Return to Bangkok, Part 5
Stickman’s latest weekly column suggested that Cowboy’s Long Gun Bar was as good if not better than The Dollhouse. That was what, I indeed said in my Return to Bangkok – Part 1. Not only as sexy and good-looking, but also more engaging and therefore fun. There is a reason for that.
A lady I have known for over a decade works there and as soon Covid started to recede, the management insisted she return. She is in her late 30’s but you would not know it when watching her chrome pole dance. She has worked at Long Gun as long as I have known her.
She has a unique role. The girls call her mama (definitely not mamasan) and she mentors them and gets them ready for the night’s performance. It is not by accident that the Long Gun dancers all seem a little shy at first but easily make eye contact with the customers and flash a welcoming smile. They are engaging when called down to sit with a customer and provide a GF experience.
It is not much different from an NBA veteran past his prime whose main role is to look after the 19- and 20-year-old new millionaires on the team, lending advice and encouragement, as well as sharing tactics that work in certain situations.
However, mama (not her real name) is definitely not past her prime and you would be hard-pressed to pick her out on the stage.
The Dollhouse also has a few veterans who seem to arrive later and have more rein in what they do. I tend to think they do some mentoring as well but not to the same extent.
As I make the rounds of Bangkok my seat of the pants observation is that there are a lot more men in their 30’s and 40’s visiting Bangkok than in their 60’s and 70’s. The younger men are often in a group of 4 and out in the bars during the day on Soi 4, and Cowboy and Nana Plaza at night. I tend to think they are on 30-day visa on arrivals. I used to refer to them as 2-week millionaires.
I also tend to think Covid took its toll on the older groups, and like me, they headed back to Farangland and found the cost too high to stay, but too high to return. Health insurance become hard to get over 70 and inflation has eaten into Thailand’s cost of living as well.
Having said that, I am staying 15 days in a 4-star hotel on Soi 24 for $950. That would get me a 3-star hotel in Vancouver for 4 nights. I actually enjoy low season as the girls are hungrier and the hotels cheaper, but I wish the airfares were more reasonable.
I am out with my American buddy tonight (Monday) and we really have no plans (which is usually the best) and we will let the river takes us wherever it wants to.
I knew Monday night would be slow, but I was curious to know how slow.
I started my night at Fanny’s buying some lady drinks for the 2 mamassans I have known for many years. The owner of Fanny’s also owns 3 other bars on Cowboy, Jungle Jim’s, Moonshine Bar, and Joy Bar. I asked how they made out during the Covid years, and the owner had let them stay living above the bar on a base salary so they could eat. The owner is Thai but lives in Australia. I met her one night at Fanny’s. She is very classy with a sense of humour displayed when I asked her If I could bar-fine her (joke).
We visited the Dollhouse about 8 PM and guess what? The chubby C team was back on stage. It Is my guess that some bars are more flexible these days and don’t waste the A team girl’s time on Monday to Wednesday and replace them with the C team.
Off to Long Gun we went, and we experienced much the same. The A team were all agency girls wearing bikinis and the B team (nude) was not the same lineup we saw Thursday to Sunday.
This is different than pre-Covid, where girls were usually given 1 day off a week and if they did not show, they were fined.
It was time to visit Nana Plaza and I decided Twisters on the first floor would be a good start. The lineup in quantity and quality was excellent. It was about 10 PM and the ladies were engaging. We sat at the stage and 2 lovelies immediately joined us to chat. However, chatting consisted of using Google Translate. So pretty, but recent additions to the gogo scene due to their lack of English. Twisters was full of Koreans and many places I visited over the past week also had many Korean customers. Unlike the Japanese you find in Baccara, they are quite a bit younger, in their 20’s and early 30’s where the Japanese are 40’s and 50’s.
However, they were engaging and touchy-feely, so we adjourned to the back benches and bought them some lady drinks (Tequila) and continued our phone chats. We could have spent some more time, but I was out for my last research so off we went to Hillary 2. The time was now about 11 PM and Hillary was quite slow, so we listened to a set and decided to call it a night.
I decided to walk up from Nana to McD’s because I was hungry. When I arrived at McD’s I noticed many Koreans with their barfined lady in tow. They certainly seemed to be having fun and they are a welcome addition to the nightlife. Unlike the Chinese from pre-Covid days, they don’t ball up 20-baht notes and throw them at the ladies which I always found uncouth and insulting.
The reason for this trip was the imminent death of my wife’s mother which has not happened at this time. However, I had pre-booked a week at the Marriott Beach Resort close to Phuket prior to flying home to Farangland so I will be flying to Phuket this Friday for a week, purging my system of alcohol and getting in some exercise.
I started off part 1 asking what’s changed and I believe not much. This is the Bangkok I lived in and loved in for 10 years, with just a few minor changes. If you can’t have fun in Bangkok there is something seriously wrong with you! I enjoyed the Big Mango and will be back in January 2024 (Bangkok) and in the summer of 2024 (Pattaya).
Jimmy
The author of this article cannot be contacted.
