State of the Bangkok Go-Go
I'm usually not one the visit the go-go bars all the much, not even in pre-covid times. But recently I've visited all of the major sites and since I've seen some of you asking for more information on the current situation I'd like to share my findings. The nightlife entertainment scene is probably the most hard hit business in all of Thailand during these times. On one end they need international tourists more than any other place, and on the other end a government that is refusing to recognise (or even admit that it exists) the businesses and people that work there. No matter which area you go to, it is quiet, very quiet. I'll be taking you through the 3 main sites one by one, from worst to best.
Soi Cowboy
My personal opinion is that this soi has been rapidly declining even before this all started. Prices go way up, the quality of girls goes down, it has really become a well oiled machine to take as much from you as possible with as little in return. Currently on the better days (this will be a repeating pattern) friday and saturday about half of the gogo's are open, on the quietest days not even a handful are open for business. I started my look around cowboy with a visit to Shark, a long time ago I used to like this place, decent quality of girls, a good happy hour in the early hours of the evening and a pretty laidback atmosphere. None of that is true today, as you sit down within 3 seconds I had the mamasan ask me to buy her a drink and which other ladies I wanted to join me, and which ones I wanted to barfine. Fending off the initial pushyness I got to take a look around over a beer. There were a handful of other customers, of which only one had a girl sitting beside him. Understandable, the girl next to him was the only decent looking girl in the bar. After seeing both shifts of in total about 10-12 available I wouldn't rate any of the girls over a 5/10. It didn't take long for me to call it quits as girls on the stage kept asking for a drink every minute, I finished my beer (140B Leo) rather quickly just to get out of the uncomfortable environment.
On to the bar next door, Baccara, which to me is one of the better bars in the soi. Usually an absolutely giant bar with multiple floors packed with gorgeous girls, now just the first floor is open. And there's the added bonus that you can just walk inside now without having to buy a drink at the outside bar first. I did enjoy my time far better here as they allowed me some time to get situated, enjoy my drink and look around. They have some absolutely stunning girls here still, made eye contact with one and she walked towards me together with a friend. After introductions they told me they just wanted to sit next to me and talk during their break and no ladydrink was necessary. Maybe it's a strategy? But I thought it was genuine, and it resulted in me buying them a bunch of ladydrinks. After a while it was time for me to check out one last bar in the area, added the girls on Line (which they suggested), and left to go to Crazy House. CH obviously famous for the complete lack of clothing of the girls on stage. I just had one drink here as I wasn't really feeling it. The quality of girls has remained quite decent with some girls having stunning bodies, but I usually think they tend to lack something in the face department. As with other bars only the first floor was open. I'd recommend going here still as if you're planning to barfine a girl you know exactly what you're dealing with.
Many bars in the street are still closed, but some of the best bars have remained open. A quick overview of the ones I know off:
Open every day: CH, Baccara, Shark and Country Road bar
Closed: Tilac, Lighthouse, Dollhouse (opening dec 1st with 50% off all drinks in the first week)
Some of the other bars might be open some days but not others.
Patpong
Arriving to Patpong is completely different now. There is no market in soi 1, it's just a completely dark open area. I should probably go back here on another day as I came here on a sunday. There were only 2 bars open, King's Castle 2 and King's Corner. Many bars close their doors now from Sunday to Tuesday as those are the quietest days. I was told on Friday-Saturday you'll find a few more bars open such as the Thigh Bar and Black Pagoda. As there was little choice I went into King's Castle 2, where it was quickly apparent that I was the only customer in the building. It didn't take long before some of the girls, and later more started gathering around my table. My time was well spent here, it was really fun to talk to them and it ended up in a support group talking about the difficult times while enjoying a drink and having a laugh. I ended up spending around 2500B here which I thought was well spent and I easily had more fun here than in any of the bars in Cowboy. Some of the girls here look incredible, I went home with a bunch of Line ID's, which the mamasan didn't mind the girls sharing with me at all. Especially when you're the only customer you quickly become the center of attention, I generally don't like this as it quickly becomes pushy from multiple sides. I wouldn't say this wasn't pushy from them at all, but it was much less aggressive and mostly they just seemed like they were happy they had someone to talk to at all. I was gifted several drinks from the manager on top of that. An evening well spent and a bar that I will be visiting again sometimes, and girls that I've been talking to as friends.
Open every day: King's Castle 1/2 and King's Corner.
Open on Tue-Sat: Thigh Bar, Black Pagoda and possibly more.
Nana
As Cowboy and Patpong remain largely the same, NEP has gone through a bunch of changes during the covid period. A bunch of bars have gone out of business, some new ones have taken their place and there are a few more under construction. In a meeting among all the bars just a few days ago it was decided that the majority of bars will be closing their doors from sunday to tuesday. And when that includes major bars like Billboard and Butterflies you know it's getting dire in soi 4. Which is unfortunate as it's my favorite bar area, while I was in various bars I had a chance to talk to some of the managers/owners there and got some more insight. Here's the rundown of what's open, what's not and what's changed:
Open every day: Lollipop and Witchcraft
Closed Sun-Mon: Billboard, Butterflies and Spanky's
Closed Sun-Tue: Every other bar
Rainbow 1: closed for renovations
Rainbow 3: permanently closed (replaced by "Random" bar)
Casanova: permanently closed (being replaced by a whisky oriented agogo named Whiskey & Go-Go)
And there are probably a bunch more changes that I'm not aware of. And though NEP is definitely running on fumes, you can still have a great time by visiting the likes of Billboard or TwisterBKK. I've always found that they have some of the most relaxed fun staff and this time of year is no different. The drinks aren't incredibly overpriced like in cowboy (a ladydrink will set you back 180-250 baht instead of 350-400), the girls generally look much better and are a lot more fun to interact with. I had a great time here throughout the night and if you're in the mood for agogo's this would be the area I'd recommend. If you happen to go here on one of the off days you'll still have a great selection of girls at Lollipop, they have a great lineup.
Overall findings
Gogo bars are very much impacted and if you're currently in Bangkok I'd recommend to avoid going there on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday as the bar selection will be incredibly small and the lineup of girls even smaller. If you happen to set foot in a bar where they still care about creating a good atmosphere for you there's still plenty of fun to be had. Personally I haven't taken home any of the girls straight from the bar but you'll find that at the end of that night you'll have your Line filled up with a bunch more options if you so please. In terms of prices not much has changed, overall it remains the same. However what you will see is that most of the bars have extended happy hours (usually until 9, 10 or sometimes even 11) to attract an initial set of customers
For those of you at home, here's to hoping better times are ahead so there's still something left to enjoy. There are definitely a good bunch of expats trying to support the scene as much as they can, though they alone can't make up for the extreme loss of revenue.
If any of the other people still in Thailand have anything to add I'd love to know, and should you have any questions feel free to ask!
[ Last edited by thed4rklord at 19-11-2020 15:01 ] | |
