Stickman Weekly, July 6, 2025
Mystery Photo
Where is it?
Last week’s photo was taken of Love Coffee, the coffee shop out front of the Times Square Building between Sukhumvit sois 12 and 14.
Another easy one this week – or at least I think it’s easy!
Stick’s Inbox – The Best Emails From The Past Week
Politics, tariffs and trade wars mean nothing in Bangkok.
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The new cannabis regulations.
My take on the new cannabis regulations is that lax prescription rules will not solve the 3 apparent problems. 1. Cannabis being smuggled abroad which pisses other countries off. 2. Inbound “crazy” young tourists who want to get high, and 3. The addiction problem in Thailand. They need radical measures. Thailand can’t escape the problem.
Luring foreigners, or putting them off?
The authorities, and people you are in contact with, are lamenting the fall in visitor numbers. And a recent poll claimed that the number one turnoff for foreigners is two-tier pricing. So what does Thailand do in response? Introduce a 20 baht fare for the MRT system in Bangkok, but limit it to Thais only. In typical Thai-fashion, introducing two-tier pricing means complicating what should be a simple procedure at the gate – pay and go – into the necessity of having to register with Thai ID to get the fare. Not only that, the geniuses at TAT are resurrecting the hotel discount scheme at some establishments to boost tourism – but only for Thais! When they did this before, there were reports of some foreigners getting a Thai to make the booking, only to show up at the hotel with them and be refused the discount. They just don’t get it, do they? Message to TAT and others – what makes you think that discriminating against foreigners will lure foreigners to the country?
Thumbs up for the Thermae.
I really enjoy going to Thermae. Lots of attractive women you can see with bright lights. I have always been quoted 2,500 – 3,000 baht short-time and I am far from a young, handsome man.
The dream was lost on the way.
Reading your thoughts about another coup made me realize it’s been 17 years since I wondered about the commotion at the desk of Emirates in the middle of the night, only to learn that some yellow T-shirts had just invaded the airport in Bangkok, leaving me stranded in Dubai. Which made me reroute my trip, via Kuala Lumpur by train to the south and washed me ashore in Phuket. Where I might not have been so soon and where I found my Laos wife who would be the mother of my children. At the time Thailand still held that dream for many Western men, and for me it came true. But following your column over that time also makes me realize the dream is gone. The Thai community here in Germany is still strong, but it does not feed from new faces out of Thailand, more from the children. Maybe you also see that in your country? Thai women’s attitudes changed, as did prices and targets. Today, they know about the weather and the general challenges of life in the West. And today there is fierce competition from Indians, Koreans and Chinese who cannot find a bride at home. These men share similar cultural backgrounds and thus are more attractive than Western men. So I’m not surprised that the girlfriend experience is gone. Who would want to be the girlfriend of an old Westerner now? I wonder if it is still available to Asian men? Or maybe there really is a new generation of women who go to the bars to earn money and don’t care to find someone at all. And not only in the sense of marriage. It was a kind of custom for bar ladies to find sponsors to provide a regular income stream. With the new aggressive tactics to earn fast money, I wonder if that happens anymore?
Natural beauties.
Thai women typically have a natural beauty that isn’t enhanced by artificial means. The dusky caramel hues of natural skin, thick black hair, blazing smiles: all qualities native to Thai women. When I see videos of staff at a swank club I typically see pumped-up cleavage and features distorted through “facial contouring” in efforts to make Southeast Asian women appear more Northeast Asian. For this chicanery a man is supposed to peel off thousand-baht notes like tissues? Not for me.
Where the beauties are.
I’m extremely picky when it comes to women (far beyond any right I have to be). But if I’m going to pay a premium for something, I want top-shelf. As you and many readers have noted, the traditional scenes (Nana, Cowboy, Thermae, Soi 33, Soi 22, Soi 24, Patpong, Pattaya etc.) are hit-and-miss, with far more misses than hits. Almost all are sweet girls but outside of Billboard, there might be 1 in 30 that even makes me look twice. So where are all the hot chicks? I think they’re working mega-clubs like Elite in Thong Lor, a “private club” that requires a member$hip, which anyone can buy (but be warned: it ain’t cheap). That said, the level of talent at Elite is absolutely mind-blowing. Upon arrival, you’re ushered into a large hall with dozens of truly stunning women to select from (if not 100+), almost all in their 20s and squeezed into slinky cocktail dresses. Pick your poison and then you quickly find yourself being doted on by supermodel-calibre talent at your table or couch, while watching truly world-class stage show productions (sexy singers + dancers; not the ping-pong ball variety). As long as the booze is flowing, you can expect the usual making-out, groping and dry humping, followed by whatever you want to negotiate for the rest of your night. That said, places like Elite are outrageously expensive compared to Nana Plaza. And I’m not necessarily suggesting that I prefer one experience over the other. But if you’re wondering where all the supermodel-level talent is hiding, a lot of them are working at these large venues, hidden in plain sight, where a legion of super-hot women can discreetly indulge in upscale nightlife every night, with free-spending clientele that aren’t just milking 100 baht beers and hoping to hook a 2,000 baht looker. If you have the means, it’s worth experiencing at least once.
Soi Cowboy, 1:20 AM Friday night / Saturday morning. Decent trade is back!
This Week’s News, Views & Gossip
What a difference a dry night makes with Soi Cowboy buzzing on Friday night. Has the worm turned? Probably not – but no rain usually means a reasonable night around the traps at this time of year.
A friend was sending me live reports on Friday night from various bars on Soi Cowboy. Well after 1 AM, the soi was lively with plenty of punters and even mainstream visitors still about. Included in those bar status reports – Rainbow Cowboy: full. Crazy House: full. Shark: full. Bad Beach: full. A good night for the bars, and the busiest night on the soi he has seen since high season.
Earlier in the week, popular Soi Cowboy gogo bar Dollhouse was holding its own. Was it the lineup of ladies or was it the cheap drinks? My money is on the latter. Dollhouse has an all-night happy hour on Mondays and Wednesdays – but curiously not on Tuesdays.
If reader reports are anything to go by, Soi Nana was packed and quiet at the same time. In other words, there were very different perceptions about just how busy it was. Friday was said to be very busy in the plaza, and Thursday was decent too. Earlier in the week? Not busy at all.
Patpong soi 1, the market, and the bars hidden around the edges.
Patpong has been a mixed bag for as long as I can remember and is perhaps the one bar area where it pays to have some knowledge about the bars. In Nana and Cowboy, you can have fun in just about any bar whereas Patpong has a few bars which you really should avoid. From 2010 until Covid, many expats preferred bars on Patpong’s second soi. These days, it’s not so clear. Patpong soi 2 has struggled to gain traction post Covid with a handful of the most popular farang-owned venues gone. Some say Kinky Girls (previously The Strip) is a bright spot with a good lineup, and owner Anna keeps things upbeat and lively. The girls are entertaining, verging on wild at times. It’s always been a good bar to party in.
Another Patpong soi 2 bar which I hear positive things about, and which has had a good low season is Bada Bing.
On the main Patpong soi, King’s 1 has lots of girls but can be quiet early evening. Things pick up after 11 PM. King’s Corner is the standout these days, objectively the busiest bar with subjectively the best crew in the area. It’s busy from early evening.
Back on Soi Cowboy, Stumble Inn did indeed close on Monday. What’s next for that space? The hot money is on a gogo bar – but it’s not a given. The worry some have is that the Stumble Inn Group has a history of operating ladyboy bars and two sources say that Stumble Inn Cowboy will be replaced with Soi Cowboy’s largest gogo bar. Is there sufficient demand for another ladyboy gogo bar on Soi Cowboy? Frankly, I wouldn’t have thought so. I’ve heard speculation that Stumble Inn is closed for a revamp which makes me scratch my head. The head honcho of the Stumble Inn used to work in construction and this has been evident in the group’s bars which have always had a quality finish. Stumble Inn Soi Cowboy was nicely done out and hardly felt like it needed a refresh. Whatever happens, the Stumble Inn Group deserves plaudits for keeping us guessing.
Staff at Lolita’s sweep away water pooling outside the infamous venue.
There are two Buddhist holidays this week. Asalha Bucha Day and Buddhist Lent Day. There will be interruptions to bar trade. At this stage, the entire Nana Plaza will be closed on Thursday July 10th and Friday, July 11th. Note: I say at this stage because these things can change. If you’re in town, ask bar staff for the latest.
But don’t despair, it’s not a city-wide shutdown! Many of the bars on Soi Cowboy will open on Thursday and Friday, including Suzie Wong and Baccara.
And word is that – just like in the old days – while bars will be closed elsewhere, all of Patpong will be open. Again, this may change at the last-minute due to the whims of the authorities.
In last week’s column I asked about the yellow Money Exchange sign on Soi Cowboy. It turns out that while the sign is new, there has been a machine just outside the door of Baccara for months. Proof, as if it was needed, that being away for so long has me terribly out of touch.
And also referring to last week’s column, I mentioned Angelwitch’s 99 baht Singha all-night price as the cheapest beer in a Nana Plaza gogo bar. It should be noted that Tycoon also has local beers at just 99 baht, every night, until 11 PM. It may not be all night long like Angelwitch, but it’s still a good deal – and you have a choice of Chang, Singha, Tiger and San Miguel Light.
This year’s rainy season has been a bit of a nightmare!
Quite a few of you are lamenting the demise of soi 24/1 which appears to have a bigger following amongst Stickman readers than I realised. Some of the venues which were on the soi for years have closed for good. But not Boss Massage. It has moved to the unnamed alley just west of the corner of Sukhumvit soi 20.
In this week’s African News, readers tell me there were dozens of African beauties from near the top of Soi 4, stretching out over hundreds of metres down the soi. If you’ve ever wondered about the “once you go black” saying, maybe this is your chance to find out?
If you’re involved with a Thai lady who is enamoured by all things Korean and you’re keen to impress her, you might like to take her to the soon-to-open Seoul Food in Korea Town at Sukhumvit soi 12. It is described as a Korean Cocktail & Tacos bar and will be located on the ground floor. They’re adding the final touches and it will open in the next couple of weeks. Get her there before everyone else so she can boast about being one of the first on social media. Daft, I know, but it will get you brownie points!
If you find yourself down in Hua Hin, you might like to stop by Craft 94, a multi-concept dining destination located on Soi 94 in central Hua Hin. Craft 94 brings together 4 of Panthera Group’s most successful brands: Craft, Scruffy Murphy’s Irish Pub, Birds Rotisserie, and Whisgars — into one place. Check it out!
Also in Hua Hin, the fantastic one-man band Lee Shamrock performs live at Scruffy Murphy’s Pub in Soi 94, every Saturday night from 8:00 – 11:00 PM. Lee is a good singer, a great entertainer, and his show can be hilarious.
Lee Shamrock performs weekly in Hua Hin!
On Sukhumvit soi 11, Juicy is currently closed for renovations. A newer, even better Juicy is coming soon.
Bangkok’s higher end nightspots have ladies who are not just more attractive than the ladies you find in the gogo bars, they have superior manners and in some cases are genuinely refined. In comparison, there are ladies working in the farang bar areas who can at times be rather crass. It’s one thing a lady not being easy on the eye – but a lack of manners or, worse still, vulgarity is, for me, the ultimate turn-off.
So what are the options if you’re looking for a higher class experience? If soapies are your thing, you might like to check out this article which profiles some of the best soapy massages in Bangkok.
This week, the fee charged by local banks for using a foreign-issued bank card at an ATM increased. The new fee is 250 baht. It should be noted that this is in addition to any fees that your bank back home charges. Combine the two fees and factor in the inferior exchange rate and you are probably better off changing cash at the likes of Vasu or Super Rich. If you must use your foreign-issued card in an ATM machine, use it as few times as possible i.e. make the maximum withdrawal possible to keep fees to a minimum.
A reader literally ran into one of the bollards in the photo below which were recently installed at the start of Sukhumvit soi 22, right in front of Otto Bar. Poorly built footpaths in Bangkok are tricky enough to navigate without more obstacles. Why did they put bollards in that particular spot? My best guess is that the win motosai taxis were riding along that stretch of the pavement and the bollards were put in place there to stop them. You can’t walk around them without going on to the main road. I can’t see these lasting. How long until they are removed?
Bollards span the pavement, at the start of Sukhumvit soi 22.
The announcement last week making weed cannabis products prescription-only was deferred for a few months. Word is that it’s very much business as usual in the weed stores.
With that said, some booze booths have put up makeshift signs saying they no longer sell marijuana.
They say there are more weed shops in Thailand than 7 Elevens. True or not? Let’s ask Google. A quick search reveals that as of May 13, 2025, there were 15,430 7 Eleven stores in Thailand. Various media reports estimate Thailand has between 11,000 and 18,000 weed stores. So it’s close and there’s no clear winner. With that said, in downtown Bangkok, it feels to me like there are more weed shops than there are 7 Elevens.
Here in Kiwiland, my favourite barber mentioned that business suffers when the Lotto grand prize is $20+ million. Customers spend more on lottery tickets and have less money for non-essentials, like a haircut. It kind of surprised me because this is not a shop where those on a budget go for a haircut. And so a friend in the hospitality trade in Bangkok said something not entirely dis-similar this week, explaining that he was in two minds about the recriminalisation (is there such a word?) of cannabis. He made the point that on the one hand prohibition doesn’t work, but on the other hand his sales figures are down on previous years. Relevance? He wonders if rather than go out, some people just stay home and smoke weed.
Soi LK Metro, Pattaya, by day.
Down in Pattaya, punters continue to visit Walking Street and Soi 6. Look really closely, however, and many bars have few customers. Plenty of people are there for nothing more than a gander.
Soi LK Metro and Soi Buakhao are ticking along. Are they busy? In a word, no. The next tier of bar areas like sois 7 and 8, the Myth Night bar complex along with the likes of Soi Diana and Soi Yamato (Soi 13/1) have all been described as terribly quiet. Further afield, trade in Naklua is down, and so is Jomtien. It’s very much a case of low season blues in Sin City.
Even our Indian friends can’t save the day. While this time of year may be referred to by some in Pattaya as “Indian season”, there are noticeably fewer Indians around compared to the same period in each of the past 3 years.
In Soi Pattayaland 2, Penthouse A Gogo – self-described as “the biggest a gogo of Pattaya” – has been dark this week. A year or so back the gogo bar on the ground floor of the Indian-owned Penthouse Hotel was relaunched with a hiss and a roar, and for a short time it seemed to be doing ok. Is it now game over?
This begs the question: which bars in Pattaya are doing well? The big-name gogo bars on Walking Street that attract Asian men are said to be doing fine, while bars with super cheap happy hours do ok too. Whether the latter actually make any money, who knows?
Bangkok’s Kicking Donkey (Sukhumvit soi 6) has opened a new bar on Soi Pothole, called Jackass Bar. I’m not sure about the name, but the bar sounds decent enough with the same chilled-out vibe as their Bangkok bar. Jackass Bar has a pool table, cheap drinks and girls who won’t hassle you.
Following on from the Bangkok earthquake back in March, certificates like the one below have popped up at several properties in the Nana area. This one is for the Saranjai Mansion condo building on Sukhumvit soi 6, a condo popular with foreigners. These certificates are translated from the original Thai version and appear to be prominently displayed to put foreigners – who dominate the area – at ease. As an aside, the Saranjai is ideally located for anyone who wishes to live very close to Bangkok’s main foreigner nightlife area. The Saranjai is very affordable. The other inexpensive long-term accommodation options in the immediate area are towards the bottom of Soi Nana.
Post-earthquake inspection certificates, translated into English and proudly on display.
Last year I wrote a column opener about how the Thai Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, was massively increasing the price of visas. Visa fees have always been largely uniform at Thai embassies and consulates around the world, rounded off in local currency meaning any differences were down to exchange rate fluctuations and rounding. I was convinced that the Thai Embassy in New Zealand had jumped the gun and announced new fees which would roll out around the world. I was wrong, and that hasn’t happened. The visa fees at the Thai Embassy in Wellington remain wildly out of step with the rest of the world. A single-entry tourist visa applied for in New Zealand is $300. A single-entry non-immigrant visa is $800. (Yes, EIGHT HUNDRED dollars!) A multiple-entry non-immigrant visa is $2,000! This is 5 to 6 times what you will pay anywhere else in the world, which makes it totally bonkers! Why has New Zealand been singled out for such high prices? I have no idea. Is New Zealand perhaps being used as a test market for higher fees? Or could these prices be a mistake? The lofty fees have not been lost on some New Zealanders going to Thailand, and I am aware that the Thai embassy has been asked about the price discrepancy. I am aware of at least two people who have made inquiries but not received a response. The New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok has been made aware of the visa fee discrepancy, as has New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs who said they would take it up with Thailand. Nothing has come of it. Who’d want to be a New Zealander, eh?!
For a long time, overstaying in Thailand wasn’t a big deal. You paid a fine on leaving and you could return without issue. The law changed several years ago and while the fines didn’t increase – it’s still 500 baht per day for ever day you overstay, up to a maximum of 20,000 baht – if you overstay long enough, you face a stand-down period before you can return. Don’t think you can get away with overstaying elsewhere in the region with a small fine. In Bali, for example, the fine for overstaying is one million Indonesian Rupiah / around $US 65 per day. Overstay for a few weeks and the fine could get ugly.
Outside the legendary Bangkok bar, Thermae.
Thailand-Related Links & News Articles
From The Stickman Archives, Tilac, Simply The Best, from April 2009, features the best gogo bar in Bangkok at that time.
YouTube video of the week is Crazy Pattaya Soi Names, from Nick Dean.
In Pattaya, an Indian tourist is robbed after a lady he met on the beach pilfered some valuables in his hotel room.
Thailand isn’t alone with confusing visa rules as one young Aussie traveller finds out the hard way in Bali.
A Canadian man is caught at Suvarnabhumi Airport with heroin in women’s handbags in his luggage.
Another reminder this week that zebra crossings don’t mean squat in Thailand after a female student was run down by a bus.
On Ko Samui, an Austrian who had been drinking heavily fell down hotel stairs and suffered fatal head injuries.
Thailand’s James Bond Museum closes the day after it opens.
A Thai man from Khon Kaen dies after being bitten by a cobra he was playing with in a hotel room, of all places.
An English Pattaya soi 6 bar manager is jailed for 21 years for his role in the facilitation of a lady not of legal age.
Be careful who you listen to in Thailand, including me.
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Closing Comments
Read this column for a while and you’ve probably got a pretty good idea of where I stand on most things. You know I hate seeing tattoos on an otherwise beautiful woman. I don’t do drugs, and the only time I drink is when I’m on holiday in Thailand. And if you’ve read for long enough, you’ll know I am a strong proponent of wrapping it up. Yes, I know, I probably sound like the most boring guy on the planet! You might also know that I am not a fan of YouTube – or to be more precise, of many Thailand-based foreign YouTubers. I do like Bangkok Pat‘s take on Bangkok history, and I think Benjamin Hart’s Integrity Legal channel is chock-full of great info. I also quite like Nick Dean’s Pattaya channel. I am sure there are other foreign YouTubers in Thailand creating great content – but there are also some real clowns creating some nonsense and giving Thais a terrible impression of foreigners. I was appalled at a video sent to me this week of 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. It has since backfired with the story picked up by the Thai language press this week after the clinic made a police complaint. When it comes to Thailand, be careful who you follow, who you listen to, and what you believe. And that includes me.
Your Bangkok commentator,
Stick
Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com
