Stickman Weekly, August 3, 2025

 

 

Mystery Photo

Last week’s photo was taken of the Royal Thai Police Headquarters on Rama 1 Road.

This week’s photo was taken in a popular part of Bangkok, but very much outside the Stickman zone.

 

 

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

Awestruck by Pattaya.

Interesting to see your take on Pattaya. I felt a little bit of rose-colored glasses, but can fully understand where you are coming from. I think that being settled in an area and having a routine of beaches, outdoor activities could be nice but there are too many tourists and wankers that roll through and the transitory Thais as well that wears thin on me. I have said in the past, Pattaya is a shithole, but it’s a GREAT shithole. Again, people coming from the west are awestruck. Knowing it in better times makes it meh. To settle in Thailand, I would definitely choose other options. Even back in the day, I had trips where Pattaya rocked and Bangkok didn’t and vice versa and quite often I was in the wrong one.

The convenience of Pattaya.

You point out that there is more to staying in Pattaya than just the nightlife and I totally agree, and for pretty similar reasons. I’m a 2-minute walk from Soi LK Metro in a condo that is surprisingly quiet considering the location. This is important to me as I don’t want to go out every night during a 2-month stay. There are 3 entrances and exits, and in each direction is every type of food that I could want, from a 50 baht krapow gai to a 1,000 baht Aussie steak. A few minutes further and there is a nice cinema and a farang supermarket with everything that you might be missing from home (at a cost). A further few minutes and I’m at the beach. The baht bus can take me further afield, if necessary, for 25 pence. What’s not to like about that! Having said the above, I do feel a bit sorry for the Thais suffering during low season. I see the same motosais and sellers everyday and walk past the empty massage shops as there are so many of them (Risa especially) compared to the numbers of people wanting a massage. Still, there’s nothing I can do about that.

The growing obesity problem in Thailand.

Regarding the obesity problem that pretty much appears to be happening everywhere except for very poor countries, what did the Thais used to cook with before the explosion of seed oils, do you know? In the UK we appeared to be a lot healthier when we used to cook with lard / fat decades back. Of course with the explosion of office jobs lots of people have become less physically mobile in their day to day lives as well.

College students for massage?

Regarding massage, a friend in Korat made an interesting point. He said that the best massages are performed by college students who are still in school. The reason is that they were recently taught and haven’t forgotten how to do them thoroughly, aren’t taking shortcuts (hopefully), etc. Moreover, the cost is inexpensive compared to more experienced masseuses. Is this correct? I don’t know because I rarely get massages. But it logically makes sense. <I would have thought as someone gets more experience, the massage would get better – Stick>

How to deal with the watch sellers.

The Indian watch sellers are about in the Nana area trying to make a sale at the front of bars with road side stools. One guy tried to sell me several days in a row, eventually I just pulled up a watch selection on Ali Express and asked him if he needed a new supplier? He walked off sulking, never bothered me again for the rest of my holiday.

What not to discuss.

Regarding the Thai-Cambodia conflict, I decided very quickly not to discuss it with any Thais. In addition to disagreement about who started it, with each predictably blaming the other, Thais are intensely patriotic and would not tolerate any word of criticism even if deserved (such as a court deciding in Cambodia’s favour in 1962, a ruling that Thailand ignores). <It should be noted that this is an “international court” whose jurisdiction over-reach many countries, including the USA, quite understandably don’t recognise – Stick> It was the same during political turmoil protests, with everything black and white and no opposing view was allowed.

 

 

This Week’s News, Views & Gossip

I was out and about on Sukhumvit multiple nights this week and the low season blues continue. It was so quiet on Soi Cowboy on Wednesday night that Rainbow didn’t even have the dancers on stage at 9:15 PM. Long Gun had not a single customer. Mid-week in low season, it’s not entirely unexpected, right? One could make that argument but things weren’t all that much better on Friday night. It was the first day of the month and expats had just been paid. That usually means a good night in the bars. Not on Soi Cowboy! At 9 PM, Dollhouse had precisely six customers. Things did pick up on the soi later, but inside the bars proper, trade could only be described as miserable.

Puddles appeared again on Soi Cowboy earlier this week. The icky water problem  – you know what it is – is not as bad as it was, but it’s ongoing and it would seem that the fixes have been temporary. You can see various small wet spots where water was pooling in the photo above, taken on Wednesday night.

Still on Soi Cowboy, there are claims that what the junior member of the three wise men said about Stumble Inn relocating to one of the Arab’s bars was wrong. Word is that yes, the venue is moving, but not to one of the Arab’s bars. So where will they move to? There aren’t that many likely possibilities. There is the space that was Cactus, a single-shophouse bar that has been vacant for years. I would have thought it would be too small. What if they took over the old-style convenience store next door to Cactus which seems to be closed most of the time? Knock the wall out, and you’ve got a double shophouse. That would work.

Earlier this week, one of the large screens inside Nana Plaza showed the Thai flag in a sign of support for troops battling at the border. I would love to have photographed it but as you know, photography is not allowed in the plaza with signs throughout the complex stating that anyone taking photos inside the plaza may face a lifetime ban.

While I note that Soi Cowboy had a terribly quiet week, Sukhumvit Road itself felt considerably busier than it has the last couple of weeks. Foot traffic was up and there were plenty of Arabs about. Now is the hottest time of the year in the Middle East and the heat can be intense so cool Thailand appeals. I wonder what the many Arab families staying on Soi Nana make of it?

 

 

African sex workers continue to be a feature along Sukhumvit. From Soi Nana to Soi Cowboy and the many nooks and crannies in between, they are everywhere. The biggest concentrations can be found at the Asoke end of Soi Cowboy where, on Friday night, more than half a dozen perched at the Penny Black while several more were just around the corner by the steps leading down to the Sukhumvit MRT station. They used to come out late at night but they’re venturing out much earlier in the evening now, and you see some lingering before the sun goes down.

One tall African lady was sitting astride a motorbike near the Sukhumvit MRT entrance at Asoke when a Thai fellow came back to his bike and took exception, proving his English proficiency with a string of four-letter words directed at her. She didn’t seem the least perturbed and made a show of getting off the bike ever so slowly and moving away. The way she did it and the complete lack of concern made me think that she had the sort of confidence that comes from knowing you’re “protected”. For a moment I thought there might be a fight as it looked like she was going to square up to him. It wouldn’t have been fair, mind you, as he was a shorty and she must have been north of 180 cm and towered over him!

And to complete the lineup, I noticed a couple of African ladyboys this week on Soi Nana. I can’t imagine the Thai ladyboys will be concerned as these African ladyboys had very little about them that could be considered feminine.

 

 

There’s an odd dynamic on Soi Nana where what you see out on the street is not what you see inside the plaza. The two beer bars at the top of the soi, Morning Night and Stumble Inn, are full of white guys so you get the impression this is an area for white men. Inside the plaza it’s a different story. In all my visits this week, Nana Plaza felt like the customer base was around one third Caucasian with the majority East Asians along with plenty of Indians.

The stretch of pavement that leads down from Sukhumvit Road to Nana Plaza has been a mess for as long as anyone can remember but with the sheer crowds that gravitate to the area, the street vendors that take up some of the very limited space, the African freelancers lingering at the top of the soi, the rain, the traffic and the many people forced to walk on the road, it’s a giant mess! Is there anything they can do to widen it?

In yet another sign of how the bar industry is changing, you see fewer bargirl / customer couples walking along Sukhumvit Road during the day, hand and hand, than you once did.

Sukhumvit Soi 24/1 has long been home to a bunch of massage shops particularly popular with East Asians, but the soi will be redeveloped and many of the shops have closed. The lively soi is now in a state of disrepair. Notices are posted out front of some of the closed massage parlours pointing to a new location. With no life on the soi, a few homeless people have moved in.

 

 

I notice there are more and more houses of oral relief scattered around the sub sois of Sukhumvit than ever. The going rate seems to be a universal ฿800. No, I didn’t ask – the ladies in many places yell out the details whether you’re interested or not!

There has been much talk in this column, particularly post-Covid, about why many ladies in the chrome pole bars ask so much for some private times with prices up markedly from not that long ago. This week, the manager of a medium-sized Sukhumvit Road gogo bar opened the books to me, showing me the accounts including total take, profit margins, detailed analysis of each lady’s in-bar earnings etc. I cannot name the bar, but what I can say is that it’s a medium-sized gogo bar that doesn’t get much press in this column. Yes, it’s been quiet in the bars over the past 3 months, but that notwithstanding, the numbers out of this bar are impressive! For me, the most interesting numbers were the lady drink numbers. I was shown daily and monthly reports summarising how much money the ladies make in lady drink commissions. The previous night’s report showed that one lady had received 46 lady drinks that night. The next best consumed 39. There were many ladies who received 20+ drinks that night. Impressive, especially as it was a mid-week night. Not everyone did so well. Some ladies received just a few lady drinks (although it wasn’t clear from the report if they were service staff, were barfined early in the evening etc). The next report – the total number of lady drinks earned over the calendar month – was even more interesting. More than 40 ladies received over 1,000 lady drinks the previous month. In this bar, each lady drink comes with a 100 baht commission. So, if a lady gets 1,000+ lady drinks in a month, her commission is north of 100,000 baht. Of course, she is also paid a day-rate which is often around 1,000 baht / night. When you see how much money the ladies make from lady drinks alone, you understand why the days of inexpensive liaisons are largely a thing of the past.

So on this note, what are the going rates for short-time and long-time in Sukhumvit Road gogo bars? Every bar is different and some girls will negotiate, but it seems that short-time runs 3,000 or 4,000 baht. Ladies willing to go long-time often ask for 8,000 baht. There is the odd story of ladies who don’t go long-time and will only go short-time for 10,000 baht. Not common, but a few ladies command that price.

Popular Sukhumvit soi 11 bar Levels will celebrate its 13th anniversary on Thursday, August 28th. Put it in your diary.

 

 

Down in Pattaya, Atmos, the new gogo bar I mentioned in last week‘s column from the Pin Up Group, has acquired what was Apple A Gogo next door. It looks like they’re going to knock the wall out and make an even larger bar. With that in mind, expect it to take a bit longer until it’s open.

Large Walking Street bar Okeanos has reopened after being in darkness for several weeks. The format has changed and there isn’t any dancing. There is conjecture over whether it has been taken over by Koreans or Chinese.

The Frog’s Land beer complex on Walking Street was conspicuous by how quiet it was last week. Many bars went long periods without a single customer. What this means for the complex’s future, I don’t know. What I’d take out of it is that the new breed of (non-farang) visitors has little interest in beer bars. And this is reflected all over Pattaya where many of the old beer bar complexes have disappeared. Not renovated nor relocated, but gone, as in gone and never to be seen again. Sois 7, 8 and Buakhao still have heaps of beer bars so it’s not like this type of bar has disappeared altogether. Basically, if there are farangs in the area there’ll be beer bars but if the area is popular with Asians, forget the beer bars.

Palace A Gogo has Korean music and Korean-looking ladies. And whadya know, it is full of Korean customers. It’s a bit of a hoot to walk in as everyone looks at the white face and wonders what the hell you’re doing there! It’s worth a quick nosey, if for no other reason than to check out some of the hot ladies.

If you’re going to be in Pattaya the weekend after next, mark Saturday, August 16 in your diary. That’s when owner Greg and manager RJ will celebrate their respective birthdays at Heaven Above in Soi Boomerang. The gentleman’s club styled bar is relentlessly popular as are the two fellows who run it so it promises to be a good night.

 

 

The graphic above was posted by Le Pub in Soi Diamond, Mister Egg’s old bar which was sold to Aussie Joey. What does reimagination mean in this context? There will be a recruitment drive to take on a new set of girls.

Comparisons between Bangkok and Pattaya are never-ending. Pattaya expats love to say Bangkok is overpriced . Bangkok expats mock Pattaya as low-end. But how about comparing the ladies in the prime bar areas in Bangkok and Pattaya? That would mean Nana Plaza, and Walking Street. What stands out to me is that the ladies in the better gogo bars on Walking Street are quite a bit younger than the ladies you find in many Nana Plaza bars. If pressed, I’d say that the ladies in Walking Street gogo bars could be a number of years younger than the gogo bar ladies of Nana Plaza, and Bangkok generally.

Another area of comparison would be the price of barfines between the two. Let’s take Billboard, generally regarded as Bangkok’s best gogo bar. Short-time barfines run 700 baht while long-time is 1,000 baht. In some of the better Walking Street gogo bars, barfines start at 1,500 baht and go up to 3,200 baht. For one more area of comparison, drinks prices are definitely a little lower in Pattaya chrome pole bars compared to the equivalent in Bangkok.

On Soi LK Metro, it looks like Top Gun has given up on daytime opening. It now opens at 6:00 PM. That means there are now only 2 gogo bars in Pattaya open in the afternoon – Rum Runner and TQ. (Across the road from Rum Runner, Dirty Money now opens at 5:00 PM.)

Stumble Inn opened their newest bar in Hua Hin this past Friday. That’s another big Bangkok name setting up shop down there. Word is that it was absolutely packed on opening night.

 

 

Do you remember back in the day, especially through the ’90s and ’00s, all the stories of guys who met a lady in the bar and within days she had taken him for a holiday up to her village where they may even have had a (non-legally-binding) marriage ceremony that he only learned about after the fact? I wonder how often ladies take a customer they’ve known for such a short time up to their village these days? I suspect it doesn’t happen much at all. At the end of the day, ladies have no need to take a guy back to the village as there’s more money to be made in the bar than by settling down with a customer long-term.

On this note, I know some of you settled down with a lady who you met in a bar, got married and may have even had kids. I hope that you’re happy together. But, please, don’t ask me what I think about it, especially in person. I say this because this happened to me last week and I was put on the spot. What am I supposed to say? I try to be diplomatic, but at the same time I’m a terrible liar. I have no doubt that my facial expression gave it away. To be clear, there are some lovely ladies who worked in a bar and have gone on to have a fantastic, loving, mutually beneficial relationship. But please, don’t ask me a question unless you want an honest answer. In my opinion, there’s more risk when settling down with a lady you met in a bar than a lady who never worked in a bar. Of course, no matter where you met your Mrs, there’s always some risk.

 

 

I took a stroll around the SW1 Market near Sukhumvit soi 10 this week. There’s a mix of food outlets, fruit vendors and a few vendors selling clothes. It might appeal to visitors but for locals, there’s no reason to stop by. And there’s a BB gun range. What’s all the rage with BB gun ranges these days?!

Some readers have skin in the game with the conflict at the border. Ubon Rachatani, Buriram, Surin and Si Saket all share a border with Cambodia and plenty of readers’ better half comes from that part of the country. Here’s hoping your Mrs’ family is safe and well.

Two readers report ladies they once knew have contacted them requesting financial help. Why did they get in contact out of the blue? The border conflict! Each made mention of that for their supposed financial difficulties. One was a Thai woman and the other was a Cambodian. I guess Thai and Cambodian women are equally opportunistic.

Some Farang-Thai couples can be a real mismatch. In the capture below, she was beautifully done up and looked like a million dollars. He, on the other hand, could do with a fashion lesson or two!

 

 

R.G. Gordin has created an audio version of his e-book Five Crazy Years, Memoirs Of A Gogo Bar Owner and it’s available on Amazon now. This book is based on his time in charge of The Strip in Patpong soi 2. It should be made clear that R.G. Gordin is actually Randall Howlett, author of Patpong, Story of a Red Light District. Five Crazy Years is the only book where he used a pen name. It also happens to be his #1 best-selling book by a sizable margin. If you prefer audio books over e-books, take a look.

There really aren’t all that many people wearing masks in Thailand any more. Sometimes you enter a shop and every member of staff is masked up but out and about, not many at all. The funny thing is the number of people walking around Benjakitti Park wearing masks, mostly young females. What’s that all about? These are not N95 masks – which would make sense because they filter out small particulate matter – but the white or light blue surgical masks that I really don’t think will help much at all in terms of the pollution or catching something nasty from others.

Labanoon was a popular Thai band 20 or 25 years ago and the song ยาม (Yarm, meaning security guard) was a huge hit. Hillary Group often gets big-name Thai artists in to perform at one of their venues and on August 22nd, Labanoon will perform at Climax, in the basement of the Ambassador Hotel, Sukhumvit Soi 11. Labanoon is a great Thai pop / rock band. It should be a great night!

 

 

Thailand-Related Links & News Articles

Quote of the week comes from a friend, “It’s a good thing bargirls don’t have an odometer.”

YouTube video of the week comes from Nick Dean, Walking Street Changes.

A gunman shot dead 5 people at a popular Bangkok market before turning the gun on himself.

Pravit Rojanaphruk wrote an interesting opinion piece on the Thailand / Cambodia conflict.

Thailand has a pet lion problem.

Some high quality tourists find some money in Phuket, hand it in to police who return it to the owner.

Domestic tourism in Thailand has been severely affected in some provinces due to the conflict with Cambodia.

Tom Tuohy asks if Thailand is losing its soul to tourism.

The Pattaya Mail looks at the riddle of all the Indian restaurants in Pattaya.

A German in Phuket accused of swindling an Aussie out of $1.1 million in a crypto scam is arrested.

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Closing Comments

My time on the ground has almost come to an end and my time in the bars is over for this trip. It has been great to catch up and see everything with my own eyes. Visiting once per year isn’t ideal and I hope to make it back before the end of the year. While visiting once or twice per year isn’t ideal in terms of writing this column, I’ll continue to do my very best to cover what’s going on from 10,000 km away.

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick

 

Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com