Stickman Weekly, August 31, 2025

 

 

 

Mystery Photo

Last week’s photo was taken at the top of Sukhumvit soi 26 where it connects with the main Sukhumvit Road. I thought it was easy but quite a few of you got it wrong – with Chinatown a common wrong answer.

So I have included a really easy photo this week. Surely you won’t get this one wrong!

 

 

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

Freelancers, customers and anonymous videos.

There are several YouTube accounts that chronically post videos labeling subjects as “freelancers,” precisely the kind of reputational harm forbidden under Thai law. What is especially galling about the offenders is that not only do they post such videos taken in public, but they also post surreptitious videos taken on private premises that explicitly post “No Photos / No Video.” As Stickman readers realize, they may appear in such videos and may be implicated as “customers,” so Stickman readers and others may themselves suffer professional or other harm for appearing in such illegal videos. On my trip last month, I mentioned the problem to the staff at Thermae and they said the video equipment is hidden, so difficult to detect among the crowd of customers. Because some accounts have been taken down, then reappear with exactly the same style of video, captions, and titles, I think it will take criminal prosecution to sober up the perpetrators. That is why I didn’t merely flag the videos for YouTube, but also asked my lawyer to file a legal complaint. I hope that other readers do the same. REMINDER: Filming People Without Consent Is a Crime in Thailand.

Sick of us?

Can it be that Thailand is a bit sick / disgusted of all these farangs? Well I don’t know, but it seems with crackdowns on bars, urine testing, crackdowns on student visas, crackdowns on farang bank accounts, threats of taxation etc, they could be!

What happened to the Microbuses?

You pondered whether there are fewer buses in Bangkok now. Something that vanished long ago were the Microbuses with, from memory, around 24 seats. They didn’t allow standing, so were more comfortable. That was good – unless you were waiting for one, only to see it go past as it was already full. That meant you could wait for a very long time, as often happened to me back in the day. One bizarre aspect was the bus included a TV, and it would show someone, a Brit, giving English lessons. It was called English On The Bus, but I doubt that anyone actually learned anything from it.

Where Thailand rocks!

There is a lot wrong with the structure of various things in Thailand, whether in Bangkok or Pattaya or up-country. Not having pavements / sidewalks, or having them blocked by shop owners and forcing people to walk in the road even in city centres is absurd as well as dangerous and is just one example of many. But you referred to phone coverage and the internet, and that is one thing that Thailand excels at. It rocks. It’s fast and usually reliable. Credit where it’s due.

More banking woes.

The folks with Bangkok Bank are lucky. At least they can re-open their bank accounts. I have been with Krungsri Bank for more than 20 years. In June, all personal account customers were informed that online banking via a (secure) computer would be stopped on 30th September and customers had to move to (insecure) phone apps. Phone apps are only authorised for customers between the ages of 18 to 70. I am 74. My application was rejected due to an invalid date of birth. Many customers complained and were told that they could transfer their personal account to an online biz personal account. Accounts would be transferred automatically on 1st July and we would receive an email with our user ID and temporary password. I did not receive that email and neither did some others. I contacted the helpline and was told that I did not receive the email as I was older than 70. Some of my friends and customers also did not receive an email and they are all younger than 70. They just prefer online, secure banking. Krungsri’s solution to the age problem? I will receive an email on 1st October when my personal account has been automatically transferred to a Biz account. Rather than wait (with bated breath?) until the 1st October, I tried to open a personal Biz account using their online banking system. My application was rejected by the system because the phone number that I entered for the OTPs is already being used. Yes, I also have a Biz account – for the business. It is not in my name, but the company name. I use the same phone for the OTPs. So I called the helpline again. Their response was that my application was rejected because I have an old passport number registered to the Biz account. (The error message related to my phone number?) They told me to update the passport number to the same as the one recorded against my personal account. I updated the passport number and was rejected as the phone number is already in use. I can now only wait and see what happens to my three personal accounts on 1st October! This is a long-winded message. I sent it to show that having your account frozen until you visit the branch, whilst inconvenient, is only a minor glitch.

Thai food with exotic meat.

I was very surprised to find quite a large Thai community in Greenland. It turns out that several Thai ladies married guys from Denmark, and moved there. Later, they relocated to Greenland with their spouses, as Greenland is controlled by Denmark. Their families from Thailand often followed them to Greenland. So today you can find quite a few Thai massage places and Thai restaurants in some of the larger cities in Greenland. I was surprised how many dishes tasted authentic. And they are adding local flavor. In the last weeks, I have tasted stir-fried holy Thai basil with musk ox, green curry with reindeer and Thai barbecue with seal ribs.

 

 

This Week’s News, Views & Gossip

Long-running Nana Plaza gogo bar Mandarin has closed for major renovations and word is it will not reopen until the high season. What does that mean for all the Mandarin dancers? They can now be found in the adjacent Red Dragon which itself was recently renovated and expanded. Red Dragon is part of the same group as Mandarin.

The moon is full on September 7 this month and that means it’s that time of the month at Tycoon A Gogo, Nana Plaza, when things get messy and colourful. The Full Moon Party features girls in body paint. And punters can get body paint too, if they really want to, not that I am suggesting you do. The fun begins at 8:00 PM.

Down the road, Soi Cowboy remains Soi Smelly with the smell of wastewater coming up from under the ground. This week it was described by one reader as overpowering. If any bar owner has any influence with the relevant authorities whatsoever, perhaps now is the time to use it. This issue really needs to be fixed.

In fairness, Soi Nana is hardly a sweet-smelling soi either. That said, it doesn’t have a wastewater problem. Soi Nana’s big problem these days is that it feels seedy and sleazy – more so than the other bar areas, outdoing even Patpong. It’s the combination of some rough freelancers, even rougher ladyboys, mentally-troubled ice queens, a number of homeless people, and, in recent times, Team Africa. I know many spend little time on Soi Nana itself, and tend to make a beeline for the plaza which is cleaner and feels fresher & more modern than the other bar areas.

 

 

Inside Nana Plaza, anyone who has been to any of the Billboard Group bars (Billboard, Butterflies & On Top) can see the impressive drink selection even before looking at the extensive menu. Bottles cover the entire wall around the 98-inch TV behind the bar. The group has squeezed in even more bottles now, leaving its 2-page menu bursting at the edge, and added a third page for Signature Cocktails. The drink menu’s additions include a bunch of premium tequilas, none of which can be found at any other gogo bar in Bangkok or Pattaya. Selections include shots of 818 Blanco (฿320), 1800 Cristalino (฿440) and Don Julio 1942 (฿1,380). More premium gins and Cognacs can also be found on the menu. On the cocktails front, you can enjoy a Campari Cosmo with Grey Goose vodka or perhaps a French 75. At On Top, that drink is made with Camus lle de Find Cognnac while Hendrik’s gin is used at Billboard and Butterflies. On Top’s drink and Signature Cocktails menu both include items and ingredients exclusive to that bar, but at slightly higher prices. You can find all the menus on their websites at BillboardBangkok.com, ButterfliesBangkok.com and OnTopBangkok.com.

A month or two back it seemed like every other day a video made it on to social media – and more than a few were picked up by the mainstream media – showing foreigners fighting on the streets of Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. Things have gone quiet with few such videos appearing over the past few weeks. It’s a good thing, of course, that fewer such videos have been circulating while at the same time those videos were entertaining.

I am sure readers are familiar with the wonderful BangkokEyes website and its monthly run-down of what is happening in Bangkok’s foreigner-centric bar areas. Since 2001, this iconic Bangkok nightlife website has chronicled the comings and goings in the bar areas, highlighted new venues, bar closures and various other changes. A new edition is published early each month. However, nothing has been published this month – and as far as I can recall, this is the first time that’s happened. The owner / writer of the site is a friend and I and others are concerned as we have not been able to get hold of him. If any of the site’s operator’s friends read this, please do us all a favour and check in on him.

 

 

Perhaps the most common complaint about the bar industry these days is the high prices. But is the price really a problem when you know what it is in advance and agree to pay it? Perhaps the real issue is lousy service standards? If you’re handing over 4,000 baht with the expectation of half an hour of adult fun, wouldn’t it be nice if there was some sort of guarantee that you actually received what you were expecting? You’re dreaming, of course – and there are no guarantees in this industry. Wait a minute! Eden Club used to be famous for its money back guarantee. If the customer was not satisfied, they would get a full refund, no questions asked. Eden Club owner Marc told me that no-one had ever asked for their money back. Wouldn’t it be nice if some venues offered such a guarantee today? I recall that Devil’s Den in Pattaya – itself modelled on Eden Club – had the same policy. (I have some sad news today related to Devil’s Den, in the Pattaya news section further down.)

Speaking of Marc got me thinking about some of his idiosyncrasies. He always had this huge clip of banknotes in his pocket and when I say huge, I mean HUGE! Head out on the town with him, and he would always insist on paying. And out came this clip with dozens of thousand baht notes wrapped around it. I notice a few other expats have similar clips in their pockets. 60K, 70K or 80K baht is what I’d spend in a month, but some people obviously spend that in just one night out. The person who used to have the largest amount of cash on his person? Glen, the Outlaw, the old head of Angelwitch, Billboard et al. On a big night out he would take so much cash out that one of his minions carried it in a bag for him!

Back to Eden Club, something struck me when I was looking at photos of the ladies in Inside Eden, a column opener from 2013. At the risk of sounding mean, I used to always think of the ladies in Eden as perhaps not amongst the finest looking ladies in the industry. So if you asked me how many of the ladies working in Eden Club used to have a tattoo, my default answer would be “all”. As I was looking at this series of photos taken of Team Eden in 2013, one thing stood out. Not one of the ladies appears to have a tattoo. And knowing what I was like back then, I would almost certainly have taken a close-up or two of any tattoos. Compare that to today where so many ladies don’t just have a tattoo or two, entire limbs and much of their trunk / back can be covered in tattoos. In less than a decade, the tattoo craze went wild.

 

 

I’ve been banging on for months about what an awful low season it has been – and it’s been particularly brutal in Pattaya. August has not been any better, despite a surge in Indian tourists who now fill many hotels. On Friday night – which in July was a boom night – foot traffic was remarkably light and even the biggest gogo bars had lots of prime tables empty at midnight, usually Walking Street’s busiest hour. Two Walking Street bar owners said business fell even further in August than July with one bar reportedly losing 30,000 baht A DAY.

When times are tough, parties can help, right? Many bargoers are sceptical of parties, but Monday night’s birthday blowout for Tantra’s popular Japanese boss broke records. The birthday boss reported that sales for party night were seven times a normal night at Tantra. Heads up, moaning bar bosses: Throw more parties!

Still in Pattaya, I received the sad news this week that Michael Mander – known to many just as “Mike” – passed away this week. Mike was the friendly Brit behind Devil’s Den in Soi LK Metro. It’s a bit of a cliché to gush about someone who has recently passed, but in an industry full of rogues and scoundrels, Mike genuinely was one of the good guys. He was a straight shooter who took his responsibility for looking after the girls who worked for him more seriously than any bar boss I have known. Mike’s funeral will be held in Pattaya on Tuesday, September 2nd, at 2:00 PM.

 

 

If you’re reading this early this Sunday (or if you want to mark your calendars for next week), Bradley’s Gents Club on Soi Chaiyapoon has their weekly Lingerie Party starting at 3:00 PM. Note this is a “Lingerie Party with a Difference”, the difference being Bradley’s is Pattaya’s only ladyboy gents club! Many of the “ladies” shown in the photos by Digital a-Go-Go are very easy on the eye with a couple most would think were born female if you weren’t told otherwise.

Next Saturday, September 6th, will be a big one for Pattaya gents clubs fans. Steven, the head of the booming GentsClubs.com group, celebrates his birthday from 1:00 PM at Maggie May Pattaya on Soi Chaiyapoon with a free Sportsman’s buffet and free shots.

And, from 3:00 PM the twice-monthly pool party at Maggie May Resort kicks off with a free BBQ and wet T-shirt contest.

I found myself strangely fascinated by one of the exterior walls of an apartment building, just behind The Avenue in Pattaya, pictured below. It has all sorts of strange – for want of a better word – squiggles on the exterior wall. I couldn’t work out what that pattern was / how it had happened. What are all of those white squiggles on the side of the building? Any ideas? I thought possibly they could be some sort of graffiti or maybe even water ingress – but when I gave it more thought, neither really makes sense. Any ideas what it could be?

 

 

Last week I commented that the “reimagined” Le Pub – now Le Pub A Gogo – had an odd layout with a row of seating facing away from the stage. The Le Pub folks have since explained things to me, noting that “Le Gogo” is both a pub and gogo bar, with the latter confined to a curtained “VIP Lounge” while the rest of the bar remains the Le Pub everyone knows with sofas and a pool table. If you want scantily-clad ladies on the chrome pole, you can sit in sofas surrounding the stage. If you just want to chill, you can sit outside the lounge in sofas, at the bar or outside, or enjoy a game of pool. You can find new photos of the bar and its dancers on its Facebook page.

Readers continue to mention our Indian friends in Pattaya. Bangkok attracts plenty of young Indian men – and to be clear, the majority seem to be in the mid-20s to late 30s age bracket – but it’s at a whole different level in Pattaya. On this note, I hear that more bars now play Indian music. I assume that means said bars are making every effort to accommodate Indian customers. Frankly, there is no better way to alienate the traditional bar customer base than to play ethnic music. Indian music attracts Indian customers – but puts off most others else. Very interesting times, with all indicators suggesting that the number of Indian visiting Pattaya is going to increase massively in the years to come.

In answer to the question I asked last week about the size and brightness of the new Walking Street sign, it can be seen from North Pattaya. That said, it’s much too far away to read or make out what’s on display.

 

 

Last week’s column touched on the issue of Bangkok Bank freezing accounts held by foreigners at (some ?) Pattaya branches that have been opened in the last year or two. Said customers received a text message from the bank instructing them to visit the branch where they opened the account and provide various documents. The documents would then be checked and, if approved, their account would be unfrozen within 7 days. This was just the latest in an increasingly long list of issues foreigners with a bank account in Thailand have faced. There have been limits imposed on how much money can be transferred. There have been new security requirements with customers required to visit the branch and provide biometric data. Just opening a new bank account has become quite difficult. These issues and more have caused some expats – and would-be expats – to lose confidence not just in the banks in Thailand, but in Thailand in general. Imagine that most of your available funds were in an account in Thailand which an algorithm freezes. Next, imagine that account is at a branch in a place where you used to live, possibly hundreds of kilometres away. Imagine that is the only bank account you have in Thailand and the rent is due. There are so many scenarios where this becomes a giant pain in the a$&. I am not sure that these banking issues are enough to actually dislodge someone from Thailand, although if someone was not that happy with their life in Thailand already, who knows, perhaps this could be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. But certainly, if you were thinking about relocating / retiring to Thailand, concerns that your bank account could be frozen at random might make you think twice about going all in on Thailand.

How easy has it been to get your account unfrozen? I can only speak of one friend who, fortunately, lives in Pattaya and didn’t have far to travel to the branch where the account was opened. He went into the bank the week before last and provided all of the documents requested. His account has yet to be unfrozen. If this happened to me, what would I do? I would go and open a new account with another bank and the moment the Bangkok Bank account was unfrozen, I would close it. And I’d make a point of having at least two bank accounts in Thailand, with two different banks. And if I moved to a different city, I’d close my old account and open a new one in my new location. Seriously, is this the sort of crap you want to deal with in retirement?

 

 

Some people seem to be getting pleasure saying that Thailand’s tourism market has collapsed. While visitor numbers are down, I would not say that it has collapsed. Some who talk about visitor numbers dipping this year come across as being delighted about it. I don’t get it. If Thailand is no longer for you, fine. Usually there’s a reason for it. Perhaps it’s best just to come out and say something like, “I don’t visit Thailand any more because it doesn’t represent the same sort of value for money that it once did.” That I totally get. Vietnam and Cambodia beckon for you.

We spent some time in Mega Bang Na when we were in Bangkok last month. I’m no fan of malls, but it was close to where we were staying and there are a few decent places to eat and plenty of supermarkets to stock up on supplies. What struck me this year (compared to last year and 2023) was the sheer number of Chinese floating around the mall. I got the impression most lived in the area. Does that part of town particularly appeal to Chinese? Honestly, I have no idea. The other half’s sister commented that many Chinese appeared to be moving into the area. She also noted that many spoke no Thai and their English was almost non-existent. So how do they manage to get things done? Apparently, they are happy using apps that provide live translations.

 

 

Thailand-Related Links & News Articles

From The Stickman Archives, The World Through BangkokEyes, was published on October 26, 2014.

YouTube video of the week is from Buzzin’ Trevor, A Walking Street Update.

For cat lovers, were you aware that Pattaya has a number of cat cafes?

A dispute over a property boundary resulting in legal action torpedoes a Brit’s Thailand retirement dream.

British Airways has announced that in 2026 it will resume flying year-round between London and Bangkok.

A group of Kuwaiti thugs who attacked a lifeguard in Phuket settle and pay him 200,000 baht in compensation.

No wonder Brits are willing to smuggle drugs when they get ridiculously light sentences if caught.

A Scotsman missing since April is found in a pool of blood in Pattaya with self-inflicted wounds.

Tom Tuohy looks at Thailand’s digital makeover and the loss of control many expats feel.

A Scotsman crashes into a drug dealer in Northern Thailand and is shot by said fellow!

 

 

Closing Comments

I take a couple of weeks off each year, usually a week at Songkran and another during the low season. It’s the low season now and September can be one of the quietest months. Some time over the next few weeks, I’ll take a week off. I don’t know which week it will be. It could be next week, or any week in September. I will post a short note on the Sunday when I don’t write a column.

Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick

Stick can be contacted at : stickmanbangkok@gmail.com