Ya Dong

[dddave]

When I first came to Thailand 20 years ago, in the night time, vendors pushing carts carrying glass vats holding a truly dubious looking liquid were a familiar sight on Bangkok and Pattaya soi's.  I soon learned the liquid was "Ya Dong", basically Thai moonshine and not long thereafter, to my deep regret, learned of it's ability to produce a world class hangover.

I no longer see those carts, even on the far back soi's of Pattaya's "Dark Side".  Was "Ya Dong" the victim of a crack-down on untaxed spirits?   It sadly seems another piece of old Thailand's mosaic has faded away. 

I notice among Bangkok's fashionable, small cocktail bars serving "Ya Dong" cocktails are a new rage.  That's some transition, from being ladled into a plastic bag from a glass vat to stemmed glasses in Hi-Style piano bars. 

[BigStar]

Upcountry, lao khao is still very much around. After moving to Pattaya, Thai ladies seem to lose the taste for it entirely--if they ever had it.

Edited February 27, 2023 by BigStar

[rankric]

They are around but they are hidden. Usually a place will have some lights and be an outside type small resto with a guy you ask for it from. Been a while since i had it. For lao khao some small liwuor shops sell it by the glass for 10 baht. I brought a glass and downed it once whilst on a trip. Was a good pick me up and cheap.

[thaibeachlovers]

Seems everything that made Thailand unique has or is changing to something that isn't really "special" any more. Began some years ago when the smile and the sanuk left the building.

I glad that I was able to experience it before it was lost forever.

[ozimoron]

23 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Seems everything that made Thailand unique has or is changing to something that isn't really "special" any more. Began some years ago when the smile and the sanuk left the building.

I glad that I was able to experience it before it was lost forever.

Thailand is only made better by the removal of vendors a home made liquor of dubious quality and quality control. You'd be up in arms if vendors in your country were peddling it to your kids.

[thaibeachlovers]

59 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Thailand is only made better by the removal of vendors a home made liquor of dubious quality and quality control. You'd be up in arms if vendors in your country were peddling it to your kids.

My country has no vendors, sanuk or smile. I know which I prefer.

[sidneybear]

On 3/1/2023 at 10:18 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Seems everything that made Thailand unique has or is changing to something that isn't really "special" any more. Began some years ago when the smile and the sanuk left the building.

I glad that I was able to experience it before it was lost forever.

It's all relative. I've just arrived in Thailand after a stint in Australia and can't believe how friendly people are here.

[sidneybear]

23 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Thailand is only made better by the removal of vendors a home made liquor of dubious quality and quality control. You'd be up in arms if vendors in your country were peddling it to your kids.

Oh no, a westerner with culture shock who wants Thailand to turn into his home country. 

[thaibeachlovers]

19 minutes ago, sidneybear said:

It's all relative. I've just arrived in Thailand after a stint in Australia and can't believe how friendly people are here.

I didn't mean to imply that people are not friendly, but I was referring to the lovely and genuine smile that used to be everywhere- that left long ago. It was why people referred to Thailand as Land of Smiles.

IMO there was still sanuk when I departed  for good a few years ago, but nothing like as much as last century as Thailand became more westernized and went through many social upheavals.

[ozimoron]

1 hour ago, sidneybear said:

Oh no, a westerner with culture shock who wants Thailand to turn into his home country. 

Regardless of what you'd like it to be, Thai culture does not embrace the selling of uncertified and dangerous liquor. Their actions in banning it should be sufficient evidence for you that's true. I'm very sure I have travelled and lived in Thailand much longer than you and understand their culture much more than you do. I have been married to a Thai and speak and read the language.

[proton]

Ya dong is lao khao diluted with added ingredients, see them selling it on stalls every day by the roadside and in markets. It does vary in strength and most sellers will have a least 2 types. 

[n00dle]

On 3/1/2023 at 10:18 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Seems everything that made Thailand unique has or is changing to something that isn't really "special" any more. Began some years ago when the smile and the sanuk left the building.

I glad that I was able to experience it before it was lost forever.

I reckon this is more of an example of how you have have been standing still while the world around you changes. 

Its like bemoaning the loss of 1950s America or your parents claiming they don't understand your music. 

[n00dle]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

when I departed  for good a few years ago

only to linger around the forum like a disenfranchised soul.

 

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

nothing like as much as last century as Thailand became more westernized

Ah, the good old days syndrome. 

What travelers in the 80's from people who arrived in the 70's and so on every decade since. 

The world has changed, it is not just Thailand.  

[Rimmer]

A baiting generalization and a reply have been removed

[sidneybear]

2 minutes ago, n00dle said:

The world has changed, it is not just Thailand.  

Well, that's true, but change can always be slowed down a bit. It's called conservatism. Hmmm, maybe I'll vote for Prayuth's lot in the next election ????. Change in the western world certainly hasn't been for the better.

[n00dle]

11 minutes ago, sidneybear said:

Well, that's true, but change can always be slowed down a bit. It's called conservatism. Hmmm, maybe I'll vote for Prayuth's lot in the next election ????. Change in the western world certainly hasn't been for the better.

It was conservatism that brough about prohibition in the US as well as the demonization of ganja in Asia. 

[BritTim]

Change is inevitable. Some changes are for the better, some for the worse. When I first visited Thailand in the early 1980s, it was common to see 13-year-old girls dancing naked in go-go bars. I hope we can all agree that the end of that practice is a good thing. Ya Dong/Lao Khao is definitely still with us (a mixed blessing) albeit not quite so visible as in the past.

[bamnutsak]

I tried some Ya Dong recently, it was "traditional" but poured at a bar. I found it to be interesting, definitely medicinal, hence the "ya". Clear, medium brown, smooth (amazingly), "herbal" finish. I didn't recognize any of the herbs. I don't think it's inherently unhealthy. I only had two shots, no noticeable hangover. I can't imagine the hangover is any worse or better than lao khao?

 

I think every "blender" has their own recipe re: lao khao + "herbs and spices".

 

One blend:
9 Variety Herbs Contain: โด่ไม่รู้ล้ม (Prickly-leaved Elephant’s Foot) กำลังช้างสาร (Vietnamese mickey mouse plant) กำลังวัวเถลิง (Artabotrys harmandii Finet & Gagnep.) เถาวัลย์เหล็ก (Ventilago denticulata Willd.) เถาเอ็นอ่อน (Cryptolepis buchanani  Roem.&Schult.) แส้ม้าทะลาย (Erycibe paniculata Roxb.) ดอกคำฝอย (Safflower) ฝางเสน (Sappan) ชะเอมไทย (Albizia myriophylla Benth.)

 

 

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/31336-herbal-whiskey-yaa-dong-herbs/

 

[sidneybear]

56 minutes ago, n00dle said:

It was conservatism that brough about prohibition in the US as well as the demonization of ganja in Asia. 

True, but the jury is out on ganja. It affects some people badly, after all. Time will tell it's overall affect on Thailand, now that so many people are using.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/2/2023 at 7:27 PM, n00dle said:

I reckon this is more of an example of how you have have been standing still while the world around you changes. 

Its like bemoaning the loss of 1950s America or your parents claiming they don't understand your music. 

No, it's a case of hating how my world has changed, IMO for the worse.

Crime out of control, impotent police, ratbag children running wild in the streets, greed reigns supreme, inconsiderate/ bad people get away with it because good people too afraid to confront them, etc etc etc.

 

If the world had got better I wouldn't complain.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/2/2023 at 8:28 PM, BritTim said:

Change is inevitable. Some changes are for the better, some for the worse. When I first visited Thailand in the early 1980s, it was common to see 13-year-old girls dancing naked in go-go bars. I hope we can all agree that the end of that practice is a good thing. Ya Dong/Lao Khao is definitely still with us (a mixed blessing) albeit not quite so visible as in the past.

News to me. The only underage girls on the game I am aware of were the ones that were apparently located in the Bkk docks area.

Before my time in LOS so no personal knowledge of it.

 

I do know that they had live sex acts in gogos though, as I saw them myself. I missed the couple that did it on a motorbike though.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/2/2023 at 7:50 PM, sidneybear said:

Well, that's true, but change can always be slowed down a bit. It's called conservatism. Hmmm, maybe I'll vote for Prayuth's lot in the next election ????. Change in the western world certainly hasn't been for the better.

Agree. IMO change is way too fast and people don't have time to adjust to it.

It's usually about making more money eg cutting bank services so they don't have to employ so many staff= more profit.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:01 PM, sidneybear said:

True, but the jury is out on ganja. It affects some people badly, after all. Time will tell it's overall affect on Thailand, now that so many people are using.

Yeah, I know someone that has mental problems from smoking weed most of his life.

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

News to me. The only underage girls on the game I am aware of were the ones that were apparently located in the Bkk docks area.

Before my time in LOS so no personal knowledge of it.

 

I do know that they had live sex acts in gogos though, as I saw them myself. I missed the couple that did it on a motorbike though.

As late as 1987, almost every upstairs bar on Patpong had underage girls, as did some bars in Nana and Soi Cowboy. In some bars, young naked girls would sometimes return from the dance floor to customers' laps without bothering to redon their bikinis.

I personally helped to rescue a 14-year-old virgin from a Soi Cowboy bar who had been brought to Bangkok from up country by the bar owner under false pretences. This was around 1996.

One bar on Patpong had an unusual form of live sex show. A very young (14 or 15-year-old) dancer once asked if I wanted to participate with her. It involved a girl and a male customer being pulled around the bar in a replica traditional Thai bullock cart as they screwed each other. I declined. I think the bar paid the girl and the male customer had a free session with a pretty Thai teen. For exhibitionists or very drunk customers this was probably a dream scenario.

[n00dle]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It's a case of hating how my world has changed, IMO for the worse.

 

If the world had got better I wouldn't complain.

You are making my point for me thanks

 

I reckon you would complain.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:04 PM, BritTim said:

As late as 1987, almost every upstairs bar on Patpong had underage girls, as did some bars in Nana and Soi Cowboy. In some bars, young naked girls would sometimes return from the dance floor to customers' laps without bothering to redon their bikinis.

I personally helped to rescue a 14-year-old virgin from a Soi Cowboy bar who had been brought to Bangkok from up country by the bar owner under false pretences. This was around 1996.

One bar on Patpong had an unusual form of live sex show. A very young (14 or 15-year-old) dancer once asked if I wanted to participate with her. It involved a girl and a male customer being pulled around the bar in a replica traditional Thai bullock cart as they screwed each other. I declined. I think the bar paid the girl and the male customer had a free session with a pretty Thai teen. For exhibitionists or very drunk customers this was probably a dream scenario.

Thanks for the update.

The bullock cart seems rather tame compared to the stories I heard about military hang out bars in Philippines.

 

In some bars, young naked girls would sometimes return from the dance floor to customers' laps without bothering to redon their bikinis.

While they were legal age, as late as mid 90s that was not unusual in some Nana gogos. Some girls never had a bikini to put on. If they went out of the bar they wore a dressing gown.

However, from the first hand stories I heard about bars on the Malay border, that was the norm.

 

Interesting days back then. I read a book about Patpong in early days that described how a jealous dancer poured petrol on another girl's head that she accused of "stealing" her customer and setting it on fire, not that I can vouch for it's accuracy.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:09 PM, n00dle said:

You are making my point for me thanks

 

I reckon you would complain.

You don't know me, or how I am. I never complained about LOS in my early decades there as it seemed like paradise to me. It only went bad after 2000 IMO, though Thaksin started the rot.

[Mickeem]

59 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You don't know me, or how I am. I never complained about LOS in my early decades there as it seemed like paradise to me. It only went bad after 2000 IMO, though Thaksin started the rot.

I remember the reason the Yaa Dong carts disappeared was that Thaksin stipulated that the herbal medicinal hooch had to be registered and sold as pharmacy type drugs

 

Used to be a good start to the evening a few 5B shots of 'Sua Sib Et Tua' and others .

 

 

[BritTim]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

While they were legal age, as late as mid 90s that was not unusual in some Nana gogos. Some girls never had a bikini to put on. If they went out of the bar they wore a dressing gown.

My favourite feature of Nana Plaza at that time was the large mermaid aquarium in front of one of the downstairs bars. A friend of mine, who refused to dance naked, complied with the requirement to be 100% naked to be one of the mermaids. She really enjoyed spending much of the evening in the tank, and engaging in the competitive collection of the coins thrown into the tank by customers. She was a strong swimmer.

[zzaa09]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:27 PM, proton said:

Ya dong is lao khao diluted with added ingredients, see them selling it on stalls every day by the roadside and in markets. It does vary in strength and most sellers will have a least 2 types. 

......and the best Dong is homemade of a wide variety of taste/strength.

For everyone that makes a Ya Dong, there's a different way of making it.