask the obvious question. So do you girls prefer to work in the day to make better money and rest at night? The answer they gave me was in typical ladyboy style and didn’t shock me a bit. They said that before they only worked at night but now they can sometimes pick up good money through the day, they now work day and night and sleep when they can.

Some of the kathoeys told me they work in Pattaya for some months of the year and spend the rest of their time in Phuket. One very tall and obviously oversexed ladyboy, she kept trying to shove her hand down the front of my pants even though I told her repeatedly that I only wanted to talk, said she worked in Pattaya for almost 2 years in and around the very popular Walking Street ladyboy bar called Jenny Star Bar but now she lives permanently in Phuket and says she makes twice as much money as she did in Pattaya. So it seems Phuket is back on the map when it comes to finding ladyboy love or perhaps I should say ladyboy lust.