When Joe Conrad opened his Vegas-style magic show in the central location of the Jungceylon shopping mall last year, he predicted that his was to be the first of many big-budget productions that could transform Patong, Phuket into the Las Vegas of Asia.

The eighth Phuket International Boat Show, still known by its origional initials, PIMEX, opened this morning at the Royal Phuket Marina with 86 exhibitors on the water and in the exhibition hall, a record number for the eight-year-old show. The total value of the boats on display exceeded 3 billion baht, said organisers Informa Yacht Group.

The Phuket International Boat Show (known as Pimex) keeps growing. And the boats on show keep getting bigger and more gorgeous. Topping this year’s list is the new Sunseeker 40-metre, which wowed the crowds when it was first seen at the Southampton International Boat Show in the UK in September.

It’s a circus tent and it’s the Ritz. It’s gourmet. It’s high opera and it’s chips, chips, chips, beer, beer,beer. It’s the Naughty Nineties (1890s, that is) and it’s the Terrific Tens (2010s). It’s absinthe and Toulouse Lautrec, or Coke and Norman Rockwell. And it’s not over until the fat lady sings.

Popular illusionist Joe Conrad is heading for Phuket’s Heart of Darkness, Patong. In fact he’s already here quite a bit of the time, overseeing creation of a 700-seat theatre in the Jungceylon complex

Phuket’s film festival may be dead, but fashion is very much alive, with more than 150 models and celebrities heading for the island for Phuket International Fashion Week, from June 24 to 30. There will be 21 fashion shows during the week, with the promise of concerts by 20 or more top artists every night – no names announced so far, although there is a strong rumour going round the Korean all-girl band Wonder Girls will be performing at some stage.