What Was Thailand Like During The Sixties And Seventies?

[wabear]

How about Pha Ngan and Samuii?

I'd love to see some photos

Hm...this could make a good website! I've been thinking about starting one.

The adventure started by flying in a prop plane to the island. The international airport wasn't developed yet. I flew in once just two weeks after a plane crashed on the island during a bad storm.

Samui was so cool when I first started going there around 1990. The road didn't go all around the island yet, and not even paved so rain made everyting so interesting. The bugalows were usually built and run by a family and you stayed near the beach. Air-cond was a luxury. You were treated more like a guest in their house than checking into a hotel.

Much of the island was still unspoiled. Cheweng was the best place to be with the Reggie Club going most of the night. Samui seemed to be the place of second chances, so there was a lot of gay men running away from their family forcing them into a marriage. Even though there were no gay bars, it was a very gay friendly place.

I never saw any police and there didn't seem to be much of a crime problem.

From what I remember, Cheweng had a few restaurants, a couple of grocery stores that had most everything, and a bank. The first cash machine came a few years later. You always packed a flashlight, you never knew if the power would be there the whole time. No beer bars. No gogo bars. There was a small used bookstore.

It was like living in a small Thai town that happened to be on a nice beach. Wonderful, wonderful memories. I don't know if I'll ever find anything like it again.

[zzaa09]

Much like your home country was like in 1901

That would be a compliment, yes?

[zzaa09]

I spent my youth and teenage years raised partially in the Thailand of the 1960s and 1970s. Principally, home was Saigon. But home was also Bangkok, Korat, Nakhon Phanom, and Vientiane. I have fond memories, as I was free to be independent and wonder {not too far}. Even though the whole of the SE Asian continent was a war zone or associted with these wars, The Golden Land was quite unchange. I still see it on numerous ocassions throught countryside/rural settings. On of the more interesting aspects of the community of Korat as I recall was my 'nannies' were the local brothel girls. Little Farang brother, I was. As I explore my personal interest of this time period in SE Asia, I find a fascination with how the war reportage was taken on in BKK by independent investigative journalists - much didn't see the light of day. The Bangkok World seem to push the envelope as local rags went.........the American military had had a very cozy relationships with the assorted and successive military Thai governments from the early 40s well into the 80s. The lone and original ex-pat bars in BKK served as a pool for early adventurers, military personel, intel folk, curmudgeony journalist types, contractors, etc. Later came Cowboy, Patong, Nana, Pattaya......

[zzaa09]

Not a farang face to be seen beyond Asoke ...

....a plus

[zzaa09]

The people were less educated than they are now.

But far more wiser, connected and intutitive than the foreign invaders....

[noise]

I spent my youth and teenage years raised partially in the Thailand of the 1960s and 1970s. ....home was also Bangkok....

So you must have gone to Nick's #1 and had his blue cheese file mignon? And do you remember the name of the Swiss restaurant on Soi 31 that had the great buffet on Sundays (at least that is when I went; don't know about other times)?

[RusticCharm]

The Bar on the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 19 was The Joker Club. Downstairs was a Gogo place run by Mukta, with the dancers in what today would be considered VERY unsexy costumes – something like a Bikini your Mum would wear – and ankle length high heeled boots. Dancing was rather like Texas Line Dancing, rather than what we would call "Gogo" but something of an innovation then. Upstairs was a very popular Country and Western bar with a resident Band playing Merle Haggard, Johnnie Cash etc. etc.. All Americans except the Philipino Lead Guitar.

This brings back memories. Not exactly sixties or seventies (I'm not that ancient! ) but when I arrived in June 1987, I stayed at the A1 hotel in Soi Kasem San 1, opposite MBK. My first impression was that I simply couldn't breathe due to the aforementioned leaded gas. I took the overnight train to Samui the next morning where I stayed for the next 2 months. Funnily enough, the bungalow is still there, A3, Samui Coral Resort @ Chaweng. The main road here was still dirt that was washed away in the rainy season. Ice-cream was only available at the First Bungalow and you has to go into NaThon for the Bangkok Post. There was an Italian run 2-storey place (name escapes me) along from Samui Coral that had 2 lovely Singaporean waitresses. Their regular beach parties were amazing. The only place of 'entertainment' was the Madonna disco at the South-end of the beach though I recall a 'disco' being held inside one of the bungalow resorts.

Returning to Bangkok in September '89, I took a quick look at Khao San and decided it wasn't for me so with my trusty Lonely Planet recommending the Danish run Mermaid's Rest on Sukhumvit, I took a tuk-tuk (they were more popular than the unmetered taxis at that time) to Soi 8.

A wonderful place that had bungalows around a decent swimming pool and a nightly barbecue in the gardens. Sadly demolished and an upscale Condo now stands there. The owners opened the Stable Lodge across the road which is still going. As is the barbecue there. 

The Ambassador had a great coffee shop right on Sukhumvit Rd and was the perfect place for breakfast and people watching. 

The Joker club used to be where Robinsons is now and the band were featured in the movie 'Off Limits (Saigon)' with Willem Defoe and Scott Glenn and features Soi Cowboy bar scenes, though the movie is set in Saigon.

Central Bangkok flooded in November '87 and Sukhumvit was under a foot of water and one of my memories is a Thai girl picking a fish from the water. I was to later teach in Siam Square from '90 to '95 and live in Grand Tower on Thonglor (3kTHB a month at the time!) before it became a Jap hotel, and then on Petchburi Soi 5. The traffic was terrible of course but without the BTS, there was no other option.

There was a great second-floor blues bar around the Gaysorn/Ploenchit area but the name escapes me. This area still had some 'hostess' bars left over from the day but a few years later underwent extensive redevelopment.

The Indian tailors were just as irritating as they are today.