Owning a bar on a tropical island - it is really a dream?

In a good year, more than four million people visit Phuket in Thailand. Many of these visitors will love it. Some so much that they love living here.

Each year, thousands of people come to Phuket in the hope of a new life on a tropical island. Many of them earn a living and soon discover that the employment opportunities for foreigners are very limited. So, what are their options? Well, one of the most likely to invest in theirBusiness. And what is the easiest way to do business? Owning a bar.

For many it sounds like a dream. A life on a tropical island, beach days and evening in the bar. But the reality match the dream?

It 's something I do when I arrived in Phuket. I checked the options, talked with the agents, bar owners, bar girls. In the end I decided that it was worth it.

I was new in Phuket and naïve to manypitfalls, the bar owners, but expect even then I could see there were many problems with the owner of a bar in Phuket. First, 'have a Bar' is misleading, since they are almost certain to lease and probably very adverse conditions.

It 'hard to lead a decent life with a bar and, in fact, not to make the most of the first two years. Even if your bar makes money, the state of work are probably illegal. The laws in Thailand are stacked against foreign ownership of a smallBusiness.

As all these things for me were not my biggest concern. The biggest factor in turning me away from the bar was owned by a lifestyle. I know quite a few bar owners and when I looked at his life, I knew it was not for me. It 's just a life of shit.

Do not get me wrong. I love a night on the beer. Even more nights on the beer. But having to do every night at the bar the same for a job? Would soon lose its appeal not to mention the obvious healthProblems that go with such a lifestyle.

Since I made the decision to leave the bar business, but not one second when I looked back and have regrets. I know that many bar owners and see some friends, but never to envy their lives. Recently, the premature death of one of those friends really drove home for me.

He was not yet 50 years. He owned a bar in one of the Sois (side streets) to Soi Bangla in Patong. It was a nice guy, easy andjust to talk. Although I have not seen more than once a week, we have always had a good conversation and he was one of my favorite bar owner.

Compared to last year, he had some health problems. It 'been hospitalized several times and the advice of doctors was loud and clear - stop drinking!

The problem is that it is very difficult to drink when you're a bar owner to stop. The two things to bring customers for these children are girls and the bar owner. And often girlsdoes not work very well if the owner is not there.

Regular customers like to have a chat with the owner. Often, if the owner fails because it is only for the next measurement. It 'easy to work for these bars, the owner must be there most of the time.

So my friend could not drink soft drinks? Now he did it for a few days, but it was the boredom. They spend the evening sitting in your bar, with loud music bombing that these complexes seem to think is a good BarDrinking atmosphere. For most of the evening you can not clients, but you got there just in case. You can watch TV, but you can not hear. His only company is the bar girl, well off the annoying to the time or have a free drink.

And when customers arrive, they want to get drunk, and they want you to drink with them. Of course it is good for customers. If you are on vacation, they will only do so for two weeks before returning to theirregular life. The bar owner has night after night, year after year.

They offer to buy a drink and not to accept a bad deal. If you want to maintain discipline and stay sober at night is unbearable. Drunks are a lot of fun if you're drunk with them. If you're sober, there's nothing worse than trying to laugh at their silly ramblings.

So despite the warnings of the doctor, my friend was drinking too early. It 's just with the territory, possession of abar, you're going to drink a lot.

It all started with my friend. He had a bad motorcycle accident. He has never drunk driving, but motorcycle accidents happen easily. He resigned too early ignored doctor. The next meeting has been drinking too much for a body that was tired. He died in his sleep.

The crazy thing is that it does not even need cash. He had worked hard in his homeland and was able to retire. I and othersFriends had tried to persuade him to give up. The problem was, was one of the few that the hosts do a good profit, and he was struggling to get out of a good deal. In the end he was too good, a bar owner for his own good.

The strange thing is that you realize most people who are now in bars in Phuket for a better lifestyle. They want to live in a tropical island paradise. Phuket is their dream home and features a bar, because here in order to finance their lives.The problem is that it has a bar, it is expected the participation of 'island.

Most bar owners up in the morning with a hangover. Laze their apartment budget to shake off the hangover until they start to go to the bar and return to work. They could do it anywhere. Phuket beaches, islands and other tourist attractions are irrelevant to the bar owner, because they can barely see.

I know a couple of bar owners, do not even know there was aTsunami until the evening, if they have to work. I know others who, after three years have not seen Phuket at Patong Phang Nga Bay, Phi Phi Islands, Nai Yang Beach, Nai Harn Beach, in fact, more than a few miles from anywhere.

I would absolutely not take potential bar owner. I just want to open only the eyes, the kind of life they are buying. I think for the right kind of character, under the right circumstances, is a preferred option. They areyoung, you can use this way of life much better. I know when I'm in my twenties, I drank a lot and was always able to shake was ready for the next meeting. As you get older, reducing their forces for a recovery.

For those looking for a few years and ready to party, you are in and out, who owns a bar in Phuket is a decent choice. If you're the kind of discipline where you can go get drunk at the bar and entertainment customers, without every night, then maybe youis for you. But as a long-term source of income - for most people is not only worth the sacrifice.

Another, a bar owner friend has decided to sell after some years in the industry. He was a young boy and his bar made him a life. The problem was on the stage, where he had his bar had hated. He hated the night the same night position was sick and tired of dealing with the bar girls and their petty quarrels and the shit he was feeling tired all the time.

And hesold and get a good little profit. Only after selling the bar, he felt that the reason he found out shit all the time. It was not just the cat, which had masked the real problem. She had leukemia.

I'm not saying that owning a bar in fact caused his leukemia, but did not help her work around the body. What he did was put in a state of mind in which it was normal to feel sick all the time for reflection, and he accepted. Fortunately, he came inTime diagnosed, and had returned to his home where he was treated successfully.

Now everything is clear and that he hopes that day may move back to Thailand. Right now prohibit the regular check-ups. He says he now looks back in time in Phuket and he realized that he was in a rut. He had enough money to live, but could not save anything. His life was turned around its bar every night so that was not doing the things he did in Thailand in the firstPlace. He would never go back in the business bar in Patong.

To recap Sun If you are planning an owner of a bar in Patong, what can you expect here? Now you will spend most nights sitting in the bar waiting for customers and listening to horrible, loud music. They will fight to achieve a good profit. You must comply with the antics of your address bar girls with it. You can choose to spend your evenings either bored or drunk and sober and happy.

Suppose you go for the drunk andOption happy (most bar owners do), you will eventually pay for it. I do not know a single bar owner, who looks like a picture of health. It's a busy life, and if you do it long term, probably in a few years from your life expectancy.

They can deal with the attitude that work is always shit. And 'your shit in my house, it could also work in Phuket shit. Now fair enough, as long as you enter the bar business with his eyes open and with some pinkVision of days and nights on the beach celebrated.