Super Ice, Stiffs And Nana Ghosts

Postcard From Bangkok

By Stickman

The furious trade Bangkok's Insomnia is doing at the weekend is not mirrored on weeknights. Open less than a month, many of us are picking that it will ultimately attract a similar crowd to the Pattaya branch. Many club-goers decry the 100 baht entry fee to Thai women - which is 300 baht to everyone else - claiming that this is no real deterrent in keeping out what some of them consider undesirables.

The sois and sub-sois of the expat enclave, Sukhumvit Road, have made for a variety of backdrops for the filming of Hangover 2 to include Sukhumvit Soi 7/1 and Soi Cowboy. Bar owners have been playing the one-upmanship game, telling anyone who cares to listen how much they were paid for allowing their bar to be used, or how much they received in compensation for lost business while closed. 60,000 baht was the actual fee paid to most venues, despite claims from some of receiving many times that amount!

Should you invite a guest to join you at the Nana Hotel, to enjoy a movie on TV or perhaps admire the period architecture, don't take it personally if your invitation is declined. Ghost stories abound amongst ladies familiar with the 43-year old landmark after a Brit and his lovely companion, a former Shark Bar employee, checked in to the hotel, but never checked out. A third companion, also a Thai lady, made it out of the hotel but was later found dead. It is speculated that they had consumed a new drug known locally as “super ice”.

Popular Nana Plaza bar Spanky's have some fabulous new shows, so exciting in fact that one customer had a heart attack in the bar and despite frantic efforts to get him medical attention, he was pronounced dead before he reached hospital.

And in a week when it looked like Westerners in Bangkok would become a threatened species, a Canadian found out that abusing bar security staff results in a single outcome. Security in that bar summoned the cavalry, security from other bars in the same group. Khun Canuck's lack of manners was considered serious enough to warrant a vicious beating. Security from other venues outside the group witnessed what was going on and intervened to help the bloodied Canuck. As is often the case, the beating had overstepped the mark. Despite their timely intervention, the fell-mouthed Canuck staggered away much worse for wear.

Gerry Finnegan has opened a second Irish pub, Finnegan's 2, located beside Exchange Tower and attached to Asoke Suites at Sukhumvit soi 18. Official opening is set for December 4th.

Marc of Spanky's Bar has picked up DC 10, one of the last few original-style gogo bars left in Nana Plaza. He has plans to renovate it with the interior being remodeled to look like the interior of a jet liner. It should reopen before Christmas. Some long-time Bangkok residents lament the venue's theme change, arguing that there is a niche for the older style, seedier bars. Truth be told, such venues don't do so well these days and struggle to compete with the bigger, brighter, more modern venues. Its transformation means just Sexy Night in Nana and just a few other old-style venues scattered around Patpong and Cowboy remain.

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-- Pattaya One 2010-12-12