Current State Of The Night Life In Thailand

[marquess]

It seems to me of late that alot of the fun has gone out of the night life here in Thailand, compared to what it was five years ago. What I won't to know is could you still recommend it to a friend, even with the 12.45 am closing? Personally I had a much better time in Roppongi, I wasn't treated like a kid, being told when to go home? Also with all the covering up, aren't there more visual pleasure to be had on a beach in the day time?

[custard]

It may be that you get older and as a result find it exceedingly difficult to pull girls and get bored & pissed off !

[Dragonman]

Sure my nightlife after years in Pattaya is a cup of Ovaltine and a look at the Fashion Channel

[marquess]

Pulling girls is not the problem, it just the nannish aspect of it all. An aspect that wasn't really here five years ago.

[bartender100]

I think its very unfair to try and make a comparison between the night life in Japan and Thailand.

The cost of a good night out in Roppongi would probably pay for a week or two in a modest hotel in Pattaya.If your friend has no worrys in that score,then send him there and then give us a report on what its like

[Wanderer]

It seems to me of late that alot of the fun has gone out of the night life here in Thailand, compared to what it was five years ago. What I won't to know is could you still recommend it to a friend, even with the 12.45 am closing? Personally I had a much better time in Roppongi, I wasn't treated like a kid, being told when to go home? Also with all the covering up, aren't there more visual pleasure to be had on a beach in the day time?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think the closing is a problem, my last big night out in pattaya (intended to be home by 12) anyway ended up with a full blown bender until 7 next morning with a couple of buddies although remember very little from 3 onwards but prior to that it was pretty much the same as the old days.

[fw1]

I think it was a bit better five years ago as the police weren't quite as strict then. Most of the nightlife does cater for guys wanting to meet girls, so that they can retire to a hotel room/apt. with their new sidekick somewhere and go at it like rabbits. I like Pattaya's nightlife in comparison to BKK but find them both a bit one-dimensional, unfortunately though, seeking out alternative forms of entertainment after a few beers can be a pain up the arse at times.

Nothing can remain interesting/exciting forever, and when you've been here a while less is definately more. Again, this means seeking out other stuff... .

The beach/go-go bars: agreed, you can see more on the beach. I recently saw a tourist strip off naked in Naklua. Unfortunately, she was about 20Kg's overweight

[DJ Pat]

SIN club on Sukhumvit Soi 4 has just got a 6am closing time for its roof garden bar and restaurant, also has a few pool tables and decent muisic

[pautai]

It seems to me of late that alot of the fun has gone out of the night life here in Thailand, compared to what it was five years ago. What I won't to know is could you still recommend it to a friend, even with the 12.45 am closing? Personally I had a much better time in Roppongi, I wasn't treated like a kid, being told when to go home? Also with all the covering up, aren't there more visual pleasure to be had on a beach in the day time?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

depends on your baseline i guess , compared with 10 years ago its dire .

compared with 15 years ago its abysmal

and compared with 20 years ago it does not bear thinking about.

stunners were ten a penny compared with now.

but back then male tourism was negligable when compared with the numbers now.

[Heng]

I find the 4pm to 8pm "evening life" is as good as ever.

[OxfordWill]

Talking as someone who only 'joined in' around circa 2002, I can say it's still great when looked at as a thing in itself. No doubt it was better before.

[penelope]

It seems to me of late that alot of the fun has gone out of the night life here in Thailand, compared to what it was five years ago.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yeh..night golf up at Bangkok GC just isn't what it used to be.

[custard]

SIN club on Sukhumvit Soi 4 has just got a 6am closing time for its roof garden bar and restaurant, also has a  few pool tables and decent muisic

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I went to another one on Suk soi 1 after RCA a fortnight ago. Its absolutely packed out around 3-4 a.m. when most clubbers from the nearby clubs ended up there.

Also saw this Q-bar captain who looked a complete idiot to me.

And as you may expect, due to large numbers of farangs, loads of BGs turned up which was annoying to be frank.

[Sarpedon]

I thought the roof place on Suk soi 1 had been closed down or is it up and running again...unless you are going on about a different place?

Sin on Suk soi 4 has always looked dead when i have been past it on the way to play some pool, I guess i am just going at past at the wrong times!

[custard]

Talking as someone who only 'joined in' around circa 2002, I can say it's still great when looked at as a thing in itself. No doubt it was better before.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[OxfordWill]

Obviously Custard makes my nights all the more beautiful, who needs a club with such a convincing katoey hanging around?

[custard]

Obviously Custard makes my nights all the more beautiful, who needs a club with such a convincing katoey hanging around?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

......................./??/)

....................,/?../

.................../..../

............./??/'...'/??`??

........../'/.../..../......./??\

........('(...?...?.... ?~/'...')

.........\.................'...../

..........\............. _.??

............\..............(

..............\.............\

&lt;deleted&gt; to that !

Wasnt it you that were mistaken for a katoey on several occasions last year ? Admit it !

[OxfordWill]

yea yea.

[mbkudu]

......................./??/)

....................,/?../

.................../..../

............./??/'...'/??`??

........../'/.../..../......./??\

........('(...?...?.... ?~/'...')

.........\.................'...../

..........\............. _.??

............\..............(

..............\.............\

Great artwork! No, seriously.

[OxfordWill]

It's his fast-paced life that affords him the time for such talent

[nev]

back on topic for me the night lifr has not changed i still rate it very highly,when 1 am lights out comes it is a relief from the comertition in the bars to see who can play the loadest music,as i am deaf in one ear i can actually have a good conversation with the girls.

nothing really changes just low music and low lighting actually makes a few of the girls look like stunners or is that the achohol,lol.

[marquess]

Just to high light a point, I have a friend who I met here five years ago. He has just returned for a few months, last week he suggested that we go out, but he couldn't make it to my place until about 21.30. We probably would not have reached the centre of things until about 22.30. I told him that it was not like in the days of yore, the 1am closing meant that it was hardly worth getting there at that time. You just feel like the clock is constantly ticking. Personally I am looking forward to a holiday in Japan, where I can stay from dusk to dawn.

[JemJem]

If you are into clubbing, it is sooooooooooo boring due to the 2 am closing time.

If you are into just hanging out at bars/pubs and listening to some live music, I guess it's all right...you can always 'start the night early'.

If I gave the Bangkok nightlife an overall rating of 9 (out of 10) in the early/mid nineties, I now give it 5 or 6. Of course, there is always the factor of age...I have gotten older

But seriously, I think almost everyone would agree that there has definitely been a change for the worse in the past few years.

Cheers,

Jem

[OxfordWill]

You can't go far past 2 in most UK places either. I find the Rachada complex is a good mix of clubs and if you start with a pub early on there is no excuse not to have had a great night by 2...unless I am just not hardcore enough?!

[ArtfulD]

Ive never understood the reasoning for going out till 4/5am... (im only 26 btw)...whats the difference between going out at 10pm till 4am and going out earlier from like 7pm to 1am? That 3 hour time shift really going to ruin your drinking?

People have just been conditioned into thinking later is better.

[OxfordWill]

Yea I think that might be true!

[ProfessorFart]

Interesting to read this thread as I was out with a very old Thai hand this last weekend and nightlife was a big part of our conversation. His experience outstrips mine by some 25 years (hes been visiting since 1968) so he had seen more changes over the years than most I know.

His take was that no matter what changes of regime there will be, sex will always be a massive part of Thailand's nightlife in one way or another. He told me that he'd been there during two coups during which BKK was like a ghost town yet he still found a woman for the night with little ease.

My take on it was that it has become too familiar to more and more people more than it has lost its edge. In bygone years the only things people in the West heard of Thailand's nightlife came from grossly over exaggerated media reports.

Now with rising incomes, the collapse of the Thai economy, the internet being able to bring Thailand into any home, more people have had exposure to Thailand and the realities of the nightlife there. Its no longer some exclusive playground for the fortunate few but now is the holiday playground of the many.

Edited May 19, 2005 by ProfessorFart

[Oleg_Rus]

2 ProfessorFart: correct, indeed.

less and less some exotic sleazy places such as Sutthisan are near Saphan Kwai, areas of Victory monument, Soi Texas and others...

few years ago ( 1999, I think) at sutisan was nice cafe with naked girls sitting in bath tib like corners instantly washing them selves - 30min each shift - with sponge, lots of foam and shower. Funny it was.

Huge Phoebus disco - closed. and so on.

Lots of teens are wondering in the early morning hours near Soi 4 Ratchada - seems like bars are open their ...

yeah, things changes too quickly

[ProfessorFart]

Oleg, Your post has added an extra dimension to my outlook on the situation.

As I said above I feel that Thailand's mere accessability has gone a long way to making what was, back in the 60s 70s and 80s exotic and excitinng, seem somewhat tame these days.

In order to analyse any suppsed changes in Bankok's (Thailand's?) we need to look back to the supposed hey day of BKK's nightlife - namely from the R and R era onwards to the 80s - and compare it to today.

Back then the amount of resident western expats in BKK would probably have squeezed into a medium sized Sukhumwit condo. Tourists would have probaly fitted into the same. All we would have heard in the West would have been the occasional whisper about Thailand. It was still very much an unknown quantity.

Today Western expats are found all over the city, indeed all over the country in every nook and cranny. Thailand regularly gets big coverage in the Western media, reading matter on Thailand can be found in every bookshop, and there are thousands of websites devoted to Thailand. Millions of tourists arrive each year, and even a complete newcomer on arrival now knows what it used to take people way back when several months to learn.

The curtain on BKK's nightlife has long been pulled back and all of the mystique and exoticism therein has been revealed not just for the lucky few who would be in Bangkok, but for the world to see. It is no longer an exclusive club but the realm of the many.

This asides, the nostalgia effect also comes into play here. I think that we as humans don't like change. We all have a 'golden era' which we drift back too. Who here doesn't think about our 'golden eras' often and wish things were the same now as they were then.

My own 'golden era' was during my year's study in Thailand. I was nicely tucked away in Chanthaburi, with wild weekends in BKK and Patters with various mates over the year, yet even during that 'golden era' I was nostalgic for an earlier 'golden era' if you follow me. We had many good nights during that time in Woodstock on NEP and when I told a mate (who hasn't been back since) it was gone he was devastated. He would always picture us back there once again having a ball, during the long winter nights of his homebound exile.

Change is in the eye of the beholder. My old hand mate says that he has so many 'golden eras' that he realised that every visit became a 'golden era'!

At that counts to him at the end of the day is the fact that nothing has really changed in the scene. Strip away all of the peripherals such as early closing etc and it is still the same. He still gets a thrill when he walks down Patpong or into Nana Plaza. On the same thread he gets pangs of nostalgia when he sees places he used to go now long gone with friends also now long gone.

It is all perception specific. Early closing will come and go. Its been here before and vanished and will do so again. Places will open and close. In the future we will all walk past places we used to go now just a shell that housed our memories of the past.

At the end of the day it is best to remember the places and people of the past with fondness but never regret. Every day has the potential to be a new 'golden era'.

Its only what we make of the situation that counts. Maybe instead of rueing the 1/2am closing we should be making the most of what is in between and creating new golden eras for us to get nostalgic about in years to come.

Nostalgia is an easy and often pleasant emotion, yet let it dominate the present and we will never be happy.

[Fast Eddie]

Good post Professor, there is a lot of truth and sense in what you say.