Living / Working / Exploring Phuket around the 14th of April

Although all the beach bars have been removed from the beaches by the military, there is still some atmosphere left. Do check out Naithon beach, which is relatively unspoilt. You will need to hire a motorbike or car to get around, as its a big island and it takes over 1hr.15 mins to drive from one end to the other. Its quite populated and touristic. Naiyang is more a backpacker beach (next to Naithon). Patong is crazy and sleezy. Watch your budget as its not a cheap place to live. The easiest place for visa runs is to take the bus to Malaysia and stay a week or so there. I am not sure how short a time you can be outside the country and get a reasonable length of stay endorsed into your passport. At some point the weather will deteriorate on the Phuket side (August-November) and you may want to explore elsewhere say on the east coast or up country to Chiang Mai etc. You can also easily get to Vietnam and Cambodia from this part of the world.