Stickman Weekly, July 13, 2025
Mystery Photo
Where is it?
Last week’s photo was taken on Sukhumvit soi 5, looking up the soi with Foodland on the left and Gulliver’s further up on the right.
This week’s photo is the most difficult I have run in some time. To be clear, it’s very much outside the Stickman zone. I like to think of it as one for the experts who get the photo right most weeks.
Stick’s Inbox – The Best Emails From The Past Week
What’s closed, what’s not?!
Not only does Thailand do its best to discourage tourists with two-tier pricing (some of which is hidden by using Thai numerals), but there are numerous ‘dry’ days throughout the year when bars are closed for various Buddhist holidays or because there is an election. Like this past week. That has foreigners, in the country to party and often unfamiliar with the place they are visiting, searching around for a place to have a drink. Sure, locals know how to get around the rules, but tourists can be left scratching their heads and wondering if they got off the plane at the wrong airport. Even more confusing is that some places open, some do not, some areas are closed, some are not, and whether places have to close or not is, as you wrote, up to the whim of the authorities. It all leaves visitors, who are not Buddhists and who do not vote here, baffled. Thailand really needs to decide if it wants tourists or not, rather than imposing mysterious and mostly pointless restrictions that prevent them fully enjoying themselves.
Thailand YouTubers.
The Brit YouTuber you mentioned seems to have over-extended himself both at home and abroad with his attitude. It must be remembered that he made his fame following a video of himself and a Pattaya bar owner scuffling in the street. He is the type of person I avoid, but he seems to attract a clique who regard him as praise-worthy. And whilst I’m not a Saint, I am well-mannered and respectful where it is due and proper. Which leads me to something about his treatment which surprised me. I’ve never been treated in a Thai medical facility which did not ask for payment upfront or at least in part <Never heard of this before, and certainly never experienced it myself – Stick>. This includes the place on Sukhumvit soi 11/1 near the original site of Cheap Charlies. The receptionist apologised as she explained many walked out without paying, Whilst he may be crass, there are others who have not only fallen foul of Thai society but offer BS info on their vlogs. This spans both age and gender to the extent you wonder if this is not an error but a mechanism for comments to raise the individual’s profile. Which we know it is.
The runner and the dodgy foot.
Regarding the issue in your Closing Comments about “… a Thailand YouTuber who visited a clinic in Pattaya, received treatment for an issue with his foot including medication, and then refused to pay the bill and did a runner“, there’s a joke in there somewhere – getting medical foot treatment and then doing a runner!
One of the benefits of cannabis.
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Hua Hin preferred to Bangkok.
Had a wonderful 4 weeks in Hua Hin. Beach walks, lots of visitors to my room where 1,000 baht always seemed to work and a few real dates that ended in “happiness”. Everything is cool, relaxed and comfortable there. And then I came to Bangkok, a city I’ve been visiting since 1986. A visit to Bangkok was always to be savoured and enjoyed to the max. This time I found that I can’t stand the place and this might just have been my last trip. Streets full of corpulent Indians and equally corpulent Arabs. Brits tattooed all over and a large number of tall African men endlessly walking around the streets, day and night. Noisy tuktuks, and deathly encounters crossing roads. The pedestrian crossing from Sukhumvit Road into Soi 4 has traffic even when the light tells pedestrians to cross. And scooters using the island in the middle of that pedestrian crossing to make U turns, all right next to a manned police booth! I’m currently on a no alcohol regime so haven’t been in many bars. Drinking water in a bar is just weird, even though I know others do it. Soi 4 is full of ladies but many have gained a lot of weight and a lot of age. Pavements broken or blocked in a great many streets, like they always were. I’ve been able to participate with some ok ladies who visited me thanks to WeChat for 1,500 baht. That’s been the one saving grace. I’ll still visit Hua Hin as it suits me well, but Bangkok I’ll happily give a miss. It’s just not fun any more.
Challenges opening a bank account and getting a long-term visa.
I read a recent post from a Facebook visa forum about one bank, I think it was Bangkok Bank, requiring the 400,000 / 800,000 baht for marriage / retirement visas to be blocked for 4 months before they’ll issue a bank letter. A disclaimer also claims the money better be yours and not to borrow it from anyone else. If this is enforced, this would mean the end of visa agents, unless they are able to “rent out” the funds for a period of 4 months, probably at a steep interest rate (while retaining your bank book and ATM card in the meantime). In addition to DTV holders not being able to open new bank accounts (and some of them having their accounts closed) all because a bunch of Russian / Burmese / Chinese fraudsters and scammers were abusing the system, doesn’t seem fair, but it’s typically Thai – instead of solving the problem by scrutinizing those responsible for this, a “one size fits all” approach is used whereby all foreigners suffer. It’s getting to the point where it seems like foreigners will soon only be able to maintain status in the Kingdom as tourists, DTV holders (but without bank accounts), elite or LTR (if you qualify) or you are working in the Kingdom with a work visa and work permit. Everyone else is being squeezed out. <Yes, there are challenges in opening a bank account at this time which is at least partially because Thailand made it so easy in the past that some naughty folks opened accounts for nefarious reasons and the authorities had to crack down. With a bit of luck, it won’t be too long before this passes – Stick>
Soi Cowboy, Thursday night, some bars open, some bars closed.
This Week’s News, Views & Gossip
Thursday and Friday were messy around the bar areas with holidaymakers as well as plenty of expats confused. The two public holidays rolled out largely as was forecast in last week’s column. Nana Plaza was closed. Patpong was open. In Soi Cowboy, some bars were open and others were closed. And if all of that wasn’t confusing enough, in the days leading up to the 2 holidays staff in most Soi Cowboy bars told punters that they would be closed, and it turned out they were open. Most of the Arab’s bars closed, but one was open. Confusing, to say the least.
Of the bars that were open on Thursday and Friday, Shark in Soi Cowboy was said to be the pick of the bunch and described as bonkers busy. Girls from bars in the same group in Nana Plaza (Mandarin and Red Dragon) migrated to Shark for two nights which saw around 120 ladies packed into the double-shophouse bar. It was pumping, with not a free seat to be found. Despite so many ladies in the house, the bar didn’t open the second floor. For those who made it out, Soi Cowboy was said to be really good on Friday night.
But Saturday was a different story entirely. After a couple of nights when regulars stayed home, the soi roared back to life on Saturday, right? Wrong! It was a rainy night and one reader commented that there were more watch-sellers on the soi than there were customers.
The low season has got so bad in some bars that there are bar staff referring to it not as the low season, but as “the last season”. In previous low seasons, there were always bars elsewhere – or an entire bar area – doing decent trade. As has been reported ad nauseum in this column, this year that area would be Nana Plaza and the top of Soi Nana, generally. At the other end of the scale, plenty of bars in Patpong are doing lousy business, as I hear is the case for many in Pattaya. Bar owners have been screaming for a few months and now they have been joined by their staff. While we talk about many bars owners moaning, the people who suffer most are the staff. The girls, the waitresses, the cleaners, the DJs and so on. And in a first this week, I heard that even those who do promotional work and social media for the bars have seen their income take a dramatic fall. This low season has been grim.
The doors are closed and the indications were that the once-popular Nana Plaza gogo bar Geisha was gone.
In Nana Plaza, Geisha has been in darkness since at least the start of this week. When you notice a bar has closed early in the month, the presumption is that it closed at the end of last month and the closure is permanent. (History shows that, closure orders from the authorities aside, bars almost always close on the last day of the month.) But this was not a case of sayonara. Geisha is temporarily closed so the interior can be repainted. Why didn’t the bar put a small note up outside – even just in the Thai language – saying that it’s closed for improvements and would reopen in a few days? That would have killed the inevitable speculation from gossip-mongers like me!
On Monday evening, Nana Plaza was graced by the presence of Bangkok’s governor, a senior member of parliament, members of the constabulary and a contingent of officials. No-one bought a lady drink and no barfines were paid. I guess that just goes to show that the ladies really mean it when they say, “I no like Thai man!” Of course, this wasn’t a social visit but an inspection of the premises. Officials – more often than not, senior policemen – visit from time to time, accompanied by a scrum of reporters. Video from the visit made it look like the usual dog and pony show.
Traditionally, the hot spot to perch on Soi Nana and watch the girls going to work is Stumble Inn, out front of the plaza. There’s another spot you might like to perch where you can take in the atmosphere inside the plaza – Lollipop. It’s the first gogo bar on the ground floor on the left hand-side, just past the steps. There’s a large deck outside the bar proper and from 5:00 – 8:00 PM, it’s happy hour with all local beers and some mixed drinks priced at just 99 baht. It’s a great spot to start your night.
Friday night in Patpong, and business was lousy.
Nana Plaza closed on Wednesday night at 1:20 AM. Why so early?
The hours of business vary from bar to bar, bar area to bar area. Strictly speaking, gogo bars are supposed to close at 1:00 AM. They are given an hour’s grace and allowed to stay open until 2:00 AM. With that said, there are chrome pole bars in each of the 3 main gogo bar areas which stay open until 3:00 AM. The time each bar closes depends on a number of factors and it changes frequently. From time to time, a bar area may be told by the local cop shop that they must close at 1:00 AM for the next week or so. It seldom lasts longer than that. Oftentimes it’s because an inspection will take place by cops from outside the district.
One of the big differences between chrome pole bars and massage outlets is that the latter are often tucked away down side sois, out of sight. Some of these massage shops can be a standalone building in a residential area, surrounded by pricey properties. And so that is the case with Queenmarich, a recently opened massage outlet on Sukhumvit soi 10. It’s located roughly half-way along the soi, on the left hand-side. I wonder what those who live in the (mega expensive) houses on that soi make of seeing a slow but steady stream of young men going in and out of the venue, along with a similar stream of pretty, tarted up young ladies?
A new massage outlet has opened on Sukhumvit soi 10.
Soi Thaniya has long been the domain of Japanese men, but word is that another group is moving in. The Chinese. It’s almost 20 years since my one and only visit to a bar on Soi Thaniya. Re-reading the report from that trip, Little Tokyo, confirms my overriding memory – it was silly expensive!
I mentioned that because of the steady stream of comments about the ladies asking prices. Plenty of you feel they have reached a level that no longer represents value for money. After a friend told me about the experience he had with a Thai working girl in Hong Kong, you might be on to something. Hong Kong and Singapore have long been popular spots for Thai women to venture for a few weeks to make a lot of money. A friend told me this week that he had enjoyed the company of an attractive Thai lady in Hong Kong. The cost? The equivalent of 2,500 baht all in, including the room. That’s less than many (most?) ladies in Thailand quote these days, and that’s without taking in to account lady drinks, barfines, short-time room fees etc. I am not suggesting you venture to Hong Kong but it does support those making the value for money argument.
Ladies in the best bars like Pin Up on Walking Street know who the big spenders are these days: Young Asian men!
While white men complain about the ladies asking rates in Thailand, many Asian guys happily pay whatever price the ladies ask. Who are all of these wealthy Asian men? Japanese salarymen? Successful businessmen from Singapore, Hong Kong or Korea? Actually, I don’t think these Asian men happily paying the ladies’ asking price are wealthy at all. In fact I imagine most of them earn less – quite possibly much less – than your average Westerner. I think it’s partly a cultural thing and partly a generational thing. Many Asians will pay the asking price, unless it is totally outrageous or the vendor is obviously taking the piss. And young people these days place much more emphasis on the experience and enjoying things and will pay if they feel the experience will be something special. These big-paying Asians are for the most part young men, aged under 30. It’s not groups of old Asian men. They will happily stump up several thousand baht if that is what is asked. They may amble around in groups, casually dressed in flip-flops and shorts, but some of them pack huge billfolds. Young and willing to pay more than other customers, is it any surprise that the girls love them?
If you’re looking for the prices you paid 20 years ago, it is possible in Thailand today – but you have to venture down the back sois or try some of the smaller towns. The email from a reader who visited Hua Hin in today’s Emails To Stick section shows that there are service providers who accept what was the going rate a couple of decades ago. I wonder whether they’re happy to accept so little because it’s been a lousy low season? How will it be in high season?
What happened in Pattaya this week?
Word is that it has been a decent few days for Pattaya as Thais flocked to the beach over the long weekend. And those on the ground tell me there has been a further uptick in the number of Indians about.
Last year I wrote about a “unicorn” on Walking Street: A gogo bar run by a Russian couple. Called Identi, the single-shophouse bar won a lot of plaudits but by the time low season hit, it went out of business. On July 25, Identi will come back to life, this time with a new owner – the young Aussie who bought Le Pub on Soi Diamond from Mister Egg, earlier this year. The Russians are still involved as consultants and Joey the Aussie has big plans, including the purchase of possibly two more Walking Street gogo bars. The grand opening party is Friday after next, July 25.
Last week I mentioned that PenthouseX, the gogo bar on the ground floor of the once infamous Penthouse Hotel, had been in darkness for several days. What I suspected has since been confirmed – it’s done. Leased from the Indian owners of the Penthouse Hotel at the start of April, the Singaporean operators lasted only three months. Upon taking over, they axed the veteran general manager, cut the number of girls and pressed a maintenance man into also being the bartender, DJ and waiter! The team have dispersed and can be found in bars all over Pattaya, with two ladies who feature in advertising on the side of baht buses now working at Mr. Egg’s Rum Runner on Soi Buakhao.
Speaking of Mister Egg, his new bar, Rum Runner on Soi Buakhao, has a big sign outside inviting maidens keen to work as gogo dancers to pop in for a chat. Once upon a time bars would have a sign outside that said something along the lines of “Attractive, cheerful young ladies wanted” or words to that effect, with the salary listed and the minimum number of times you had to “off” i.e. be barfined. The sign outside Rum Runner says the bar pays a daily rate of 800 baht at the end of the shift. There are 10-day contract rates. And the bit that raised my eyebrows, the sign invites “Ladies aged 25 – 45” to apply. It’s a sign of the times and very much confirms what has been said – many gogo ladies are much older these days (which is probably because many are the very same ladies you were barfining 20 years ago). A side note here, if I may. To be clear, I absolutely don’t wish to sound cruel when talking about the ladies working in a difficult job. We all age and few of us will look as good in our 40s as we did in our 20s. But at the end of the day, the reality is that men go to gogo bars to see attractive ladies dancing. And most ladies in their mid 40s simply aren’t as attractive as in their mid 20s. Second side note: I’d bet the farm that a 40+ year-old is a whole lot better in bed than the 20+ year-old.
Getting back to the Penthouse Hotel, the days of it being the ultimate naughty boy hotel in Pattaya are in the distant past. It has been supplanted by the Maggie May Resort in Jomtien Beach. Open now for several months, the resort has been a hit with Pattaya’s traditional visitor: single, older westerners looking for naughty and inexpensive fun. Check in and everything you want is there – you don’t need to leave the hotel. The Maggie May Resort has 28 rooms, an on-site gents club open day and night, a swimming pool and all-inclusive food and drink packages that let you drink all you want, all day long, for 750 baht. There are pool parties every couple of weeks with a free BBQ and a wet t-shirt contest, and much more. Does this sound like your kind of Pattaya holiday? If it does, you might like to book now, because rooms are already filling up for high season.
Maggie May’s sister bar, Catflaps, on Pratumnak Hill, was the scene of a fire on July 7. A faulty bug-zapper short-circuited around 2 AM – long after closing – and set a sofa on fire. From there, flames spread across the basement-level bar. The fire was thwarted by fire-retarding soundproofing on the ceiling which was most fortunate as some of the bar’s staff live upstairs. No-one was hurt. Damage was estimated at more than 200,000 baht. Catflaps hopes to reopen next month.
Soi Pothole has been improved and is no longer a soi of potholes.
As the bar scene for white men has been moving away from Walking Street, Soi Buakhao and its side sois like Soi LK Metro, Soi Chaiyapoon (AKA Soi Pothole) and Soi Boomerang have gained in popularity. I have to say that I am not a big fan of the wider Soi Buakhao area because of the traffic. With locals on motorbikes screaming along Buakhao at break-neck speed, drunk expats riding home after a night out, baht buses honking and pedestrians jostling for space, all on a very narrow soi, I find it’s just not a relaxing place. Compare it to any of Bangkok’s bar areas, Walking Street or even Khao San Road and what do they all have in common? They’re pedestrian only, with no traffic. Sure, Soi LK Metro is ok after dark but Soi Buakhao and most of the other side sois have traffic all night long. You might not like the way Walking Street is going, but you don’t have all the crazies behind the wheel after dark to contend with.
A steamroller made an appearance on Soi Pothole this week, flattening out freshly laid asphalt and making the soi’s nickname redundant. This creates a dilemma. Soi Pothole without potholes needs a new nickname. Any suggestions? There’s already a Soi BJ in Pattaya which is a shame as that would have been the perfect fit. One reader suggested we might like to refer to it as Soi Smooth Ride. It is a good place for a good ride. Can anyone come up with something better?
What was Lahee 869, opposite Runway, has been turned into a flash-looking disco, called Galaxy Club. A lot of money has been put into it and there are some large, impressive LED screens. It should be open real soon.
Many of you have mentioned being approached by Indian men while taking a relaxing walk along Pattaya Beach. These pesky Indian touts made a point of patting your belly and recommended a herbal potion for weight loss. This carry on has been a thing for several months at least. Anyone silly enough to engage with these con men was taken to a store nearby where a hard sell followed. Some people parted with – get this – 20,000 baht (!!!!) for herbs with questionable benefits. (Truth be told, I am a big fan of herbal remedies but I would never buy anything from anyone who approached me in Pattaya!) Said clowns were arrested this week and the operation has been closed down.
Have you been approached by Indian men while trying to enjoy a nice walk along Pattaya Beach?
Another Bangkok-based YouTuber is in trouble. Not with the authorities, at least not yet. I thought this particular fellow came across well in his videos, showcasing various condos around town. But things seem to have unravelled for him. There are all sorts of rumours doing the rounds and apparently he has ended up homeless. The rumour mill has it that he has been thrown out of at least a couple of condos. He has now resorted to begging online. Word on the street is that any money given will be spent on things that would not be helpful for someone in his position. There’s no shame in coming unstuck in Thailand. It has happened to many. But there is shame if you stick around, overstay your visa, beg to survive and use the charity and goodwill of others for things you shouldn’t. With a bit of luck, his friends and family will band together and get him on a plane back to Farangland.
Perhaps it’s just a case of semantics and I am overthinking it, but I cringe when foreign business owners in Bangkok – and to be clear, it’s only foreigners who do this and not Thais – refer to bar customers as “guests”. In the case of hotels, the word “guest” fits. But in the case of mid-range eateries and bars, I hardly think “guest” is the right word. When I think of the word “guest”, I think of an invitation to someone’s home or a person staying in a hotel of at least a reasonable standard. When I eat in a mid-range eatery, I am not your guest; I am your customer. Gogo bar bosses and other nightspot owners are now using the word “guest” and to me it sounds ridiculous. I get these silly press releases from bars where they refer to guests and it strikes me as pure puffery. Am I overthinking it?!
Is the dust-covered Volvo on a soi not far from Emporium abandoned?
In the soi where I spent my first 5 years in Bangkok, the unmistakable shape of a decaying supercar was hidden under a tarp. The tyres were flat and the bodywork was covered in what must have been years of accumulated dirt and dust. One day the tarp went off and what I thought was a 911 was in fact a 930 turbo. It would have cost someone a fortune, yet here it was in a state of decay, parked not on someone’s property but out on a public soi. All around Bangkok, sois are littered with old cars parked up. Many are at least partially covered, presumably to protect them from the sun. Often they’re European cars (although not necessarily Porsches or other high-end models). On the sub-soi from soi 16 through to soi 22, for many years there were a couple of cars parked up in similar condition. I was reminded of these old cars this week when a friend sent the photo of the Volvo above, parked up in a soi just around the corner from Emporium. What is it with these cars being parked up and seemingly abandoned? I note that some Bangkok police stations have high-end / sports cars parked up, covered in dirt, dust and grime – and they look like they may have been there for years. The Economic Crime Suppression Bureau on Sathorn Road had some supercars parked up that looked like they’d been there for years. If I was living in Bangkok, searching out and photographing these abandoned cars would make for a fun photo essay. There’s an idea for you.
Is it game over for the SW1 Market at the start of Sukhumvit Soi 12 which sprang up several weeks back? Now, there is almost nothing going on day or night other than the odd food cart. If it really is game over, it was awfully short-lived.
There has been much talk about the tourism industry the past few months and how visitor numbers to Thailand are down. Take a closer look at the numbers, break it down by nationality and it’s revealing. The number of Chinese visitors is down markedly. Westerners? Americans, Brits, Germans and Aussies are all up! Make of that what you will, especially with the persistent talk amongst Westerners that Thailand is pricey / unfriendly / <insert any negative adjective!> and Westerners are staying away. In fact, the opposite would appear to be the case.
While some claim Westerners are staying away, visitor stats don’t support this.
Thailand-Related Links & News Articles
From The Stickman Archives, A Decade Later was my thoughts after living in Thailand for ten years.
YouTube video of the week comes from Nick Dean, My Pattaya Getaway Is No Longer Cheap!
This is a nice collection of street photos from Bangkok in the 1980s, and another from Bangkok in the 1950s.
Which nationalities are currently visiting Thailand in the largest numbers?
On Ko Samui, an Aussie described as young and fit gets a massage and has a very unhappy ending.
A young Brit in Thailand falls unwell suddenly, suffers a serious infection and passes away.
It doesn’t look like legal gambling and casinos are coming to Thailand any time soon.
A German is arrested on Ko Phangnan over a fraudulent investment scheme targeting Australians.
A Pattaya cannabis store robbed by 3 Russians offers a reward to anyone who can help identify the perps.
With bar trade down dramatically, the low season bites in Pattaya as bargirls line up for aid.
Punters were confused on Thursday and Friday with some bars open, and some bars closed.
Closing Comments
The confusion on Thursday and Friday about where was open and where was not was no surprise. Mixed messages, lousy communication and frequent flip-flopping can all make you feel like you never really know what’s going on in Thailand. Sure, Thais can get mixed up when communicating in English, but foreigners comfortable in Thai know that even in their own language, Thais can make a meal of getting the message across. Mixed messaging and wonky translations can be charming at times, but it can also be exasperating when there’s something you really need to know but try as you might, you can’t get the answer. Communication – or is that miscommunication – is another of the joys of Thailand.
Your Bangkok commentator,
Stick
Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com
