Stickman Weekly, February 23, 2025

 

 

Mystery Photo

Last week’s photo was taken on the ground floor of the renovated Landmark Hotel, and featured The Greenhouse restaurant and the Cucu Bar and Terrace. Not that many of you got it right which might be due to the debacle with last week’s column. See this week’s closing comments for more details about that.

This week’s photo is one of the easiest I have ever posted. No need for any clues – and shame on any Stickman reader who gets it wrong!

 

 

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

Dealing with the pollution.

Regarding the pollution problem. I know you’re not a fan of them, but on days when the air is in the red zone I wear a mask that keeps out PM 2.5. Not ideal, but it helps. I wonder how many shower when they get back indoors, bearing in mind those pollution particles stick to skin and clothing.

Another pollution victim.

I’m back in chilly Blighty from Bangkok. Sadly, I brought an unwelcome hitchhiker with me, a nasty chest infection and I’m now on a course of Doxycycline. I won’t be going this time of year in future! Never been a problem for me before but this year did seem very bad, so enough is enough.

Before the wrecking ball.

Sorry to hear about the Atlantic Bar on Pattaya’s Second Road biting the dust. It was still in business in December. How quickly things change. Drinking Street succumbed to the wrecking ball a while ago. It’s still a wasteland, awaiting development no doubt. As you say, the Soi 3 bars are about the only hold-outs, but for how long? The situation is just as bad past the Dolphin roundabout on Naklua Road, with the formerly bustling Soi 33 only a memory now. Lots of new development going up in that area now, mostly swanky hotels.

Cameras and drug dealers.

I’m a bit puzzled about the whole African drug dealer issue. With video cameras everywhere these days, wouldn’t it be easy to identify and catch all their customers? Maybe that’s why they’re allowed to sell in the first place!

Avoiding Soi Cowboy for the time being.

Sewage on the street is a health hazard. Pattaya used to (?) have a canal with sewage close to Walking Street. The odour was unpleasant, and a major problem for a well-known hotel at the end of Walking Street. I once contemplated getting a room at this particular hotel, but apparently the property smelled like shit due to its proximity to the canal. Shit can splash up on your shoes, legs and clothes, and ultimately end up on your hands and face, which could lead to an infection. The bars and street food carts could also be affected. It’s difficult to near impossible to guarantee hygiene. As long as there is sewage spilling out on Soi Cowboy, I will not go anywhere near the place. There’s a real health risk. They better deal with it!

 

 

More Readers’ Emails

Massage at the urinal.

I can confirm there is a team of three blokes in the loo at Mixxx Nightclub who will give you a head and shoulder massage. Chewing gum is also on offer. There is a lady in the loo at Levels but I can’t recall if she massages or just hands out a hand drying towel and gum. Both were present on my trip a couple of weeks back. Mixxx pays taxi drivers 100 baht to take you to the club.

Paradise lost.

What has happened in Patong and Phuket in general? Patong is massively overcrowded and the traffic all over Phuket is unbelievable, even on roads that previously saw little traffic. It took us 3 hours to get from the airport to Patong Beach. One of life’s pleasures was exploring Phuket on a motorbike. I have ridden bikes around at least 30 countries, including India, Vietnam, parts of Africa, the Middle East etc. I was never scared. The riding by very aggressive Russians and French Arabs on very big motorbikes and scooters is horrendous and lethal. Every time I heard a loud motorbike advancing behind at speed I took evasive action. The amount of times I avoided being knocked off were uncountable. One Russian actually hit our bike from behind. My words are not printable. The guy’s Russian girlfriend on the back of the bike thought it was hilarious. This is happening all over Phuket. Thais drive fast and swerve around, usually on smaller cc bikes, but this driving was different. Madness, and filled with aggression. I have never seen Soi Bangla so overcrowded. Not so much the bars, but the streets. 7 Elevens were jammed with Russians who neither queue nor say thank you. The local staff looked stressed, and scared. You could blame language, but I know the words for please and thank you in Russian. I never heard them say either this whole trip. The ladies in the bars said despite the crowds they had not been busy. It might sound like I’m being racist, but I genuinely tried to interact with Russians and what I believe were French Arabs and they were rude, almost without exception. To be fair, I did meet a couple of Russian girls on a Naiharn Beach who were friendly. I pondered if these Russians are on a break from the war in Ukraine and have lost all fear of dying while riding bikes and are full of aggression because of war experiences. Our government would have us believe that the economy in Russia is on the brink of collapse, so either we are being lied to or how come so many Russians can afford to be in Thailand renting expensive big motorbikes?

North Pattaya update.

Regarding North Pattaya, there’s still a distinct German presence further down Naklua Road – mostly German-themed restaurants and small bars, usually with outside seating. A number of places (Piccolo, Old Germany for instance) have been relocated further down the road to accommodate the destruction renovations at the start. It’s still not a bad place to visit in the evening, if you can stand the traffic along Second Road to get there. Meanwhile, Chinese, Indian and Korean influences increasingly predominate the other side of Dolphin.

 

 

This Week’s News, Views & Gossip

Las Vegas on Soi Nana had its official opening this week, despite actually opening a couple of weeks earlier. I am a cynic about a gogo bar without chrome poles and bikinis, but initial reports have been very positive. One friend mentioned that I’d like the sweeties in there which can mean only one thing – Las Vegas has a good few fair-skinned ladies. Amongst the other positives, Las Vegas stocks Beer Lao at a very reasonable 165 baht.

On the top floor of Nana, the newest bar in the plaza, On Top, has around 20 dancers. Initial feedback was a bit iffy, but as the bar hits its straps and punters get used to the format which is a little different – read slightly more upmarket – from other bars in the plaza, feedback makes it sound like it’s very much worth a visit. Consensus is that there are some very attractive dancers. One reader commented that around half the ladies didn’t appear to have a single tattoo. 50% of ladies in a gogo bar without a tattoo in 2025, who would believe it?!

Lace Lounge, referred to by some as Nana’s hidden bar, will celebrate its 1st anniversary this coming Saturday, March 1st. Lace Lounge can be entered via a steep staircase just outside Tycoon, or via a hidden entrance within Tycoon itself. Lace Lounge is nothing like your usual upbeat Nana Plaza bar with a party vibe. It’s a much more intimate, cosy affair with plush seating and a laid-back atmosphere. If you’re yet to visit, the 1st anniversary would be a great time to stop by.

The patio outside Lollipop on Nana Plaza’s ground floor opens at 5:00 PM, and all local beers are just 99 baht until 8:00 PM. Around 7:00 PM would be a great time to stop by, grab a seat at the front and watch the girls arrive for work and the plaza prepare for the night ahead.

There was another roundup of African girls on Soi Nana this week, the second time this has happened this month. Despite the crackdown, word on the ground is that it has hardly made a dent in their number, and there are as many Black girls floating around as ever. A friend who has a thing for Black beauties notes the current crop is dominated by Ugandans and Tanzanians. Said friend made the rounds on Friday night and reported that there are still dozens working between Nana and Cowboy. Not one or two dozen, but many dozens. On Friday night, a regular reader mentioned there were a dozen or so African women outside Terminal 21 who are obviously on the game. Terminal 21 is popular with Thais who work in the area and I can’t imagine the presence of these ladies will go unnoticed…

Speaking of foreign ladies on the job, for those who don’t fancy flying to Saigon, the Vietnamese ladies on Soi Nana like to loiter close to Angels 4 Bar.

 

 

What’s the latest on Soi Cowboy where toilet water turned the soi into a shallow canal of sewage that had me referring to it as The Sewer? A maintenance crew from the Thonglor District visited the soi, identified the cause of the leak, claim to have rectified it and undertook a deep cleaning. It doesn’t rain much at all in February but a heavy downpour earlier this week came at the perfect time and with a bit of luck washed away much of the residue and bacteria. And that was that, right, problem solved! You don’t have to be an old Asia hand to know that so many Bangkok nightlife stories don’t have a happy ending….

Soi Cowboy was clear for a few days and then on Friday, the toilet water returned. It happened again on Saturday. Not nearly as bad as it was, but clearly the problem has not been rectified. Photos from the past 2 nights show water coming from underneath Shadow Ladyboy Bar, the same bar that photos from last week (see the photo above and the photo in the Emails To Stick section) show. There wasn’t so much water the past 2 nights and no sign of the makeshift walkways….but the problem remains.

There has been no official comment as to just what, or who, was to blame for the toilet water leak, but staff in many bars pointed the finger at Stumble Inn. I can only speculate that this is because Stumble Inn serves more food on the soi than any other bar and as one long-term Soi Cowboy staffer told a friend, Stumble Inn is a relatively new addition to the soi and this problem never existed in the past, so it must be Stumble Inn. A classic case of local logic. Stumble Inn was always going to be derided because it’s consistently one of the busiest and most popular bars on the soi. That makes others jealous, and with Stumble Inn being foreign-owned, it will always be a target. What these geniuses pointing the finger seem to forget is that many bars on Soi Cowboy have a commercial kitchen. Sam’s 2000 has been producing decent food for decades from their kitchen upstairs. The Sam’s 2000 hamburger used to be a favourite amongst bargoers and won a Nanapong best burger in Bangkok online survey back in the day. Sam’s 2000 chicken and cashew nuts isn’t bad either. On the other side of the soi, Spritz has been serving food for a decade or so. So that’s at least 3 venues with commercial kitchens, and there could be more. Pointing the finger at Stumble Inn is pure scapegoatism. Problem on the soi? Blame the farang!

 

 

In last week’s column I referred to a report from a reader who enjoyed visiting On Top, the newest and self-described most exclusive bar in Nana Plaza. He noted that the mamasans told him that any customer who wished to take a lady away has to pay the mamasan in advance – with fixed rates of 4,000 baht for short-time or 8,000 baht for long-time, on top of the barfine. These rates are not untypical of what the more attractive / popular ladies get these days. To be clear, I think it’s great when the girls make good money. They do a difficult job and one hopes they make enough money so they can get out of the industry and enjoy a decent life. At the same time, when you look at the asking price from the perspective of a customer, it’s no bargain. In many of the better massage parlours (not the pokey single-shophouse outlets around the tourist areas, but the large, fancy places frequented by Thai and other Asian men), the asking price is typically much less (especially if you think of the total price including drinks and barfine) and customers get more for their money. Ditto with the ladies offering personal services online. If you’re not looking for entertainment and a party vibe, and only after a bit of hanky panky, better deals can be had just about anywhere else.

The problem for casual visitors is that the big massage parlours are a taxi ride from Sukhumvit and some aren’t geared up for non-Thai speakers. So where do you go for a great experience on Sukhumvit at a reasonable price? One venue which has a very high satisfaction rate is Annie’s, an old-style, full-service massage shop that was a fixture on Soi Nana back in the day. Annie’s closed a long time ago before making a comeback a few years back after an absence that felt like a decade or so. Annie’s reopened on Sukhumvit soi 7/1. Ladies float between Annie’s and a couple of venues on the soi where I believe the services offered are, to nick a term from a famous song banned in Thailand, above the waistline. Reports from Annie’s are consistent – the girls are service-minded and customer satisfaction is high. Think Eden Club satisfaction rates. The age range of the ladies tends to be late 20s up and many of the girls have been described as top-heavy. These ladies have been around for a while and know their stuff – which is, I always thought, exactly what a naughty boy should be looking for. I could never get my head around naughty boys chasing a lady in her early 20s or, God forbid, younger. If you have to have an operation, you want a surgeon with lots of experience, right? It’s the same when you’re looking for a bit of adult fun.

 

 

For a while now I have been speaking out about the questionable practice of double lady drinks. The issue I have with it is the lack of transparency. I firmly believe bars can charge how much they like for a lady drink. The market will respond accordingly. If you’re going to charge someone for two drinks but the lady only consumes one, make this clear to customers. If customers aren’t aware, it feels like a scam. As reported some months back, one bar group added details to their drinks menu about lady drink pricing. That’s the way to do it. But they are very much an outlier. Some locals have had enough and are balking at the double lady drink nonsense. This week, some expats in Crazy House squared off with a mamasan after they were subjected to this nonsense – 2 lady drinks were consumed, but they were charged for 4. They pointed this out to the mamasan. She wouldn’t give an inch. In the end they paid which was wise because you’ll never win a dispute in Crazy House given who owns it. This group of long-time expats have vowed to never return to Crazy House. Double lady drinks mightn’t deter hardcore whoremongers who are in town for a good time and not a long time, but many expats just aren’t willing to play the game. Do I think anything will come of locals making a stand? No. Bar trade these days is largely dominated by tourists – and most will pay.

What’s going on with the international film crew in Patpong soi 2 restoring the signage for Black Pagoda? The popular Patpong soi 2 bar was ordered closed a couple of years back. Anyone got any ideas why they’d do this? Historical accuracy, perhaps?!

Thought that Thai lady you’ve been drooling over on OnlyFans would be fun to get to know in person? No need to dream, you might be able to meet her for real. Bargirls are diversifying and the bar is far from the only place they meet customers. Many gogo dancers already have profiles on dating sites and apps and more are setting up accounts on OnlyFans. It’s a great way to expand their customer base. In recent years  the girls are investing much more in themselves. Many are paying out of their own pocket for professional, sexy photos to separate themselves from their sisters. Gogo dancers with a presence on OnlyFans are reporting some really big paydays. Every day, men all around the world fall in lust with ladies on OnlyFans. Living in a part of the world where female company costs way more than Thailand, they may be willing to pay way over the local odds. Think many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. For the ladies, this is just so easy. Get a set of professional photos done for a few thousand baht, get an account set up and she’s all ready to go. She can work from home, and doesn’t need to go out to the bar, dance, and put up with mamabitches bossing her around. Some men think nothing of paying hundreds of dollars to a Thai lady they have lusted over on OnlyFans and some ladies report paydays of 10,000 or 20,000 baht are common from men met on OnlyFans. It’s a win : win. He’s happy, and she’s happy. This does, however, set the bar high for regular bargoers, especially long-timers who remember the days when she waied him the next morning and was delighted with a couple of thousand baht. OnlyFans could shake up the bar industry as ladies become accustomed to a much more generous class of punter. It’s great for the ladies but not so great for customers.

 

 

A friend mentioned the Black Swan pub in an email recently. I’d forgotten all about it. I used to really like The Black Swan in its original location on Sukhumvit Road, below the Asoke skytrain station. Sure, it was small, but it was very nicely done out, had a good vibe and the food was better than most British pubs in Bangkok. It moved to Soi 19 many years ago and for me it was a case of out of sight, out of mind. I forgot all about it and have never been to the new location. Has anyone been recently? Is it as good as it used to be? Is it worth stopping by when I am back in town?

We heard from friends this week who were incensed that the riders at the local motorbike queue will no longer accept their daughter. Until recently, she had travelled to and from school by motorbike taxi but now none of the riders will take her. What’s that all about? Has something happened? Yes….the poor young lady has grown. This young lady is huge. My best guess is that she is around 130 kg. A friend of mine who was 140+ kg had similar problems back in the day. He used to be charged double by his local motorbike riders on account of his size. How common is this, I wonder? Do some of our more well-rounded readers ever face refusal, or have to pay a supplementary fee to get from A to B?

The New Zealand government recently came up with a daft new slogan to promote the country’s tourism industry, “Everyone must go“. I can’t get it out of my head that perhaps an unwritten slogan of Thailand’s tourism industry for some is, “Everyone must come“.

 

 

Lay Beach Club on Beach Road which I first mentioned a couple of weeks ago as a new venue to keep an eye on has yet to open. From Beach Road it looks like it’s complete and ready to rock and roll. But around the other side work is continuing. Opening date? No idea, but it should be soon.

The iconic Pattaya sign across the bay on Pratumnak Hill has been updated. Work has been ongoing for some time and it’s finally finished.

On Walking Street, Mashaal, another Indian club has opened. It’s below Leela Club. The interior is done out like an Indian palace.

Speaking of Indian-owned and run bars, PenthouseX on Soi Pattayaland 2, on the ground floor of the Penthouse Hotel, will host Techno Night this coming Wednesday, February 26th, with a guest DJ. The fun kicks off at 8:30 PM. I can’t say I am a fan of techno music but I most certainly am a fan of pool parties. Every Sunday, PenthouseX will have a pool party. Those familiar with the gogo bar below Penthouse Hotel once known as Kitten Club may remember that it has a special feature that no other gogo bar in Thailand has, an indoor pool. Penthouse Hotel bar has long attracted a naughty boy crowd and all manner of adult fun has been had in the gogo bar’s pool. The dancers will trade stilettos for swimwear and take the fun in to the pool.

Speaking of PenthouseX and the Penthouse Hotel generally, the previous owner – a wonderful host and raconteur – loved to tell people how more porn movies were filmed in the Penthouse Hotel than any other hotel in Thailand. Rooms in the hotel are unique and he was forever being made aware by guests that another porn movie had been filmed on the premises. A lot of glamour photography took place in the hotel’s rooms back in the day. Glamour being a euphemism for, well, I think you can guess the rest.

Down in Pattaya, more signs are going up outside bars on and around Walking Street that say something to the effect of “No Photo!” These signs are particularly prevalent in the beer bars popular with Muslim men. I guess those who claim not to drink and fornicate with hookers don’t want to be caught doing forbidden things. When I was last in town, some security staff were aggressive towards anyone taking photos of their bar’s frontage. It probably didn’t help that I was using a proper camera and not a mobile phone. All of these rules about you can’t do this and you can’t do that makes the area less fun and makes it feel rather unThai.

 

 

Ko Samui and other popular beaches are seeing a spike in bookings following the launch of the White Lotus TV series which was filmed on Ko Samui. From the little I have seen online, the island and the country generally is presented in a fabulous light. Will there be further interest in Thailand when Jurassic World Rebirth is released in the middle of the year? Much of it was filmed in Thailand.

Speaking of holidaying in Thailand, I chuckle when some folks try to tell me that tourism in the country is done. That is just plain ridiculous! I’d say the complete opposite is true. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, Thailand will reach 50 million visitors per annum in the next few years. As airlines take possession of new planes, the ongoing aircraft engine issues are worked through, Thai Airways restores some of their old routes and more airlines start flying to Thailand, visitor numbers are only going one way. Thailand remains a fantastic place for a holiday and while some may have fallen out of love with the place for whatever reason, there’s no shortage of people dying to visit. Thailand remains as popular as ever.

Plenty of you have commented on the pollution and terrible air quality that is the norm at this time of year. A long-time reader staying in a Soi Nana hotel woke up one day this week with breathing difficulties. His condition worsened and he was struggling to breathe. He called for an ambulance from nearby Bumrungrad. In the ambulance, an oximeter showed oxygen concentration at 71%, which is life-threatening. He spent a couple of nights in hospital and made a full recovery. He was well looked after and very happy with the service he received. And he was glad he had health insurance as the bill was eye-watering. This could happen to any of us. With this in mind – and given that two of the linked articles below are about visitors who fell ill in Thailand and ran up massive medical bills – having a decent health / travel insurance policy isn’t a bad idea.

 

 

Thailand-Related News Articles

Quote of the week is a Stick original, “Money can buy favours in Thailand, but it doesn’t buy loyalty.”

From The Stickman Archives, A Sexual Revolution In Thailand was published way back on July 8, 2001, less than 3 months after I started writing the column. I was still very much finding my way back then, but the opening piece from that column was fun to re-read nonetheless.

Police are looking for a Chinese man after an escort died in his hotel room, with suspicions she was forced to do drugs with him.

The lady arrested for running a bunch of escorts servicing Chinese men is just 18 years old.

A Brit without health insurance is in hospital in Hua Hin with respiratory issues and facing a massive hospital bill.

A British grandmother celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary has a massive medical bill and no valid insurance.

Police arrest two Swiss nationals in Pattaya in unrelated cases for sexual offenses against minors.

New direct route bus services will be launched connecting Pattaya and Hua Hin with Don Meuang Airport.

In Pattaya, the hussy who stole a Brit’s ATM card and other belongings while he was sleeping is arrested the following day.

Two young Aussie morons are caught by police after going on a bag-snatching spree in Phuket.

 

 

Closing Comments

This column usually goes live on Sunday between 8:00 and 8:30 AM, Thailand time. However, there have been issues with the server where the site is hosted for a few weeks and some readers have not been able to read the column the day it was published. When I publish the column, the site automatically adds links on the main index page and the weekly column index page. Unfortunately, for many readers, the links to the latest column have not shown. It’s weird because it works for some, and not for others. Exactly why this is happening, I honestly don’t know. I suspect it is a server caching issue. So while some of you were sending thoughts and feedback on the latest column, others were asking me whether a column would be published that week. I don’t have access to the server / hosting control panel which means I cannot fix this myself. That makes it frustrating as hell. The “technical department” is aware of the issue and is looking in to it. If a link to the latest column is not showing by 9:00 AM Thai time, it means the issue is not yet resolved. Note: I published this week’s column at exactly 8:00 AM, Thailand time. If you cannot see a link to the latest column, feel free to drop me an email and I’ll send you a direct link. I really hope this issue is fixed soon. Apologies to everyone who has had trouble accessing the column.

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick

 

Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com