Is 29,265 The Number?

Talking with a colleague back in NZ many years ago, he told me of his adventures to Thailand in the late '80s and of all of the naughty things he had got up to. I was staggered when he told me sordid stories of all of the women he had met. I asked
him the obvious question, "Are there really that many girls available?"

He replied, "There are armies of them. Even a blind man could find them"! And he was right.

No-one can argue that there is a huge number of hookers in Thailand, but no-one can agree on the actual number. At one end of the scale you get the nonsensically low figure of 60,000, while at the other end of the scale you get the equally nonsensically
high of 3,000,000! The true number clearly lies somewhere in between. Working out the total number of hookers in Thailand would not be that difficult, but frankly, that number is not of a lot of interest. What is perhaps more interesting is the
number of girls who work in bar areas that specifically target Westerners. That is a much more interesting figure, and one which can be estimated more easily.

Outside of the most well-known spots – Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket, there are the "secondary areas" like Ko Samui, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai. Naughty bars with girls can be found in other touristy areas like Ko Samet and Ko Chang. And then you
get into the places where relatively small numbers of Western holidaymakers venture, but where there are enough Western guys living locally to sustain a few naughty bars. This would include Songkhla, Udon Thani and Khon Kaen.

So just how many Thai girls work in bars where they are primarily available to Western men? When asked this figure in the past I have ventured the figure of 35,000, but perhaps it's time to try and work it out more accurately.

Bangkok

Let's have a look at Bangkok first. There are the three main bar areas of Patpong, Soi Cowboy, and Nana Plaza.

Nana Plaza has 32 bars, but only 28 of them have women available. Remember, Nana Plaza is katoey central and there are four bars where all you'll find are transsexuals. My best guess is that there is an average of perhaps 45 girls per bar in Nana.
That is 1,260 girls. In the past the number would have been a fair bit higher. A lot of the bars seem to have fewer girls now than they did say 5 years ago. This is probably best explained by the fact that there are many more bars in Bangkok these
days meaning more options in terms of places to work.

Soi Cowboy has a similar number of bars, but there would have to be fewer girls there than Nana. There are not so many big bars, and a couple of hole in the wall types. With the number of bars on Soi Cowboy totaling 30, I estimate an average of about
35 girls per bar, although that is perhaps a little on the high side when you factor in the likes of the tiny Pam's Bar. Assuming 35 girls per bar, that would make a total of about 1,050 girls. That's got to be in the ball park.

Patpong is perhaps the easiest bar area in Bangkok to estimate numbers. Most of the gogo bars are medium in size and have a similar number of girls employed. You do not have a lot of really big bars but there are a few of the smaller bars on the second
Patpong Soi, which have only a small number of girls. There are about 50 bars spread over the two Patpong sois and the average number of available girls would again be around 35 in each bar, meaning a total of perhaps 1,750 girls, making it the
most populous of Bangkok's major bar areas.

But don't think that's the end of Bangkok. We've barely started! Soi 33 has grown greatly in the last couple of years and yesterday I counted 27 bars which directly target Western customers. There are a number of bars which specifically
target Japanese but I didn't include them in my count. Most of the bars are around the same size with the exception of The Office which is far and away the biggest in both size and the number of employees. The average number of girls in the
bars in Soi 33 is probably around 25, making a total number of 675 girls. Sounds a little high, doesn't it? Remember, quite a few of the Soi 33 bars have two shifts, so actually, this number might even be a little light.

Bangkok may not be famous for beer bars like Pattaya, but there are more than you may think. There are more than you realise on Sukhumvit Soi 4, as well as a few on both Sois 6 and 8. Sukhumvit Soi 7/1 has mushroomed and in that soi alone there must be
well over 100 girls. We cannot forget Washington Square as well as Sukhumvit Sois 20, 22 and 23, all of which have a large number of beer bars. Of course there is the complex in Queens Park which must have approaching 30 beer bars. Let's
not forget Soi Zero or Sukhumvit Square. How many bars would that be in total? I dare say there are more than 100, so let's settle at 120. The average number of girls per beer bar would probably be about 10. So that's 1,200 girls in
Bangkok's beer bars.

We can't forget the freelancer joints. With Nana Disco, the Biergarten, the Thermae at one end of the scale, along with the girls who frequent the more expensive spots, the likes of the Hard Rock Cafe, Spasso's and CM2, there has to be at least
1,000 freelancers in Bangkok. Actually, there are probably many more. That number sounds far too low. Let's go for 1,500.

So, the estimate of the total number of working girls in Bangkok who specifically target Westerners, excluding the Japanese, is in excess of 6,000 ladies. That's a lot of ladies, and while Bangkok might have the reputation for naughty nightlife,
the number of ladies working here cannot be anywhere near the number employed in Pattaya…

Pattaya

It is said that there are over 50 gogo bars in the Walking Street area alone. I tried to name them all and got to about 30 – but then did a search online and found many more. Away from Walking Street, more gogos can be found in Soi Pattayaland 2, as well
as around Sois 7 and 8. There are some in Soi Post Office and one or two near Big C, as well as one or two on the Second Road. Cripes, there is even a gogo bar on the ground floor of one of Pattaya's largest apartment buildings. To keep the
numbers even, let's say there are 80 gogo bars in Pattaya.

Now working out an average number of girls per gogo bar is never going to be easy. You have the big bars like Peppermint which must have over 100 girls, then you have the smaller bars which may have only 15 dancers. Still, there are a lot of medium to
large gogo bars in Pattaya and at an average, I'd say the number of girls per gogo bar could be as high as about 45 – 50. Let's make it 50. So, 80 gogo bars at 50 girls a bar, is about 4,000 gogo girls. Wow, that's a lot!

But the gogo bars pale in comparison when we look at the number of beer bars. To keep things simple, let's include not just the beer bars, but those bars in the style of Soi 6 too. Just how many such bars are there in Pattaya? I really cannot imagine
just how many there are. They're everywhere! There are huge blocks of beer bars in almost every neighbourhood, around every corner. And in one block you can find as many as 20 bars, sometimes more. How many blocks of bars are there? 60? 70?
To keep things simple, let's say that there are about 1,000 beer bars in the greater Pattaya area. I have a funny feeling that if anything, I may have underestimated. 1,000 sounds like a big number, but these bars are everywhere!

So, 1,000 beer bars. How many girls are there in each bar? This is a tricky question as a number run from late morning i.e. 10 or 11 AM, through to early morning, 3 AM or thereabouts. That means two shifts of girls, although the day shift is usually small
in number. Some of the beer bars, like the Wonderful Bar, can have a large number of staff, perhaps 50 or more, whereas some of the bars may have as few as 5 or 6. Estimating an average number of girls per bar is very difficult, especially in
Pattaya where a lot of girls get taken out on long-term barfines, so you seldom see the full team on duty at any one time. My best guess would be that there is an average of around 12 girls per beer bar. So, 1,000 bars, with 12 girls each, means
around 12,000 girls in the beer bars.

Just like Bangkok, Pattaya has a sizeable freelancer scene. These girls can be seen on the Beach Road, and in the freelancer joints like Tony's, Marine Disco etc. Not all of these girls are freelancers, Many are actually staff from other bars who
are looking to be picked up at the end of the night. How many are genuine freelancers? I'd say 1,000 but that figure might be a long way out. It's my best guess.

So, a guess at the number of girls working in Pattaya sees 4,000 gogo girls, 12,000 beer bar girls and 1,000 freelancers for a total of around 17,000 working girls in the farang sector of the market in Pattaya. I'm including Nakleua and Jomtien here
to keep it easy. No doubt readers in Pattaya will tell me that I got these figures horribly wrong!

Phuket

I may have visited Phuket twice this year, but as far as the nightlife goes down there I'm at a bit of a loss to estimate just how many bars there are, and how many girls they employ. I'm fairly comfortable with the number for Soi Cowboy, which
is a bit over 1,000. In Soi Bangla there has to be way more girls than that. In Soi Bangla and the surrounding areas, all of Patong Beach I guess, there must be about 2,000 girls. And then there are girls on other parts of the island. Karon Beach
has a number of bars, Kata has a few and I believe even the likes of Rawai, Chalong and Kamala have girly bars. So, let's say 2,000 for Patong – a lot of freelancers there I noticed – and perhaps another 500 or so for the other beaches. 2,500
for Phuket sounds about right.

Ko Samui

Down there recently, I didn't see a lot of working girls. There is a bar area on Chaweng Beach, a single lane leading down to the Green Mango Disco, with bars and perhaps 150 girls. The recently closed gogo bar is presumably the biggest employer,
but I never saw just how big it was. There were a few other bars on the main road. There's a freelance scene for sure, and I'm told there is a beer bar complex at Lamai as well as a freelancer scene there. At a guess, perhaps 500 girls
all up?

Hua Hin

New bars have slowly popped up here and there in Hua Hin and there are more working girls there than one may first realise. A very conservative guess would put the number at about 300, but like with Samui, I think I am on the light side with this number.

Other Areas

There are of course bar areas in various other centres, particularly provincial capitals, where girls work in bars which specifically target Western guys. Chiang Mai has more than a few bars and I hear that Chiang Rai does too. I've never been there
myself so cannot confirm it. Ko Chang had a naughty bar when I was there 5 years ago that has apparently grown into a full beer bar area. As is to be expected with most of the girls coming from that region, Isaan has some growing bar areas, with
the bar area in Udon Thani said to be the biggest of them. My best guess is that there is probably another 1,500 or so girls employed in such areas.

We have to remember that the number of girls working in a bar in any one night is not the total number of girls employed by that bar. On a quiet night it may only be as many as 50%. The girls don't go into work every day, they may be on long term
barfines, they may be upcountry with family or they may have been barfined that night already.

So, the Stickman estimate is as follows:

So, what do you think? Is this number in the ball park – or is it miles out? I'd say it is probably accurate to within about 20%, meaning the actual number could be anywhere from 24,000 – 35,000. That's a lot of ladies!

Where WAS THIS PICTURE taken?

Last week's picture was taken of the New Orleans Restaurant in Soi Pattayaland 2. Very few people got it right. There are three prizes, awarded to the first three people who get the picture right. The first prize is a 500 baht credit at Tony's Bar and prizes 2 and 3 are a 600 baht dinner voucher for 2 at Sin in Sukhumvit Soi 4. The prizes are only available to people in Thailand now – either residents or tourists, and must be redeemed within 2 weeks. You MUST say that you are in Bangkok and able to claim the prize or I will consider you ineligible. If you do not explicitly mention you are local or that you will be in town in the next two weeks, you cannot claim a prize.

FROM STICKMAN'S EMAIL INBOX

Canada's jurisdiction is worldwide.

Where can one find peace and quiet?

A flawed maths lesson.

If you want to study with older students…

It isn't a common scam, yet.

Who was the lawyer?!

Coffee, or Stickman, for breakfast?!

Pretty Lady in Nana Plaza has opened its doors again. Initially only about half of the bar's former dancers were there, the other half remain scattered around the plaza in other establishments, but they seem to have come running back to their old
place of work and the bar is back into full swing.

There has been a lot of speculation about the girls who dance upstairs in Baccara Bar in Soi Cowboy. If you've never been, or never noticed, they're worth a look. Baccara is full of Japanese guys and the girls dancing in there have that look
that the Japanese guys like, small framed, fair skinned, slim, but with a chest. And it is their chests that are the subject of scrutiny. It has been mooted that a number of these girls, as small-framed as they are, have actually had boob jobs.
Subtle boob jobs. What do you think?

Remember that mamasan who was fired from Boesche in Pattaya a month or two back after a substantial amount of money went missing? It would appear that her and her cadre of lookers went to The Blue Lagoon, a newish gogo in a condo complex
in South Pattaya. Mysteriously enough, money started going missing there too! Word on the street has it that they were pocketing barfines and claiming the girls were never barfined at all! Both mamasans at Blue Lagoon have now been fired.
The latest is that they might have resurfaced at Nui's Club 2.

The flower girls of Sukhumvit have had a bad rap in this column for being a pain to all and sundry. Not only are they dreadfully rude and obnoxious, they are also trained thieves, expert at pick pocketing in an area where there are a number of foreigners
with wallets jam-packed with cash – and let's not forget that almost everyone has a mobile these days too. There have been no shortage of reports from guys being pick-pocketed in the Nana part of Sukhumvit – and the finger is always pointed
at these flower girls. As expert as they are, you can't get away with it forever and late afternoon Monday the police caught up with two flower girls at the mouth of Sukhumvit soi 7 who had boosted the belongings of a farang. One little girl
was captured while the other miraculously managed to make it into a taxi and get away. Bystanders mooted that they were Cambodian kids. Of course, Thai kids would never dream of such a thing… It does pay to be careful in that area – pick pocketing
and petty crime is definitely on the increase.

And still in the Nana area or thereabouts, the renovations at the Biergarten in Soi 7 are coming along nicely. The venue looks much more comfortable than it used to, though I notice that it is still home to the same girls.

After months of hanging it all out on display, something has happened and the bars at Cowboy weren't displaying anything at all some days this week. Did someone overstep the mark? Or perhaps there were some dignitaries coming to town? Word on the
street is that it is but a momentary blip.

And Midnite Bar, which has recently been doing its best it imitate itself of 5 years ago, had no naked dancers to be found at all.

And they're up to some dodgy tricks at Midnite too. One regular reader reported that he paid a 70 baht bill with a 100 baht note and when his change back it was in 5 baht coins which were stuck to the tray with glue! That is an old Patpong scam from
years back.

SuperStar Bar in Patpong has returned to its former glory with the restocking of the bar with a new group of dancers and the help of some new management.

In a case of "newbie madness", a farang stripped off his clothes and got into a thong bikini borrowed from one of the dancers in Club Electric Blue on Friday night and took to the stage doing his best moves for the world to see.
The bikini bottom was so small his family jewels were hanging out on both sides split by the tiny bikini. It was pandemonium as half the dancers ran away from his antics and the other half were trying to imitate his earlier moves of copping a
free feel.

Ricky of Babewatch confirmed why he is one of the most popular bar managers. A reader stopped in at Ricky's Babewatch in Pattaya a week or so back and to cut a long story short, he barfined a lass and took her back to his hotel. In the
room he said "I go shower" and she says, "I go dancing" – and she bolts out the door! The next day, he goes to see Ricky and explains what happened. Ricky talks to the girl to get her side of the story. The girl claimed that
the gent had only offered to pay her 500 baht, so she left, which was complete nonsense. Ricky' s comment was that that was no way to treat a customer and he returned the customer's barfine. And the biggest surprise of all, the girl
in question came over and apologised. Ricky deserves kudos for the way it was handled.

Babewatch's dance contest held last Sunday was a great success. For a rainy Sunday night it was very well attended and several times during the night it was standing room only for the latecomers. The girls really got into the spirit of things and
a few played to the audience with their enthusiasm. Many of the contestants went all out to win, even bringing special costumes for the night. Feedback from customers suggests it was a roaring success so Ricky will be holding the next contest
on June 18. Mark your diaries.

It's not just Catz in Pattaya which is firing girls with an attitude. Coyote's over the past few weeks has sacked EIGHT of their girls for basically being bitches. The most common knock on Coyote's was that the bar's reputation is
that of a bar with gorgeous women who think their shit don't stink. Apparently, the bosses at Coyote's have heard this all too often and actually are trying to change the atmosphere of the bar. Well done!

Pattaya's relatively quiet. As I understand it, Cobra Gold has ended. But rather than leaving the city empty, it has added to the number of servicemen (overwhelming US troops) frequenting local bars and gogos. They apparently have more time off now
for R & R. Having completed the joint military exercises and contributing their time to a number of local charities, the GIs now have a few days to enjoy the good life in Pattaya.

Nevertheless, most drinking joints and working girls are still hurting for customers. Even when GIs are out in strong numbers, they are not big spenders. Many walk around with bottled water – which they continue to sip even when in bars.
Little objection is voiced because some in their parties do drink.

The good news from Pattaya this week – as best as can be made out, no farangs were killed.

The San Miguel Asian 9-Ball tour will hold a tournament in Bangkok from June 2 – 4 in Central Bangna. Tickets are available at Ball In Hand Times Square, with the 3-day set costing a very reasonable 300 baht. Call Ball In Hand Times Square (02-653-0889)
for additional information. An after tournament party will be held June 4th in Ball In Hand Times Square. ESPN and all players participating in the tournament including Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Chao Fong Pang, 16-year old World Champion
sensation Wu Chia Chins and Yang Ching Shun will be there. There will be 6 exhibition games with the top 4 players in the Bangkok leg matching wits with local players. You can go and play against Efren Reyes and the other top professionals, or
watch as they do battle with our local talent. Autographs will be available. There will be live music, free food, and no entry fee! And as an added bonus, the stellar Brunswick Metro tables used during the San Miguel tournament in Bangkok will
be available for purchase after the tournament on June 4th. Contact Henning Nilsen at 01-9178530 if you are interested.

If you're new to Bangkok and find yourself in the naughty bars, you might be tempted to find a companion for the evening. Just think twice about where you take her. While there are some guys who do it, taking girls back to your apartment is not a
good idea at all. It might seem like the easiest, cheapest, and most convenient thing to do, but it really is a bad idea. First of all, every staff member in your apartment / condo building will know that you are taking hookers back there and
you will immediately drop a few notches in their estimation of you. Secondly, if you have any problems, getting an irate woman out of your place can be very difficult. I've heard some really awful stories about this sort of thing. A Thai
guy would never ever take a hooker back to his own residence. Remember, Bangkok is a city full of short-time hotels and there are many such places around all of the nightlife areas – and the girls know where they all are even if you don't.
Apartments and condos are for girlfriends and wives, not hookers.

From the Northeastern metropolis of Korat comes word that in the same hotel where Nong Nat used to work, there is a club called The Harem. Novel name that! Yep, Nong Nat is no longer there….so sad. Anyway, this new club is said to be very interesting.
For a steep 800 baht, punters pick a girl who then leads them to a private room and performs a dance completely nude. This is a sell for a bit more and word has it that for 2,000 baht gets you that even more. Pricey, especially
for somewhere like Korat.

I am often asked questions about work in Thailand and where one is required to have a work permit. Some guys play the stock markets or are currency traders. Other guys sell stuff on EBay. There are guys who export and a number of other common themes,
but the question is always the same. Do I need a work permit? Technically yes, but at the end of the day, who is to know? If you are working solo, and are unsure as to how long you will be doing it for, it can actually be something of a hassle
to get yourself legal. Even well-intentioned guys have found that they are better off flaunting the law, than going down the work permit path. I reckon there are more guys working in Thailand without work permits, than with. Keeping a low profile is the most important thing.

This past week I have bumped into three different farang real estate agents, and managed to have a chat with each of them about the property market. All three confirm that the market is not just quiet, it's dead! Apparently there are few sales and
even some of the big name projects under construction are not seeing (m)any sales. Mmmm, where is the market going…?!

Ask the Sticks

Mrs. Stick is here to answer questions surrounding anything that confuses you in Thailand, particularly issues of the heart. Please note that for general bargirl related questions, Mr. Stick might answer them. It has to be said that Mrs. Stick is not your stereotypical Thai woman. She simply offers the perspective of one Thai woman. She is not Buddhist and she is not shy to criticise things about her own country and culture, although having said that, she remains proud to be Thai. Mr. Stick will try and answer the questions which Mrs. Stick is not so sure about. Please do try and limit the length of questions to Mrs. Stick to about 100 words. We get many questions that are entire stories of several hundred words which I'm afraid are just too long to run here.

Question 1: I am perplexed by the behavior of my Thai lady. I have been with her for about a year. She is a former freelancer from Bangkok. The thing I don't get is that she does not like to kiss me. It's not my breath, trust me. I think it is just an old habit from not wanting to kiss too many customers, but I don't get it? I understand Thai girls don't like public displays of affection. But even in bed, she does not like to kiss? Is this normal of Thai girls, or should I say ex-working girls? She offers no reason. Thank you for your input.

Mrs. Stick says: I think this is something which is personal to her, a personal habit. This question reminds me of the movie "Pretty Woman" where Julia Roberts said she didn't want to kiss anyone because that was more than sex. Perhaps that is the case here? You need to ask her directly about this and see what she says. To answer your question, this is not something common with all Thai women.

Question 2: I have been with my girl for two years and she was a virgin when I met her (she was 28) from a rural southern family. I am thinking of leaving her because things are not working out but am worried that the family would want some payoff as I promised to marry her. Would her brothers come and harm me or something or would it be ok? I haven't cheated on her or anything I have just had enough of her. As a foreigner you just don't know. Am I being paranoid?

Mrs. Stick says: As she comes from a rural family which will likely be very conservative, they will definitely be concerned about their daughter's lost virginity. She'd been a good girl for a long time before she met you, and you promised to marry her, so leaving her is a very big deal. If you are thinking of leaving her, in my opinion you should give her some money. It is going to be hard for her because she is going to be judged by her family, her friends, and the neighbours. She will also feel very bad herself and her confidence will be very low. While the money cannot prevent that, it will show to her that you care and that you realise that leaving her after everything is going to leave her in a difficult situation.

My mobile phone died earlier this week. I was out at Ramkhamhaeng at the time so I dropped it into a repair shop and went away for a coffee. Rather than reading the newspaper, I sat and watched the world go by. With a couple of universities in the area, "Ram" is a great place for eye candy. An hour later I picked up the phone and headed home. By the time I got home it had stopped working again. Since then the phone has been dead – and rather than be a nuisance, it has been blissful! I often turn my phone off for hours at a time, but having no phone for a few days has been GREAT! I've never liked the way a mobile phone is a direct line into your life, wherever you happen to be. Now obviously this is exacerbated by the fact that I lead a busy lifestyle, but this aside, the peace and quiet from having the mobile off is rather nice. Such a shame that I will have to get it replaced in the next day or two.

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick