Another View of Billboard
I understand the criticisms you noted in your 10 August post regarding Billboard, and depending on one’s point of view, the criticisms are valid. It is true that Billboard is not the traditional agogo. I’m only guessing here, but I doubt the owners ever intended to offer tradition. They wanted to create something quite different and unique, a venue that is a destination, not an afterthought or copycat. Hence the many screens, the superior sound system, the cleanliness and the attention to detail…some of which may seem like overkill, but I suspect the goal is to build a kind of sensory overload. Maybe Las Vegas really is a good comparison. Maybe Billboard is also an example of “to each his own”, or in the modern vernacular, YMMV. If it works for you, it works, but I understand it’s not for everyone.
In the old style agogo, with which Nana and Soi Cowboy are still well represented, there was a natural imbalance or inequality between the customer and the bargirl. “He” was wealthier, more worldly, and more experienced, while “she” was poor, naïve, just in the process of awakening to her own sex appeal, and a female who could be impressed by a $50K/year income or pension. There has always been, and still is, a customer base specifically in search of that FOB Isaan innocence, whom most any customer could bedazzle. In a sense, the entire atmosphere of Billboard screams “That schtick isn’t going to work here.” The gap has narrowed between woman and customer. Billboard has a few women who earn in excess of $100K a year. It might take some game to impress them, something many customers are unwilling to do or incapable of delivering. I understand that, as traditionally, agogos were supposed to be like shooting fish in a barrel, a sure thing with the customer dictating all the terms. As Thailand develops, lovely women are learning their value, so that isn’t going to happen as much. It takes more to impress. Maybe Billboard has realized this changing reality, thus it offers something different, which is entertainment that need not end with a barfine, but most certainly can if one is so inclined.
Yes, you will find a few women in Billboard at or approaching age 40. There is a market for that, so it’s on offer. You will also find plenty of women just barely into their 20s, for whom there is a larger market. I would guess the median age of the women to be 22-25.
As noted, I believe the screens are there to create a sensory overload, as Las Vegas learned that filling all the senses lessens natural reserve and opens wallets. Let’s also be frank: the average agogo has blank and soiled walls, which can either be quaint or offputting. The average agogo also is dirty and carries an unpleasant aroma. With Billboard’s strict attention to detail, even the restrooms are spotless, matching what a 5-star hotel lobby offers. The restroom has a full-time attendant, whose job is NOT to angle for a tip by massaging a guy passing water, but to keep every nook and cranny clean. (I understand Billboard is currently working on how to address the negative effect of now being on the East Asian smokestack circuit.)
Similar attention to detail goes into the lighting and sound systems. The music might be geared toward a younger crowd than other agogos, though most of the others now just push out the cacophony known as House, Techno or EDM. Billboard’s music may not be my favorite, but there are a few catchy numbers that get the body moving and the blood flowing.
The lights, the sound, the screens, the rotating carousel, the jacuzzi, and the cleanliness all combine to create an energy, which on many nights is palpable. It can be infectious, in a good way. Personally, other Nana and Soi Cowboy bars bore me to tears, it being difficult to tell one from another, or to adjust a famous Thai phrase, “same same, but NOT different”. There’s no mistaking where one is when in Billboard.
In my opinion, what truly makes Billboard stand out is the caliber of women, especially in the post-Covid Era. Rarely will one find a FOB from Isaan working there, though I know many customers do prefer that level of naivete and cuteness. One is as likely to find a current university student on the carousel, a nurse, a woman who works in an international firm in the daytime, or a woman running her own start-up when the sun is up. (I’ve met three nurses at Billboard, which has made me wonder if my fanaticism regarding my own health and fitness has me missing out on the best aspects of modern healthcare.) All of these women give it a shot at Billboard, because they have heard it’s usually packed, and has its share of “whales”, who can fill a woman’s coffers quickly and gladly. The bank robber Willie Sutton was once asked why he robbed banks: “That’s where the money is”, he answered. Women gravitate to Billboard for the same reason. The grapevine says P4P’s top earners work at Billboard, so if money is the goal, Billboard is the preferred venue. A woman trying to build a nest egg can do a lot worse than spend some time working the stage there. (Note: I will never judge a woman for what work she chose, nor do I carry any faux Western moral certainty about “good girls”. I see no difference between a woman who has sex for money and one who has sex because she’s horny. Not all sex is a function of true and undying love, so it’s better not to pretend one can easily draw a line between good girl and bad.)
Spend some time with a Billboard woman and one realizes there is often a level of sophistication unheard of in the P4P industry even a few years ago. These women have traveled. They know a lot about the world outside of Thailand. They have a taste for things not necessarily Thai, such as a variety of foods, or even music or design not inherent to Thailand. They are smart. They have people skills. They have a discipline that has resulted in them saving quite a substantial sum of money, which they can then use to build a longer lasting future. (One friend is a Cordon Bleu grad trying to save up for her own restaurant, and yes, she can cook to please any man.) Many earn much more than the customers they service. Most of all, in my opinion, some are truly interesting and entertaining people. Granted that is not the entire line-up, but there are enough women of substance at Billboard to satisfy even the most discriminating customer.
I’ve done my time in the agogo venues of Bangkok and Pattaya. If the majority of agogos were like Spankys or the Rainbows, I’d have long ago given up visiting. They can be fun, but get old quickly. I happen to be either blessed or cursed with a full tank of testosterone, so the sight of a lovely woman still reminds me of life’s prime directive. Put another way, I haven’t lost my T-goggles, as the vast majority of men begin to do after age 40, when many claim to have “outgrown” agogos. I hope I never outgrow my appreciation of and desire for lovely women. What Billboard offers in addition to visual beauty, and what I have never found elsewhere, are women with whom I’m more than happy to spend time outside of the boudoir. That’s a huge bonus. I have Billboard friends I meet for a chat or a meal, and often they are friends who need not provide benefits. They are just fun people, and in my opinion a much more appealing dinner companion than the typical fat, grumpy, old expat curmudgeon, with which Bangkok overflows.
If a customer is just looking for a quick carnal adventure, yes, he can find that at Billboard, and probably walk away happy. If one is looking for something more, whether an atmosphere geared toward sensory excitement, or meeting someone with whom he would like to spend additional time, Billboard offers that, too.
I’ve been lucky enough also to get the proverbial GFE at Billboard, women who deliver a long time visit that lasts well into the next day. Contrary to some views, the GFE is not dead. Even if another agogo offered the same thing in terms of LT, I probably wouldn’t be interested, because I’d run out of things to talk about. There are plenty of Billboard women who can hold my interest long after any physical activity. I can see them again and again, and some continue to find new ways to surprise me, maybe with an endearing personality, a nugget of knowledge, or a unique and insightful opinion gained from international travel. Besides, they certainly offer much more of a feast for the eyes across the dinner table than a fat expat barking about back-home politics or going off on “what’s wrong” with Thailand.
Since Billboard is packed most nights, it seems the management has assessed the direction of the marketplace and placed itself right where the market is headed. It might not be the club for everyone, but its appeal is wide enough that it sees more traffic than most any other agogo.
Because of its reputation in the P4P community of women, Billboard also attracts the caliber of women who can easily become much more than a two hour romp in the hay. I appreciate that isn’t an attraction for many customers, but it is for me. I’m also not sure if that was the intent of the owners, but it is what Billboard has become, through their effort and design. As far as I’m concerned, no place else comes close.
