Sukhumvit, One Morning

From Nana to Asoke is very much the zone for Stickman readers. So much of what features in this column takes place along that short 1.2 km strip of Sukhumvit Road. This past Friday morning, not long after the sun had come up, I went for a wander from Asoke to Nana and back to Asoke again. This is what I saw.

 

 

I was only 30 seconds from the hotel when I spotted him. I’d been keeping an eye out for him over the past 3 weeks, but had not seen a single sign of him. Him? Who is this him? The homeless farang of Asoke, of course – the young foreigner who has been living rough around the Asoke intersection for months.

There he was, sitting on the steps out front of Exchange Tower, smoking a cigarette, enjoying the first light of the day, very much minding his own business. He was wearing a pair of  grubby trousers and a pair of flip-flops were beside him. He didn’t look terrible, but neither did he look right. I said hello. His eyes were fixed on something in the distance and it was like he hadn’t heard me. And then he registered my presence. He didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at me. And then all of a sudden he leaps to his feet, slipped on his footwear and bounded towards Sukhumvit Road. He was quite a sight, walking fast, not quite running, with an unusual gait, arms swinging, his walk and his appearance very much drawing attention.

I’d only just stepped outside my hotel and having gone from cold air-con to a hot and humid morning, condensation had formed on the lens. I snapped off a few shots but the images are blurry and lacking in contrast. As to the mystery of his nationality, my best guess is that he is southern European or perhaps South American.

 

 

The homeless fellow scampered in the direction of Soi Cowboy and I decide against pursuing him. The poor guy is clearly not right and someone following him with a camera could cause him unnecessary angst. Best to leave him be.

It’s not yet 6:30 AM but traffic coming from Rama 4 Road is already backed up at the Asoke intersection. I remember when I was one of these suckers driving to work in Bangkok early in the morning. I’d be up at the crack of dawn, and out the door no later than 6:15 AM. Wake up just a little late and / or leave a few minutes later than usual and you could double your travel time.

 

 

I am an early riser but I’m not usually out and about at this hour. The plan this particular morning was to take some snaps to use  as mystery photos in future columns. I hope to grab some shots of places in the area from interesting or unusual angles.

I pass by the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit and note that the space remains empty. A year or two back, the rumour mill said this space would be developed as a medical facility targeting tourists. More recent rumours say it will be a market. If the latter, you’d think it would be very temporary. This is prime real estate and a market will hardly pay its way.

 

 

I wander along the elevated walkway towards Nana. It has been extended since my last visit and is a great addition to the area. It gives you a nice view of some of the more salubrious spots along the strip like the Thermae. It doesn’t connect with the Nana BTS station (are there plans for that in the future), and dumps you back down to street level near Soi 13 on one side / Soi 8 on the other.

A small rubbish truck is parked at the start of Soi 8. Refuse workers sort different types of rubbish. Sorting different types of recycling, perhaps? Or possibly separating items to sell to scrap merchants to make a little money on the side? Even 30 or 40 metres away, the smell is horrendous.

 

 

I turn left on to Soi 8. There is little happening. A few street vendors have set up, selling Thai-style breakfast items. I proceed up the soi, take a right, and nip down Soi Lolita’s.

I see a young foreign guy. When I say young, he’s barely in his 20s – and he is very clearly wasted. He’s walking like he’s been on the juice all night long.

He’s with a skinny, skanky lady with many years on the clock who is easily old enough to be his mother. She leads him into the Crown Hotel (is that still the name or has it been rebranded?) and barks something at a lone security guard. In the lobby, she grabs her young victim’s wrist, gives it a tug and it appears to cause him to lose his balance and he trips over. The security guard sees me shaping to take a photo and blocks my view. The ageing hooker is not going to let this young handsome devil escape!

What will he make of her when he wakes up? I guess it could be much worse – at least she is not a he.

I wonder to myself whether this guy came to Bangkok with the idea of cavorting with ladies of the night. All power to him if he did, but this lady is old enough to be his mother and she’s not easy on the eye. I’d always been a bit dubious, but it seems MILFs really are a thing.

 

 

I loop around soi 6 on to Soi Nana, passing the Novotel where African hookers congregate after dark. There are none about and the area is quiet. Few people about and little traffic. You hardly ever see these Black vixens during daylight hours. Are they related to Dracula?

As I head up Soi Nana in the direction of Nana Plaza, I reach The Tavern. Last week, a reader emailed, saying that The Tavern has the best pancakes in all of Bangkok. I stop for a nosey, and check the menu. 270 baht for a stack. A fair price, assuming it comes with real maple syrup and not that fake / flavoured stuff that is all too common in Bangkok. I decide against it. I’m in the mood for photos, not pancakes.

 

 

There are a handful of girls sitting in front of the Nana Hotel sign. Across the soi, vendors sell prepared meals outside Stumble Inn. It’s early and there are very few people about. I wonder to myself who buys these meals. It’s an odd spot to set up. Surely on the main Sukhumvit Road would be better?

One of the girls by the Nana Hotel sign is off her head. She is yelling and screaming at no-one in particular. She is facing the plaza, while her eyes are darting every which way. Drugged up, perhaps? “Why are you looking at me?”, she screeches in Thai. “What are you looking at?” She uses the coarsest pronouns. She’s agitated, jumpy and jerking around. For a moment, I wonder if she is talking to me? I had been looking at her. She’s another of the lost souls of Soi Nana. Was she this way before she became a fixture on Soi Nana, or did time on the soi do this to her?

A large rubbish truck parked in the entrance to Nana Plaza is overloaded with bags of garbage. I guess this is part of the morning routine on Soi Nana. I don’t know the current numbers but Nana Plaza frequently gets more than 100,000 visitors per month. All those customers have got to generate a lot of rubbish.

 

 

I head to the top of Soi Nana. Sukhumvit Road is so quiet that I confidently cross without waiting for the green man.

Next stop is Soi Arab. It’s still early and everywhere is closed. I’d expected Muslim families to be out and about, grabbing a snack before heading off for some shopping or possibly a tour. There’s even less happening on the main Arab soi than there is on Soi Nana.

I pick up some ปาท่องโก๋ (pa-tong-goh, Thai-style donut), one of the unhealthiest things you can eat in Thailand. 3 for 10 baht. I’m on holiday and I eat well most of the time, I figure it won’t kill me.

 

 

A week earlier, I had enjoyed the wonderful breakfast buffet at The Landmark. I captured a photo of the Nana intersection at almost exactly the same time of day as I am in the very same area at street level. It all looks very different from 31 storeys up.

 

 

Heading from the Nana intersection in the direction of Asoke, the sidewalk is empty. No-one is around. It doesn’t feel all that different to Pattaya at 7:00 AM. But this is downtown Bangkok, a business area. Well, yes, and no. The Nana area has more office towers these days but it has nothing like the number of office workers as other parts of the capital. Just a few hundred metres west on Ploenchit and Wireless Road is one of the city’s busiest business districts.

I come across a vendor selling corn near the start of soi 7. She glances at me for a moment, correctly assumes I am not buying and buries her face back in her mobile phone.

 

 

Like many of the sois I walk past, Soi 7 is dead. The only people around are City workers in distinctive uniforms, cleaning the streets, I wander up to the beer bar complex in the space that was previously the Beer Garden. I expect to see a stray lady or two, perhaps a solitary security guard. There is no-one. If you’re hunting for a friendly lady after the sun has come up, don’t bother with soi 7. Your best bet is out front of the Nana Hotel, or you might get lucky outside the Thermae.

 

 

A little further down Sukhumvit towards Soi 11, a table has giant dildos, fake vaginas, erectile dysfunction drugs and other sexual aids on display. Is there really demand for this junk at 7:00 AM? Was it just set up or had it been open all night long? Welcome to Bangkok where dildos and Viagra are available 24 hours a day.

Near the start of Soi 11, 6 African men are animatedly chatting away. They strike me as happy and in good spirits. Unlike the night before, there is no inquiring as to what I am looking for. Their business is done and it’s time to relax.

I wonder what they’re talking about. The amount of drugs they sold the night before? How much money they made? Their old life and family back in Africa? Who knows.

 

 

I am halfway between Nana and Asoke, heading towards Terminal 21. I approach the Thermae about an hour after the sun had come up. There are still a few ladies about, stragglers who refuse to call it a night. At 7:15 AM, this really is the last chance saloon. Three girls are standing, one is sitting. As I get closer, the lady sitting down leaps to her feet, scurries towards me and says “Go with you!” I have to admit that she is actually quite attractive. In a sample of less than a dozen ladies, it is outside the Thermae where you find the best lookers at this hour.

I would later ask myself if the last chance saloon meant bargain basement pricing. I didn’t ask and I wouldn’t know.

I had been walking behind a couple of transsexuals heading in the direction of the Thermae. From behind, one could almost pass for female while the other was just too tall, towering over most Thais and plenty of farangs.

 

 

As I push on past the Thermae, there are no more remnants from the night before. As I reach Sukhumvit soi 19 – which runs between Robinson’s / The Westin and Terminal 21, it’s like l have stepped into a different world.

Racy outfits are out, business attire is in. Bleary eyes are behind me and fresh faces are in front of me. At the start of Soi 19, a couple of dozen office workers queue for วินมอเตอร์ไซค์ (win motosai – motorcycle taxis) which run up and down the soi. This is one of the busier motorbike taxi stands and there is often a queue. Does a ride up the soi still cost just 10 baht?

The adjacent building houses the popular El Gaucho Steak Restaurant which has a webcam which looks down on this very spot. If you’re in Farangland and are keen to see how the weather is / how busy downtown Bangkok is, bookmark the El Gaucho webcam.

 

 

I am back at the Asoke intersection, an hour after I set off for a short early-morning walk. I spot a farang woman sitting on the back of a motorbike. She’s using her mobile phone. It’s not until I download the photo to the computer that I realise 3 of the 4 ladies riding pillion on a motorbike are also using their mobile. Does the younger generation ever put their phone down?

I like wandering Bangkok at odd hours. On lower Sukhumvit, 6:00 AM until 7:00 AM is a period of transition. Stragglers from the night before try their luck at the last chance saloon while beautifully made up office workers head for the office, ready to face a new day.

I saw just one naughty boy out and about, and he had found a lady – or had she found him? A few people were pounding the pavement, mostly white guys. A few farangs were in business attire, and The Tavern had a few regulars in for breakfast. It was just another early morning between Asoke and Nana.

 

 

 

Mystery Photo

Last week’s photo was taken at the Asoke intersection, looking north with the Las Colinas condo building (right next to Soi Cowboy) and the Interchange Building in the background. This week’s photo is, once again, in downtown Bangkok.

 

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

Baht-up and join the queue!

There’s no more low season. The whole thing with street katoeys, Indian discos where beer costs 400 baht, four-figure barfines etc. can be explained by one concept: silver, satang, filthy lucre aka money. Which is better: a wad of banknotes in the foreigner’s pocket, or elsewhere? Farang brag of their addiction to Pattaya on Internet forums as they plan yet another overseas flight for a week or two in Sin City — they earn no discounts. Baht-up and join the queue.

Once was Walking Street.

Your comments about the unattractive vibe on Walking Street and your declining interest in it got me thinking about my similar experience. Until around 2010, I used to stay on Walking Street at the Grand Hotel, around the corner from the now-gone Mandarin Gogo bar. I wanted to be around the action and the vibe was good and the ladies, though not cheap, were affordable. Then, without consciously thinking about it, I started staying on Soi 10 but would still visit Walking Street every trip for night-time fun. On later trips, again without thinking about it, I’d only visit one night a trip, not for the ladies but just to check out the scene. Now, I never go to Walking Street because nothing there interests me. It occurred to me that my experience is a microcosm of exactly how market economies work. Thousands, if not millions of individual but independent choices made by consumers, like you and I, that result in the success or failures of businesses, or even whole industries. Does anyone even remember AOL or MySpace…?

The benefits of being ignored.

If the girls in top-tier gogo bars on Walking Street ignore Western guys, that sounds perfect because you can then enjoy the vibe without being pestered by girls asking for drinks!

The changing profile of Pattaya visitors.

You’re right about the change in behaviour of the majority of tourists in Pattaya. In the old days, Pattaya was a sleepy city till at least noon. Many businesses didn’t even open until noon. Nowadays, the city comes to life a lot earlier. The new breed of tourists are out and about from early morning. They do things during the day, and don’t hang around in bars until the early hours of the next day. That explains it all. And yes, Pattaya is losing its rough edge more and more because of all this.

Tacky bar name.

Fxxx Me Please Bar – not a cool name, in my opinion. Along the lines of Slutz. I wonder, what was written in the Thai script on the sign? Was it the full name or something different? <It was the full bar name, transliterated from English to Thai – Stick>

More Readers’ Emails

The girlfriend experience in the most unlikely of places.

I love the topic of the elusive GFE (girlfriend experience) when it comes, an experience that I remember fondly from an earlier era. I also recall the mention in a relatively recent column of a lady from Pattaya Soi 6 preferring to stay overnight rather than go back to her non air-conditioned, shared room. I had this experience too during my most recent visit to Soi 6 in June. This lady, like many on Soi 6, blocked my path, took my arm, and asked me to have a drink with her. I don’t know exactly what it was about her, but I agreed. She was good-natured with a comforting effect, engaging, and spoke English well enough. After several drinks, we agreed on what I thought she wanted for short-time, 3,000 baht. I don’t get into negotiating with the ladies. I either accept what they ask for or politely decline. When we left the bar, I noticed she was carrying a larger than normal bag. I didn’t think anything about it at the time. I asked if she wanted to go get something to eat at a restaurant. She wanted to go to 7 Eleven. She sure stocked up on the best of 7 Eleven packaged food to go. Fast forward to the point of the night when most of them leave. This one started unpacking her bag and going through her night-time routine of getting ready to go to bed. We never discussed her staying the night which was the beauty of it. I didn’t have to negotiate it. I really lucked out. When I asked her where she lived, she told me that she lived above the bar in a room shared with other ladies. The 7 Eleven packaged food was pure brilliance for when we got hungry in the middle of the night.

Avocados and working girls = same same.

As for Thai avocados being mushy, watery and with little flavour – sounds like some of the bargirls I used to know!

Pattaya, where loners find their happy place.

Research and studies show us loners are a misunderstood bunch. We get branded as oddballs, weirdos, contrarian etc. by the extroverts of the world but studies show that us introverts thrive in seclusion. Our mental health suffers when we have to deal with people. Psychologists term it ‘social anxiety.’ We could take prescribed meds to alter our mindset just as extroverts can take meds to alter their mindset when they go into a state of depression when they don’t feel valued. Pattaya, and Thailand in general, is the perfect place for loners. If they feel like company, there is a girl / boy on every corner willing to be their friend for an hour or two or however long the loner feels he can handle company. It’s so much easier to find a community a loner can mingle among in the Land Of Smiles than it is in the western world where it is thought by the judgmental extroverts that we have mental issues if we go out for a meal or a beer on our lonesome. Even in the animal kingdom, there are loners that stay behind when the main herd take off on their migration trip. The loners stay behind for a few weeks and then follow on. Biologists believe this is a method for survival. If the main herd is struck down with disease and die off, the loners rebuild the population. And then of course, there are female loners also living in Thailand, it’s not just a man thing so please don’t worry about our mental health, we have found our happy place.

 

 

This Week’s News, Views & Gossip

I did the rounds of Nana Plaza earlier this week. I would have said it was quite busy, but the regular I was with insisted that it was a really slow night. It may have been slow inside some of the bars but there were lots of people roaming the balconies and there was a buzz in the plaza. Walking back to the hotel after a few hours in the plaza, I called Dave The Rave on WhatsApp for a quick chat and to update the original Mister Nana. What I said to Dave was that quiet nights in the plaza tonight are like busy nights 10 years ago. And busy nights these days are much busier than we ever experienced in our day.

If there is one big difference between Nana Plaza, Cowboy and Patpong, it’s the buzz. In Nana Plaza, it feels like there’s always a buzz. Ok, so Nana gets a lot more visitors than the other areas, but part of it might simply be the din of sound throughout the complex. The sound creates a buzz like you’re in a full sports stadium. It feels like there’s more going on and people are excited. That same buzz is missing in Cowboy and Patpong.

In last week’s column I wrote that there would be no new ladyboy bars coming to Nana Plaza. While that is indeed the new policy, let’s not forget that a new ladyboy bar has been under construction in the space next to Butterflies that was previously a short-time hotel. My understanding is that that bar will be the last new ladyboy bar for now.

In Patpong soi 2, the owners of Octopus – the area’s one and only fetish bar which was previously known as Bar Bar – have decided to revert to the previous name, Bar Bar.

Four months after opening with aspirations of establishing a mainstream nightclub on Patpong Soi 2, Dok Pub is no more. Dok failed spectacularly to draw any crowd at all, let alone Thais and late-night party people. It dropped the Hillary model after two months, focusing on Thai rock and pop instead of hardcore hip-hop and things improved ever-so-slightly, but not enough to keep the doors open. As predicted here in June, Dok will reopen next month after a refurb as, you guessed it, a gogo bar.

Can Patpong support another gogo bar? Owned by the same team as Virgin next door, you wonder if Dok A Gogo – or whatever it will be called – might cannibalise trade from its neighbours, rather than draw more punters to the area.

Bada Bing has added a half-dozen new ladies, many of whom posed for photos with Digital a-Go-Go this week. As high season draws closer, expect Bada Bing’s stage to fill up with even more early-20s hotties.

In fairness, Patpong mightn’t have the same buzz as Nana Plaza, but that’s not to say there aren’t bars worth stopping by. Virgin, Bada Bing, Pink Panther and Radio City are all worth a look.

 

 

Bunny 2 on the ground floor of Nana Plaza has some really pretty girls and decent music too. And as a bonus, some of the girls dance in knee-length boots! Woohoo, how often do you see gogo dancers in boots these days? Actually, the answer to that would be reasonably often if you frequent Patpong.

On the top floor of the plaza, a good few of you have spoken highly of Geisha. Glad to hear many of you like it, but it’s not for me. We stopped by briefly this week but I was put off by what I will politely describe as “the antics”. I much prefer bars in the style of Butterflies and Red Dragon. It’s all personal preference, of course.

We checked out Bunny Balcony, but it was another bar we didn’t stay in very long. You may remember that Bunny Balcony was going to be a ladyboy bar but at the last minute that idea was abandoned and it opened as a regular gogo bar with ladies. Inside, it’s narrow and feels a little like Wonderland, another of the plaza’s ladyboy bars. The music is played very loud and is rather hard on the ears. Maybe the sound system needs a tune or maybe the solution is as simple as turning the volume down a little. The night we stopped by this week, it was so loud that we left after a couple of songs. At Balcony Bunny, it might be best to enjoy the balcony outside. It’s a fantastic spot to perch and look out over the plaza.

 

 

The very first photo essay I ran on this site was titled “The Pussy Of Nana Plaza”. Readers were disappointed to open the page, only to discover a dozen photos of stray cats living in the plaza. That was 24 years ago and all of those cats will have long since crossed the rainbow bridge. Nana Plaza is well-maintained these days and so much cleaner than it used to be. I have not seen a cat in the plaza for more than a decade. So I was surprised to be told this week that there are still a small number of cats there – and the situation is exacerbated by at least one bar which feeds them. Naturally, management is not so keen on cats which is fair enough but as the bar says, cats in the plaza keep rats away!

When I wrote in last week’s column about Rainbow in Soi Cowboy desperately needing a mamasan to tell the girls to get off their phones and pay more attention to punters actually in the bar, the reality is that mamasans can’t control the girls. Some girls simply do what they like. Mamasans know that if they threaten to fire her, or even cut her salary, she’ll go to the bar next door – and may take half a dozen of her friends with her. It is the girls who have the power today, not the mamasans or the owners.

Speaking of Rainbow Soi Cowboy, there are some girls in that bar who go home as early as midnight. How are they allowed to do that? They’ve got regular 9 to 5 jobs and dancing in Cowboy is a sideline to make some extra cash.

One of the biggest parties of the year takes place at Red Dragon & Mandarin in Nana Plaza and Shark Club on Soi Cowboy Thursday, September 5, when co-owner Frank celebrates his birthday. Last year’s bash drew many of the big names from the bar industry to raise a glass with France-native Frank, who is well known both in Bangkok and Pattaya, where he and his brother also have Fahrenheit and Shark Pattaya. The Moulin Rouge-themed parties will feature a Tiffany’s Theatre Pattaya cabaret show, professional pole-dance show, a French Moulin Rouge show and free appetisers.

Short-time and long-time fees of 3,000 / 5,000 baht might seem like a lot to those who remember when a lady was happy with 1,000 baht to stay the night. But for anyone new to the scene, the current asking rates seem to be perfectly acceptable. I was thinking about it – and while I will never pay a barfine again – the idea of 3,000 baht for short-time seems steep. But 5,000 baht for long-time is not such a bad deal, assuming she is pleasant and a good time is had. While some will get pedantic, point to the inflation rate and say that things should not have gone up by so much. That misses the point that back in the day the lady’s asking rates were ridiculously cheap and an incredible bargain. Seriously, an attractive lady staying all night long, looking after your every need, all for 1,000 – 2,000 baht which was $US 25 – $US50. That pricing was an anomaly. Whether you wish to indulge is your choice, but anyone who wishes to pay 2003 prices, 2013 prices or even 2022 prices for anything in 2024 is dreaming.

Another reason girls may balk at what they genuinely consider low-ball offers by guys is because they might be on the circuit in Singapore or Taiwan or Hong Kong. They have been making several thousand baht for a short time – which could be as little as 20 or 30 minutes. When they return to Thailand and are offered 2,000 or 3,000 baht for short-time, what do you think they make of that?

Where are all the Indians? Once again this week I went hunting for some new Indian friends in the plaza. I was with my pal from Digital A Gogo and perched at the balcony outside Balcony Bunny, we couldn’t see any Indians. We would make the rounds, going around the balconies, poking our heads inside bars. We didn’t cover every inch of the plaza but we did a couple of circuits. And the grand total of Indian men? Just 9! The plaza was full of East Asians who vastly outnumbered Westerners. I don’t plan to give the topic of Indians in the nightlife areas a lot more air time going forward. While many of you have told me about a so-called Indian invasion and have suggested Soi Nana should be renamed as Soi Delhi, this is absolutely not what I have seen with my own eyes. Further, those Indians I have seen in Bangkok are well-dressed, well-mannered and anyone who complains about them should take a look at themselves.

To my eyes, the Indians in Bangkok, particularly those in Nana Plaza, tend to be a bit older than those I saw in Pattaya. The Bangkok Indians dress and carry themselves in a way that suggests they have money. Some of the younger Indians in Pattaya give a rather different impression.

One thing I wasn’t expecting was the sheer number of *young* Asian guys in Nana Plaza. I assume most come from one of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan or China. And when I say young guys, I really do mean young – many look to be in their early 20s. Just watch them in the queue at the security checkpoint and their excitement is palpable. On Tuesday night this week it felt like 30 – 40% of all customers in the plaza were young east Asian guys, and they were having a grand old time!

 

 

In last week’s column I included a couple of photos of Walking Street, showing how it looked with all of the signs hanging over the street removed. The image above is by Chris Coles, an impression of Walking Street before the signs were taken down. You can see more of Chris’ artwork at : BangkokNoir.com.

Levels in Sukhumvit soi 11 celebrated its 12th anniversary this past Thursday, a great achievement. How time flies – it really doesn’t feel like all that long ago since Levels burst on to the scene.

It’s amazing how little some Thais know about what’s happening in their own country. Today’s photo essay opener featured an image of a table with dildos, sex toys, fake Viagra etc for sale. I showed this to my other half’s sister and she thought it was taken in New Zealand. When I said that no, it was taken early that day on Sukhumvit, she was incredulous and genuinely had no idea this sort of thing was so openly for sale in Bangkok.

 

 

There is a notion amongst some foreigners that spending more on Thai food doesn’t necessarily get you a better meal. Why spend 295 baht on put-gra-pow in a restaurant when you can get it on the street for 50 baht or less? I enjoy inexpensive Thai street food as much as anyone but having dined in a good few decent Thai eateries this trip where 4 or 5 dishes runs 1,500 – 2,000+ baht, I have to say that there is a big difference between cheap Thai food and what is served in pricier establishments. It goes beyond the decor, the service and the ambience. Some of the mid and upper range Thai restaurants are absolutely worth it. The ingredients used are obviously a lot better and some dishes which can be a bit technical to cook are made according to the recipe. A lot of street food vendors lack finesse. For sure, when it comes to value for money you can’t beat street food. Expensive Thai food is just for wealthy tourists, right? Funnily enough, most of the customers in the venues we stopped by were not foreigners at all, but Thais – and they know Thai food better than anyone!

The image below shows the receipt from a quick bite I grabbed at Foodland. The second entry says ไข่ดาวฝรั่ง which translates as “fried egg, farang-style”. It seems that Foodland is aware that the preferences of foreigners and Thais as to how they like their fried egg cooked differs. The farang-style fried egg is lightly cooked and has a runny yolk (just how I like it). The Thai-style fried egg is crispy and on the verge of being burned. What is interesting to me is that Foodland seemingly does this without the need for you to specify how you would like your egg cooked. Of course, you can specify just how you would like it cooked.

 

 

One of the biggest disappointments eating out in Thailand this time has been the quality of eggs. I know this might seem like a really silly, even innocuous thing to comment on. At home, I try to eat as well as I can and one of the pillars of my diet is eggs. I eat at least 3 every morning without fail (scrambled in butter, if you’re curious). Many places I have eaten use what appear to be the cheapest eggs. They have little flavour, and are dull in colour. This is annoying when you eat out for breakfast and the eggs should be the star of the show. Contrast this with eating out in my native New Zealand where most places use pasture-raised, organic eggs. (Cheaper / ethnic restaurants are the exception and typically use cheap ingredients.) An egg’s an egg, right? If, like me, you consume a lot of eggs, you absolutely can taste the difference. One exception – and a big thumbs up – is the Landmark Hotel – where the eggs are pure quality. Everywhere else I’ve had eggs, they’ve been disappointing.

I know it’s hardly something new, but I have to comment for the umpteenth time on the ++ service charge and tax thing. First of all, I see no reason why venues don’t include tax in the price. The only reason they do it is to make prices seem a little lower than they are. But what I really want to rant about is the compulsory 10% service charge added to the bill in many Bangkok restaurants. This is much less a thing in Pattaya. The best service this trip was in eateries in Pattaya. In Bangkok, it’s a lottery – and in most places it was very average. A shout out to G’s in Silom Soi 4 and Charley Brown’s in Sukhumvit soi 19 which both have well-trained staff delivering excellent service – and neither venue enforces a compulsory service charge on diners.

 

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Thailand-Related News Articles

The Pattaya Mail questions whether the change in government could have any effect on visas.

In Pattaya, a foreign man who assaults a German man and his Thai wife is arrested.

The caretaker Finance Minister says Thailand’s economy is nearly in crisis.

A Thai man sitting on a toilet seat is bitten on the testicles by a python.

A visa fixer swindles a Japanese businessman out of 300,000 baht.

A farang is photographed naked inside a cannabis shop in Phuket.

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport removes fast track immigration on arrival for first class and business class travellers.

 

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Closing Comments

One thing I was concerned about visiting Thailand at this time was rain. The rainy season started months ago and while there have been some heavy falls in recent months, it’s mid-August when the rain becomes heavier and more frequent in Bangkok. I have always had a preference for visiting in July over August – partly because July sees a lot less rain than August. This year we’ve been really lucky. I’ve not been caught in the rain once, save for my first visit to Nana Plaza when it rained heavily and I was stuck there for a couple of hours. But being stuck in Nana Plaza is not exactly a hardship, is it? August may not be quite as bad in terms of rainfall as I thought it would be – and I’d happily visit again in August although I plan to be back well before August of next year. September and October are the two worst months for rain in the capital, and two months I’ll continue to avoid. Of course, some people are much less fussy and the rain doesn’t deter them like it does me!

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick

 

Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com