Stickman Weekly, August 11, 2024

 

 

Mystery Photo

Last week’s photo was taken of the Nobel Reveal condo on Sukhumvit Soi 63 AKA Soi Ekamai, from the top deck of the Bourbon Street Restaurant and Oyster Bar. This week’s photo will be challenging for anyone who has not visited Bangkok in the past year.

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Stick’s Inbox – The Best Emails From The Past Week

Discouraging lookyloos.

Regarding Chinese tour groups and Indian men entering Nana with no intention of spending a single baht, it might be worth Nana Plaza management introducing a modest entry-fee to discourage tyre-kickers and gawkers. Said fee would include a voucher, which could be exchanged for a drink or a discount on the check-bin. The bar would cash in the vouchers with Nana management. No-one would be out of pocket. This system would discourage sightseeing. I believe Crazy House had a similar approach for a certain demographic. <A number of readers have suggested this but I don’t think it would work. An entry fee would discourage some people from entering and bar owners who pay rent would not be happy at a possible reduced footfall inside the plaza. As such, I can’t see this happening. If tour groups were to become a problem, I imagine management would respond and security would be instructed on how to deal with them – Stick>

Where is the bar industry going?

There are two experiences I want unchanged in Thailand. 5-star hotel buffets is the first. No Indian head chefs, please! Let them focus on Indian restaurants, where they do an excellent job. And don’t ruin the bar experience. I don’t care if some Indians are cheap Charlies and travel in packs, because some farangs do the same. The problem is that the vibe in bars changes dramatically with Indians. The girls don’t like it and other customers feel awkward. In comparison, North Asians and Farangs mix well. Bar owners face some big decisions because customers will increasingly vote with their feet. If the atmosphere returns to what it was, more farangs – both expats and tourists – will visit the bars. If that happens, the Farang bar experience has a future.

Asian vs white females at gogos.

I’ve noticed an interesting trend in Bangkok’s gogo bars. Female Asian American / Asian European (not bargirls) and Chinese female tourists seem more engaged and hands-on, actively participating in the lively atmosphere (tips, lady drinks, ping pong balls). Conversely, many Caucasian wives / girlfriends appear less enthusiastic, often looking uncomfortable or unhappy sitting with their grinning husband / boyfriend. They don’t engage with staff. It’s a stark contrast. Maybe the Asians have less hangups about scantily-clad female dancers?

White faces to return?

With all that’s going on in the UK since those 3 kids were murdered last Monday and every concerned parent is labelled as a far right extremist for having the audacity to call out the prime minister, which has resulted in several riots, I can see white faces in Thailand making a reemergence. Heck, even the missus and I are talking about cashing in and moving to Nakon Nowhere in Thailand just to escape the UK, which is definitely going to the dogs.

More Readers’ Emails

The girlfriend experience still exists.

My own tastes run to finding ladies on-line. I found a lovely older woman and invited her to my condo. She asked how much I would give her and I said 3,000 baht + taxi fare. Her response, “I’m not sex worker. Sex worker can find man every day for that price. You can find that price everywhere. I want 5,000 and go by myself no taxi.” I agreed to the 5,000 and she wrote, “Thank you for understanding me. I know sex job girl she make many very quick with sex 3,000 because she work all the time but for me I focus on one man I feel comfortable and nice.” Now at first I thought this funny how she was complaining she wasn’t a sex worker while negotiating the price, but then I came to think the reason many foreigners are frustrated in Thailand is that we approach things from a different perspective than the Thais. To me, she might be a sex worker but to her, she was a lady taking care of her invalid mother and she had standards. In the end, she came over in her new car, we shared a bottle of wine while getting to know each other, she gave a professional massage followed by… She then cooked me dinner, cleaned up and put the dishes away before leaving. A true girlfriend experience that many thought doesn’t exist anymore.

Remembering the Winchester Club.

Ah, the Winchester Club! What a great way to spend Sunday afternoons with beef, Bill and all the girls. The lasses all went buff at 4 o’clock and danced on the bar. Sadly, they had to employ a security guard to search punters’ bags because some of the financially-challenged expats were taking home the free buffet!

International travel and perspective.

Your mention of taking a break from Thailand occasionally to gain perspective might be a positive. Or it might not. I’d often take trips abroad on business and within minutes of arriving back I’d encounter not only lengthy queues at Immigration – the last thing you want after a long flight – but, as soon as I exited the airport, I’d be swarmed by taxi drivers with broken meters. You don’t have that in many other places such as London, Dubai, Melbourne, Berlin. So yes, it does give you perspective – but of the wrong sort.

Butter bear!

I assume you’ve been to EmSphere, but have you witnessed the huge lines queuing up for Butter Bear, the Thai pastry sensation?! You’d swear the huge lines were for a top Thai celebrity, but people are coming from as far away as China and Korea just to buy baked goods, simply due to viral marketing from K-pop dancing Bear with a huge Tik Tok following. Amazing Thailand!

 

 

This Week’s News, Views & Gossip

Our Indian friends get first mention this week on the back of the photo above captured by Reader Stefan. Minding his business while enjoying drinks and good company at Morning Night at the top of Soi Nana, he noticed a shadow cast over the bar. Three buses, each full of Indian gentlemen, edged ever so slowly down the soi, pausing briefly outside the beer bars. The Indian men were enchanted by the bars, big grins on their faces, some of them waving at the girls. You think that a little later in the evening they would descend on the bars……

……..Because for some time many of you have been telling me about all the Indians in Nana Plaza. I have been told that some nights there are so many Indians about that some of you refer to Soi Nana as Soi Delhi. So I was expecting to have plenty of new friends to discuss the merits of chicken tikka masala vs. butter chicken, and whether Kane Williamson or Virat Kohli is king of the world. Despite spending many hours in Nana Plaza this week including one night when I was out later than I have been in more than 10 years, I saw absolutely zero evidence of any so-called Indian invasion. One night early this week I was in the plaza from before 8:00 PM until well after midnight and all night long we saw one – yes, precisely ONE (!!!) – Indian gentleman (and for all I know he could have been Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan). Indian invasion? Honestly, I didn’t see any evidence of it in Soi Nana this week.

But for sure, the mix of punters is changing. It seems to me that for the first hour or so that the gogo bars are open – 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM – the plaza is dominated by East Asian men. (As there seems to be some confusion amongst some readers when I talk about “East Asians” and also refer to Indians, these two are quite different. By East Asia, I mean the likes of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. India would be South Asia or the Indian sub-continent.) My best guess is that early evening, around 80% of gogo bar customers were East Asian and perhaps only 20% were white. By 9:00 PM, more white guys were arriving and by 10:00 PM, it was probably around 50 : 50 White : Others. As the night rolled on, the number of white guys increased while the number of East Asian guys decreased. By 11:00 PM, I’d say it was around 75 – 80% white. And when I left after midnight, the vast majority of customers were Caucasian, probably in excess of 85%. It’s long been said that East Asian men go out to the bars on a mission. They head out early to find a lady, barfine her and take her away. White guys are more likely to drink, hang with friends, enjoy the vibe and go home alone.

And what about the mainstream visitors, couples, tour groups, families and female visitors we’ve heard all about? In Nana Plaza, I saw no sign of any tour groups and only a very small number of mainstream visitors. In the many bars we stopped by, only Billboard had a group of mainstream visitors. One group. That was it.

The Red Dragon Nana Plaza and Shark Soi Cowboy girls have new outfits for the bars’ monthly Full Moon Party on August 19th. Seen in the poster above, and in some of the photos featured in this week’s column, the head-to-toe vertical stripes (and lots of gaps in between!) make the ladies look taller & slimmer – and there’s plenty to peek at. You can see the ladies in these new outfits for yourself later this month.

Nana Plaza looks as good as it ever has. Most bars inside the plaza have had their frontage & signage updated and the interior has a clean, modern look. Long-running bars with signage that pre-dates the GFC may have a certain romance but compare the Plaza which has lots of new bars, to Patpong and Soi Cowboy where there are many bars that haven’t been updated in some time, and the difference is stark. Despite some pretty neon, Cowboy feels a bit shabby.

And then there’s the Plaza’s roof. One night earlier this week we spent almost 5 hours in the plaza, wandering around the bars while the rain was hammering down. Not a problem inside the plaza where you stay dry.

Signs posted throughout Nana Plaza state that taking photos or video is not allowed. That’s nothing new. The signs now state that anyone caught could be banned for life. And, yes, it really does happen. I know of at least two people who are never allowed to step foot in the plaza again. Mind you, neither took photos. They did some even more stupid stuff!

I managed to refamiliarise myself with many bars in the plaza this week and in my opinion, the best bar – a year on from when I was last in town – remains Red Dragon. It was the one bar where we felt there were compelling reasons to stay and absolutely no reasons to leave. Attractive girls, good music (probably the most important factor of whether you decide to stick around or not), a beautifully done out bar and very good service staff.

The service staff in Red Dragon are great. Clumsy Stick was so excited after a year away that he knocked a bottle of water down his front – and was descended on by staff from all directions offering towels, tissues and support. It was comical, but charming at the same time. Red Dragon’s service staff stood out from everywhere else.

I note that Red Dragon, its sister bar Mandarin (and probably Shark in Soi Cowboy which is owned by the same group) charge 180 baht for a 500 ml bottle of water. That’s in the ballpark of what most gogo bars charge for a drink these days and is hardly worth mentioning. But where Red Dragon and Mandarin get it right is that they serve a 500 ml bottle of Evian i.e. premium imported water. Does Evian taste better? Honestly, I can’t tell the difference but I do appreciate the bar making an effort.

Red Dragon features many young-looking, small-bodied girls. To be clear, I said young-looking, and not young per se. Like all the ladies in Nana Plaza, they are all of legal age. Nana Plaza security and the bar owners alike take that very seriously. Many of the dancers in Red Dragon appear to be in the 20 to 25 age bracket, are often small-framed and in some cases, quite short. Many would probably barely be 150 cm tall, and I imagine plenty wouldn’t even tip the scales at 40 kg. This is absolutely not my type – too young, too short, too slim – but I understand many go for that look. Curiously, Red Dragon may be a silicon-free zone. The night we were there, we did not see one lady who obviously sported implants, a stark contrast to some bars where perhaps a third of all the dancers have gone under the knife. In one or two bars there were almost as many dancers who have been surgically-enhanced as not.

The next best bar in the plaza would be a coin toss between Billboard and Butterflies. Billboard has more attractive dancers while Butterflies is more comfortable, has comfy lounge-style seating and plays better music (to my ears).

I have to comment on the ladies currently dancing at Billboard. Wow! While I don’t think Team 2024 quite compares with Team 2017 or Team 2018 looks-wise (they were truly exceptional years), the ladies of Billboard are older than you find in many gogo bars. Billboard has found the sweet spot, filling the bar with confident, sexy ladies who retain a degree of sweetness.

I frequently hear people say that in Billboard, some of the ladies are getting on. Some even use the term aged out. I imagine some of the Billboard crew are well in to their 30s, if not their 40s. But don’t let that put you off because they don’t look it. Many are extremely easy on the eye and plenty are obviously gym-goers. They’re not “skinny slim” but “fit slim” and toned. Many of these ladies will be near their sexual peak. The current Billboard crew are as sexy as you’ll find in any bar in the plaza and the bar smashes the notion that older ladies aren’t as sexy as their younger sisters.

I have to comment on the music in Billboard which I will politely say is “not to my taste”. Music is very subjective, but let’s put it this way – myself and my old pal Arsenal Alex had planned to stay longer but the music drove us away. The sound system is great, but the music playlist….hmmmm, perhaps the DJ was having a bad day?! I don’t even know what they call that style of music! Ok, so maybe we’re an exception to the rule and everyone else loves it. Questionable music and older dancers sounds like a disaster, but Billboard is the busiest bar in the plaza, night after night. The owners have nailed the formula.

 

 

My apologies for publishing some incorrect info about Dollhouse’s Monday happy hour in last week’s column. The bar informed me that throughout August it would be happy hour prices all night long on Mondays with all drinks from beers to cocktails priced at no more than 120 baht. That was wrong. Cocktails are not on special and remain 250 baht. My apologies to anyone who was caught out. It may be a good deal, but Dollhouse was very quiet on Monday night – which supports the argument against happy hours. Over the years, quite a few bar bosses have told me that happy hours don’t work and they see no uptick in trade whatsoever.

Congratulations to The Game, the popular sports bar underneath the Nana BTS station which celebrated its 12th anniversary on Friday. To the owners, thanks for the last-minute invitation to stop by. I had other plans that night so I couldn’t make it. The Game has an outdoor area where it’s great to perch and watch the world go by.

Speaking of great places for people watching, the two Stumble Inn branches (top of Soi Nana, and in the middle of Soi Cowboy) have been doing great business this week. The extended Stumble Inn out the front of Nana Plaza is brilliant, especially if you get a spot at the front ledge. Ditto for Stumble Inn Soi Cowboy which was the one Cowboy establishment that seemed busy from early evening until late. Again, an absolutely first-class spot for people watching – and very reasonably priced drinks too.

Given a number of comments from readers, I have to mention security at Nana Plaza. Initially I didn’t like the idea of a security checkpoint, but the way the world is at this time, it’s probably a good idea. Security at Nana primarily checks two things – the age of everyone entering the plaza and their belongings. Nana Plaza is the only bar area which is vigilant in ensuring that only those of legal age – 20+ – can enter. If you’re not clearly aged over 20, you may be asked to show your passport to prove your age. In reality, not that many people are asked as most people are aged well over 20. There is also a bag / belongings check and while this might sound like a hassle, it’s quick and painless. Sure, entry might be delayed by 15 or 20 seconds – but that’s hardly the end of the world.

One scratches their head and wonders how the Nana Nightclub manages to stay open. You’d expect 2:30 AM to be absolute prime time in a disco but glancing inside, they couldn’t have been quieter if the Covid rules were still in force.

Friday night was spent on Soi Cowboy. Compared to the old days when many bars had happy hours and the soi was humming from 7:30 PM, Cowboy was dead early evening. When once a number of bars fired the music up and had girls on stage early (Shark from 7:00 PM, Tilac from 7:15 PM), at 8:00 PM there was only one gogo bar with girls on stage – Long Gun. Soi Cowboy was very quiet early evening – and I put that at least partially down to the loss of many happy hours. Which begs the question, what went first – the expat crowd or the happy hours?

Bars like Shark and Tilac once had very appealing happy hours early evening, but they have been done away with. Lighthouse was another venue with a great happy hour but rent increases killed it. Back in the day, some of the best Cowboy gogo bars offered most drinks at happy hour for just 70 or 80 baht, a great way to kick off the night.

Cowboy 2 feels like it has come of age. Lots of attractive dancers, energy and good attitudes. Not that I’d ever use a credit card in such a bar, but what’s with the 8% credit card surcharge? That said, good on the bar for being so transparent about it with “Credit Card Surcharge 8%” in very large text on the menu. Cowboy 2 is definitely worth a visit – good music, attractive dancers, friendly (and not pushy!) service staff and real energy.

You can’t go to Soi Cowboy on a Friday and not stop by Dollhouse, but after a bad experience earlier in the week, I was reluctant to do so. A friend convinced me we should stop by and it was so much better. On Friday night, the A team were in the house. Dollhouse continues to be very much a “farang bar” with very few non-white customers both times I stopped by.

We stuck our heads in Baccara which was as busy as ever with not a white face to be seen. Same old story – many beautiful dancers being drooled over by Asian men.

I bumped into a friend, something of a personality locally, who was wandering Soi Cowboy ranting about 260 baht lady drinks in Suzie Wong. Later in the evening I would stick my head in the door of Suzie Wong and see it was moderately busy. Of course, bars are in the business of making money but 260 baht for a lady drink is getting up there. In Soi Cowboy, I think only the Arab’s bars charge more.

Never have I seen so many ladies on their mobile phone as I did in the Rainbow bar on Soi Cowboy. The bar was packed, yet many ladies were using their phone including some who were on stage (!!!!). Rainbow features a line-up of lovely dancers but they are totally disinterested in punters and the impression is that the bar is in desperate need of a manager. Many girls were totally indifferent to what was going on around them. And it wasn’t like they were waiting for a bunch of young Korean men to arrive because the bar was full of young Japanese and Koreans. If you want to see a bunch of attractive ladies, to my eyes Rainbow had the best line-up in Soi Cowboy. The bar was full at 10:00 PM. There were quite a few white couples in the bar.

Soi Cowboy seems to be more popular with Western couples. After 10:00 PM, it felt like perhaps a quarter of the folks strolling up and down the soi were Western couples. Most strolled up and down and took selfies. Perhaps 20% – 25% actually went inside a bar.

As for Indians on Soi Cowboy? There was one Indian fellow in Dollhouse – and he was doing his bit to quash the ridiculous stereotype of 6 Indians sharing a single glass of Coke with 6 straws. He had ordered a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, proving himself to be a man of both money and good taste. Once again, I saw no evidence of any Indian invasion although in fairness, most reports say our Indian friends prefer Soi Nana.

Comparisons between Cowboy and Nana are inevitable. I’ll keep it simple: on a rainy Tuesday night, Nana Plaza was considerably busier than Soi Cowboy was on a fine Friday night.

 

 

The situation with African men openly selling drugs between Nana and Asoke is totally out of control to the extent that they have become as much a part of the landscape as the hookers who line the same stretch of pavement. I did the Nana to Asoke stroll around 12:30 AM on Tuesday night. The street was heaving with throngs of people out and about, mostly Middle Easterners shopping and eating. I must have walked past at least 50 African men, most of whom were aged in their 20s or early 30s. I was approached by more than a dozen, asking what I was looking for, telling me they could get me whatever I wanted and some offering drugs right from the get-go. To a man, their MO was exactly the same, which is a tell. This lot are organised, and they are all working for someone. It would be prudent to say no more. With all of this said, these guys are harmless. Say you’re not interested and they leave you alone.

And the situation with African women in the area is as has been described in recent columns. There seem to be two main hotspots. The first is up and down Soi Nana with duos or trios right near the top of Soi Nana, between Morning Night and the Police Control Box. The other hot spot is the steps leading down to the Sukhumvit MRT station, just around the corner from Soi Cowboy. More on that lot next week but let me say this – they are very aggressive! Don’t make eye contact else you risk being grabbed – and some refuse to let go.

Speaking of foreigners on Sukhumvit, the young homeless foreigner who has featured in this column several times in recent months disappeared for a while. There was speculation that he had been rounded up by the authorities and taken away. To where? Who knows?! That may or may not have happened, but what can be confirmed is that he is back living rough in the area below the Asoke BTS. He is shirtless, barefoot and looking very lost and confused. Homeless foreigners in Thailand are hardly something new, but this guy has been living rough longer than most – and it shows.

 

 

As per the photo above, progress continues to be very slow on Bad Beach A Gogo, soon to be Soi Cowboy’s newest gogo bar. I maintain that Bad Bitch would be a catchier name. What do you think? Bad Beach or Bad Bitch? Bad Beach seems more fitting for a bar name in Pattaya.

The balcony at the Landmark Hotel is a popular spot to perch and watch the world go by, but it remains out of commission as extensive renovations take place. Signs say the work will be completed soon.

The 1st floor branch of Starbucks in Terminal 21 is packed all day long. Look closely and you’ll see a handful of local women tarted up with rather more makeup than necessary, their hair set and, in some cases, they’re decked out in sexy clothes. No, they’re absolutely not office ladies whose presentation is more refined and much more subtle. These ladies in their sexy outfit with their bright red nail polish and – in some cases – their short skirt and high heels furiously tap away on their phone or laptop. They’re working online. Be rather more nosey than would be considered polite and you’ll see they are chatting with foreign men, trying to secure an appointment. How long has this branch of Starbucks been something of a freelancers’ waiting zone? That is freelancers as in ladies plying their trade online.

 

 

What a hoot seeing “Thai street food outlets” in shopping malls when you can step outside on to the street and get real Thai street food! Thai street food outlets in shopping malls are a thing outside Thailand. But in Thailand?! Is there no irony in this? Be brave and try real street food on the street in Thailand. It might just be the best street food in the world.

Once upon a time there were packs of Pattaya-based expats who frequently visited Angeles City. Back in the day, they would tell me that Angeles offered a certain something that Pattaya did not. (And I always thought that being a couple of thousand kilometres from their live-in girlfriend / wife was probably part of it.) I have not heard of Thailand expats making similar trips to Angeles City for some time. There is a perception (which I have no idea is rooted in reality, or not) amongst some naughty boy expats in Thailand that Angeles City is not what it once was. True or not, I really have no idea.

For Brits, will there be downward pressure on flight prices between London and Bangkok with British Airways resuming flights in October with 3 flights per week? Early next year, it goes to 5 flights per week.

There are more reports of taxi drivers at the airport taking the piss. To be clear, this is at the official airport taxi rank where you get a ticket with the taxi’s licence plate. If the driver refuses to turn on the meter and tries to negotiate a price, tell him you will get out of the car and get another cab. If you do that, he will have to go to the back of the queue – which is a long wait and he absolutely does not want that! 750 baht to downtown seems to be a common opening gambit. “Meter, or I am getting out of the car!” will suffice.

Thailand-Related News Articles

From The Bangkok Post, Pattaya is keen to shed its sordid image.

A Dutch retiree in Pattaya is arrested after being suspected of manufacturing illicit drugs.

An aged Canadian is the latest foreigner to be savagely beaten by security guards on Pattaya’s notorious soi 6.

The Royal Thai Embassy in London has warned Thais about travel to the United Kingdom.

A Norwegian jumps from the 16th floor of a Pattaya condo, landing on a beer bar roof.

Closing Comments

It’s good great to be back in Bangkok. It feels to me like Thailand’s tourism industry is evolving and is, for want of a better term, more mature. I know many naughty boys may dispute this, but I think the way the nightlife industry has been integrated in to the wider tourism product potentially extends its lifespan. For so long, many in the tourism industry saw the naughty nightlife as a stain. Today, there are countless examples of mainstream visitors being encouraged to check out the likes of Soi Cowboy for themselves. The naughty bar industry has done a decent job of self-regulating. Today it’s much more palatable to outsiders and is generally regarded as a safe playground. With naughty boy numbers in decline, the nightlife industry needs mainstream visitors to stop by and spend money. I have long wondered whether at some point new rules might be passed which makes it difficult for the bars to continue to operate in their current form. With a bit of luck, self-regulating within the industry means that won’t be necessary. Thailand has its own way of doing things and once again, it looks like they’ve got it right.

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick

 

Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com