Hi @slickric423.
If I'm correctly interpreting the street-view photos, several decades ago there were a lot more of those sort of clubs in Wanchai and TST, focussed on foreigners. I suspect they blossomed during the Vietnam War, but that's a bit before my time... I have not been inside one for almost 20 years, so they may have changed. The visibility of those clubs (like the famous places in Bankok) gave visitors the inaccurate impression that prostitution in Asian was primarily driven by the foreign market...
The juxtaposition of those clubs with some resonable restaurants was always interesting. I've had the experience of going to dinner and the women on the door would be quite aggressive and try to physically pull me in... The girls (mostly Thai and Phillippina back in the day) would talk and flirt with you while you bought expensive "ladies" drinks. Option of paying an expensive bar fine (compared to other options) to take them out. I recall one time over 30 years ago going with a group of guys as part of a stag party and in that case it was a bit like going to a strip club - a way to do something a little risqué as a group without it being too serious. Though I recall the groom got a bit drunk and spent quite a lot of money...
If you just go in and chat and buy one or two drinks you might find it an interesting piece of history... Please report back!
The TST Bar Bottoms Up was used in the 74 Bond film, The man with the golden gun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8in5-_qTmIw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBw5ed2zuqY
However, the actual clubs I've seen were much more downmarket than presented there...
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Last edited by LittleWing at 2-1-2024 07:39 ]