Pandemic dims lights on Thailand's $5bn nightlife sector

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I always wonder why these prudes ever came to Thailand.

It's a country well known for sleazy sex, and doesn't have much else to offer.

If you don't like sleazy sex go somewhere else!

Sleazy sex you can get in any country in the world and have a good wine with it at a sensible price, for the wine that is. ????

Edited April 24, 2020 by overherebc

[jvs]

Seems like you guys are all thinking this is all about bars frequented by foreigners,that

is just a very small part of it.

It is mostly Thai on Thai.

[overherebc]

9 minutes ago, JAG said:

Yes, didn't it shake when the freight train ran past!

 

Soi 10 was another memory - one night it was there, the next morning gone!

First place I had a beer in Bangkok. Buckskin Joes. Soi 0 ????

Edited April 24, 2020 by overherebc

[Oziex1]

16 minutes ago, overherebc said:

and each one next door to a 7/11.

That is next to a massage shop.

[kingofthemountain]

7 hours ago, jadee said:

Out of interest, what are all the women doing now? Gone back to the farm or started working online? (...asking for a friend...)

Not a scientific survey but from my around 100 personnals ''close contacts''

60 are already at home in their villages (Where most of them are bored af lol)

40 are still here in Pattaya waiting an hypothetical reopen of the bars

10 of them have already find a providential ''lifeguard'' which provide at least a free bed and breakfeast 

the 30 others try to work online, in the street or they just wait better days

A lot have a free room above the bars, and few bars owners provide free foods also

(They also go to the free food handout, but most of the time they share a papaya salad

or a soup between 2\3 girls, the one with the more money pay for the others, still one with

a generous ''sponsor'' abroad which send some money to them)

[Ranshoko]

2 minutes ago, jvs said:

Seems like you guys are all thinking this is all about bars frequented by foreigners,that

is just a very small part of it.

It is mostly Thai on Thai.

Agree. The Farang Bar scene is just the tip of the iceberg 

[JAG]

10 minutes ago, overherebc said:

First place I had a beer in Bangkok. Buckskin Joes. Soi 0 ????

Yes, first bar I ever went into too! Stayed in the old "Golden something" hotel on Soi 1. 

 

I remember sitting sipping a beer one night down there when a British Army Band marched down the strip playing full blast, turned round and marched back up! In full kit, (except for headdress). One of the Foot Guards Regiments I think. Officer in front looked a bit embarrassed! I presume that they had been performing at the (relatively) nearby British Embassy, and did it for a bit of a laugh.

[The Word]

52 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

With bar operators struggling to pay rents the owner of the place could well prefer to sell out to some luxury condo developer.

I doubt that there are many potential luxury condo owners queueing up to buy a place in that part of Soi 4!  

 

I would think that the chances are fairly remote that any condo developer (a) would want to buy that pokey piece of barely accessible (Soi 4 only) land that is completely surrounded by predominantly nasty bars or (b) be happy to pay the sort of multi-million dollar price the current master-lease holder is likely to want to relinquish it and then pay the price that the actual land owners would want.

Edited April 24, 2020 by The Word

[overherebc]

17 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

That is next to a massage shop.

4 doors away from the cop shop. ????

[xylophone]

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Gone back to sticky rice land, so Im told

Quite a few have from here (Patong) however some have stayed here and I know of girls who are sleeping 4 to a room, and who are queueing up for food – – actual numbers I wouldn't know.

 

I do know a couple of girls who managed to put some money aside when the going was good, and they are now using it on which to survive, but the last one I spoke to a few days ago reckons she's got one more month left before it runs out.........so let's hope there is some work for them soon. 

[The Word]

54 minutes ago, brokenbone said:

i am going through hardship too.

due to the no plastic bags brain fart

Could you not buy some of the incredibly cheap plastic garbage bags like everyone else who needs them does to ease your angst?

Edited April 24, 2020 by The Word

[djayz]

That explains the apparent surge in pickups at various used dealerships up here in Isan... 

[overherebc]

11 minutes ago, JAG said:

Yes, first bar I ever went into too! Stayed in the old "Golden something" hotel on Soi 1. 

 

I remember sitting sipping a beer one night down there when a British Army Band marched down the strip playing full blast, turned round and marched back up! In full kit, (except for headdress). One of the Foot Guards Regiments I think. Officer in front looked a bit embarrassed! I presume that they had been performing at the (relatively) nearby British Embassy, and did it for a bit of a laugh.

Missed that day.

Still I suppose, when it all starts up again the 'new eyes' will see it the way the 'old eyes' remember it.

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, Saint Nick said:

With all the cops, cashing in on the big brown envelopes?

Also, the fault of the sex- workers?

And of course, you are missing one very important point: women in Thailand are still 2nd class- citizen. 

They are the first ones, who leave the schools (or hardly see one from the inside to begin with) and they have no protection, if some guy (sometimes from their family) gets them pregnant and then makes a runner!

No money, no protection, no safety - net!

The sex- trade is the "easy" way out!

All of this is not remotely the fault of the prostitutes, freelancers, GoGo or ladies in the beer bars- yet you have no problem to deny them even that "choice"!

You make some very good points in your post and I just copied the part which a lot of guys here don't seem to understand.

 

The poverty that a lot of these girls have lived in is grinding and circular and there is no way out for them, and what little education system there is at that level is deliberately kept "at that level" so that the status quo remains and the wealthy benefit, so in fact there is no way out for many of these poor girls/women.

 

I do know of quite a few bar girls who have been "streetsmart" and learnt the ropes to be able to earn more money than the average girl, and those have built houses in the country for their families and still support them, but they are few and far between unfortunately........and I admire them for what they have done.

 

Yes, you are right the sex trade is the "easy" way out for many, and believe it or not, the girls who earn a good living like that are proud of what they have done, not seeing the sacrifice in the same light as we do, but proud to be able to support their families back home.

 

The poor education system, the unevenly distributed wealth and a feudal system, along with massive corruption, have managed to produce very little for the Thai from a poor background, so the girls do what they do and it's been like that for decades.

 

Now that there has been a huge change, there will be much hardship out there, and I only hope that somehow, somewhere along the line these poor girls can still earn a living.

[Matzzon]

2 hours ago, marko kok prong said:

You must be here for the temple's and ,food and culture i guess,exactly like me.

Oh my god, what a wierd view of life!

No I am here for living with my wife and our 2 children. You know, something that normally equals to an ordinary life.

[Lacessit]

Just had a one hour massage from a very nice woman in my GF's village. Quoted cost 100 baht/hour, I gave her 200 baht because she's got a big body to work on.

It's not just the nightlife sector that's affected. She was working in Bangkok doing legitimate massage, 10 hours a day in two of the big hotels. Sending money back to her family here.

When the coronavirus hit, both hotel managements basically told her to p##s off. Presumably they did that to all their support staff. She didn't even get her bus fare home.

It was quite sad when she asked me if I had any farang friends who would like a Thai woman to take care of them. In her fifties, average looks. I'll wager if someone treated her right, they'd have a totally devoted companion.

 

[Matzzon]

1 hour ago, The Word said:

Do you think that he'll be bothered?

Yep! Crying my heart out! ????????????

[Ranshoko]

2 hours ago, Saint Nick said:

"The Thai government should invest in factories, located in Issan to reduce the dependy on entertainment bars."

But the Thai- government is not doing that, are they?

So what do we do in the meantime?

Oh, right...we just let some people die, we are not interested in, because they play on their smartphone!

By the same token, we can let some homepro- employees starve too!

Of course I have sympathy for people outside of the bar scene / sex trade. But for Prositutes, their gambling drinking maggot boyfriends, hangers on etc. NONE! They should have saved money when times were good instead of buying expensive iPhones, clothes gambling etc. Don't kid yourself not all of the money they get goes back to the farm in Isaan. For my part I try to help the poor the best I can. This month I gave 5000 Baht to a Thai family who is struggling. Next month I will do the same and will probably help another family I know also with 5000 Baht. These are just poor families with no Bargirl daughters working in BKK etc. I'm not rich, my income is solely retirement pensions and savings. I will continue to help where I can. 

[Matzzon]

1 hour ago, tribalfusion001 said:

Clearly you haven't talked to many of the working girls. Yes most are poorly educated, but forced into business, is complete lefty pc <deleted>. The money is easy and some of them are highly skilled in making sure the guy doesn't "last" long. I've met loads who see it as a viable business, obviously not now 555

Sure! Apparently they are skilled at making you believe them too.

[xylophone]

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Just had a one hour massage from a very nice woman in my GF's village. Quoted cost 100 baht/hour, I gave her 200 baht because she's got a big body to work on.

It's not just the nightlife sector that's affected. She was working in Bangkok doing legitimate massage, 10 hours a day in two of the big hotels. Sending money back to her family here.

When the coronavirus hit, both hotel managements basically told her to p##s off. Presumably they did that to all their support staff. She didn't even get her bus fare home.

It was quite sad when she asked me if I had any farang friends who would like a Thai woman to take care of them. In her fifties, average looks. I'll wager if someone treated her right, they'd have a totally devoted companion.

 

Lucky man, because the bona fides massages here are what I miss the most, and I used to go for a 90 minute massage about twice a week.

 

A Thai lady here had a little bit of sponsorship from a long time boyfriend, but she got her act together and opened up four places, all clean and tidy with well-trained massage ladies, and she was doing well out of the businesses, and I would expect she would pull through this tough time, and I can't wait to get back on the massage table.

[hotchilli]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

"I need to pay rent and my employees' salaries," said Nutthapon. "Right now, I'm getting by through breaking into my savings. But I don't know if I can survive for two more months."

Maybe time to change your business model?

[Almer]

10 hours ago, Thailand said:

I guess the government is between a rock and a hard place, allow opening and risk more infections don"t allow it, more people out of work and revenue continuing to decline.

Open to soon and the virus will spread like crazy, then everything shut down again and the front pages of the worlds press are hovering

[Yadon Toploy]

 

1 hour ago, The Word said:

I doubt that there are many potential luxury condo owners queueing up to buy a place in that part of Soi 4!  

 

I would think that the chances are fairly remote that any condo developer (a) would want to buy that pokey piece of barely accessible (Soi 4 only) land that is completely surrounded by predominantly nasty bars or (b) be happy to pay the sort of multi-million dollar price the current master-lease holder is likely to want to relinquish it and then pay the price that the actual land owners would want.

You would be quite wrong there and it has been sought after for many years by several developers.

 

If an apartment block and hotel went up there as was planned many years ago, the bars in that street would eventually have to gentrify or close. Of that there is no doubt. It still might very well happen. Maybe even more chance of it happening now.

 

When Jool's closed on Soi Nana (Private Dancer anyone?) I have no reason to go down there anymore. I may pop in to Big Dogs or Chequers if I am in the area but that is rare these days.

[Almer]

20 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Maybe time to change your business model?

If they don't open the whole country  how will the staff get back they are all up north cowering in there vilkages

[Ranshoko]

2 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

If you asked me I'd say there was a distinct chance that a place like Nana Plaza will never reopen. With bar operators struggling to pay rents the owner of the place could well prefer to sell out to some luxury condo developer. Which would be perfectly in line with what has happened in the area (from soi 10 down) for the last 10 years. 

Cowboy being a soi, would probably more resilient and become something like the Amsterdam RLD with upmarket Gogos instead of windows. Don't know much about Pattaya, but it could also shrink back into Walking Street. 

As far as the girls are concerned those who want to stay in the trade shouldn't have any problem to adjust to the On Line trade. 

I hope the rip off bars in Sukhumvit soi 4 and soi 6 never recover and close. This area is a blot on the BKK landscape. 

[Ranshoko]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Quite a few have from here (Patong) however some have stayed here and I know of girls who are sleeping 4 to a room, and who are queueing up for food – – actual numbers I wouldn't know.

 

I do know a couple of girls who managed to put some money aside when the going was good, and they are now using it on which to survive, but the last one I spoke to a few days ago reckons she's got one more month left before it runs out.........so let's hope there is some work for them soon. 

Why don't you help your friends out?

[Ranshoko]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

You make some very good points in your post and I just copied the part which a lot of guys here don't seem to understand.

 

The poverty that a lot of these girls have lived in is grinding and circular and there is no way out for them, and what little education system there is at that level is deliberately kept "at that level" so that the status quo remains and the wealthy benefit, so in fact there is no way out for many of these poor girls/women.

 

I do know of quite a few bar girls who have been "streetsmart" and learnt the ropes to be able to earn more money than the average girl, and those have built houses in the country for their families and still support them, but they are few and far between unfortunately........and I admire them for what they have done.

 

Yes, you are right the sex trade is the "easy" way out for many, and believe it or not, the girls who earn a good living like that are proud of what they have done, not seeing the sacrifice in the same light as we do, but proud to be able to support their families back home.

 

The poor education system, the unevenly distributed wealth and a feudal system, along with massive corruption, have managed to produce very little for the Thai from a poor background, so the girls do what they do and it's been like that for decades.

 

Now that there has been a huge change, there will be much hardship out there, and I only hope that somehow, somewhere along the line these poor girls can still earn a living.

Same old story same old excuses. Fact is it's the easy way out for these girls. They dont want REAL WORK and REAL PAY .......

[pattayadgw]

Yes it's not an easy position to be in... lets watch the crime rate start to go off, suicides +++++++ sorry to be so bleak but thats what we're going to be seeing if things dont move in the right direction soon.

[3NUMBAS]

bars will be fetching doodly squat compared with the many million bahts price tags of a few years ago .not something you would want to buy on fire sales .with no staff possible and little chance of any upturn with the world in global slump

[tribalfusion001]

51 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Sure! Apparently they are skilled at making you believe them too.

Well, they didn't get any money off me as I met them on dating apps. It's the art of conversation and not everything a Thai girl tells you is a lie.