What Was Thailand Like During The Sixties And Seventies?

[p_brownstone]

99 Club???

They either got the first numeral upside down which may have been a buit too racy then or you got a free ice cream when you went in (only applicable to Brits)

It was Club 99.

I seem to recall it was originally called Club 69 until the connotation was pointed out to the owner!

Patrick

[cdnvic]

This one reaches way back in time, some rare video of Thailand from the 40s through the 1960s

[LPCustom69]

It was paradise! There were very few tourists. When I left in '75, Pattaya had 2 small hotels that I remember. One was the Nipa Lodge, which became the Nova. No traffic to speak of. Wide, clean beaches. Traffic almost non-existent.

Bangkok, while dirty, was about 1/3 the size that it is now.

There were no cell phones(obviously), and many villages had no electricity.

The people were friendlier than they are now, although they are still quite friendly.

You can see some of Bangkoks roads and klongs in the James Bond movie "Man with the Golden Gun."

What was Thailand like during the sixties and seventies. It sounds like some type of golden age. Was it?

[p_brownstone]

In the early 70’s the Bangkok – Pattaya road was a 2 lane highway only a little above the level of the rice fields and the bridges over the many Klongs were the very steep sided, flat on top types, designed that way so the rice barges could pass - but they were absolute death traps for motorists. Thais would overtake anywhere and often just before a bridgee, so one could suddenly come face-to-face with an oncoming car. Almost every bridge was "decorated" with a wrecked car pushed off to the side of the road.

I recall on one trip I made to Pattaya we were held up for an hour or more because the then Supreme Patriarch had been killed in a head on collision at one of these bridges – he had a Police Escort but that was way ahead of his personal vehicle and some Thai driver assumed the convoy had passed.

One other thing always sticks in my mind. On any up-country trip you could be sure your car would collide with at least 2 or 3 low flying birds – usually Swallows. That very rarely happens these days – no idea why!

Patrick

Edited July 19, 2009 by p_brownstone

[Arkady]

I only date back to 1981 but things have also changed a bit since then. Traffic in Bkk was worse than today without the BTS and MRT and the new expressways. You had to book an international call to Europe or the US through the operator and pay a fortune even if you couldn't hear anything. Bangkok taxis were unmetered and you had to negotiate the fare. Air con cabs had already come in but the non-aircon cabs were still on the streets and cost 5-10 baht less. Alternatively the driver would switch off the air for a price conscious passenger. Buses costs 1.5 baht. There were only two tall buildings, Bangkok Bank in Silom and, I think, the Chokchai building in Sukhumvit. There was still no night market in Patpong and many foreign drunks were hit by motor bikes while crossing the fumes filled street to hop to another bar on the other side. The only Patpong bars I can remember from those days that are still there are Safari and the tiny Mike's Bar which seems to have survived against all the odds. Round the corner in Surawong La Cherie was a favourite with tourists and residents and was famous for its little tubs of pomade that the girls used for a purpose other than slicking back hair, as intended by the manufacturers. The bars in Soi Cowboy were very quiet - all single shophouses and some with juke boxes. I think all the originals have gone. Nana Plaza was built about that time but it was originally cheap apartments. I first remember discovering bars there by chance in about 1988. It started off life very quiet like Soi Cowboy but boomed in the early 90s as Lumpinee police precinct decided to compete aggressively with their Bangrak and Thonglor colleagues to allow the lewdest no holds barred shows in town. It seems to have never recovered from Purachai's ridiculous social order campaign in the early 2000s.

Pattaya was already quite developed and seedy but without the tall buildings apart from the Royal Cliff; the condo building craze had not yet started. Hua Hin was extremely quiet and there were no beer bars. The Railway Hotel (now the Sofitel) was the only large hotel I remember but it was still managed by SRT and very run down. Most of the hotels in Hua Hin were of the Chinese commercial traveller variety that you can still see on the main drag. The main road to Hua Hin was only two lanes and very bumpy and badly maintained. It is still dangerous today but in the 80s it was a virtual death trap and you would expect to see at least one horrific accident every time you went there. The road from Cha Am to Hua Hin was still lined with beautiful Flame Trees. The Railway course was the only golf course in Hua Hin and Cha Am.

Phuket was also very sleepy. Those who wanted a large hotel had a choice of two four stars: the Pearl and the Merlin, both in Phuket Town. On the coast there were only bungalows. I spent a couple of pleasant holidays in Relax Bay bungalows, now the site of the Meridien Hotel, which was accessible only by boat or a windy dirt track. Patong already had a lot of bungalows, seafood restaurants and tourist shops but no night life to speak of. I only remember two discos that catered mainly for Thais and were usually empty. The beer bars appeared a couple of years later in the mid 80s but before that travellers had to bring their own companions with them. I remember one guy who regretted arriving alone but was pleased to take over a tearful girl from Bangkok who had been abandoned by her foreign customer to make her own way home. The tears disappeared immediately and she reverted to her usual boisterous bargirl self. Nightlife, such as it was, was in Phuket Town and of the local variety - massage parlours, brothels and ramwong dance halls where you could buy a ticket from an unsavoury looking Chinese man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth for 20 baht to dance with a heavily made up 14 year-old Northern girl in a sparkling mini skirt. More adventurous tourist souls who could speak some Thai went into town and negotiated with hard boiled Chinese madames to liberate girls from the brothels for a few days' vacation on the coast. In the late 80s I read a tragic story that one of the brothels had burned down and the charred bodies of some very young Northern girls were found chained to their iron bedsteads. At least the girls who work the farang tourist trade are usually there of their own free will.

I only remember three local beers being available in the early 80s. For those without enough hair on their chests to take the regular Singha there was Amarit and Kloster available at most tourist bars. The imported whisky craze had not yet got into top gear and a lot more Mekhong and coke was consumed than Black So.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Arkady

[tebone]

What was Thailand like during the sixties and seventies. It sounds like some type of golden age. Was it?

I came to Thailand in Dec 1967 on RnR from Playku Vietnam. New Pethaberry Road was the place.Rows of Turkish Bath houses on a old tree lined street with little traffic. We stayed at the Miami Hotel on Sukinvet Rd which had a entrance from Sukinvet Rd at that time. We rented a Mercedes with driver for $40 for the 10 days. He got us anthing we wanted and showed us around. We took 2 girls with us to Wat Phan Gaew but they could not get in with mini skirts on. They draped long painted pictures over the biggest buildings, maybe 6 stories to advertise movies of the day. Not much traffic at all but some. Phanam Phen reminds me of it now.

Those Pattaya photos are how I remember it at the time. I was here during the week of Dec 5th so it was the Kings birthday and he was all over town...riding in a '59 Caddie convertable. People were so friendly and nice and giving. I fell for the place in those 10 days and said I would come back some day. I have been here now sence '97. It has lost most of it's luster for me now but I still like it, I don't love it the way I fell for it in '67. So I leave again this coming Dec...life changes no matter what..good luck to all, T-Bone

[mezzoninny]

Again, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for this excellent thread

My time in Thailand only dates back to around 1989, but I'm already having a lot of nostalgia for the "old" Bangkok, even if it's just stuff like the original Central Silom, or back when Ploenchit was a six-lane? one-way street. The Thais are pretty good at makeovers and so many of the old buildings have been flipped, and after a while I almost miss the old thick brickwall treatment they used to do to every mall.

[mahtin]

You can see some of Bangkoks roads and klongs in the James Bond movie "Man with the Golden Gun."

I had a Thai gf in 74 who took me to see that movie in London.

[MrHammer]

Sound like you oldtimers had a lot of fun..

Thailand, Bali, many other places I'm sure have lost their 'paradise lost' status. I wonder where to go today to find that? Makes me want to go and explore!

[easethesqueeze]

This thread is awesome.

Must have been amazing back then.

Does anyone remember what it was like in Surrathani back in the day?

How about Pha Ngan and Samuii?

I'd love to see some photos

[Birdman]

In the middle of the 80s small bungalow resorts on most beaches were full with young backpackers and hippies on Samui. Some bungalows right next to the beach costed 20 Baht per night. Showering by draw well included, nightly campfires, guitars...

Almost everybody came from Bangkok by train/bus and then from Surat Thani with the "cigar", a long and narrow ferry operated by Songserm.

Lamai was the centre of happenings. Magic mushrooms omelet was on the menu at many places. Young travellers sold jewellery and clothes from India on the beach. Locals worked with tourists and on their plantations or were out on the sea catching fish.

Chaweng beach road was a sandy path flanked by many palm trees, dark in the night time. Reggae Pub was appr. at the now location of Zico's on that path. Around it was a dense palm tree forest.

The first package tourists arrived and the first luxury resort opened. But the mood was still perfect. Everybody was very, very relaxed. Nature was at its best. No troubles at all. 1 week no electricity - no problem. There was magic in the air - some kind of natural energy coming from the smoothness and beauty of Samui. Almost everybody could feel that. Can't remember any problems at all in this years.

But later that changed slowly year by year. Most Farangs, who lived on Samui then could see commercialism growing and that "Samui feeling" disappear. They started to leave because of that. New Farangs came, another type. For every old Samui Farang 10 new Samui Farang came.

Before that Samui was like another island. A place of happiness.

You can find some Samui pix from 1984-1987 thanks to member Limbos' link here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56484554@N00/...57594236261657/

Edited July 19, 2009 by Birdman

[mauGR1]

Thanks Birdman,and all the old-timers,i'm enjoying your posts and your pics quite a lot,i was travelling in India those days,quite amazing too.Meeting other travellers was always a happening,we all should be grateful to have seen a disappearing world.

[Tywais]

I was in the Air Force at U-Tapao during 66-67.

I was there from 68-69, 1985th Communications Squadron. The reason I'm living in Thailand today is due to my experiences then. Lived native in a small village a few kms from the base, sarong, outdoor bathing, learned to speak Thai rather quickly since no one could speak English. Rented a house with a few others in Pattaya as a weekend retreat. Quiet, clean and comfortable hut style bars along the beach, which had remarkably clear water and white sand beaches.

The base had an outdoor movie theater on a beach that most of the time you couldn't hear what was going on as the B52s flew directly overhead. Very basic bars (mainly shacks made from corrugated tin and plywood leftovers from the base construction) just out the front gate of the base and along the side of the road going to Sattihip. Mekong whiskey (or was that Sangthip) with beer as a mixer seemed popular.

Have pulled out my slide collection of that period but my scanner is out of order and have ordered a new one so will posts pics in the near future.

[mahtin]

Love you all.

Peace, love and understanding.

[Hawk]

First time here was in 71 but I lived down at the poor end, near the railway station for years, going to Poipet for visa extensions but I was working here most of the time.

Went to Laos in 72 and again in 75 just before the pathet lao took it over, nearly got shot in Vientiane by a pathet lao soldier no older than 15 years of age because I was drunk and being nosey.

Food was cheap, B5 for a good plate of whatever, B1.50 for a bottle of coke/pepsi, bus fares were one baht anywhere in Bangkok.

Used to go to the American Embassy July 4th parties, lots of free beer and food every year.

[mahtin]

First time here was in 71 but I lived down at the poor end, near the railway station for years, going to Poipet for visa extensions but I was working here most of the time.

Went to Laos in 72 and again in 75 just before the pathet lao took it over, nearly got shot in Vientiane by a pathet lao soldier no older than 15 years of age because I was drunk and being nosey.

Food was cheap, B5 for a good plate of whatever, B1.50 for a bottle of coke/pepsi, bus fares were one baht anywhere in Bangkok.

Used to go to the American Embassy July 4th parties, lots of free beer and food every year.

Nice one.

[callao]

I was in the Air Force at U-Tapao during 66-67.

I was there from 68-69, 1985th Communications Squadron. The reason I'm living in Thailand today is due to my experiences then. Lived native in a small village a few kms from the base, sarong, outdoor bathing, learned to speak Thai rather quickly since no one could speak English. Rented a house with a few others in Pattaya as a weekend retreat. Quiet, clean and comfortable hut style bars along the beach, which had remarkably clear water and white sand beaches.

The base had an outdoor movie theater on a beach that most of the time you couldn't hear what was going on as the B52s flew directly overhead. Very basic bars (mainly shacks made from corrugated tin and plywood leftovers from the base construction) just out the front gate of the base and along the side of the road going to Sattihip. Mekong whiskey (or was that Sangthip) with beer as a mixer seemed popular.

Have pulled out my slide collection of that period but my scanner is out of order and have ordered a new one so will posts pics in the near future.

I too was stationed at U Tapao for a year in 1975 and lived offbase in a little hooch on KM8, and I too come back to thailand because of my expierances I had there, Pattaya had the Marriot and a some bars in the Pattayland area, Ban Chiang was about 3 blocks square, Sattahip had Indian Tailors, I tryed to find where I lived before and went to U Tapao but things have changed alot there, entrance to the base is still there but only for thai military, base looks the same nothing has changed at all, there still is that sort of park area between the end of runway and the beach I went down there in a car but got shooed out off limits for falangs, remember big Klong monsters (moniter lizards) in the klongs there, pete the mascot 20ft python, water buffalo carts, living on foe soup, duckeggs and fried rice, mekong and Singhi beer, and buying up all the booze on your ration card on payday and selling it downtown for party money sundays at the NCO club where they had Mauy Thai fighters and they would challange anyone from the base to fight them, and almost all got beatup, Now I find Vientaine Laos does the same thing for me now Callao

[mahtin]

Great stuff.

Let's have a beer together sometime.

[IMA_FARANG]

What was Thailand like during the sixties and seventies. It sounds like some type of golden age. Was it?

I didn't get here until May 1977, which is late in your time period. Patpong road, long before the markets and vendors were there, was a real road you could actually drive down. At night you could walk down the center of the road. and the bargirls would yell at you to come in and have a drink. But I wouldn't say it was a Paradise or a golden age.

When I first got here, there was still a 1 a.m. curfew. A hangover from the events of 1976. Many of the bars closed down at midnight, so the girls could get home before the 1 a.m. curfew. There were a few restaurants and hotels that were allowed to stay open, but if you were in there at 1.am, you had to stay until the curfew ended (I can't remember when, maybe 6 a.m.). If you were staying in a hotel, and could get one of the bargirls to visit, she had to stay until the curfew ended in the morning.

A lot of the "oldtimers" were already complaining that Pattya was "spoiled" by the influx of "tourists". Phuket, even in 1978, was still relatively undeveloped compared to today. The first time I stayed in Phuket, I stayed at a beach that had electricity only from 6 p.m to 11 p.m. I stayed in a hut on the beach. No air conditioning of course. About 1 p.m. the fishing boats came back with their catch. The local restaurant owners bought the fish and shrimps, The chrcoal was fired up soon. By about 4 p.m. the first fish and shrimp were ready. I had a meal for twp. We had a dozen crabs (6 ea.), 6 large shrimp, boiled rice in bowls, and one large fish grilled on the charcoal. I had a beer (liter size bottle), my girlfriend had a coke. My beer was 25 baht, the most expensive single item on the bill. The whole food (except for drinks) was 100 baht. We weren't charged for the rice, only for the fish/shrimp/crab. My Thai girlfriend thought it was "too expensive". Each crab was 50 satang. Who in Thailand today even knows what a satang was? By the time I was there the "hippies" and the nud_e beaches were gone.

In Bangkok the taxis were old, many had holes in the floor of the cab. When it rained Sukhumvit road would flood from about Soi 34 to about Soi 40. You had to lift your feet when the taxi went through the water, because the water came in through the holes in the floor. There were no meter taxis, you bargained with the driver about the fare before you got into the taxi.

Even then there were 'backpackers" on Khao San road. Some of the hotels there were built in the 60's or 70's for the Vietnam G.I. R&R trade, and hadn't had any maintenance/repair done sine they G.I.'s stopped coming after 1975. They were in pretty bad shape, but they were cheap.

Bangkok was cheaper to live in, but for the average Thai it was still hard to live. My Thai girlfriend and her 3 children often had to try to live on 10 baht a day, after her husband left her. Not much fun, even if a Thai could get a plate of rice for2 or 3 baht.

Yes, it was less expensive, but those at the bottom still found it hard to live.

Edited July 19, 2009 by IMA_FARANG

[noise]

99 Club???

They either got the first numeral upside down which may have been a buit too racy then or you got a free ice cream when you went in (only applicable to Brits)

It was Club 99. I seem to recall it was originally called Club 69 until the connotation was pointed out to the owner! Patrick

To see if we are thinking about the same place..... but first, I don't understand Yabaaaa's "free ice cream" comment, but I am not a Brit.

It was the 99 Club when I started going there in '66, i.e., that is what my memory says my regular bai dum taxi driver called it. But after 43 years memory may have reversed the name. I want to say it was on Silom, but, again, memory after 43 years.

However, I do remember there was a small area to the left against the wall about half way back as you went in the door where there was an excellent Filipino trio playing. It was a fairly small place, calm, friendly. And it had cold champagne splits!

A few out of country R&R types would come in now and then, but not many and those would not stay long. They were treated ljust like everyone else, but I think it was too dull for them.

Sound like the same place?

[Mobi]

I first came to Bangkok in 1973. Booked into the beautiful Siam Intercontinental in Siam Square (now Siam Paragon), but never slept there due their policy on "ladies of the night"

I stayed in many 3^rd class Hotels around Sukhumvit and Petchburi, but mainly stayed at the Fortuna Hotel in Soi 5, which is still there, but greatly changed these days.

HP Massage, opposite Soi 5, where the Landmark Hotel is today was my favourite "watering hole" in those early years, as it catered for all my needs; wine, women and song. You could take out a girl for 200 Baht for 24 hours. I used to "rent" a couple of beautiful damsels with my friend and take them down to Pattaya for the day. Although starting to develop, Pattaya was still pretty sleepy, and we would rent a large fishing boat for about 300 Baht, and spend the day on Koh Larn – totally undeveloped in those days.

Later I lived in Pratunam on the 7^th floor (the roof) of a Thai apartment building. I had a wonderful little rooftop apartment there with my own balcony which looked across the Bangkok Skyline and down onto the canal below. During the rainy season the skies were spectacular. Every morning I used to walk to my office in Wireless Road, near the US embassy,

from Pratunam every morning: over the bridge on the canal, and through to Pleonchit and beyond.

From my office it was a short taxi ride to Patpong for lunch at the Derby King, a popular hangout for expats in the advertising and insurance business. In fact one of my early girl friends came from there. I used to pay the daily bar fines for her to go home with me (they weren't called 'bar fines' in those days, I forget when that first started), and to this day I remember her telling me that for 20,000 Baht I could buy her for life. Times haven't changed that much – except the prices. There were few, if any Issan girls around in those days – they were still closeted in their villages, with the exception of a few from UBon and Udon who had "come out:" as the result of the presence of US air bases in their provinces.

Derby King… Madrid…. Napoleon….The Barrell... All fine, regular bars with wholesome western food. Bobby's Hot dogs on Pat pong 2 were the finest! Go-Go was in it's infancy.

The curfews would dictate closing time, and many is the evening I would "rescue" a poor lady of the night who had no money to get home, and offer her refuge form the BIB in exchange for a few home comforts.

Then there was the Grace Hotel – long before it became part of the Arab quarter. In fact the most common residents at the Grace in those days were Germans – the first nationality to discover "sex holidays". But every night it was a hangout for all the flotsam and jetsam of humanity – farangs and Thais alike. Nobody had much money, and the farangs would sit on one beer for hours on end, and the girls just sat there, (or stood there) hoping against hope that some impoverished farang would give them a few baht and a bed to sleep in. We would stay there through the curfews – all night sometimes, and listen to the juke boxes churn out the same songs that you can still hear today, some 35 years later – "I don't like to sleep alone"… "love me, Love my dog"…. and so on…..

More later

[p_brownstone]

99 Club???

They either got the first numeral upside down which may have been a buit too racy then or you got a free ice cream when you went in (only applicable to Brits)

It was Club 99. I seem to recall it was originally called Club 69 until the connotation was pointed out to the owner! Patrick

To see if we are thinking about the same place..... but first, I don't understand Yabaaaa's "free ice cream" comment, but I am not a Brit.

It was the 99 Club when I started going there in '66, i.e., that is what my memory says my regular bai dum taxi driver called it. But after 43 years memory may have reversed the name. I want to say it was on Silom, but, again, memory after 43 years.

However, I do remember there was a small area to the left against the wall about half way back as you went in the door where there was an excellent Filipino trio playing. It was a fairly small place, calm, friendly. And it had cold champagne splits!

A few out of country R&R types would come in now and then, but not many and those would not stay long. They were treated ljust like everyone else, but I think it was too dull for them.

Sound like the same place?

Yes, that's the place - I think the Thai Danu Bank HQ is on the site now.

And yes, it was mainly geared to the local Expat resident community, did not get many US R & R types, they had plenty of nightclubs on Petchburi and in the Miami / Florida type hotels which returned the favour by asking for U.S. Military I.D. before they would let you in!

Patrick

[LooseCannon]

This is a copy-and-paste from a post I made to a similar topic from a year or so ago...

I stayed in Sukhumvit Soi 22 for about 6 months in 1976 & remember being there during the October coup. I was renting a room for B200 a month, it was about 200-300 metres down on the left from Sukhumvit Rd & then you had to go along a raised wooden walk way. It was a real rabbits warren of wooden buildings, confusing paths & a mass of humanity. I was on the second floor of a rather rickety wooden building with about 12 rooms on either side of a wide open corridor which served as a communal living area. Nearly all of the rooms where each rented by 2-3 young ladies (most of whom worked in Patpong). I was 19 years old & I was in heaven & these ladies treated me very well - a farang who was their own age. I had very little money but I did have one thing that these girls wanted (well maybe more than one...) & that was the ability to write letters in perfect english. Long before email & the internet these girls were working their farang boyfriends like there was no tomorrow. So if any of you old timers received any creatively written 'sick buffalo' & 'mama's in hospital' letters maybe they came from me. These girls were great fun to be with & every night when they returned home there was an impromptu party out in the corridor.

There were a number of occasional farang visitors who stayed for varying lengths of time & even the odd one nighter if one of the girls got lucky. I got to know some of the longer term farangs from around the Sukumvit area quite well & some not so well. The common denominator was a shortage of money & an involvement in some sort of money making venture (some legal & others not).

Reading some of these posts (especially those from camerata- maybe I ran into you at some time?) brings back some great memories.

The Crown Hotel - I never had the need to stay there, but frequented the coffee shop on numerous occasions. The coffee shop was the domain of the local hotel tout - 'Joe' & his taxi - he could get you anything & do everything & I trusted him about as far as I could kick him. I never had any problems with him & he always did the right thing by me, but his involvement with the local bib was always a bit of a worry. Many years later, some time in the mid to late 80's, I found myself down at the Crown & sure enough he was still there up to his usual tricks.

Starlight Hotel - friend of mine was a long term resident there & had some memorable occasions which are best left unwritten.

Atlanta Hotel - full of junkies & to be avoided at all costs.

Thai Song Kreet - First hotel in Bangkok I stayed in & I thought not too bad, except for the cockroaches running across the tables in the restaurant & the collection of possibly the worst looking whores you will ever see. (Everything is relative - some of the hotels in India were pretty bad).

Patpong - can't tell you anything because I never went (I didn't need too, & didn't have the money). I did go on a number times during the mid 80's & always thought the Superstar to be by far the best.

Malaysia Hotel - Was staying there when they were filming 'Good Morning Vietnam' in the car park. I was in the crowd scene (unpaid) but have never managed to see myself.

The Cock & Bull was a great place to go for a night's entertainment, the Joker Club upstairs was good for playing darts with the local lasses.

This first trip to Thailand shaped my life like nothing I would ever have dreamt about. I have been back there nearly every year since for varying lengths of time, from a few weeks to a few months, to a year, but have never worked there & never will. It is is place to go to enjoy yourself & not work.

Unfortunately I have never seen again any of the people I knew from those days in Soi 22, but if there are any TV members from that time it would be good to hear from you.

I think this should work - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thailand-Yea...&hl=thermae

[robertj30]

Blue-eyed's pretty right, I think, about Pattaya. We stayed in a beachside bungalow at Na Kluea in '74 and it was hardly a village, though I remember the market. Had to drive into town to come across hotels, shops etc and tourist facilities. it was less $$ not lot of greedy yet so on but age of girls no laws then much on ages so on had to look for girls then not in bars less for lots of stuff in ther bkok so onolder days $1 a soda maby 50$% was ok then less $$ then maby free on some stuff the sea was ok then usa marines so on all over then

In Korat in 71-72 we could get a heaped plate of nice moist khao pad with a runny duck egg on top for 5 baht. A real meal. USAF were in town, but airmen not really prominent other than at the bars and restaurants (near the station, I think) in the evenings, but you could go and park your motorcycle on the road under the flight path and watch the F4s (?) coming in from Vietnam. Very impressive.

Wat Phanom Wan (near Korat), which I think is now a national park, was a nice place to go. After leaving the main road you'd ride on the ridges between the rice fields for a while before getting to the wat. Every time I went there was no one else there, except on one occasion a monk was sitting nearby.

The Thanom-Prapass-Narong junta was in control in the early seventies, and to leave the province you had to get permission from the governor (in reality this was just a matter of signing a book at the school I was in). I'd left before the '73 student uprising, but followed it from a nearby country, as well as all the idealism in writing the new constitution after the military clique had been toppled.

Bangkok, while nothing like as big as now, still seemed like a big polluted city. Nevertheless, you could walk from Chitlom to Asoke along a nice tree-lined road without being overwhelmed by heat or fumes. Silom was a nice road, too. No big pylons for the overhead railway, so it could be quite sunny, and shady under the trees. The Bangkok Nursing Home, where our first was born, was an old colonial bungalow set in lovely gardens. You can still see it from the rear windows at BNH. The Erawan Hotel was also a bungalow-style hotel.

[easethesqueeze]

In the middle of the 80s small bungalow resorts on most beaches were full with young backpackers and hippies on Samui. Some bungalows right next to the beach costed 20 Baht per night. Showering by draw well included, nightly campfires, guitars...

Almost everybody came from Bangkok by train/bus and then from Surat Thani with the "cigar", a long and narrow ferry operated by Songserm.

Lamai was the centre of happenings. Magic mushrooms omelet was on the menu at many places. Young travellers sold jewellery and clothes from India on the beach. Locals worked with tourists and on their plantations or were out on the sea catching fish.

Chaweng beach road was a sandy path flanked by many palm trees, dark in the night time. Reggae Pub was appr. at the now location of Zico's on that path. Around it was a dense palm tree forest.

The first package tourists arrived and the first luxury resort opened. But the mood was still perfect. Everybody was very, very relaxed. Nature was at its best. No troubles at all. 1 week no electricity - no problem. There was magic in the air - some kind of natural energy coming from the smoothness and beauty of Samui. Almost everybody could feel that. Can't remember any problems at all in this years.

But later that changed slowly year by year. Most Farangs, who lived on Samui then could see commercialism growing and that "Samui feeling" disappear. They started to leave because of that. New Farangs came, another type. For every old Samui Farang 10 new Samui Farang came.

Before that Samui was like another island. A place of happiness.

You can find some Samui pix from 1984-1987 thanks to member Limbos' link here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56484554@N00/...57594236261657/

Thanks birdman,

I've heard a few others talking about Samuii in a similar way to you, sounds unreal man!

Seems like it couldn't be any further away from the state it's in these days!

Oh well, i guess there are still a few beautiful islands out there if you take the time to find them.

[roamer]

In the middle of the 80s small bungalow resorts on most beaches were full with young backpackers and hippies on Samui. Some bungalows right next to the beach costed 20 Baht per night. Showering by draw well included, nightly campfires, guitars...

Almost everybody came from Bangkok by train/bus and then from Surat Thani with the "cigar", a long and narrow ferry operated by Songserm.

Lamai was the centre of happenings. Magic mushrooms omelet was on the menu at many places. Young travellers sold jewellery and clothes from India on the beach. Locals worked with tourists and on their plantations or were out on the sea catching fish.

Chaweng beach road was a sandy path flanked by many palm trees, dark in the night time. Reggae Pub was appr. at the now location of Zico's on that path. Around it was a dense palm tree forest.

The first package tourists arrived and the first luxury resort opened. But the mood was still perfect. Everybody was very, very relaxed. Nature was at its best. No troubles at all. 1 week no electricity - no problem. There was magic in the air - some kind of natural energy coming from the smoothness and beauty of Samui. Almost everybody could feel that. Can't remember any problems at all in this years.

But later that changed slowly year by year. Most Farangs, who lived on Samui then could see commercialism growing and that "Samui feeling" disappear. They started to leave because of that. New Farangs came, another type. For every old Samui Farang 10 new Samui Farang came.

Before that Samui was like another island. A place of happiness.

You can find some Samui pix from 1984-1987 thanks to member Limbos' link here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56484554@N00/...57594236261657/

Thanks birdman,

I've heard a few others talking about Samuii in a similar way to you, sounds unreal man!

Seems like it couldn't be any further away from the state it's in these days!

Oh well, i guess there are still a few beautiful islands out there if you take the time to find them.

The "Samui feeling" may be best described by an example like this; in the middle to late 1980s I stayed on Chaweng Beach at a place called Samui Cabana, this was situated directly on the beach and was probably the most upmarket resort there at the time. Even saying that they were still wooden cabins, nice cabins but still no more than that. The bar on the other hand, was a beautiful beach bar, idyllic and late at night a few of us would sit there chewing things over, when this got interminably boring for the lovely girl who worked the bar she would tell us she was off to bed and just to write down the drinks we had in the book. That was it, she would leave the bar open, no locks on anything, that was how it was. So we would sit there for an hour or two, maybe in that time see one or two couples stroll along the beach, that was it. The age of innocence, guess that will never come back again.

[Datsun240Z]

Somebody can fix me a time machine?

[bartender100]

Here's a question, how much was a flight from London to Bangkok in 1975 say, and how long, stop-overs?

Hers some from the 80's

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=fCjPuk8nl28 thanks to the OP

Edited July 21, 2009 by bartender100

[LooseCannon]

Here's a question, how much was a flight from London to Bangkok in 1975 say, and how long, stop-overs?

Not sure about 1975 but 1981/82 London - Bangkok GBP170 one-way GBP280 return approx. from LP Thailand 1982 edition.

Bartender - youtube link not working?

Edited July 21, 2009 by LooseCannon

[bartender100]

LooseCannon

Thanks, heres the link again