Stickman Weekly, February 9, 2025

 

 

 Mystery Photo

Last week’s photo was taken of the construction site next to Sukhumvit soi 10, previously the very pleasant downtown park, Chuwit Gardens. After a long period of absolutely nothing happening, there has been some activity there recently. Is construction about to begin?

Where is this week’s photo? As per usual, it’s somewhere in downtown Bangkok. The one clue I’ll give is that it sits on the edge or perhaps just outside the Stickman zone. Impress me and tell me where it is!

 

 

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

Bar owners and managers.

I think there is a distorted mindset when it comes to running bars. When I ran a hotel & bar, I had a few gogo bar owners and managers come through. I never drank while on duty. It always made an incident worse when I had to deal with it i.e. a plumbing problem, air-conditioning issue etc. I had one of those bar owners offer me a drink once and I refused and he told me that when someone offers you a drink, you always take the money (drink). That is the difference between Cambodia and Thailand. Thai girls will always take the money. Here in Cambodia, if a girl wasn’t thirsty, she would decline. I never like being in a group with people who want to buy rounds. I have my drink limits and being in a large group means I will be paying out more than my consumption levels.

Where are the Indians?

Whoever is saying there are many Indians visiting Thailand, it’s not really true. Maybe because a decade ago there were hardly any, it now looks like many, but there are still not that many. And the Indians you do see are not a stereotype but often decent guys with money to spend. I also think many people confuse Pakistanis with Indians. I have some great Indian, Pakistani and Iranian colleagues who frequent the gogo bars.

Worst pollution in memory.

I think this is the worst year I’ve experienced for pollution in Bangkok. I wear masks when I go out, and run the air purifier 24/7. Last night I popped to the 7 Eleven downstairs, around 8 PM. The air was so thick and rancid, I had to try to hold my breath between buildings.

Air pollution.

The air quality has been really bad the last few days, so much so that I’m now considering not visiting between December and March, and take my trips between May and November. You may notice I’ve missed out April? That’s due to Songkran being even worse than smog!

The no sex misnomer.

Massage venues with a no-sex sign? Maybe the landlord is concerned about face? Landlords know what’s going on, but they can claim that they are part of the gentrification, and clean-up of Bangkok. Signs like that are common in Europe, and in countries where there are laws against prostitution. In most cases, the venues sell sex anyway. Sometimes NGO staff walk around and give stickers to shops. There are very few massage parlours where the mamasan is not aware of what’s happening, especially as she often takes a cut of the girls’ earnings.

 

 

More Readers’ Emails

Dangers of mobile banking.

I am shocked that people put all their banking info on their phones for payments. Phones are a target for thieves. I couldn’t imagine having all that stuff on my phone and then losing it even if it was just innocently forgotten in a cab or a charger in a bar. My bank cards stay in my safe at home / hotel unless I specifically know I am going to an ATM or will use it for a purchase.

Electronic payments so slow.

Cash only in Thailand? Bloody hell, the queues at supermarkets where Thais pay with QR codes…. grrrrrrr! It’s either faulty mobile data reception or app issues or a camera issue. Honestly, it takes 10 times longer than with cash! Progress? No, I don’t think so!!

Dangerous roads.

I’ve worked out that, based on my approximately 28 years living in Thailand and the approximate number of daily road deaths, around 700,000 people have died on the roads while I’ve been living here. And over 1,000,000 are said to be injured on the roads each year, so that’s 28,000,000 injured too. I would bet all I have that there is not a single family in Thailand who hasn’t known of a member or someone else close to them that has not been involved in death or injury on the roads. In my family here, two have been involved in death and two injured, one seriously. I refuse to drive here, with very good reason, and in the past two years have been out after dark just twice except when I visit Bangkok. Especially after I came within inches of being killed outside my house by a speeding car on the wrong side of the road. He was close enough for me to feel the heat of the engine.

Thai nicknames.

I remember a newly-hired cook at The Tavern was immediately known as ‘Microwave’. Scott explained the reason for the strange nickname was that the bar already had an ‘Oven’ on staff.

More nicknames.

Regarding the nicknames of Thai girls, I have come across girls with the name Google, iPhone, Galaxy, Piano, Nono, Play, Beer and YouTube. I kid you not. Is this a bargirl thing?

 

 

This Week’s News, Views & Gossip

Bar owners are going to hate me for saying this but perhaps a warning should be issued to avoid Soi Cowboy at this time. In last week’s column, I reported that the soi flooded with the unmistakable stench of toilet water. Those who avoid the bar industry altogether have been known to refer to it as a sewer, and that term was the perfect way to describe Soi Cowboy this week, not once, but twice. On Tuesday night and then again last night, Soi Cowboy flooded and, once again, there was the unmistakable smell of urine and faeces. Keen for the show to go on, bars placed sandbags and planks of wood across the soi to provide a bridge over the flooded areas. But customers weren’t buying it and many turned around and ventured elsewhere.

The photo above shows toilet water pooling outside Stumble Inn. It appeared to be at its deepest in the middle of the soi, out front of Dollhouse and Suzy Wong. While an effort was made by the bars to provide safe passage along the soi, has anyone actually sought to find the source of the problem and fix it?

I know I’ll probably be ridiculed for saying this, but the soi should be closed, the leak identified, repairs made, a thorough cleaning of the soi undertaken, the repair work inspected – and only then should it reopen. That sounds like the over-regulated West, right? Maybe, but do you really want to be walking through water that stinks of urine and faeces? Bugger that! Plenty of people venture out at night in Bangkok in flip-flops or sandals.

This is at least the third time this has happened in the last 10 days. Word is that those who know aren’t speaking while those who don’t are blaming everybody else. Once is an accident. Three times? A pattern of mediocrity suggesting no-one on the soi really cares. Someone on Soi Cowboy needs to show some leadership before the nickname “The Sewer” sticks.

 

 

A few weeks back I mentioned there were rumours that something could happen in the space that was previously the Biergarten, on Sukhumvit soi 7. Some folks spread the rumour that the space would be offered for lease and the Biergarten would be rebuilt. It can now be confirmed that the area that was the Biergarten is being advertised for rent, at a cool 1,440,000 baht per month on a minimum 3-year contract. Does this mean the Biergarten is coming back? No, there’s nothing to suggest that will happen. It’s simply that the space that was the Biergarten is available to rent.

A film crew has been working in the Patpong area, preparing for a shoot. The rumour mill has it that shooting is planned for tomorrow (Monday, February 10). What has piqued the interest of bar industry insiders and particularly fans of Patpong is that some of the props on the set happen to be exhibits from what was the Patpong Museum. What’s that all about? Signage from French Kiss on Patpong soi 2 has been taken down and there are things happening below the old Super Queen. Just what they are filming, and what the connection is to the Patpong Museum – other than borrowing exhibits – isn’t clear.

I get more emails from readers about Spanky’s in Nana Plaza than any other bar. So all you Spanky’s fans should keep this coming Tuesday free as your favourite bar will celebrate its 18th anniversary that night. The doors open early – 6 PM and the party ends at midnight. What’s that all about? Why curtail the celebration at midnight? Read on…

A reminder that this coming Wednesday, February 12th, is Makhabucha Day, an important day for Buddhists, and a public holiday. Many firms will be closed for the day. Ditto most government departments (so you can’t visit Immigration to extend your visa that day). And it just so happens to be a day on which the sale of alcohol is prohibited. Expect most bars to be closed on Wednesday. Yes, if you hunt hard you will find somewhere open – and if you’re really desperate for a drink, ask a taxi driver to take you somewhere (they know better than anyone where is open). No alcohol to be sold on Wednesday means bars will close at midnight on Tuesday night.

 

 

This coming Friday is Valentine’s Day, so expect many bar staff to be in an upbeat mood that night. Valentine’s Day is a big deal in Thailand – in the bars and society in general. Many youngsters have their first sexual experience on Valentine’s Day. Along with Loy Krathong, it’s one of the busiest days of the year for short-time hotels. Expect the bar areas to be full of heart-shaped balloons, stickers with romantic slogans and other Valentine’s Day themed stuff. The manner in which Thais embrace Valentine’s Day is really quite charming.

Amongst the bars which will throw a Valentine’s Day party are Tycoon, Mandarin and Red Dragon, all in Nana Plaza. They’ll combine it with their monthly Full Moon Party.

For American readers, Super Bowl LIX kicks off early tomorrow morning, 6:30 AM Thailand time. One of the most popular spots to watch it is Margarita Storm at the mouth of Sukhumvit soi 13 which is open 24 hours, so there’s no need to wait outside for the doors to open at 6 AM. Just swing on by whenever you’re ready. They’ve been showing the Super Bowl for ten years now, and the atmosphere is always great. Other popular spots are Bourbon Street on Soi Ekamai, The Sportsman on soi 13 and Buddy’s Bar & Grill locations at Sukhumvit sois 8, 20, 22 and 89.

A reader wandering Soi Nana this week stuck his head inside the yet-to-open Las Vegas bar. A lady was sitting in the corner and a well-dressed guy was working on some electronics. When asked when the bar would open, no answer was forthcoming. Thai staff don’t tend to be secretive about things like opening dates so it probably means that the bar still doesn’t have an opening date in mind. Said reader took the photo below. It looks like construction is complete and the venue could open. That said, it’s an odd look – a classic gogo bar layout with a low-set stage…..but no chrome poles!

 

 

What is going on in Sukhumvit soi 33? Some are now calling it Indian Scammer Central. Indian scammers are roaming Soi 33 and the strip of Sukhumvit Road from Phrom Phong to Asoke. Apparently, they have set up sleeping quarters in a notorious hostel on Soi 33, and their scamming activities leach out from there. Expats who live in the area have had enough of these pests and are posting videos online as they abuse these scammers in public in an effort to repel them from the area. It’s amazing that they are able to operate around there, given that just around the corner is what is now one of downtown Bangkok’s most popular shopping districts. Soi 33 was once known for upmarket bars. Low-end street scammers is the last thing you expect in that neighbourhood.

Speaking of foreigners up to no good, a friend was in town for 3 days and didn’t see a single African obviously dealing drugs between Nana and Asoke.

Down in Pattaya, the Las Vegas Beer Garden has a new barfine policy. When a customer pays a lady’s barfine – currently 600 baht – she can leave the premises, but must return within 90 minutes. To be clear, that’s 90 minutes she is allowed to be away from the complex, not 90 minutes spent in a customer’s hotel room. She is expected to return to the complex once the business is done and if she isn’t back within 90 minutes, she is fined. The operator of the complex claims that short-time is now very much the norm in Pattaya.

How has the high season been for Pattaya? I am told there are still heaps of visitors around, even if the peak of high season has passed. Staff in some bars say there has been a drop in customer numbers, while others tell me it feels every bit as busy as it was a month ago with no discernible drop in visitor numbers. What most people seem to agree on is that it’s still very busy.

 

 

A soon-to-open venue on Beach Road affirms Pattaya as a destination popular with mainstream visitors, families and everyday Thais. Lay Beach Club is on Beach Road, between Chang Beach Party (the food & booze court at Beach Road next to soi 6) and the Hard Rock Hotel. Do you remember that old house that sat on a huge tract of land that ran from Beach Road all the way up to Second Road? That’s the spot! The development is an upmarket beach-themed lounge bar & restaurant that looks like it could open any day. It’s spread over a couple of floors and takes up a wide expanse along Beach Road. This area was cleared just a few months ago and the project has gone up in record time. It appears most of the work is complete and passersby get a great view of the open-air venue. Everyone is in agreement that it looks really nice. It is linked to the recently opened 5- star Melia Hotel, the new hotel in what was the former Grand Sole Hotel on Second Road. There will be a long driveway running down to the venue from Second Road. A car park is imperative given Lay Beach Club will most certainly appeal to Bangkokians. It looks like this could be a winner.

Construction work continues in that vicinity as the Second Road / Pattaya Klang intersection has seen a lot of development (where Tops and the bowling alley once stood). The Runway Food Court, next to soi 6, where the Boeing 747 is located, continues to be popular. Also in the area are many places catering to East Asians. For decades this area felt like a bit of wasteland as baht buses cruising Second Road passed by with little reason for anyone to press the buzzer and get off. What is the one thing that new businesses in this area all have in common? They are focusing on the new breed of visitors to Pattaya – and there’s not a beer bar or gogo bar in sight.

From elsewhere in the region comes word that Walking Street in Angeles City has been renamed. For a long time it was known as Fields Avenue. It then became Walking Street. Apparently, new signage has gone up and Angeles City’s ground zero nightlife area is now known as Red Street.

 

 

Bar release fees (sometimes called long-term barfines) have become a talking point again. If you ask a lady to leave a bar permanently and move in with you, don’t be surprised if she asks you to pay the bar a so-called bar release fee. A reader was asked to pay 15,000 for his darling to leave the bar and asked if this is a scam? Yes, it sort of is, but the answer isn’t simple. Ladies will tell you that the bar release fee allows her to return to the bar to work if things don’t work out between the two of you. In that respect, it most certainly is a scam. When a lady leaves a bar for any reason other than being fired, most bars will be delighted to welcome her back. Ladies come and go from bars all the time. She might leave the bar for a couple of months to return home and work on the family farm at harvest time. She might shoot down to Singapore or across to Hong Kong to make some real money. Or perhaps she just feels like a break away from the industry. That she left with a customer makes no difference to the bar. The bar release fee is usually split between the lady and mamasan. So it’s a scam, right? In my eyes, yes, but some claim it’s not. From the lady’s perspective, while she may be genuinely keen for the relationship to work out, how confident is she really? She’s heard many stories of ladies who left the bar and things didn’t work out. When she asked you to pay the bar release fee, she was still working. When you look at it like that, you can see that she was simply doing her job, and trying to maximise her income. It takes time for bar ladies to make the transition from working girl to being in a relationship where each party contributes in their own way. My feeling has always been that if you ask a lady to leave the bar industry to shack up with you and she asks you to pay a bar release fee, refuse. If she doesn’t accept that or makes a big song and dance then perhaps she wasn’t the right lady for you. You may or may not pay the bar release fee, but taking a lady out of the bar is not going to be cheap however you frame it. She’s going to be a kept woman and you’re going to be financing every aspect of her life for a period.

 

 

A couple of articles recently published in the British press have claimed British nationals have been arrested in Thailand on trumped up charges and they have been made to pay a small fortune to be released. Last week it was a 56 year old female consultant and this week it was a 55-year old builder. If you read enough of these stories you could get the impression that the Thai Police are hunting for foreigners to lock up and shake down. The reality is very different and you should get that idea out of your mind. The Thai police don’t go hunting for errant foreigners to lock up for no reason. If someone makes a report, they are duty-bound to investigate it. In each of these two recent stories published in The Daily Mail, the Brits claimed that they were innocent, and were badly treated. But in each case it sounds like their version of events missed some important details. There’s almost always more to these stories. Don’t go worrying yourself that the Thai Police are out to get you. They’re not. If you’re a good boy, the Thai police have zero interest in you.

Last week I asked about Thai-style venues where attendants massage your shoulders while you’re going about your business at the urinal. I asked if this was still a thing. Not one of you responded about it happening today. Has that carry on been left in the past? One hopes so! The one reader who did respond talked of his experience with this in the past. At the Tiger Disco in Phuket, the hong-nam featured an all-ladyboy team who did the massaging. Ugh!

 

 

In last week’s column I mentioned some Chinese crooks were caught passing fake banknotes in Red Dragon by the vigilant cashier. What I didn’t know at the time was that two of the three culprits were female. The Thai police take this very seriously, especially as the perps were Chinese. What does them being Chinese have to do with it? There has been a lot in the news recently about issues involving transnational crime with many Chinese criminals setting up in Thailand where they run all manner of scams. Chinese scammers in Thailand are big news at the moment. These Chinese tarts might be looking at an extended stay in the Kingdom.

Thanks for all your emails about the oarfish photo featured in last week’s column. That photo generated a lot of feedback. It’s a photo which is found in pubs and restaurants across the region, often with a description along the lines of “American soldiers holding a Mekong River Dragon“. This is wrong. One give-away is that the photo shows an ocean beach that does not exist in Thailand. The original photo was actually taken in California 1996  and shows a bunch of Navy Seals holding the fish. It is most certainly not a Naga from the Mekong!

 

 

Thailand-Related News Articles

From The Stickman Archives, She REALLY Was Different was first published on March 20, 2011, and features a lengthy opener about how I was tempted to barfine a beer bar girl but was mighty glad that I didn’t. On another note, the email highlighted in the closing comments of the column is a laugh. I guess I managed to outwit the US Navy Seals.

The story of a Brit who ended up behind bars in Pattaya and claims to have paid his way out is disputed by Pattaya police.

A Thai lady is in court in London fighting with the sons of her dead boyfriend over a £400K estate.

A 53-year old American loses control of his motorbike while speeding through Pattaya and dies.

Pollution was so bad in Bangkok this week that some flights were diverted from Don Meuang Airport to Suvarnabhumi.

A Thai woman with a Nigerian boyfriend is nabbed by Thai police and allegedly linked to a $182 million romance scam.

Residents in Phuket are increasingly frustrated with foreign tourists urinating in public spaces.

A British bar customer in Pattaya is set upon by bar staff after refusing to pay his bill.

A classy Kiwi shows forgiveness after being stabbed by his father in law in Buriram following a misunderstanding.

Dave The Rave has more details about Spanky’s 18th anniversary as well as a look at the bar’s history.

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Closing Comments

Old friends in Thailand tell me that they have never known the pollution to be so bad in Bangkok / this is the first time they have really struggled with the pollution. Is the pollution worse this year  than previous years? Or is it that there has been so much coverage of the pollution in the mainstream media that we focus on it more and attribute any ills we may be feeling to the pollution? I read an article (unrelated to the current pollution situation in Thailand) this week that said that ongoing exposure to pollution is a major contributor to fatty liver disease. Maybe anyone spending time outdoors in Thailand at this time should start taking milk thistle? (an inexpensive, widely available herbal supplement that helps the liver.)

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick

 

Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com