Night Prowl: The Legendary Lechery of Bernard 'Nite Owl' Trink

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Night Prowl: The Legendary Lechery of Bernard 'Nite Owl' Trink
By Barbara Woolsey


ABOVE: The Night Prowler meets her spiritual predecessor, Bernard Trink, grandfather of gonzo smut journalism.

NIGHT PROWL — “I was curious, so said I’ll have the 10 baht. She had a towel wrapped around her hand, and after the deed was done, I pulled it off. She had leprosy.”

That’s not an anecdote one can find in a daily newspaper, but for decades it was the kind of frank report you’d get from the hardest working man on the commercial coitus beat, Bernard Trink.

A little over a year ago, I slipped into Bangkok’s nightlife scene for this investigative column you’re reading now. I trolled S&M and go-go bars, chatted up DJs and generally tried to stir up a little controversy.

But I’ll be the first to tell you it doesn’t come close to the league Trink played in as Bangkok’s original nightlife reporter.

Trink’s weekly column, “Nite Owl,” to which “Night Prowl” pays homage, ran for nearly 40 years first in Bangkok World, then the Bangkok Post. This hotshot farang writer was the recognized expert on the city’s go-go bars, massage parlours and girls, idolized by expats and American GIs stationed during the Vietnam War. The birth of Bangkok’s prostitution playground was a pivotal time, ultimately paving the way for Thailand’s contemporary sex-tourism industry. Trink saw it all. He even coined the term “Soi Cowboy” and enduring catch-phrases such as the verbal shrug of “This is Thailand” or “TIT.”

Despite this, the man behind the black-and-white type is still something of a mystery. His last interview was a decade ago and he’s pushing 83 now. The new generation of expats probably wouldn’t recognize the name, and some of the older ones are still trying to forget him.

But Trink’s accomplishments are impossible to deny. “Nite Owl” was one of the longest-running columns in the world. He was a successful gonzo journalist from the Freak Power days of Hunter S. Thompson.

I knew I would have to track down the owl to bring my own column full-circle. I wanted to know if he was a charmer or a scoundrel. After a 40-year career in writing, perhaps he would even have some wisdom to bestow.
So, here’s what happened.


In a different time, Trink complete with his pendulous amulet and signature trousers.

The Nite Owl’s Nest
I knew that to find Bernard Trink, I would have to start at the Bangkok Post. Eleven years ago, Nite Owl was dropped without an announcement or even a farewell party from the newspaper. Trink retired, but continued writing book reviews.

He was still at the office two days a week, I remembered from my time as an intern at the Post in 2010. I would see him across the room, hunched over at a typewriter clanking away, sitting next to a stack of hardcovers with plastic slippers on his feet. [read more...]

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/08/26/night-prowl-legendary-lechery-bernard-nite-owl-trink


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2014-08-26

[JetsetBkk]

That first picture was one that I didn't really need to see.

[mrtoad]

Trink is a legend, end of story.

[Kerryd]

It may not be the Fountain of Youth, but considering he's been getting down and dirty and playing the game for almost 50 years now, maybe there's something to his lifestyle !

(It's probably helped that he apparently doesn't drink alcohol, but I'd rather believe it's the "but you do it as often as you can, but not for as long as you can" part that increases one's longevity !)

[Kerryd]

That first picture was one that I didn't really need to see.

I thought that was him with the person that wrote the article (his attire matched what she said he was wearing that day) but after checking her out it doesn't appear to be the same person. Maybe they grabbed some young Bangkok Post secretary to pose for that photo.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Kerryd

[Ulysses G.]

I saw him one night in one of the King's Castle bars on Patpong. I was never sure sure until I saw the picture at the top, but he seemed like such a a strange old guy, yet so at home, I always thought it must be Trink.

[frances]

Ugh...seriously!

The sprightly anecdotal humour of a provincial girl with leprosy giving a fat farang a hand job or whatever for 10 THB. For shame.

The usual Western colonial trivialisation of exploitation in foreign lands.

Results are obvious the world over these days of this kind of puerile, irresponsible entitlement.

I read Trink from the late 80s until his final word. No farewell party was needed. Slink away indeed.

[Sparkles]

He was recently,or maybe still is, reviewing novels in a column in a Bangkok daily.I guess that's a lot easier than doing the rounds of Nana and Soi Cowboy

[cbluck58]

He also bankrupted bars in Patpong and the like for naming and shaming if they served Arabs - the place would be boycotted to bankruptcy - come back Trink , you are needed more than ever...

[upena]

When I was stationed in Bangkok in 1973/1974, I couldn't wait for the Friday edition of Nite Owl to come out. Trink would tell you what bars had specials, what PatPong massage girls were the best, and where to get some good grub. I wanted his job so much!

[phantomfiddler]

Every expat in Thailand religiously read Bernard,s page every week, informative and honest, always warning naive farangs of the dangers of relationships with gogo dancers and other useful information. Possibly not the most desirable content for Thailand,s main newspaper, but it was great while it lasted. Always helpful in getting out messages of any parties or significant events, he is a part of Bangkok,s history. Good on ya, Bernard !

Edited August 26, 2014 by phantomfiddler

[bannork]

I remember him mentioning in his column a few years ago that his son, Terry I think his name was, had died of cancer.That was the the first time I was aware he had a family, though by his Thai wife or another I don't know,

[frances]

The support for this guy is a sad and unsurprising reflection on TV posters. You find his childish pussy and pub grub menus for babes and boobs 'legendary'? 'Historic' even?

There is an incredibly dark side to the life he so flippantly spun out for the Bangkok World/Post on Fridays..

Grow up folks

And choose your heroes carefully.

[xen]

There is a biography of Trink called " I don't give a hoot " was published about 10 years ago . I bought a copy in Asia Books . Very entertaining although it says he came originally to Thailand as a movie critic. Also read his weekly column until he retired.

[LookChang]

When I first came in Bangkok about 30 years ago, the Trink Page in the Friday's edition of the Bangkok Post was a must read for expats who were drooling at night in Nana, Cowboy and Patpong.

Bar news, Night life Anecdotes, Anouncements, Advices, the Night Owl was our bible ! I loved to read his page which had quite a lot of foreign readers, I just could'nt find any similar interest to The Nation, the concurrent daily english paper and I was very chocked the by way the Post abruptly ended such a popular and picturesque weekly chronicle.

... but i don't give a hoot.

Edited August 26, 2014 by LookChang

[schondie]

Ugh...seriously!

The sprightly anecdotal humour of a provincial girl with leprosy giving a fat farang a hand job or whatever for 10 THB. For shame.

The usual Western colonial trivialisation of exploitation in foreign lands.

Results are obvious the world over these days of this kind of puerile, irresponsible entitlement.

I read Trink from the late 80s until his final word. No farewell party was needed. Slink away indeed.

I read his Night Owl column with mixed feelings as I never went to Bangkok from the time I arrived here but those are harsh words. Trink deserves a little respect even if we don't agree with his subject matter.

The hand job story is classic though. How in tarnation can this not be laughed at?

[sanuk711]

Great story.... I used to read his column every week, & I think he tried to do an internet blog just after they gave him the tin-tac but wanted to charge for it when everyone else was free, He did have rather a funny attitude to AIDS which upset some people & earned him a lot of critical letters.......you could only get AIDS if you were gay .....I think that was his belief, or something along those lines. He was a person of his times---I do not think he would be that well received now.

**Still....."the girls in the suburbs cost only 35 baht,” “Then it went down ‒ if they weren’t that good-looking ‒ to 20 baht"......where is that time machine........

Edited August 26, 2014 by sanuk711

[sanuk711]

"Ugh...seriously! The usual Western colonial trivialisation of exploitation in foreign lands. Results are obvious the world over these days of this kind of puerile, irresponsible entitlement.-"---frances

.

"I read Trink from the late 80s until his final word. (*2003)----frances

.

You don't see the irony of those two statements frances.............

Edited August 26, 2014 by sanuk711

[mrtoad]

The support for this guy is a sad and unsurprising reflection on TV posters. You find his childish pussy and pub grub menus for babes and boobs 'legendary'? 'Historic' even?

There is an incredibly dark side to the life he so flippantly spun out for the Bangkok World/Post on Fridays..

Grow up folks

And choose your heroes carefully.

He might not be ever bodies cup of tea, and he is certainly not a "hero" but his column is a legendary in Bangkok whatever way you look at it.

You read it for a number of years, so it must have had some interest for you.

Edited August 26, 2014 by mrtoad

[frances]

There is no irony or perverse interest in reading newspaper columns..An educated or interested person will read all newspaper columns, with no apology necessary.

Many dark figures in history are 'legendary'. It does not make them worthy of celebration just because they are old.

Sauk 711

There is no irony there. See above.

[jumus]

That first picture was one that I didn't really need to see.

Agreed....

[wileycoyote]

A newspaper legend ,distant from himself

[frances]

"Ugh...seriously! The usual Western colonial trivialisation of exploitation in foreign lands. Results are obvious the world over these days of this kind of puerile, irresponsible entitlement.-"---frances

.

"I read Trink from the late 80s until his final word. (*2003)----frances

.

You don't see the irony of those two statements frances.............

I do not understand why you think these two statements could be rendered 'ironic'.

As to the former quote, it just stands.

The latter quote implies I read all columns of the newspaper.

Where is the irony?

[sanuk711]

I do not understand why you think these two statements could be rendered 'ironic'.

As to the former quote, it just stands.

The latter quote implies I read all columns of the newspaper.

Where is the irony?---frances

I guess I wouldn't have spent 15+ years reading someone I had such disdain for frances....

.

.

.

but not to worry frances, ..

my mother never saw the irony in calling me a son of a bitch................

Edited August 26, 2014 by sanuk711

[landslide]

Trink was a product of his time, and a world a lot less PC than we have today. You may not have lived the lifestyle or agree with his subject matter, but he could be entertaining, and I would often check out his columns just to see what was happening in that world. Bangkok has grown up, not always for the better I might add, but reading some of Trink's old columns reminds me of the days when I was much younger, and life in Thailand was a big adventure.

[frances]

Well, I have read everything available since I was able to...definitely more than 15 + years...and no apology for doing do. Just reading or watching media does not imply a complicit viewpoint.

We all watch nonsense on the news every day; but we continue to watch the news. Not because we agree with everything broadcasted, but because we can balance and define our personal/political view point vis a vis national/international news and newspaper articles.

We all read material in newspapers and online that we disdain. This does not imply that reading Trink's articles for 15 years plus somehow negates the right to object to them.

We had the option to write to the Bangkok Post letters column, back in the pre-Internet day, but they were quite biased about which letters they chose to print.

I am sure your mother gets the irony

[carter1882]

Any comment would be superfluous.......

[frances]

Any comment would be superfluous.......

[george]

Burma Shave.

[BeforeTigers]

Think I might track down Mr. Tink and do a proper, non-judgemental interview to supplement this one.

Was nice to know the name, though. My knowledge of expat history in BKK is, apparently, shamefully limited.