Stickman Weekly, November 3, 2024
Mystery Photo

Where is it?
Last week’s photo was taken in front of the Nana Hotel, with the camera slanted up, capturing the JW Marriott in the background. It’s a spot well-known to Stickman readers and while I didn’t count, I think close to 100 of you got it right. After a few weeks of relatively easy photos, this week’s is a bit more difficult. I took this shot a few days before I flew out. Not super difficult, but I’d rate it as “moderately challenging”. Show me how clever you are and tell me where it is.
Stick’s Inbox – The Best Emails From The Past Week
The double lady drink nonsense.
The double lady drink nonsense is a huge turn-off and I stopped going to one bar in Soi Cowboy that operated it. But, as you questioned, would protesting and walking out change anything? It wouldn’t, because the bars know there will always be planeloads of naïve victims landing every day. And, as you also pointed out, many bars are packed every night, even before the high season hits. Some bars really don’t give a rat’s fart about customer satisfaction. They don’t need to.
Thieving ladyboys.
Last week I was in the Donkey on Soi 6 when a ladyboy legged it into the bar being chased by what looked like a Middle Eastern man. He was furious. The girls blocked the entrance to the bar as he tried to come in. He was very angry but unfortunately didn’t speak Thai or a language anyone in the bar was familiar with. Raised voices followed with him filming the bar and shouting what sounded like “Police”. Somewhere along the line the ‘lady’ slipped away…
The girlfriend experience.
One girl I met on soi 11 was from Cambodia. She really was that girl from 20 years back, you know the type you have to chuck out eventually. She probably would have stayed for days if I had let her. Whilst I paid for drinks, food and bought her a sack-full of stuff from 7 Eleven, she didn’t actually want paying. I remember it being like that a lot back in the day. Obviously you paid for everything but it really was the girlfriend experience.
And another.
Your comment about many taxi drivers being ‘tooled up’ reminded me of the time I was in a taxi with my wife and the driver got into a cat and mouse game with a driver who had cut in front of him. Overtaking then braking in front, that kind of thing. We demanded to be let out, the driver refused and I eventually resorted to slapping his head (a no-no in Thailand, but desperate measures). When we eventually reached our destination he told my wife he was an off-duty policeman and if he had had his gun with him he would have shot me. In the words of the 70’s US police series Hill Street Blues, let’s be careful out there. Too many Thais are on a very, very short fuse.
Bedlam at the main Immigration office.
At Immigration there were hundreds upon hundreds of people waiting, apparently for hours, looking to extend visas. The nationalities were mostly Asian, South Asian and Eastern Europe, with only a smattering of Western types. The Immigration officer told me that since the Thai government has gone visa-free for most countries / nationalities, folks who want to stay longer need to extend their visa at Chaeng Wattana. According to her, this has put a big strain on resources. She didn’t seem too pleased. What they’re all doing in Thailand is anyone’s guess.
More Readers’ Emails
Life in the ‘burbs.
I’ve seen a few posts regarding getting out of central Bangkok and moving to a quieter part of town. I lived in Pinklao for a number of years before I decided that living in town had got expensive, noisy, it was often dirty, there was too much traffic and somewhat overcrowded. I moved to Pakkret in Nonthaburi province. In Bangkok, I rented a 45 sqm condo for 12,000 baht per month. It was a nice building with a gym and pool etc. Utility rates were inflated but not overly expensive. In Nonthaburi I found a 90 sqm condo with 2 bathrooms in an older building for 7,000 baht per month. Utility costs are the government rate which is substantially lower. My building doesn’t include a pool or a gym but as it’s in a developed village of multiple matching buildings. There are lots of little cafes, restaurants, 7 Elevens and other places all within 5 minutes’ walk. It’s not super close to the skytrain lines, about 100 baht by taxi to the nearest station. That said, it will be much closer after they complete the Muang Thong Thani station. Getting into Bangkok by taxi is around 350 baht and takes about 40 minutes depending on traffic. Around the area I live are a number of medium-sized malls, one within a 15-minute walk with the usual shops including a TOPS supermarket. Additionally, there are many western style bars and restaurants as there is a sizeable expat population here. Not far from me is Nichada Thani, an expensive gated community housing with an international school and a Villa Market etc. The air quality is consistently better too which is often a determining factor when considering getting out of Bangkok. Life is a lot more relaxed out here and if I want a city experience, I will occasionally book a room in Sukhumvit for the weekend and hang out.
Death is all around!
There used to be a song by The Troggs called ‘Love Is All Around’. Well, where I am in Nakon Nowhere death is all around and it’s starting to spook me. My wife recently attended four funerals in five days after villagers passed away. They were elderly, but then a chap who hadn’t reached his 30s fell from a ladder and died. My expat food provider died suddenly this month. A man from the house opposite was recently killed on his motorcycle right outside my place, the second from that house to die on his bike. Then a dog who had begun to hang around the house opposite during the motorcyclist’s funeral gathering was hit and killed by a car this week, the fourth to die within sight of my house. He was knocked unconscious but woke in time to utter a plaintive cry before dying, which was distressing. Add to that my nephew’s nearby school director was murdered by his wife and another man across the field from me was killed by his wife, and someone who murdered in the South scurried back to his mummy in the next village where he was arrested. How many in Farangland have experienced so much death and murders in their vicinity!
Western expat jobs disappearing?
Talking to friends, the number of corporate expat jobs with Thai or foreign companies in Thailand are becoming less and less given cost pressures on those businesses to compete. Companies are willing to forgo the extra cost of employing Western expats in favour of lower cost, less qualified regional Asian expats, Thais, or move the jobs out of Thailand to reduce costs as Thailand isn’t a growing market. I originally got my start with a multi-national in Thailand, and dare I say it, that isn’t possible nowadays.
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Soi Cowboy this week. This year’s rainy season refuses to say Goodbye, Bangkok.
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This Week’s News, Views & Gossip
The rainy season refuses to end with more heavy downpours this week. Heavy monsoon rains saw parts of Bangkok flood. On Sukhumvit, Soi Cowboy and Soi 5 were amongst the sois which resembled a river. On Friday night, rain fell at the worst possible time – between 7:00 and 9:00 PM – and put a bit of a dent in bar trade.
In last week’s column I asked why a reader who had seen activity upstairs in Bad Beach was turned away and told that upstairs was only for couples. At the time, that didn’t click and in retrospect I feel a bit dumb wondering what that was about. Why would they allow couples upstairs, but no-one else? The answer is simple: there are short-time rooms upstairs available for 500 baht. Naughty, naughty! The upstairs dance floor remains closed officially, but the area can be used by smokers. It is hoped that the upstairs area will open with dancing before December. That will make Bad Beach the 3rd multi-floor gogo bar on Soi Cowboy.
Nana Plaza is supposed to be the only place on Soi Nana where you can operate a gogo bar while the soi itself is full of pubs, beer bars and places to grab a bite. That is until now. The Rainbow Group is to open the first ever gogo bar on Soi 4 itself, and weeks before its opening Rainbow Nana has people talking. Located a couple doors up from Hooters, it is rumoured to open by the beginning of December. It’s said Rainbow Nana will follow the same formula as Rainbow Cowboy, with one very glaring exception: short-time rooms. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher. The bar is unable to get a gogo bar licence in that location and short-time rooms on the premises are a big no-no. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Rainbow, Soi Nana. Due to open by the beginning of December.
In the other piece of surprising – and positive – news this week, Nana Plaza’s newest gogo bar – located in the former short-time hotel next to Butterflies – will not be a ladyboy bar after all. Following a chorus of complaints from bar operators within the complex, Nana’s owner said this summer that he didn’t want to see any more ladyboy bars. I’ll have more details about the new bar later this month.
Down the road at Soi Cowboy, the long-running renovation of the expanded Penny Black was completed this week with the opening of a new nightclub with a balcony above part of the music bar.
A couple of doors along, for those who prefer a lady with experience – I hate to use the term MILF which I find somewhat distasteful – Long Gun might just be the bar for you. The average age of the ladies in Long Gun has to be higher than just about any other Bangkok gogo bar. Don’t take that to mean they’re not unpleasant on the eye. On the contrary, while the bar itself feels a bit tired, I thought the ladies were generally pleasant – at least when I was last there a couple of months back.
After Skool in Soi Cowboy has an interesting take on the double lady drink. On the menu, lady drink has two entries – Lady Drink Coke 100 baht and Lady Drink Tequila 150 baht. Currently, they insist an order for a lady drink means both, which totals 250 baht. That’s an odd way to do it, but 250 baht for two lady drinks is not actually bad these days – some bars charge that for just one.
To clear up something about what I call the “lady drink nonsense” i.e. double lady drinks, there is a misunderstanding amongst some that the first time you order a lady drink it’s two drinks and after that it’s one at a time. I hate to disappoint you but that’s not the case.
With Halloween done and dusted, the next major event, Patpong’s party of the year, the Bada Bing 15th Anniversary bash, will take place on Thursday, November 14, which just so happens to be the day before Loy Krathong. As noted last week, Bada Bing will open its second-floor lounge for the first time since before Covid, giving punters a chance to check out all the Mafia-themed movie & TV posters for themselves. The real draw, however, will be the incredible deal on bottled spirits. You can get six bottles for only 6,000 baht! While, of course, that works well for groups, individuals can also buy 6 bottles and just keep them. Unlike other bars, Bada Bing doesn’t expire your drink cards, so if it takes you a year or more to drink six bottles yourself, you can. Bada Bing expects to have more than 35 of its own ladies in the bar for the big night and will bring in more from sister bar Radio City if needed to fill both floors.
After the Bada Bing party comes Loy Krathong and then the other big party of the month, Butterflies 8th Anniversary, which will take place on Saturday, November 23. The Butterflies Babe of the Year will be crowned, there will be free food for all and 100 free gifts. Circle both dates on your calendar!

Nana Plaza, 2002. In the never-ending debate, were the ladies in the bars more attractive back in the day? Stick insists No!
The debate of whether bargirls are easier on the eye today than they were in the past will never be settled. There were no digital cameras for the trail-blazing whoremongers of the ’80s and early ’90s so there aren’t a lot of photos of the ladies who enchanted them back in the day. But what that era did have were photographers doing the rounds with their trusty Polaroid camera. They would take a photo of you and your lady for 100 baht. Maybe it’s time to clean out those drawers and dig out those Polaroids hiding in the back corner – and then you can see with your own eyes how attractive those ladies were. Be warned, I suspect that some memories might be spoiled. I bought my first digital camera in late 1999 and from time to time I look back at photos of ladies I knew in my first 3 years in Bangkok. Let’s just say that I think young Stick might have had a little bit too much to drink some nights and his decision-making was impaired! In other words, the past may not be quite as rosy as you recall!
I’m the first to acknowledge that I have talked up Nana Plaza for years. I simply call it as I see it. When I was in town, Nana was far and away the busiest bar area. Soi Cowboy, on the other hand, I found to be more relaxing. There were fewer people about (I was in town for most of August which is a quieter month) and Cowboy just didn’t have the same energy as the plaza. Of course, that might be what you’re looking for. Soi Cowboy on Sunday night and the first couple of days of the week still had a little of that relaxing old world charm. Don’t expect it to be quiet any time over the next few months, however.
Down in Pattaya, did someone steal from Peter to pay Paul? Feedback has been consistent that the original XS has slowed down while Chick – the new bar from the owners of XS – is busy. And Fahrenheit has slowed down while the brand-new Shark – run by the same group as Fahrenheit – is much busier. Even now that we are in to November, there are still only enough punters on Walking Street to fill so many bars.
But still more bars are opening on Walking Street with soon to open gogo bar Ka-Boom! now taking on staff with an expected opening this month.
It has been rumoured that the bars in the Las Vegas beer bar complex on Soi Diana would change their names. Bars in the Las Vegas-themed complex had nicked the names of famous casinos in Las Vegas. Even before the complex opened, there was speculation that the American casinos might actually do something about it. That seems to have happened. MGM is now the MM Bar and Wynn has been renamed KQ Bar. Luxor has announced they’ll soon be Viva Las Vegas Bar.
Dolls A Gogo, which has locations on Walking Street and Soi LK Metro, this week reopened its Soi 6 bar, which had been closed since Covid. Down the soi, OPPA Bar also reopened. And, on the site of Soi 6’s former Green Bike Bar, the Monkey Banana Bar is set to open.
On Soi LK Metro, La Playa has opened its doors on the site of the former Champagne Club-owned Rise. And, contrary to social media rumours, Shaggers on LK Metro is still open.
Slutz, probably the worst name ever for a group of bars, is nearly gone from Pattaya with its former Soi Chaiyapoon (Soi Pothole) location opening as the OXO Gents Club. And, right next door, the Penguin gogo bar also opened.
It’s not often I make mention of Hua Hin but for lovers of Japanese food, you might like to check out Suzayaki, a new Japanese restaurant set to open on Monday, November 18. Photos of the interior and the decor look very, very nice and the venue comes from a team with a pedigree of operating outstanding restaurants. Suzayaki is located right next to the Blu Port Mall.
It must be great to be a bar manager, right? Not only do you have your own bar to drink and party in, you mix with other bar managers and players in the industry and frequently visit and party in their bars too. Actually, that is not always the case. Some bars have a strict policy of not allowing managers from other bars inside. What’s that all about? Most likely, it goes back to the days when there were managers who made blatant attempts to poach girls to work in their own bar, often under the guise of taking said lady (or two) for a short time. The deed would be done, she’d be paid handsomely, and she’d be invited to work elsewhere. This was mainly an issue in Sin City. I don’t remember this ever being much of a problem in Bangkok, at least not with managers. You’d often hear stories about the foreign owner of a big-name Walking Street gogo bar who had developed a reputation for trying to lure girls from other bars to go and work for him. Let’s not forget that a certain Pattaya bar manager who died under suspicious circumstances 15 odd years back had a terrible reputation for poaching girls. Back then, he was banned from many of the foreign-owned gogo bars. Foreign bar owners love to speak crap about Thais in the industry – but this nonsense has always involved white guys.
The following italicised text is an excerpt from an ad on a website where freelancers advertise their services and very much a sign of the times. Only accepting customers in Asia zone! Accepting only Asian people. I don’t accept foreigners (farang), black people, Indian, Negroes, Sorry.
Do you have an emotional attachment to your Thai Mrs? Or perhaps that’s the wrong question to ask. A better question might be whether your Thai wife has an emotional attachment to you! So many Western guy / Thai gal relationships I observe appear to have almost zero emotional attachment. And when you don’t have emotional attachment, what do you have? Interdependence? A relationship that is transactional? You tell me.
One of the amusing aspects of Thailand’s tourist areas are some of the slogans you see on t-shirts which bring a bit of colour to the place. I wonder whether the fellow below would wear this t-shirt back home? The crazy way New Zealand has become woke in recent years, you’d probably be lynched if you wore a t-shirt with a slogan like that. At the very least, someone would take a photograph of you wearing it, post it to social media and you’d be pilloried. In Thailand, no-one blinks. That live and let live attitude is one of the things I like so much about Thailand.
I closed the column a couple of weeks ago by saying that at some point in the future, proof of filing a tax return in Thailand may become a requirement for retirees extending their permission to stay each year. It has been pointed out that if this does become a requirement, the DTV (Destination Thailand Visa) could become something of a work-around. It’s an anomaly because with one quick visa run it essentially allows you to stay in Thailand year-round without applying for an extension of stay. The DTV visa is still relatively new, has only been available for a few months and it’s not clear how the rules will be enforced going forward. It’s something to keep an eye on as it might become an attractive option for some retirees.
A reader confirms that the e-gates can be used by foreigners when departing from Suvarnabhumi Airport. The e-gates are not yet available for foreign visitors flying in.
Thai citizenship is quite an ordeal to attain. Some well-known foreigners in Thailand have been granted Thai citizenship but in all the time I have known Thailand, I have only ever met 3 Caucasians who were granted it. Most long-term expats say the same thing: the Thai citizenship application is just too difficult. I get the feeling that for most, the main stumbling block is the language requirements and being able to speak Thai to a decent level. But perhaps Thai citizenship is not the panacea you may think it is. There is an oddity about being granted Thai citizenship. It can be revoked! If you break the law, your citizenship could be in jeopardy – which hardly sounds like citizenship at all, to me! I compare this with my own country where citizenship which has been granted can only be revoked if someone was later found to have made misrepresentations on their citizenship application.
Bumrungrad International is regarded by some as one of, if not the best hospital in Thailand. For a while now, there have been murmurings from Thais and expats alike that Bumrungrad has become a “tourist hotel”. Its location has made it particularly popular with our Middle Eastern friends. With this in mind, if you were looking for an alternative, where to go? I always liked BNH Hospital. It’s not that big and doesn’t have the crowds you may see in larger hospitals. The downside is that BNH has always been very expensive. Another place to consider might be MedPark Hospital which is relatively new, having only opened during the Covid period. A few friends tell me it is now their preferred hospital. It’s quite convenient to get to, a short walk from the Klong Toey MRT station. Just be aware that like many private hospitals in Thailand, it’s not the bargain that medical care in Thailand once was. (If you’re looking for a private hospital and are on a budget, Bangkok Christian or St Louis are decent choices, and both are conveniently located near skytrain stations.)
To end the news section with something totally different, I hear that Pickleball is gaining popularity in Bangkok. Pickleball? I’m a keen sports follower but until this week, I’d never heard of Pickleball. It’s described as a cross between tennis, badminton and ping pong. There are courts at various downtown locations including the Asoke Sports Club on soi 16, Beat Discovery (Udom Suk), at Club 46 (on soi 46), at Benjakitti Park, at Bang Kapi (Santisuk School) and at Sirisuk School (Sathorn). Apparently, Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in North America. Will it catch on in Thailand? Thais don’t tend to be big on sports participation but at the same time they love to jump on the latest fad, so who knows?
Thailand-Related News Articles
Quote of the week comes from a reader, “High season? What high season when there’s no longer a low season in Thailand!”
Michelin Star restaurant Jay Fai now denies that it is closing.
A YouTuber takes a look at the nightlife options in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi.
A Bangkok gang leader ran a supercar theft ring, stealing cars to order from the UK and shipping them to Thailand.
A young British boxer is found dead in a Pattaya hotel room beside his Australian friend.
Members of a Thai police gang are arrested for extorting 5.6 million baht in crypto currency from a Chinese / Vanuatu citizen.
Dave the Rave takes an in-depth look at the soon to open Rainbow on Sukhumvit Soi 4.
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Has the vibe changed at Soi Cowboy this year?
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Closing Comments
Chatting with a friend in Bangkok yesterday about his impressions of Soi Cowboy on Friday night, he felt the vibe was off. This is coming from someone who has been a huge fan of Soi Cowboy for a very long time, a bar area he much prefers over everywhere else. This comes on the back of something which is becoming a bit of a trend where a few Cowboy diehards have been somewhat derisive towards Soi Cowboy. Some tell me they now prefer Nana. This is a recent thing, as in over the past several months. My good friend who I used to go out with most Friday nights said to me that he felt the vibe was off on Cowboy this Friday, but couldn’t put his finger on what was up. Another expat friend said to me recently that Cowboy isn’t as welcoming to expats as it once was. He feels that tourists get looked after a whole lot better than locals. There have been enough comments made to me about Soi Cowboy to make me wonder whether its star might be fading a little. There are several gogo bars on the soi very much worth checking out so it shouldn’t be this way. Have you felt a change in the vibe at Cowboy, or is it much the same as it’s always been? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Your Bangkok commentator,
Stick
Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com