I used to love the bar industry and I used to very much look forward to Saturday and my weekly night out. Sadly those days have passed and the prospect of a night out in the bars doesn't fill me with the same excitement these days.
Being a creature of habit I had a Saturday night routine. I would take the bus to Sukhumvit and make my way up soi 5 to Foodland. I'd grab a bite and at around 8 PM or so I'd head to Nana Plaza. After a few drinks in Nana I would make the 15 minute or so stroll down to Cowboy where I would often meet up with friends or colleagues. Back in those days Cowboy was much quieter than it was today, drinks were much cheaper and the bars were home to less girls who in turn were generally regarded as the least attractive in the city's bar areas. They were however the friendliest and the least pushy. Long Gun was the exception and was full of beautiful girls. The soi was rather dark and it had a unique atmosphere, being both relaxed and seedy at the same time.
I still fondly remember often being one of the last remaining customers in a bar at the end of the night, when the DJ would go into the small box of CDs off to the side and put on Thai music. The girls would come alive and even those who didn't have to dance would leap on to the stage and dance with real feeling and enthusiasm.
The lights would go out on Cowboy with the reliability of a Swiss watch, at 2 AM sharp. After grabbing a snack, usually a chicken leg on a stick - the variety of street food back then was nothing like it is today - I would join the crowds making their way up to the Thermae which at that time on a Saturday night was always jam packed.
Down the staircase, the first thing that hit you was the cloud of smoke lingering. It'd be a mission just to make it to the small counter bar to get a drink. If you found yourself stuck in the middle of the bar, it could take a full five minutes to work your way to the front. The Thermae was great. Everyone always seemed to be in a good mood, lots of alcohol had been consumed by that time I guess, and you'd bump into friends and people you knew, the girls very much becoming a backdrop. Around 3:00 or 3:30 AM I would head home.
Those were the halcyon days of the bar industry for me personally, my early days in Bangkok. The bar scene may not have been better then, but I found it more enjoyable. I guess I've been around long enough that I've suffered overexposure and it just doesn't excite me today like it used to. That shouldn't be surprising really. The girls' attitudes have changed. No, that is being polite. They have positively deteriorated and for someone who merely wants to chat and won't be doing anything more than that, the naughty bars are hardly the place to go for a fun night out.
These days the main reason I head out to the naughty bars is to meet and hang out with friends, or to cover what is going on for the column.
The best night out in the bars I had in a long time was two weeks ago to the day when myself and 3 mates sat outside Tilac on a wet Sunday night. We lingered for hours, shooting the breeze while just a few metres away, inside the bar, lots of sexy Thai bargirls were swaying on stage. We could have been inside watching the show but it was more fun outside, enjoying good conversation and watching the world go by.
Bangkok's farang-oriented nightlife industry has changed markedly over the last 10 years, to the point where in many ways it really is quite different today to how it was when I first encountered it, in the late '90s. What follows are my thoughts on some of the major changes that have shaped the industry in Bangkok into what it is today
10. The Japanese
The Japanese are pilloried by many western customers with the rule of 4 (4 inches, 4 minutes, 4,000 baht) often raised whenever Japanese enter any conversation about the bar scene. The Japanese dominate certain bars and many women show a clear preference for them. Often these are arguably the most attractive women in popular bars like Rainbow 1 and Rainbow 4 in Nana Plaza and Baccarra in Soi Cowboy. But to be honest, interest in the Japanese is hardly new.
The trend with the Japanese is that there are more and more of them in the bars these days. Whereas in the old days they would just be found in a handful of Nana bars, mainly Rainbow 1 and 2, now you find them everywhere – although the Rainbows remain their favourites. They have discovered and embraced what many feel is Soi Cowboy's best bar with the most attractive women, Baccarra. The upstairs area in Baccarra where the most attractive women are found is predominantly the domain of the Japanese. Once they discover something they like, they go there en masse.
This has also happened at the Thermae where the Japanese have essentially taken over what used to be a farang stronghold. Where once the Japanese were glared at by Western customers in the underground house of horrors, now the girls - a much more beautiful collection than ever before - glare at Western men! They cringe when a Westerner approaches, failing to notice the not so subtle body language that she REALLY is not interested in him!
The Japanese are now very much a pillar of the farang-dominated (note, NOT farang-oriented) sector of the bar scene. Bars welcome the Japanese with open arms and in some venues they make up half of the customers. If the Japanese suddenly stopped arriving, chunks of Bangkok's nightlife would die. What those who get on the Japanese's case don't realise is that there aren’t enough Westerners coming to Bangkok and going to the bars to keep the industry going!
9. The Proliferation Of Tattoos
One of my first observations of the differences between the women working in Bangkok and their sisters in Pattaya was the prevalence of tattoos. In Pattaya tattoos were everywhere, not so in Bangkok. That has changed.
Tattoos are often worn with pride by the girls. They're not something new, but in the bar industry in Bangkok today there are more and more women getting tattoos, often placed on a part of their body where it's always visible, like their hand or at the top of their breast, where it cannot easily be hidden in everyday life.
As someone who neither has a tat nor ever will, it's hard to get my head around them. It took me many years to realise that for a lot of the girls, especially those who have been in the industry for some time - that a large, exotic tattoo is in fact a source of pride and something which brings them face amongst their peers. It's not just the design or the size, but simply the fact that she COULD and DID get one done. Large tattoos take much time and aren't cheap. While the pain of getting one is generally described as bearable, there remains more than a degree of discomfort, I am told. A woman whose entre back is covered in a tattoo earned the money to get it done - which would be in excess of 10,000 baht - and had the wherewithal to stand the pain of many hours in the tattooist's chair. This gives her much face amongst her peers.
Tattoos of the non-traditional variety are scorned upon in common Thai society and considered vulgar and the domain of the uncivilsed and uncouth. Non-traditional tattoos are absolutely not accepted in decent Thai society.
Getting a tattoo doesn't just make a woman look hard, it pigeon holes her and announces to all what she is. She sees herself not just as a working girl, but as a whore. It can make her feel tough and is just another step in the not so slow process of turning a once sweet village girl into a hardened hooker.
Where once the girls working in the farang-dominated areas of Thailand tried to blend into society, many now just don't make that same effort and you don't have to be an expert to work out what they do for a living.
8. Bars Going Public
One of the most surprising changes to me is that where once the naughty bars were somewhat hidden, tucked away well off the main road, today things are much more in the public eye which is a real surprise in a country where face and reputation is taken very, very seriously. Remember, to the Thai authorities and particularly to older, traditional Thais, many of whom are extremely conservative, the naughty nightlife industry, especially that which targets foreigners, is very much considered a blight on the country's reputation.
There have always been bars on Sukhumvit soi 4 but in the past they were smaller venues, more about food, a quiet place to grab some pub grub and meet friends. Jool's and Chequers spring to mind. Today soi 4, or as it is more commonly referred to, Soi Nana, is lined with bars with girls falling out on the street, girls who are obviously not there to serve you food or cut your hair.
The action used to be inside the Nana Hotel but now the area outside is full of hard-looking opportunistic women day and night. Again, the action is going out on to the street. It was never like that 10 years ago. Back then the girls were in the disco or in the passage way leading to the disco.
But none of this can compare to the strip of pavement between Sukhumvit sois 3/1 and 5 which has become an open air freelancer bar 24 hours a day, where some of the hardest looking women openly proposition passers by at all hours. To make matters worse, this is one of the busiest areas in the city with the highest foot traffic on Sukhumvit, a main thoroughfare and a heavily touristed area. I simply cannot fathom how these skanky looking girls are allowed to loiter there as they do. You would think that the authorities would do something about it, but they don't.
There are more and more street-front bars in other parts of Sukhumvit, bars where scantily clad women sit outside calling out to passers by. Every Thai who sees it knows what's going on. This sort of thing was much less visible 10 years ago and there's no way photos like the one below could have been taken from out on the street, as this photo was (note: photo here was taken in Pattaya but the point remains the same), in the past.
The bar scene is becoming more visible and going more mainstream and more people are aware of its existence.
7. Less Young Guys
In my early forays into Bangkok's bar scene, many of those fooling around were younger than I was, in their early to mid 20s. These days when I look around the bars I often feel - and in many cases certainly am - the youngest guy in the bar! Where once young guys were a common sight in Bangkok bars, now they just aren't visiting in the same numbers.
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of young guys from Bangkok's naughty bars is an issue that intrigues me and I have not figured it out. My feeling is that it probably has more to do with life and opportunity in the West than anything specific to Thailand. Young guys can still be found in large numbers in Pattaya, possibly due to the lower prices. It might be that less young guys are moving to Bangkok. It could also be that the bar scene simply does not interest young Western guys like it used to or that the younger generation is changing and with political correctness sweeping across the globe it may be that some even find the idea of the industry to be distasteful.
The absence of young men makes some bars feel like a retirement home's day trip out. I really do believe that the massive decline in young foreigners visiting the bars is part of the reason that the nightlife is the bore that it is today. Young guys bring energy and enthusiasm, both of which are largely missing in many venues.
6. The Invasion of Less Attractive Women
You never forget your first visit to a naughty bar in Thailand. For me it was Rock Hard A Gogo in Phuket, but that pales in comparison with the first time I entered Nana Plaza and ended up in Pretty Lady Bar at its peak, back in early 1998. There must have been 150 women in there and I was blown away by how attractive, yet how friendly they were. Even thinking back about it now after all of these years brings a smile to my face.
It is said that the women are uglier these days which I do not believe to be true. If anything there are probably more attractive women around these days than in the past but with more and more guys using the likes of Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy as a marriage agency, the most pleasing eye candy is whisked away and married off, exiting the industry not long after joining. Truly attractive women, especially those with a good attitude who have managed to remain sweet despite what the industry does to them, are lucky to get out quick. The most attractive women usually do not stick around for long.
Thailand might be the land of beautiful women, but not every lady is a supermodel. The bars need to replace those who have left and at times, especially when the economy is good, recruitment is difficult. Bars may go through periods where there simply don't seem to be many girls looking for work and as such are forced to be less choosy.
The bar scene is much bigger than it used to be in terms of the number of venues so there are more women working. It is inevitable that not every lady in the bars is as hot as #211 in Tilac. The bars need to keep their stock levels up.
But at the end of the day, bars with less than attractive women won't win customers' hearts. Even in the ever popular Tilac, there are a couple of dozen girls who could do with some dietary advice and an exercise program.
5. More Farang Bar Owners
"If you want to make a small fortune in Thailand, go with a large fortune and buy a bar."
- a common mantra heard in expat circles in Thailand
There are far more Western bar owners today, both in number and as a ratio compared to Thai owners, than there were a decade ago. Where once Western bar owners made up a small minority, now they make up perhaps half of the owners of the big bars in the busiest areas.
It's much easier to get into the bar industry now with big name business brokerages listing bars and taking the headache out of buying a business. Of course they can also assist with the regulations and paperwork if you wish to start a new bar. Difficulty with bureaucracy and officialdom was the biggest barrier to entering the industry. That has been removed.
More Western bar owners is generally a good thing. Westerners understand what the customers want much better than any Thai bar owner ever could and those who actually make an effort to satisfy customers can do very well. Customer service in Western owned bars is generally better, at least when the owner is around.
Western bar owners have put more controls in place, with computerised billing making it much more difficult for staff to scam a customer.
Western bar owners have sunk serious money into the industry and almost all of the big new bars in the farang-dominated areas have been financed by Westerners. It's Westerners who turned Soi Cowboy around leaving the Thai bar owners to play catch up.
Of course not all of the practices of Western bar owners are to be admired. They know what a night of passion costs in the West and what drinks cost in similar establishments back home and it is the Western-owned bars who have been behind every major round of price increases in my time in Thailand. Thai owned bars - as in much of Patpong - set prices at much more reasonable levels.
4. Nicer Venues
A decade ago most bars were dirty and dingy. Patpong bars were rough and most Soi Cowboy bars were a dive. In Bangkok it was Nana Plaza that was the exception, although some bars in the plaza, especially the oldest spots on the middle floor on the left hand side, were a little grim. The Crown Group bars have always been both good to look at and comfortable to relax in.
Things have changed. Where once a bad smell within a bar was no surprise, uncomfortable seating was not unexpected and second rate lighting and sound systems were the norm, these days your average punter expects more - and bar owners have responded.
The quality of the fittings, the comfort of the seating, the decoration and general appearance of bars is much better than it ever was. Many venues feature professionally designed and tuned sound systems, expensive lighting and laser systems and some, like Tilac in Soi Cowboy, are maintained and cleaned as well as any hospital room. Bar designs are slick and better thought out with few bars featuring blind spots like many did in the past.
And it is not just the interiors that have been spruced up but the exterior with much spent on neon, obvious in Cowboy but also in Nana. A direct result of more Western bar owners willing to invest real money into the industry, many bars in Bangkok are much, much nicer than they were a decade ago.
This has had the effect of making the bar industry go more mainstream. Cowboy was hardly inviting in the past and had the appearance and feel of a seedy bar area. Think Soho in London; Cowboy wasn't that much different.
Today passers by are drawn to the beautiful neon and you sometimes see tour groups wandering the length of Cowboy, the tour bus dropping them off at one end and collecting them at the other. A good thing or not, I do not know, but it has made the whole naughty bar industry have a much wider appeal. "Regular tourists" used to always go to Patpong but they can be found at Nana and Cowboy these days.
The internet has had a profound effect on the bar industry, both for guys and the girls, which is no surprise given that the last decade has been a period of phenomenal growth in the cyber world.
There are many, many websites which cover or promote the bar industry - some of which are directly responsible for thousands and thousands of first-time visitors choosing to venture to Thailand after reading about the nightlife. Since the early days of Thai nightlife online resources when there was only ASFO, the World Sex Guide and Sanuk Fun In Thailand (all of which are now defunct), there are now many Thailand nightlife websites and blogs. The internet has probably been the single largest reason for the increase in the number of guys coming to Thailand specifically to check out and partake in the naughty nightlife.
The internet has also provided the girls with an easy, fast and affordable means of staying in contact with their customers as well as creating an opportunity to work those guys for whom they have an email address. Give your email address to a lady of the night and there is a god chance that a cry for help will soon follow.
These days bar promotion and bar reputation is all about being online and having an online presence. Where once it was word of mouth, a bar can reach spectacular success if marketed well online. While not in Bangkok and outside the scope of this article, part of Secrets Bar in Pattaya's success is due to the launching of their website when the venue opened.
Quite simply, the internet has brought the Bangkok bar scene to the masses. Where it was once known mainly to those who knew Asia, those in the travel industry, Vietnam vets and hardcore sex tourists, the internet has taken the Bangkok bar scene mainstream - and created an awful lot of modern day sex tourists. It is the internet, more than anything else, that has resulted in more single guys coming to Thailand and with that, the development of new bars and new bar areas to service the increased demand.
2. Higher Prices
Prices in the nightlife industry have soared in the last decade. 10 years ago a drink would typically set you back 75 - 80 baht. The same drinks runs 140 - 150 baht today. The rates for the company of a lady of the night have gone up too. 2,000 baht back then for an all night experience is probably more like 3,000 baht today. I am talking the prices which more attractive women in Bangkok gogo bars command.
With inflation price increases are inevitable but no sector of the industry has seen such massive price increases as the Bangkok farang-dominated gogo bars. The Eden Club's prices are just a few hundred baht higher than they were 10 years ago and the venue is still profitable, proving that massive price increases are not necessary to remain a viable business. Massage parlours which predominantly target Thai men may still charge the same prices today as they did 10 years ago. Not the farang-dominated bar scene in Bangkok though! Prices have got out of control, what you pay for in the bar, and what you pay outside!
And for many tourists, prices have in effect doubled. Take an American who was getting 43 baht to the dollar at the turn of the millennium, paying a lady 2,000 baht for her company for the evening, or in his money, about $46. Today, a lady would probably request 3,000 baht which is $91. A bit of a difference!
Where things were once cheap and one may not have even thought about how much they were spending, prices are now at levels where you may think first, particularly if you're on a budget or have limited funds.
My feeling is that the price hikes are a big part of the reason why some who used to enjoy Bangkok's nightlife are looking elsewhere. In terms of value for money, it's not what it used to be and that combined with the 2009 Thai girl's attitude means you might be paying a fair chunk of change for a miserable experience.
Part of the reason this has happened is the Thais' refusal to acknowledge that for many foreign visitors, Thailand is their chosen destination for its perceived low prices and value for money.
With prices now much higher than they were, those who were used to paying less are looking at other options. Pattaya and Philippines bar owners are thrilled at what they see happening in Bangkok!
Of course for first time visitors, the prices probably still seem reasonable.
1. Mobile Phones
I lived in Thailand for more than 3 years before I bought a mobile phone, the high prices charged for the most basic models back then put me right off. You were hard pressed to find even a basic Nokia for less than 20,000 baht, about 3 times what the same model would cost in the West.
Women who had been around a while had a mobile but those new to the industry just couldn't afford one. Besides, back then mobiles were as much about face as practical use. It could take a few months to save up for one - and bargirls are not known for their ability to save. No sooner does cash hit their pocket than out it goes, to a boyfriend, on a game of cards, on new clothes or to support the family up country. Some convinced their long-term customer to buy one. But for sure, in the late '90s, many girls did not have a mobile.
The mobile market opened up in Thailand in 2001 and prices dropped heavily almost overnight. Nothing has had such a dramatic effect on the bar industry as the mobile phone. Fast forward to today and everyone has a mobile phone, even before they start work in the bars.
Where once a girl would be reliant on the postal service or simply waiting in the bar for her customer to arrive, now she can be in regular contact with him (or them) anywhere in the world. This has freed up many ladies and taken them away from working in a bar. They have become their own agent. The cost of international calls has also tumbled and many girls text or call their sponsor(s) abroad frequently. It's a small expense and simply part of their business. Ironically, Bangkok's freelancer market is not burgeoning as one might think. Quite the opposite is happening.
For guys, the convenience is similar. Many expats keep a list of working girls' numbers in their phone and don't even bother going to the bar but just call her, tell her to pay the barfine for which she will be reimbursed once she reaches his place. Alternatively he can reach her at any time and tell her to swing around and see him in the afternoon before going to work. Mobiles have given both the girls and the customers all sorts of options, a win : win situation.
The mobile has created all sorts of possibilities to work smarter and ultimately for the girls to earn more.
Summary
There are many reasons why the bar industry in Bangkok has changed and, for me at least, become less enjoyable. These are just some of the major factors in the way the industry has changed. There are of course many more.
Despite me saying that a night out in the bars might not be that enjoyable and that it might be more about catching up with friends and hanging out, one can't deny that in some ways, things are better now than they used to be. The bars look better, are generally better run and I believe there are less rip offs or scams than in the past.
Maybe I am just reminiscing too much about the good old days, when I was the new boy on the block, and didn't really see it for what it is. Perhaps the bottom line is that once you really get to know how things work, it's much more difficult to enjoy yourself?
source) http://www.stickmanweekly.com/StickmanBangkokWeeklyColumn2009/Thailand-Bar-Changes.htm
