Stickman Weekly, October 6, 2024
Mystery Photo
Where is it?
Last week’s photo was taken of the interesting looking house on Sukhumvit soi 6. If you have ever walked between Soi Nana and sois 6 and / or 8, taking the back soi route along soi 6, you have walked past this house. I’d love to know more about the property and its history. I wonder how long it will be until it is sold and redeveloped? That can’t be a fun place to live with so many skyscrapers going up in the area, all of which would offer a birds eye view of that property. This week’s photo features a downtown building that was completed not so long ago.
Stick’s Inbox – The Best Emails From The Past Week
Beautiful, not photogenic.
Thai ladies in the bar industry were definitely more attractive than today’s crop; but their photographs do not show that. My experience has long been that other than a small minority of the girls, the vast majority simply do not photograph well. Many was the time I would meet an absolute stunner only to be perplexed when I saw pictures of her. Perplexed because she looked so average and plain in the photos, but there she was right in front of me, and she was drop-dead gorgeous, and not through fancy makeup or anything like that. Her natural beauty just did not photograph well.
An Irish pub on Soi Cowboy.
You asked, ‘How about a decent Irish pub on Soi Cowboy?’ I think most expats / regulars in the area congregate at Scruffy Murphy’s as you noted, but I do think there’s something to be said for a street-facing Irish bar. Personally, I often visit Irish bars as they offer a relatively quiet place to have conversations with other farang who are also looking for a quiet place. However, for tourists, they offer something familiar where they can perch and people-watch. Look at soi 4; there’s Fitzgerald’s, which is absolutely packed on weekends and still has a decent amount of customers on weekdays, primarily because of its gigantic patio. Ditto with Blarney Stone, though they have far fewer customers – and is also further down the soi. Coincidence? Of course, most tourists looking for that on Cowboy just pop into Stumble Inn, with their two floors of outdoor seating; so I imagine a prospective Irish bar would need something to make it stand out.
Irish pubs and red-light districts don’t mix.
No to an Irish bar on Soi Cowboy, please. Shenanigans took a lot of market share in Patpong. Not that that is a bad thing for the area but bad for red-light districts in general. And a British pub? A wanker hangout, no thank you. They brought soccer / TVs to gogo bars. Eunuchs.
Burmese babes on Soi Nana.
Since you mentioned them in your column this week, I’d like to share that I picked up a real nice woman on Soi 4 a while back, wearing a head covering. We had a nice chat, and it turned out she was Islamic, from Burma, therefore Rohingya. A very polite, charming woman.
Rainy season is not the same everywhere.
Regarding the rainy season, when I lived in Isaan it was noticeable how much less it rained there compared to other parts of Thailand.
More Readers’ Emails
Thermae first-timer.
I checked out Thermae for the first time tonight. Whilst I’ve heard it mentioned many times, I never knew where it was despite walking past it many times. Looking underground never occurred to me but I finally noticed it and decided it would be rude not to look in. A bit of an eye-opener, the sheer number of people. It was standing room only and by that I mean shoulder to shoulder. I really was surprised by how many girls were in there. It was too busy for me so I drank up and left.
So long as it’s profitable, who cares about quality?
I found your comments about the poor quality of Thai restaurants in New Zealand also applies to at least one Thai restaurant here in Arizona. My wife, who is Thai, cooked for this restaurant full-time for many years. This past year she cut back on her hours. The folks who are filling in her hours do not prepare the food to her standards. The Thai owners are only here for a few weeks each year. As long as the restaurant is bringing in lots of money, they don’t seem to care about the quality.
Thai cuisine cardinal sins.
I like your mango-and-sticky-rice horror story, but won’t hold my breath for such dubious practices to change. It reminds me of Thai restaurants in the West that put bell peppers in green and red curries in place of traditional chilies: a culinary cardinal sin. Using peas in place of devil’s fig (baby eggplant) is another outrage. But then so is using boxed rather than fresh coconut milk in Thailand itself — alas, par for the course for most restaurants in the land of abundant coconuts.
Recommended farang food outlet.
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This Week’s News, Views & Gossip
Bad Beach opened on Soi Cowboy this past Tuesday in what one friend described as the best bar opening he’d ever been to. Operated by the same people behind Crazy House, Bad Beach features a striking frontage made up of a very large, programmable LCD video screen. The tables on the patio outside are funky and look like they came off the set of The Jetsons. Ok, so The Jetsons was a cartoon and didn’t have a set but check them out for yourself and I’m sure you’ll agree they are very much ’60s space age. Bad Beach has only been open a few days but the initial reports have been very positive.
Bangkok will get another brand-new gogo bar later this week, with Virgin X on Patpong soi 2 scheduled to open its doors for the first time on Friday, October 11. The original Virgin gogo bar, right next door, has a reputation for attractive ladies, so hopes are high for Virgin X.
Back on Soi Cowboy, Weed Hub will close on November 1st. As per recent commentary in this column, none of the weed stores on Soi Cowboy seemed to be doing much trade at all. Perhaps I’ll get my wish and it will be replaced by an Irish pub?
How did the Billboard anniversary party go? I never heard a peep from readers about it which is most usual. Not one person mentioned it so I guess not so many Stickman readers made it along this year.
Angelwitch in Nana Plaza has introduced some new drink specials. Replacing the previous happy hour promotions, the new offers include both daily deals and specials on specific nights. On Mondays, White Rabbit craft vodka drinks are just 100 baht all night. Wednesdays keep the spirits flowing with all house pours – vodka, gin, rum and whiskey – priced at 100 baht all night long. Daily specials include Chang and Singha bottled beers for 100 baht from 8 – 9 PM. For those who prefer shots, Fireball and Jägermeister are available all night at 150 baht each. Angelwitch house shots, including Tequila and other selections, are priced at 100 baht. Recent reports from Angelwitch have been positive with one report from someone I consider very reliable saying that Angelwitch has the best lineup he has seen there in ages. And there is no aggressive pushing for lady drinks by the ladies either.
Keen to shoot some pool in Bangkok? For the serious player, The Sportsman on soi 13 may come to mind, or perhaps Hustlers, below the Times Square Building. There are many more relaxed places to shoot pool scattered all around Sukhumvit, including bars with a table or two in the soi 7 beer complex, on Soi Nana and some other sois. But did you know that you can shoot pool inside Nana Plaza? If you fancy playing pool in Bangkok’s best bar area, there are pool tables upstairs from Bunny 5. The area with the pool tables has been described as very nice. Playing pool mightn’t be the first thing which comes to mind when you think of Nana Plaza but for a change of scenery, you might like to check it out. It’s above Random bar, so once you’ve entered the plaza, go left up the stairs, forward to more stairs, bear right, and it’s there on the right.
Yes, you can play pool in Nana Plaza.
It’s been a while since I have mentioned CenterPoint, the soi 7 beer bar complex. I popped by a couple of times when I was in town but I didn’t stick around for long as beer bars aren’t really my scene. The building that once housed the Biergarten is starting to feel like…….the Biergarten again. It feels like a large open-air beer bar and some of the old crew – both the staff behind the bar and the girls that lingered – are back. The format is somewhat different to the old days, and when you buy one of the freelancers a lady drink, you pay a premium for it and she gets a commission of 50 baht.
And neither should you make the mistake of thinking that all the beer bar girls in that area are up for it. A good friend stopped by this week and came across a lady he thought he’d like to spend more time with. Lady drinks were running 230 baht but he was ok with that as he liked her and he wanted to get to know her better. They talked for a bit and after a while he asked her about the barfine. A coy smile followed as she explained that she doesn’t do barfines. She is just there to entertain customers in the bar. And no, entertain is not a misnomer for anything more than chit chat. To those of you who get exasperated by this sort of thing, I get it.
I notice quite a few people are already mentioning high season. It’s not the high season yet, in fact it’s pretty much the peak of the rainy season in Bangkok right now. How long until high season? That begs the question of just when high season starts. I’d say hold your horses. When the calendar turns over to November, I imagine there will be a noticeable uptick in arrivals.
There were many heavy downpours this week. A taxi charges through the rain near the mouth of Sukhumvit soi 23.
Talking of the rainy season, there have been heavy downpours in Bangkok most nights. The heavens opened around 10:30 PM on Tuesday, putting a bit of a dampener on the opening of Bad Beach on Soi Cowboy. Light to moderate rain fell from 10 PM on Wednesday but the worst was said to be Thursday when heavy rain started around 6 PM, discouraging many ladies from heading out to work, even though the skies cleared a few hours later. But then it’s the rainy season and it would pour again later that night. Friday, too, saw early evening rain which is a disaster for bar trade – and bar owners hate it when Friday night trade is disrupted. This is all completely normal at this time of year, as are owners and dancers moaning about a lack of customers! This is particularly the case in Patpong, where rains keep away even the mainstream tourists at the night market.
Proving, however, that gogo bars can do well even on rainy nights with few customers, Pink Panther on Wednesday had quite the party going on. As the rain fell, few people wandered into the Patpong Soi 2 bar, with less than a handful of customers at 11 PM. However, one of those customers (a friend of the boss) made up for it, ringing the bell numerous times. There were lots of ladies on hand with little to do other than dance and drink, and drink they did! As they say, it only takes one big customer to make a big night.
Down in Pattaya, word is that there are new bars opening all over town. While some like to scoff at those investing in the bar industry, obviously there are plenty who are optimistic about Sin City’s future.
But not everyone who invests in the bar industry goes on to feel like they won the lottery. Several months ago, bar owner and YouTube personality Mister Egg flicked Milk, the bar right next door to his pride and joy, Le Pub, on Soi Diamond. The guy who bought it just happened to have zero bar experience and guess what? He now wants out! He’s had it on the market for a while but there have been no takers. The asking price was originally 3 million. After a while it dropped to 2 million. I hear that the current asking price is 1.16 million, which makes it sound very much like a Dutch auction. The fellow has been quoted as saying he just wants to retire and go home. A friend in Pattaya translated that as, “I’m not making any money and I need to get out of this!”
Pattaya’s GentsClubs.com will open its newest Maggie May pub – Maggie May Darkside – on Khao Talo Soi 9 this week. The venue includes an outdoor beer garden with a swimming pool. The Darkside opening is part of a larger complex that will also include a large sukiyaki restaurant and precedes the New Year’s week opening of the Maggie May Resort in Jomtien off Soi Chaiyapruek with 25 rooms, pool, lounge, restaurant, and an on-site gents club. Maggie May began in September 2019 on Soi Chaiyapoon with Jomtien opening in February this year and offers Guinness discount cards that can be used at all venues with pints of Guinness priced at 210 baht.
Following recent comments about how the ladies working in the bars today look compared to ladies who worked the past, I’d like to share more photos I took of ladies in the bars in the past – but I have chosen not to. When I was actively taking photos in the bars between 2009 and 2019, I always told ladies the photos would be posted online. If they decided they wanted their photo removed, they could have someone contact me via the site any time and it would be done. Over the years, a number have done just that. But with photos I took before 2009, those ladies really didn’t know what would happen with them and as such, it’s not really fair to post them. That’s why I have not done a direct comparison of ladies from the past and ladies working now using photos.
What happened to Bei Otto? For a long time it was known as the German restaurant and bakery in Bangkok. It was a fixture on Sukhumvit soi 20 for almost the entire time I lived in Bangkok but a few years back it moved, and if I am not mistaken, it moved again. Last I heard, Bei Otto was located on Sukhumvit Soi 49. A quick Google search reveals that it is currently closed and undergoing renovations. It should be noted that it changed management at least once and the feedback that followed was mixed. If you’re craving German food, you might like to try G’s in Silom soi 4 which is highly recommended – great food, outstanding service and very good value. G’s also have a very good selection of German beers too – probably more than any other bar in all of Thailand.
The availability of imported food products in Thailand these days is so much better than it used to be. Up until about 15 years or so ago, the selection was quite dismal and while you could find various packaged items from the likes of the USA and Australia, the range was limited. We used to make do with what Foodland and Villa had on the shelves. Today there’s so much more choice these days with products from all around the world available now. The old expat supermarkets have a slightly better selection but now there are dedicated imported food suppliers, some with shops, most online. And it’s not just packaged food, there are importers who bring in New Zealand and Australian beef offering a full range of products with just about every cut. And amazingly, in some cases prices are not that much higher than you’d pay in the source country, if you know where to go. There are also local producers making Western style food products like pies etc. If you’re a meat lover, you might like to check out Bangkok Beef which offers New Zealand and Australia beef much cheaper than anywhere else. Bangkok Beef does not have a store so you need to order from them online. Other websites worth checking out for imported food products are ExpatFoodsThailand and PaleoRobbie. While there are the usual complaints from grumpy retirees that prices are higher than home, there are some products which are almost the same price as home. For example, a 500 gram block of Mainland Vintage cheese in New Zealand sells in supermarkets for anywhere between $12.99 and $16.99 – 280 – 350 baht – while in Bangkok there are places selling it for 299 baht which strikes me as very reasonable. Both New Zealand and Australia have an FDA with Thailand which allows the importation of food products that are entirely produced in each of those countries without any imported ingredients to qualify for 0% import duty. The availability (and prices!) of imported food products in Thailand is so much better these days.
Over the years, there is one question I keep getting asked What does my wife / girlfriend / other half / significant other make of me writing Stickman? The answer might surprise you. My girlfriend is a strong supporter of me writing this column. Late last year, I questioned whether I should continue with it and for a time was leaning towards ending my involvement. She convinced me to “stick” with it.
How well do you know your expat friends? Many expats in Bangkok are very cagey about their past. Some make a point of never mentioning family back in their own country, and if family should come up in the conversation they quickly change the subject. It might sound odd, but those expats who do mention family – and who don’t eschew conversation about family / their life back in Farangland – tend to be the people I get along with best. There’s something almost creepy about those who get very uncomfortable when the idea of family back home or their life in Farangland comes up, almost as if they’re trying to delete that whole period of their life or they’re somehow paranoid about their past.
Earlier this week news broke of the arrest of a 30-something Thai couple accused of selling gold not of the standard purity. They’d sold gold from their gold shop for some time and customers discovered something was up when they went to sell it – and other gold merchants refused to take it. The mainstream press had a field day with this story which led the news for a couple of days. I was amazed at the way this couple had flaunted their wealth online to the extreme. Thais love to show off but this was at another level. One video showed a shopping trip where they bought 9 (!!!) Patek Philippe watches. And there was a ridiculous video on the lady’s birthday where her husband had prepared a present – in excess of 100 million baht in cash lined up in blocks. Showing off is a national pastime for many urban Thais, but I can’t get my head around them showing off when the money was made through questionable means. Did they not think these videos would resurface and make them look ridiculous?! Coming from a part of the world where success is hardly ever celebrated publicly like this, we tend to go the other way and play things down. I find the idea of showing off so publicly to be distasteful. It’s not just those who have gotten genuinely rich who love to show off and it takes many forms. Posing on airplanes, eating in fancier restaurants (where the total bill must be shown) to the new car with the red number plate are some of the most common. It’s nothing new, of course – just think of the announcement at a wedding ceremony of how much money was paid for sin sot – with all the cash fanned out for guests to see. I am not saying people should not celebrate their success. By all means enjoy it. It’s the flaunting and the extreme showing off that I find so vulgar.
Thailand-Related News Articles
An Aussie tourist dies in Thailand after allegedly being beaten by a British friend during a drunken brawl.
An absolute tragedy as a bus carrying schoolchildren just north of Bangkok crashed, burst in to flames and 20 children along with 3 teachers died in the blaze.
Some visa agencies have added the new DTV visa to the menu of their offerings for a very hefty fee.
Dave The Rave stopped by Bad Beach for its soft opening.
It sounds like hyperbole for the Daily Mail to suggest that a local Thai meal is the world’s deadliest dish.
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Closing Comments
The biggest challenge for me with this column is keeping on top of what is going on in downtown Bangkok. Many people have kindly provided information since I left Thailand, but over time, their number has whittled down. Some people have lost interest in the bar scene and / or prefer to avoid the Nana to Asoke corridor altogether. A few have settled down with a lady who insists they put their visits to bars with chrome poles behind them. A few have left Thailand altogether, and a handful have died. But the number one reason why some no longer help is that they have moved away from downtown Bangkok. Many who once lived within walking distance of Nana and Cowboy have moved out in to the suburbs, a 300 – 400 baht taxi ride from downtown. What was once their stomping ground may be a place they only stop by a couple of times a year. Others have left Bangkok altogether and moved elsewhere in Thailand. I guess it’s all part of the expat cycle. I have to admit that if I was to move back to Thailand at some point, downtown Bangkok would not be where I chose to live. Are you one of those who has moved away from downtown? Has it worked out for you? Wish you’d done it sooner? Any regrets? I’d love to hear your story.
Your Bangkok commentator,
Stick
Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com
