Stickman Weekly, February 16, 2025

 

 

Mystery Photo

Last week’s photo was taken of the Grace Hotel on Sukhumvit soi 3. Surprisingly, only about a dozen or so of you got it right. While the Grace is close to the Nana intersection, I guess its specific location is in a general area where many of you don’t tend to go, which probably explains the relatively small number who got it right.

This week’s shot is, once again, very much in what I sometimes refer to as the Stickman zone. I was asked by a reader to say when the mystery photo was taken. I’m not sure if it will help, but this photo was taken on Thursday, February 13th. Prove to me how clever you are and tell me where it is!

 

 

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

Flooding on Soi Cowboy, mai pen rai!

Leaking biohazards in the tourist zone of Bangkok should be reported in the news, right? I don’t monitor Thai media closely but I’ve seen zero reports of the Cowboy situation outside your column. Human excrement leaking on city streets is a biohazard. For example, if a streetperson in a US city is doing whatever on the street, that’s one thing. If that person takes a shit on the street, a whole different set of enforcement actions can be taken. Biohazard. Stuff like this is how things like cholera spread. It’s not some mai pen rai situation where you put down some boards so people can walk around the area. And to me it just shows contempt for tourists. These stupid farang are gonna go there anyway, they always do, so who cares? Should be getting far more publicity, in my opinion.

Do you really know?

Your Miss Frog Bar story was surprising. Most expats claim they can always tell trans-girls from original girls. But unless you have a look under the hood of every female you’re talking to, you’d never know. Back in the days of Thailand Friends, there was an attractive ladyboy who became part of the regular crowd. She was smart, funny and interesting. She was so natural, we stopped thinking of her as a ladyboy. During one night out, we were having a silly group discussion that turned to sex and the guys were complaining about girls who use their teeth during BJs. In fact, they were bemoaning the level of expertise offered by girls during oral sex. At one point, she chimed in and said, “I’ll tell you who gave me the best head…” Stunned silence as every guy was suddenly reminded about what was under her skirt. That was a brutal reminder that we could all be fooled.

Pollution putting expats in the krankenhaus.

The consensus amongst long-term expats that the air pollution is much worse this year is not wrong. This is the first year I’ve ever known anybody who got sick. Not just the runny eyes and coughs that seem quite common, but ending up in hospital sick. One guy I know from the gym in his early 40’s who runs around Suan Benjakitti most mornings – or used to anyway – ended up in hospital. The x-ray showed blood in his lungs. He’s still not back to normal. The doctor told him he’s one of many with similar symptoms. Next year from February through until early April I’ll go down to New Zealand where I’ll grumble about the price of everything but happily breathe the fresh air.

Air quality no different to previous years.

I have been in Bangkok for over 10 years and notice no significant changes in the air quality compared with past years. I think mainstream media hyperbole is a factor. If you want to look at easily discernible data, just look here. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, the information since 2017 is shown in graphic form. This year is slightly worse than last year but several years in this period have been worse. The overall pattern is extremely predictable though!

 

 

More Readers’ Emails

Unpleasant air.

The air quality is still lousy at the moment. A few days ago we had a 2-hour long downpour that came out of the blue in the middle of the night. That cleared things up a bit. But it didn’t last long, and 2 days later the AQI levels were back at where they were. Right now, I see it at record levels for Pattaya (between 150 and 200). It doesn’t have any direct effects on me, but it’s still a very unpleasant situation.

Living in Thailand.

As far as the living in Thailand discussion goes, I’m not a fan of the heavy wet season, nor the pollution season, nor the hot season (which gets hotter each year). It doesn’t leave much!

Drugs still available on the street.

Last night I took a walk down Soi 11 from Hillary 3 down to Sukhumvit, and there are plenty of African chaps still around on the Burger King side of the street. Rather than hanging around in large groups, they were walking up and down the soi at a normal pace, 2 or 3 in close proximity, so much less noticeable than before. This was around 1:30 AM Saturday night / Sunday morning.

Massage in urinals continues.

There are numerous places offering massages while you pee. Mixx, Tilac on Soi Cowboy and Honey to name a few. This practice hasn’t totally disappeared.

A not so suite hotel room.

Mis-described hotels is very annoying, and might be illegal in some countries. Of course, whether something is illegal or not has absolutely no relevance in Thailand. Either Thais don’t understand the words they use, or they simply don’t care about describing somewhere as something it isn’t. You previously mentioned boutique hotels, and my peeve is so-called “suites”. I booked one near Asoke junction and found it was just a normal room. I took this up with the manager, who told me that ‘suites’ is just a name.

 

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This Week’s News, Views & Gossip

Las Vegas bar on Soi Nana opened its doors this week. The quasi-gogo bar looks exactly like a gogo bar with one omission – there are no chrome poles. Of course, no chrome poles isn’t an omission per se. No new gogo bar licences can be issued on Soi Nana, hence there are no chrome poles. Inside, Las Vegas looks very much like a typical gogo bar with tiered seating and a low-set dance floor in the centre of the bar, albeit without poles. Laser lights shoot patterns on what appear to be beams supporting the ceiling. If ladies shuffling on stage fully clothed appeals to you, then make a point of stopping by Las Vegas.

We have our first somewhat positive review from Nana Plaza’s newest bar, On Top. A regular reader commented favourably on the cozy, comfortable seating, the vibe and the very attractive ladies. He also noted that the two mamasans are, in his opinion, the classiest and most beautiful in any gogo bar in all of Bangkok. He did note that drinks cost more than elsewhere but it’s not a deal breaker. What he didn’t like is the barfine system. Arrangements can be made with the girl but our reader was told that the entire fee must be paid up-front to the mamasan. Short-time is 4,000 baht, long-time is 8,000 baht, on top of the barfine.

The DJ booth on the patio outside Lollipop in Nana Plaza is up and running. It’s an unusual spot insomuch that while it is on Lollipop real estate, it almost looks like it is set up to play music for the entire plaza’s ground floor. 2 DJs have been hired. The beer bars at the top of Soi Nana have always been prime spots for people watching – and the patio at Lollipop is pretty good too. Do drop by – and make sure you say hello to manager Dennis who is a great host.

 

 

Some Soi Cowboy bar bosses are unhappy with the coverage of water from the sewage system pooling on the soi. One farang bar boss was incensed that I referred to Soi Cowboy as The Sewer. Toilet water – as I call it / discharge from the sewage system makes a nightly appearance on the soi. While I suspected that was the case last week, I didn’t have confirmation and simply wrote it happened a couple of times. I have since been told it is happening every day.

Word from a couple of people on the soi is that the sewage system is backed up due to a fatberg. A few bars on Soi Cowboy have a kitchen and serve food. Kitchen staff may pour oil down the sink, thinking it’ll be washed away. But that discarded oil doesn’t stay fluid for long. Once it cools, it congeals and when it combines with all the other crap that goes down the sink, it solidifies inside the pipes, creating a thick, greasy blockage. Over time, more grease and food particles stick to it and a fatberg is formed. Eventually, the whole system backs up leading to the sort of problems Soi Cowboy is experiencing with sewage overflowing in the street. If the issue is indeed a fatberg, it could be quite a job to fix it. In a worst case scenario, the street would have to be torn up, potentially closing part of the soi for a period.

If it is a fatberg, who is to blame? If a particular business is found to have caused the fatberg, the punishment is extreme. Do you remember the KFC branch at the front of Times Square which closed not long before Covid? Oil discarded down the sink by staff at that branch of KFC caused a fatberg. The branch was ordered closed for 5 years. That closure was for that space – meaning not only was that branch of KFC ordered closed, no business could operate in that space for 5 years. And to make matters even worse, KFC had to pay rent for those 5 years to the landlord! Word is that KFC had hired some deaf people, they didn’t receive adequate training – and they didn’t know that they shouldn’t be pouring discarded oil down the sink. This is the worry on Soi Cowboy today. If a fatberg is found and a particular bar is blamed, they could pay a very heavy price. As a cynical friend said, “It’ll be blamed on the farang-owned bar with a kitchen closest to the fatberg.”

 

 

For those of you who have been around Bangkok for a long time / those who live in the sois near Soi Cowboy area, do you remember how Soi 23 between Cowboy and the main Sukhumvit Road used to have water appear on the soi / flood for no reason, from time to time in the past? I can remember wondering why parts of the soi had flooded when it hadn’t rained. Could this somehow be connected with what is happening on Soi Cowboy today? The soi has plenty of food outlets and used to have a lot of food vendors in the past – and we know what they do with their used oil. Maybe what’s happening on Soi Cowboy today is an accumulation of many years of muck?

Word was Soi Cowboy was a little quieter than usual on Friday, which happened to be Valentine’s Day. This was unexpected given Wednesday was a public holiday and the bars were closed. Probably many of the girls spent Valentine’s day with their Thai boyfriend / husband. Yes, many of these girls go home to their Thai guy after work. In some bars, Dollhouse being an example, girls who didn’t turn up for work on Valentine’s Day were cut 2,500 baht. Amazingly, that didn’t deter them and plenty didn’t go in to work on Friday night.

For those who claim that once you’ve had black you’ll never go back, it’s time to weep. On Soi Nana, Thursday before last, the boys in brown rounded up many of the African beauties along with other non-Thai ladies who had been offering a personal hotel visit service. Presumably they will be deported and won’t be back on Soi Nana any time soon. Will there be a replacement troop? Most likely. The boys in brown cracking down on foreign hookers feels very much like a game of whack-a-mole.

Speaking of foreigners up to no good, a reader mentioned that a couple of weeks ago he had been offered drugs in the shadows of Silom Road, just up from Patpong. The sellers were described as rough-looking Thai men. What caught his attention were African men lingering in the shadows who our reader felt might be running these guys. This was a one-off report and I have not heard anything more, but could it be the case that some of the pharmaceutical traders have relocated to another part of town after things got hot on Sukhumvit?

The film shoot in Patpong mentioned in last week’s column is for the second season of the German Netflix series, Crooks. The French Kiss on Patpong soi 2 has been rented for 2 weeks with German signs, props and posters brought in.

 

 

Has anyone tried Vicky’s Secret massage shop on Soi Cowboy? Signs outside mention fantasy massage. What’s that all about? While foot traffic on Cowboy is very good, perhaps this is a venue that would be better off around the corner? Massage shops have traditionally been off the main thoroughfare and all about discretion.

The screen capture in the middle of the Emails To Stick section shows the air quality at Soi Cowboy at 8:00 AM this past Thursday morning. What a fun idea to set up an air quality measuring device there! If you have the IQ Air app, you can enter Soi Cowboy as one of your locations in Bangkok to monitor the air quality.

Everyone is talking about how bad the air quality is in Thailand at this time of year. Whenever I chat with friends in Bangkok, it’s one of the first things they mention. Obviously, air quality varies depending on location and it’s very subjective. Some say it’s worse than ever while others tell me it’s the same as it always is at this time of year. The other half’s sister has been suffering from respiratory issues for weeks. She’s otherwise healthy – eats better than 99% of Thais, exercises frequently and takes a few targeted supplements – but she has been unable to shake off the respiratory issues. She sought medical attention, was tested for all manner of ailments and having ruled them all out, the diagnosis was respiratory distress due to the lousy air. The doc’s recommended treatment? Hyperbaric oxygen chamber. She gave it a go and after the first session the respiratory issue cleared up quickly. She said she is sleeping better, some aches and pains have subsided and overall feels better than she has in years. An hour in a hyperbaric chamber at her preferred hospital cost 3,700 baht. She was so impressed that she has since bought a package of 5 sessions. As an aside, I thought the price sounded quite good so out of curiosity I Googled how much it would cost for an hour in a hyperbaric chamber here in New Zealand….and it was almost half the price of Thailand.

The Sukhumvit soi 11 branch of El Gaucho Steakhouse has a live cam which broadcasts 24 hours / day on YouTube. The camera is 4K and the quality is very good. It’s a fun way to spy on what’s happening on one of Bangkok’s most popular nightlife sois. The quality of the camera is so good that you could just about recognise someone you know if they walked by. The camera looks directly across the soi at the popular Hillary 3 Bar. I spent a few minutes watching the comings and goings on Soi 11 when working on the column and saw some suspicious looking characters who I would not be at all surprised to learn were pharmaceutical salesmen.

 

 

In last week’s column I mentioned how parts of Pattaya’s Second Road were being developed at pace, particularly in the vicinity in and around the Hard Rock Hotel. A little further north, the classic old Atlantic Bar, on the corner of Second Road and soi 3, closed a few weeks ago. Back in the day it had plenty of customers, but right now it’s a sad sight, completely stripped with a “For Rent” sign outside. It hadn’t been doing so well in recent times and may well have been a victim of the Covid shutdown. If you were around in Pattaya back in the day – I’d suggest a couple of decades – you probably remember when there were clusters of beer bars all along that stretch of Second Road. There was the huge Drinking Street complex, which had dozens of beer bars. There was a beer bar complex which was done out with beautiful Thai-architecture like you see at temples. And there was my favourite, You Too Bar, which was a bit more upmarket than your average Pattaya beer bar. Today, there are just a few beer bars in soi 3 and at the corner of Second Road and soi 5 left. The rest? Consigned to Pattaya bar history.

Christopher G Moore, the granddaddy of Thailand expat fiction, is relaunching his classic Land of Smiles Trilogy which features three great novels: A Killing Smile, A Bewitching Smile and A Haunting Smile. It’s been more than 30 years since these classic novels were first published in the early ’90s. They were firm favourites of expats back in the day and many of us who loved Bangkok in the ’90s particularly enjoyed Chris’s early work. Today’s expat generation is a very different beast. Thai / expat relations, technology, and the expat community itself have all fundamentally changed. This wonderful trilogy offers a taste of a very different Bangkok when there was not a single Starbucks branch, far fewer expats and the meeting place was the Thermae. This is a chance for the new generation of expats to explore the pre-social media life of the expat community in Thailand, and for old Asia hands who missed out the first time around to relive the golden era. Available on Kindle and in paperback, the e-books will set you back USD$4.95 while it’s USD$15.95 for the paperback editions. More details at the links here: A Killing Smile. A Bewitching Smile. A Haunting Smile. Start with A Killing Smile which is volume 1 of the trilogy, and my personal favourite.

 

 

Online shopping is huge in Thailand. I’m amazed that in a country where the post office used to be so terribly bad that the delivery network now works so well. Today, it seems like everyone raves about online shopping in Thailand. Sure, it’s not Amazon, but it’s still pretty good – and next day delivery nationwide is available at a very reasonable price. This is a huge change from how it used to be. The Thai Post Office was a nightmare and not at all reliable – unless you used EMS which was very reliable. When I first arrived, the general consensus amongst experts was that about 25% of mail sent to you simply never arrived. There were many stories of people who didn’t get any mail for a couple of months and then they’d get a dozen items delivered one day, some of which were post-marked months earlier. I used to pay my dial-up Internet bill direct at the office of Loxinfo, and often the invoice never arrived. And Thailand being Thailand, you only had a few days to pay from the day the invoice was issued so my Internet would frequently be cut off. While old-timers might talk of the golden age of Thailand, when it comes to the post office and courier delivery companies, it’s night and day compared with how it used to be.

I’ve recently become aware of a service that I understand has been in operation for a while called “Safe-Entry”. It’s a service available to those who for whatever reason are not sure if they will be granted entry in to Thailand. I presume it is used by those who have a chequered history of travel in and out of Thailand with lots of entries, were previously denied entry, or perhaps have an overstay history. The way it works is that you contact a firm offering the service shortly before travelling and send a copy of the main page of your passport as well as a photo of what you’re wearing the day you’re travelling. The agency then does some checking behind the scenes to see if you will be allowed entry or not. They will confirm if you will be granted entry or not – and apparently if they confirm you will be granted entry, it’s essentially guaranteed. You are met by an agent near the gate and walked through the airport. Which companies offer this service and how much does it cost? Honestly, I’d prefer not to go there. If you’re looking for such a service provider, do your own research…..Facebook would be a good place to start.

 

 

Speaking of staying in Thailand legally, there’s a lot of angst in expat circles about announcements made by the Revenue Department last year about funds being transferred to Thailand being taxed. Let me repeat what I have previously said: I have no idea what this means for those who are retired / digital nomads / long-stay tourists who spend more than 180 days in Thailand. You may have to file a tax return, and you may be liable for tax. There’s a lot of conjecture, and no shortage of disagreement – even amongst those who should know. With tax returns and payments due by next month, some expats have trundled along to their local tax department office trying to do the right thing. Frustratingly, even Revenue Department staff aren’t on the same page and reports of what expats have been told varies from office to office. When the very people who are supposed to know what is happening can’t agree, what hope does your average foreigner have? There have been plenty of articles written, and YouTube interviews conducted with so-called expat advisors and foreign tax experts, but most of them just don’t come across as credible, especially when they’re sitting in a t-shirt and shorts, trying to sound professional and learned but coming across as anything but. The one person whose take I value on this issue is Benjamin Hart, a straight-talking, insightful, no-nonsense American lawyer who runs Integrity Legal in Bangkok. The Integrity Legal YouTube channel has touched on this issue many times but to be clear, there’s a lot of conjecture and things are still very much up in the air.

Earlier this week, a few steps from Ploenchit skytrain station, a hansum farang was doing his bit to promote Western fashion, proudly showing off his stylish underwear while clutching a local beauty.

 

 

Thailand-Related News Articles

From The Stickman Archives, Sponsorship Doesn’t Work, published July 13, 2008, featured a lengthy column opener about a bargirl investigation.

4 Russian hackers with an estimated 1,000 victims are arrested in Phuket and now face extradition to Switzerland.

A Bangkok bus is involved in a minor accident ending with the bizarre scene of its front wheels 3 metres off the ground.

The Pattaya Mail publishes the latest amusing edition of its occasional series, Remembering Trink.

A popular Canadian took his own life on Phuket.

Thailand mulls lifting its 53-year-old ban on the sale of alcohol between 2:00 and 5:00 PM in a bid to boost tourism.

Following a misunderstanding, a backpacker is taken on a 1,200 km detour.

The police are serious about cracking down hard on all the Chinese scammers in Thailand.

An American retiree who lives in Thailand is charged with assault after pushing a sex worker down some stairs in Japan.

From Monday, February 17, it’s about to get even more difficult for foreigners to open a bank account in Thailand.

 

 

Closing Comments

As always, I appreciate all your emails and feedback, as well as your observations of what you are seeing on the ground in Bangkok with your own eyes. I am particularly grateful to those of you who take the time to email with thoughts and feedback on new venues. The likes of Las Vegas and On Top are bars I won’t get to see with my own eyes for a few months so your comments are gratefully received. Do note that when it comes to email, I am very much old school. If you take the time to drop me a note, I figure the decent thing is to reply – even if you email me about something I may not agree with.

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick

 

Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com