Stickman Weekly, October 13, 2024
Mystery Photo

Where is it?
Last week’s photo was taken of the bridge connecting the relatively new JLK Tower on the corner of Sukhumvit soi 7 to the Nana BTS station. That photo along with others I have included recently were all taken when I went for a walk one morning around Sukhumvit.
Stick’s Inbox – The Best Emails From The Past Week
The evil gold-selling couple.
That gold selling couple kept me glued to the news all week. The wife is totally evil. She’d film herself donating 3,000 baht to a poor man, and once the cameras were off she’d take 2,000 baht back. It was content like this that made people want to support her gold shop, feeling that by being customers they were indirectly helping the community. It will be interesting to see how much of the wealth displayed was actually owned by the couple. You can actually rent cash in Thailand to show off at weddings and such, so it’s possible that 100 million baht birthday present was rented. Or maybe it was only 10 million baht arranged to look like 100 million? The watches haven’t turned up yet as well to my knowledge, so I’m interested to see where this case goes next!
A culture of flaunting.
I couldn’t agree more with your comments regarding the flaunting of wealth here. The further down the ‘food chain’, the more extreme, it seems. Anyone living here knows how extremely jealous the Thais can be, especially the women, so flaunting and bragging often leads to other problems. I love my BMWs and bought a new one last year for 7M baht. It is for me to enjoy, and not to flaunt wealth. Some months later a friend in the UK informed me that the original invoice had been posted by my Thai wife on Facebook, complete with our home address. I asked my wife if she thought we should arrange 24-hour security staff (bodyguards)? Why, she enquired? I explained that I knew about the Facebook post and asked why she did it. She had told her friends about the purchase (of course) and they asked to see the invoice as proof. I explained that now anyone with a criminal mind knows where we live and that a visit to our address might be worthwhile. Her reaction? Silence! No comprehension of the seriousness of the situation, all stemming from the flaunting culture.
The characters of Sukhumvit.
Recently you mentioned the small doorman at Check Inn 99. I remember him well. There was also a smaller chap that worked on the door of an Irish pub in soi 4 which I believe is now the Blarney Stone. He used to sit on a still outside the pub door wearing a Guinness hat. He was always very friendly and I was told he was a brother of the chap at Check Inn 99. Check Inn 99 also had a lady running the place who had been there for years. She was very friendly and popular and a well-known face in the area. I believe Check Inn 99 moved to a new area some years ago and wonder if it is still running with the Filipino band. (It moved to soi 20-something where it didn’t last long, then to soi 33 before it finally closed for good – Stick> I have not seen the watch seller with the growth on his face in soi 4 for around 4 years. He was a nice chap and I always gave him some money for a drink when I saw him.
Middle East flight disruptions.
The Middle East situation is starting to impact flights to Asia from Europe that route through the Arab airport hubs. My flight was totally mangled. I was traveling with Qatar and ended up getting rerouted to Saudi Arabia mid-air due to the Iran rocket attack on Israel. All air space was immediately closed down. And when we did finally get to Doha, I was stuck in the airport for 5 hours waiting for a connecting flight to Bangkok. Israel is inevitably going to retaliate, so I can imagine the same situation is likely to occur when they do.
More Readers’ Emails
Bar ladies today have more substance.
One thing I see in today’s women, is that many have much more substance than in times’ past, and by substance, I do not mean silicon, filler and tatts, but substance as in personality that can pull in even a dyed-in-the-wool cynic not prone to instant infatuation and impulsive first day marriage proposals. I understand there are men who prefer ‘farm fresh’, as ‘she’ might not know ‘he’ is not exactly something special, but others of us get enjoyment chatting up women who have a wider range of experience and knowledge, not just someone who recently took the first long bus trip of her life from rural Isaan. I’ve chatted with women in Billboard who are currently attending university for subjects ranging from law to nursing, who earn enough to pay for school plus take care of the family. A woman cannot do that as easily, if she’s working a ‘normal’ job, so some women make the choice of spending some time in an agogo. Add to that the usual Thai penchant for ‘sanuk’, and it’s understandable why some men retain a particular fascination for the agogo or demimondaine world, even after a few years. If such experiences were good enough for men like author Graham Greene and theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman, who am I to say a man should grow out of that fascination? Some of the women develop ‘people skills’ that would serve them well in the public relations department of a corporate titan. I don’t think that was true 20 years ago of the women in the clubs.
Then vs. now.
My take on the then versus now comparison of looks and service can be summed up in the access to information. Whether working in a bar or freelance, they all have access to the latest information on lifestyle and trends in fashion. They also know what is expected in the bedroom. They won’t spend all night with you and iron your clothes but they know how a porn star behaves. Wham, bam, and get the hell out of there is the service! I remember dealing with naive farm girls that had great natural beauty but not a clue what they were doing between the sheets. Now they all know and it’s just a matter of getting them in the right frame of mind which usually involves spending a buck.
Ladies past vs. present.
On the ongoing debate about the quality of the girls working in the bars these days, I am definitely in the things have deteriorated badly camp. Luckily I am now past the age of caring much. The one thing you could say about The Arab and his bars is that he recruited some lookers to drag gullible punters in before fleecing them. Even he seems to have given up the ghost these days. Outside Midnite bar tonight, the girls would have been lucky to get a spot working in Lumpini Park 20 years ago. <See photo which accompanied email below – Stick>

A chubby lady tries to entice punters in to Midnite, Soi Cowboy.
This Week’s News, Views & Gossip
It’s almost two weeks since Bad Beach opened on Soi Cowboy and things are settling in to a routine in Crazy House’s sister bar. Bad Beach features a double set of curtains to be penetrated before you enter the bar proper. Usually when you find a double set of curtains or a vestibule, it means that there’s plenty on show in the bar. That’s not the case at Bad Beach where the girls are in bikinis – read: full bikinis. It might be owned and operated by the same people but there’s no Crazy House costume. The girls dance on a stage that is lower than most Soi Cowboy gogo bars. Word is that while it started with a hiss and a roar on opening night, things have been somewhat quieter since with more service staff than dancers. Needless to say, Bad Beach features quite a few familiar faces from Crazy House. If you like the music at Crazy House, you’ll like the music at Bad Beach. Unfortunately, for anyone aged over about 40 that probably means you won’t like the music at all! Beers run 180 baht which is pretty much the norm in Sukhumvit gogo bars these days – this might even be at the lower end of the range in the better bars. And as far as pressure from the girls goes to buy them drinks, all feedback suggests some of these girls haven’t had a drop of fluid since lunch-time. The interior design is very modern and in stark contrast to some of the long-running – some would say classic – Soi Cowboy gogo bars. The striking exterior of the bar makes it stand out on a soi where plenty of bars have a pretty frontage. Last minute addendum: I have since heard that Bad Beach had hired a bunch of new ladies, some of whom most recently worked at Twister in Nana Plaza. I have also been informed that there are ladies in their birthday suit a la Crazy House.
Large, beautiful, programmable video screens are becoming popular bar entrances. Bad Beach features such a frontage. They look impressive but a note to anyone who suffers from photosensitive epilepsy, be aware.

The beautiful video screen frontage at Bad Beach, Soi Cowboy, which opened a couple of weeks ago.
Virgin X on Patpong soi 2 was supposed to open on Friday night. I sent a friend over to Patpong for an opening night report only to receive an email on Saturday morning saying the intel was bad and Virgin X was in darkness when he stopped by. Rumours persist that that the issue is recruitment, or lack thereof.
I’m all for bars trying something different / new to get punters in the door but sometimes promotions can go from thoughtful to corny. Lollipop in Nana Plaza has an odd promotion: buy 3 Jägermeister shots and receive a free set of sunglasses. Not only is it the rainy season in Thailand, hardly a time of year when sunglasses are needed, but I can’t imagine a free set of sunnies are any good. Buy 3 shots, get a 4th free would be a better promotion, in my humble opinion.
A theme of the column since we resumed after a year-long break due to Covid has been the influx of freelancers from around the world on Soi Nana. It used to be that the ladies perching outside the Nana Hotel were mostly Thais with the odd Vietnamese and Laotian. Today, it’s a much more multicultural group with ladies from all around South-East Asia along with some from the Middle East, a few from Eastern Europe and heaps from Africa. A reader captured the snap below of a scrum of African ladies at the start of the small sub-soi just after Bunny Bar, more or less opposite Hooters. On the night the photo was taken, African beauties were stationed in groups of 2 or 3 all the way down Soi Nana. On Soi Nana, is it a case of any colour so long as it’s black?

There are more and more African beauties on Soi Nana after dark.
After a lull of a month or so, complaints resumed this week about the double lady drink nonsense. The first bar a reader complained about was Twister where a reader paid 440 baht for a lady drink. To make matters worse, he wasn’t even sitting inside the bar, but outside. The method used by the bar / girls is ingenious with two beers squeezed in to one cocktail glass. Who knew it’s possible to get two full bottles of beer into a single glass? Despite the lady drinking from one glass, “each” lady drink was priced at 220 baht each so the single glass supposedly containing two beers sets the unknowing and unhappy customer back 440 baht.
Add Geisha to the list of bars perpetrating this nonsense. Another reader bought a drink for a dancer at Geisha which she downed in five minutes. At that point she asked for another. A quick check of the bill showed 2 drinks @ 240 baht each. Our reader checked with staff and was told customers may order one lady drink, but will be charged for 2. With lady drinks running 240 baht, that meant a 480 baht bill for 5 minutes entertainment. Ask a lady how much a lady drink is, and she says 240 baht – without explaining that you will be charged for two. Let’s cut through the BS: this is duplicitous. The gentleman declined her request for a 2nd drink (or is that a 3rd and 4th?) – which would have been another 480 baht – so the dancer upped and walked away. Said reader didn’t hang around the bar, leaving an almost full bottle of beer behind. He lives in the neighbourhood, and won’t return to Geisha ever. This double lady drink nonsense is so short-sighted, and is pushing locals away forever as some bars develop a reputation for questionable lady drink policies. This fellow is not a cheap Charlie, he liked the dancer, and was in the mood to enjoy the night. The dancer and the bar could have made so much more money if they’d played the game fairly.
Thursday marks the end of Buddhist Lent and is the last Buddhist holiday of the year. Bars in Bangkok will close at midnight on Wednesday and not reopen until Friday. In Pattaya, Bars on Walking Street including Fahrenheit and Shark plan to reopen at 10 PM on Thursday, with no alcohol. As the clock strikes midnight, alcohol will be available again.
When bars do reopen in Bangkok on Friday, Red Dragon and Tycoon in Nana Plaza along with Shark on Soi Cowboy will all host their respective Full Moon Party.
Over the border in Cambodia, bar hounds may remember that there once were two very distinct groups of ladies in the naughty bars – the local Cambodians and the Vietnamese illegals. Even a first-time visitor could see that the Cambodians and the Vietnamese were very different to look at. For those who like fairer-skinned ladies, the Vietnamese were particularly easy on the eye. But that was the past and these days the Vietnamese aren’t found in anything like the same numbers they once were, especially in the freelancer bars. I understand that there are still some Vietnamese ladies about in Phnom Penh, mostly in the high-end Chinese venues. As for a presence in the areas where whitey hangs out? There are hardly any.
Down in Pattaya, Soi 6 used to be largely the domain of expats, a sort of sneak-away spot for afternoon delight. Since the border opened post-Covid, Soi 6 is said to be equally popular after dark. I am told there are plenty of attractive ladies around. Frankly, I didn’t see that when I was in town, but friends in Pattaya insist there are plenty of lookers about.
Visitor numbers are creeping up in Pattaya while over the hill on Jomtien, it’s said to still be very quiet. It sounds like there’s a real contrast between Pattaya and Jomtien at present. But don’t go thinking that increased visitor numbers correlates to the bars picking up. In Pattaya, that is no longer necessarily the case.
Bangkok’s nightlife areas have ridden out the rainy season pretty well, but Pattaya’s Walking Street is struggling. Bar owners and managers up and down the nightlife strip are complaining about too little demand and far too much supply; supply as in the number of gogo bars. In the past 35 days, three new “super clubs”, two smaller gogo bars and a ladyboy bar have opened. Chick, Shark and an expanded Opium are all huge clubs needing 100+ girls to fill the stages and, in the case of Chick, there is up to four rows of stadium seating. Chick – built in the space that was the oversized IvyGo Gogo – is so cavernous that rows of empty seating in the bar are closed off at times so as to make the bar feel less empty and more intimate. Opium, which was a smaller, more intimate version of XS and Pin Up, has now opened its extension, which was about a third of the former IvyGo.
The third of the so-called “super clubs” to open – Shark Gogo Club – is part of the reason other bars are struggling. A friend visited not once but twice on Friday night – at 10 PM and 1:30 AM – and the bar was packed. On the early visit, exactly two seats were available, not counting the bar-side seats at the very back of the bar, behind the VIP section. It was still jumping at 1:30 AM.
True Color is Pattaya’s newest ladyboy bar, opening in the spot that most recently was Coke a-Gogo on Soi Diamond. The small bar on the corner of Soi 14 and Walking Street that was mooted to be a ladyboy bar instead opened with all girls as Identi. Besides the unique spelling, Identi is a unicorn in that its owners are a Russian couple. It should be noted that Russians have largely been involved with Russian-dancer bars. Single-shophouse gogo bars are often cramped and cheaply appointed. Not so Identi, which the owners – who have been in Thailand for 15 years – said they opened because they were tired of partying in everyone else’s gogo bar. Friday was the Russian woman’s birthday and that night Identi had 22 ladies working in various states of undress. The girls on stage were described as easy on the eye and good fun. The seating is comfy, the sound is just right and the lighting effective. And they have a cool mascot outside!

New gogo bar Identi has a mascot. How cool is that?!
Coffee really has come a long way in Bangkok. It used to be that you had to go to a decent hotel for good coffee, or make it at home. Those days are long gone and today you can find good coffee all over. The best coffee I had in Bangkok this past trip was at Artis, at the top of Sukhumvit Soi 18. They have a good range of coffee with beans from various exotic places. And if you’re taking a lady, they have all those sickly sweet novelty coffees that Thai ladies love. It’s a nice spot to perch and watch the world go by – but not so comfortable as to be a spot to linger for a few hours and do some work. It really is more a place for a quick coffee and catch up. Arti is near the top of soi 18. Just a word of warning – I thought New Zealand was expensive but Artis is pricier than home. If you’re on a budget, head around the corner to the diner at Foodland which has a perfectly drinkable coffee for less than 40 baht.
Bourbon Street’s Mexican buffet used to be every Tuesday from 6:00 PM. These days it’s just once a month – on the second Tuesday of every month. It’s 399 baht ++ for a very good spread which includes salads, soup and desserts. Very good value for money, especially if you have a good appetite.
Every visit to Bangkok I come across things that leave me scratching my head. This past trip, I was surprised to see that there are still a few places where all the staff wear masks. I asked a waitress in one restaurant if she was scared of Covid to which she replied, “No, but big boss scared!”
A few months back Thailand announced a new ETA (electronic travel authorisation) system which would allow foreigners arriving in the country to use the electronic terminals. It has since been announced that the implementation of this system has been delayed. Who would have thought!
I know plenty of people prefer to use a visa agent rather than go through the rigmarole of doing the annual retirement visa extensions themselves. There are a lot of visa agents in Bangkok and Pattaya. In Bangkok, they tend to keep a reasonably low profile whereas in Pattaya they are much more visible, advertising online and operating from shophouses with huge ads outsider listing all manner of visa options. I would have thought competition would keep prices down, but it seems I got that wrong. I was awfully surprised when a good friend told me recently how much it had cost him to get a one year retirement visa or to be pedantic, a 12-month extension of stay. The total price was just under ฿40,000. Using an agent means that you don’t have all of the hassles that seem almost inevitable when you do it yourself – and a good agent will be able to tell you right away whether they can get the visa for you or not. 40,000 baht isn’t a huge amount of money but then neither is it a trivial amount either, especially when you consider that in 12 months’ time you have to do the same dance all over again!
In the latest from the Thais in New Zealand files comes the story of a Thai wife who has told fibs to her Kiwi husband about the price she sold his apartment for and pocketed millions of baht. More than 10 years ago, this Kiwi fellow bought a condo in a high-end development in Bangkok. This was a very nice condo in a very good building in a good area. The price was well north of 10 million baht. He transferred the money for the purchase to Thailand from New Zealand and for reasons I will never understand, he put the condo entirely in his wife’s name. It should be noted that while she has plenty of money herself and it was her idea for them to purchase it, she paid not one baht towards it. They used the condo as a place to stay when they visited Bangkok multiple times each year. They hardly travel at all these days, the condo wasn’t being used so they decided to sell it. They first advertised it a couple of years ago but there was no interest. It took a full two years before any genuine interest was shown and they were able to get the deal over the line. The condo sold for 30% more than the fellow paid for it. And with the New Zealand dollar much weaker against the baht now than when he purchased it, the actual profit on the sale in New Zealand dollars was hundreds of thousands of dollars. This Thai woman travelled to Thailand to sign off on the sale, transfer the condo to the new owner and transfer the funds from the sale to her husband back in New Zealand. So far, so good! However, she told fibs to her husband about what it sold for and said that it actually sold at a loss. “But don’t worry, darling, it works out at the same amount in New Zealand dollars as you originally paid for it.” She transferred a large sum to him in New Zealand and kept a big chunk for herself in Thailand. While I am not all that surprised that this happened, what did amaze me is how open she has been with friends about this. Not all Thai women are like this and I do not wish to intimate that to be the case. It should also be pointed out that some of her friends were shocked that she did this.
Thailand-Related News Articles
Reader’s story of the week comes from Mega, Around The Traps In Southeast Asia: Part 30.
Thailand’s electric vehicle industry fuels a boom in commercial real estate.
The terrible air was back in Bangkok this week.
Thailand has expanded its e-visa system, meaning there are more countries where you apply for a visa for Thailand online as opposed to dealing directly with the local embassy or consulate.
Bangkok seems determined to sanitise the city as more rules for street vendors are rolled out.
An Indian alleged to have groped a Thai on Beach Road receives a knuckle sandwich.
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Closing Comments
I have long encouraged feedback from readers. I am genuinely keen to know what you make of what I have to say, especially when I go against the grain. And, of course, I like to publish your thoughts which bring some balance to what I have to say, and show what’s on people’s minds. I thought this week there were some particularly good emails in the Emails To Stick section. I really liked the email about the ladies having more substance today, and also the one about how ladies of the night have a much better understanding of what is expected of them. Both of these emails touched on points I have not heard mentioned before. As always, your thoughts on any other topics covered in the column are very welcome.
Your Bangkok commentator,
Stick
Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com