Soi Cowboy

[Cypress Hill]

It's the looks of disbelief I get from the girls and/or their mamasans when I don't cream my pants at the merest hint of flirtation as I cut through the soi on my way home that amaze me.

How can a man NOT feel privileged to be invited into a clip joint to buy over-priced lady drinks for some stretch-marked strumpet in a bikini and thigh-boots.

How can a man NOT fall over himself to engage in a pidgin-English conversation with a barely-20 year old, borderline illiterate, gymslip single mother over ear-splitting, commercial electro-pop

I live literally next door to Soi Cowboy and, frankly, it's the only blight on what must be one of the most well-connected and convenient locations in the city.

Still, its existence does mean I can get a moto-taxi, a cab or a freshly-cooked meal at 2 or 3 in the morning so it ain't all bad

[JohnnyHK]

Count your blessings men, in Hong Kong clubs they wear bikinis and a private dance girly drink is the equivalent of 1,100 baht.

I'm kind of scared( disease or machete attack way) to go to a Macau club but it would be more exciting at least.

[DrTuner]

Never been. My impression of the one night in BKK kind of action is that it's been gone for a couple of decades already.

Luckily, there's still Pattaya where the sois are too seedy to bike around.

[MyFriend You]

Soi Zero died and went to heaven years ago. There's nothing there anymore.

It died because some Yuppy decided it needed to be 'upgraded' from Buckskin Joe Village , it was a respectable place back then - like a Ship, never change its name if you are the original owner - Bad Karma

Oh, not paying the Tea Money to the right people also contributed to the closure

[Jessi]

Do you remember the Thermae and/or Washington Square?

When the only way to enter the Thermae was via the toilet?

Years ago I knew an English guy and just after he arrived in BKK he fell in love with the most beautiful woman he had ever met (His words not mine) and yes he was going to marry her.

I asked him where he met her and he tells me "She is not a bar girl" I met her in a coffee shop called the THERMAE. I told him about some of the pit falls of these young lady's , his reply was " You dont understand this is different.

Some guys just dont get it.

Are they still happily married?

No! He ran out of money.

[elgenon]

Do you remember the Thermae and/or Washington Square?

Ah Wild Country. 500b would go along way. They'd go home with a full belly, bless 'em.

So I've been told.

Aha... those were the days, when all the girls knew you by name and they wai you on entering

the establishment, and all wanted to sit by you hoping you take them home, those were

the original girls, well before the tidal wave of Horney Japs has discovered the game

throwing their money around and thus ruining paradise for all of us....

I went last week for the first time in many years...

I think all those girls you knew way back then are still working there...

The outside seating and people watching is better than I remember, and the beers were cold, but the quality of girls was pretty grim. Maybe my standards are higher now.

Overweight, tattoos, smoking, with plenty of caesarian scars on view and very few girls over a 5 seemed the norm. And my buddy did get the remainder of a drink thrown at him when the girl asked for another drink and he said no....which was pretty funny.

Lot's of Indian's and Arabs and Japanese but didn't see a lot taking away...although the walk of shame is pretty deep now....you're just praying that your girl de jour dresses reasonably conservatively when you have to take that walk along the street of eyes.

Harmless fun.

Wow! Are you repressed?

[elgenon]

I prefer to do my happy hour drinking in a normal bar.

But there are normal bars all over the world. Drinking in a gogo bar (or as we usually do, sitting outside on the terrace watching the comings and goings) is a uniquely Thai.

Indeed there are. But I live in Bangkok. And I prefer my beer without a view of a fat middle-aged German pawing at a teenager.

Good for you! Good put down! Though I think the German apex was years ago. BTW That's why the girls make the big bucks. The girls that make less go to RCA.

[antibes]

Soy Cowboy depressing site for Thailand no normal men will spend more 5 minutes

[brewsterbudgen]

Soy Cowboy depressing site for Thailand no normal men will spend more 5 minutes

I take it you're not in that category then.

[longstebe]

Soy Cowboy depressing site for Thailand no normal men will spend more 5 minutes

Glad I'm not normal then. Love the place.

[tw25rw]

Whenever I'm in Bangkok, I always visit SC or Nana and enjoy it. I could sit in some 'normal' bar , but I find the company of 'tarts' more entertaining than that of tiresome expat bores who think they are above it all. I don't even need to have sex with them. They are just better company, and often better people. I hope this aspect of Bangkok life lasts a long time and doesn't succumb to the will of the kind of person who would move to a neighbouring street to a long established area, then want it closed because it annoys them or doesn't meet their approval.

[SoiBiker]

A bar full of expats isn't a normal Bangkok bar.

Some of you should trying breaking out of the ghetto and visiting Thailand for once. It's a nice place.

[brewsterbudgen]

A bar full of expats isn't a normal Bangkok bar.

Some of you should trying breaking out of the ghetto and visiting Thailand for once. It's a nice place.

I assume he meant a normal expat bar.

[bangmai]

And to add to that, I've been to a well known bar in CM, that no longer offers escorts. Everyone, who I have spoken with, agrees that it was much better, when the girls were actually trying to entice the guys. Even if you never paid a bar fine in your life. Now, it's more like the single grandmas playing with their tablets, who act disturbed if you want a beer. Guess who is paying for all that lost revenue from the barfines? Yep, prices have gone from 30 for a small to 60+ in about 6 years.

[dragonfly94]

Soy Cowboy depressing site for Thailand no normal men will spend more 5 minutes

Glad I'm not normal then. Love the place.

Ah the lights, the overprice beer, the ugly tattooed prostitutes the ear damaging loud music, what not to love

[longstebe]

Soy Cowboy depressing site for Thailand no normal men will spend more 5 minutes

Glad I'm not normal then. Love the place.

Ah the lights, the overprice beer, the ugly tattooed prostitutes the ear damaging loud music, what not to love

I will agree on the overpriced beer, I'll give you that one.

[DLock]

Whenever I'm in Bangkok, I always visit SC or Nana and enjoy it. I could sit in some 'normal' bar , but I find the company of 'tarts' more entertaining than that of tiresome expat bores who think they are above it all. I don't even need to have sex with them. They are just better company, and often better people. I hope this aspect of Bangkok life lasts a long time and doesn't succumb to the will of the kind of person who would move to a neighbouring street to a long established area, then want it closed because it annoys them or doesn't meet their approval.

What do you discuss in pidgin English with you Issan princesses as you buy them drinks all night for the pleasure of your place in the queue, as you watch them shuffle to Rock Hits of the 70's, when it's their turn to "dance"?

How do you cope when you have to go back home? Do you talk to your electrical appliances? Do they respond back?

Just wondering.

[lostinisaan]

I've met many gentlemen, who found their Tirac there. They all went through a similar story, bought houses, cars, motorbikes and were free to leave once all was set up.

Yep, you can take them out of a bar. But you can't get the bar out of their brains.Never. Read "Private Dancer," before you fall in love, please.

[longstebe]

I've met many gentlemen, who found their Tirac there. They all went through a similar story, bought houses, cars, motorbikes and were free to leave once all was set up.

Yep, you can take them out of a bar. But you can't get the bar out of their brains.Never. Read "Private Dancer," before you fall in love, please.

Maybe some blokes don't give a flying <deleted>, as long as they have a pretty lady next to them.

[brewsterbudgen]

I've met many gentlemen, who found their Tirac there. They all went through a similar story, bought houses, cars, motorbikes and were free to leave once all was set up.

Yep, you can take them out of a bar. But you can't get the bar out of their brains.Never. Read "Private Dancer," before you fall in love, please.

Repeating generalised cliches and quoting a work of fiction doesn't help your case.

[Cypress Hill]

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And to add to that, I've been to a well known bar in CM, that no longer offers escorts. Everyone, who I have spoken with, agrees that it was much better, when the girls were actually trying to entice the guys. Even if you never paid a bar fine in your life. Now, it's more like the single grandmas playing with their tablets, who act disturbed if you want a beer. Guess who is paying for all that lost revenue from the barfines? Yep, prices have gone from 30 for a small to 60+ in about 6 years.

Uh-huh

Price rises over the last 6 years are nothing AT ALL to do with inflation

They're ALL because the girls can't be barfined

[bangmai]

1/3 increase...maybe; not double. Let me guess, you obtained your online degree in Economics?

[Cypress Hill]

1/3 increase...maybe; not double. Let me guess, you obtained your online degree in Economics?

No but, for sure, it'd be better than a barstool variant

[tw25rw]

A bar full of expats isn't a normal Bangkok bar.

Some of you should trying breaking out of the ghetto and visiting Thailand for once. It's a nice place.

Still not interested. I'd rather buy from 7-11 and drink at home..

[SoiBiker]

Living the dream, eh?

[sprq]

I love the responses regarding greed having spoilt soi cowboy. Yes, those pesky impoverished, uneducated single mothers demanding more than 500 Baht to give their bodies to complete strangers...darn them, the greedy tarts!

Ooh, and can you believe a Singha is 80 Baht these days. Daylight robbery I tell you! ....

What sort of world do we live in.

If they actually gave a service worth 2,000 baht, i.e. more than six times the minimum daily wage, in their half-hour of bed work, then absolutely fine. But the typical bar girl today doesn't actually know how to give good sex, even wants to. Most never did, but the relatively modest fee it cost you meant you could just take the bad experience philosophically. Now to have to pay some lazy cow 2,000 baht for a bad time is objectionable.

[sprq]

Soi Zero died and went to heaven years ago. There's nothing there anymore.

The last remaining bar from Soi Zero, or Buckskin Joe's, as some of us fondly remember it, is Det 5 in soi 8. Great place to play pool, eat, drink beer. Upscale enough to bring your wife. Free buffet on Saturdays (for many years; not sure now, as I've been away for two years)

The bars on the corner of Asoke were endless fun, and the bar named after "that book by Nabokov", started in the car park behind them.

Even at its best, Thermae, was a rank imitator. The REAL deal was the Grace Hotel coffee shop, back in the day...or so my few remaining brain cells tell me.

Ah, the Disgrace, the three juke boxes all playing different records, the wild and wonderful choice of girls, an exotic wonderworld that was the first place to get ruined by non-Westerners when the Saudis crowded in around 1983. Sic transit gloria Bangkoki.

[ttthailand]

Whenever I'm in Bangkok, I always visit SC or Nana and enjoy it. I could sit in some 'normal' bar , but I find the company of 'tarts' more entertaining than that of tiresome expat bores who think they are above it all. I don't even need to have sex with them. They are just better company, and often better people. I hope this aspect of Bangkok life lasts a long time and doesn't succumb to the will of the kind of person who would move to a neighbouring street to a long established area, then want it closed because it annoys them or doesn't meet their approval.

What do you discuss in pidgin English with you Issan princesses as you buy them drinks all night for the pleasure of your place in the queue, as you watch them shuffle to Rock Hits of the 70's, when it's their turn to "dance"?

How do you cope when you have to go back home? Do you talk to your electrical appliances? Do they respond back?

Just wondering.

Some people can speak Thai you know. I too get a good laugh chatting with the girls in Thai and sometimes in English. Bar girls are not my cup of tea but they are people and there are there for your entertainment.

I'll bet you're great fun to have a conversation with in a bar......not !

[DLock]

Whenever I'm in Bangkok, I always visit SC or Nana and enjoy it. I could sit in some 'normal' bar , but I find the company of 'tarts' more entertaining than that of tiresome expat bores who think they are above it all. I don't even need to have sex with them. They are just better company, and often better people. I hope this aspect of Bangkok life lasts a long time and doesn't succumb to the will of the kind of person who would move to a neighbouring street to a long established area, then want it closed because it annoys them or doesn't meet their approval.

What do you discuss in pidgin English with you Issan princesses as you buy them drinks all night for the pleasure of your place in the queue, as you watch them shuffle to Rock Hits of the 70's, when it's their turn to "dance"?

How do you cope when you have to go back home? Do you talk to your electrical appliances? Do they respond back?

Just wondering.

Some people can speak Thai you know. I too get a good laugh chatting with the girls in Thai and sometimes in English. Bar girls are not my cup of tea but they are people and there are there for your entertainment.

I'll bet you're great fun to have a conversation with in a bar......not !

I speak fluent Thai...happen to read it as well.

But I'm not going to waste my time in a craphole bar talking to a whore who's only interest is am I going to barfine her or not, and how many drinks can she get out of me before I leave.

I prefer real bars, with real people and real conversation.

But you keep filling your void.

[tw25rw]

Whenever I'm in Bangkok, I always visit SC or Nana and enjoy it. I could sit in some 'normal' bar , but I find the company of 'tarts' more entertaining than that of tiresome expat bores who think they are above it all. I don't even need to have sex with them. They are just better company, and often better people. I hope this aspect of Bangkok life lasts a long time and doesn't succumb to the will of the kind of person who would move to a neighbouring street to a long established area, then want it closed because it annoys them or doesn't meet their approval.

What do you discuss in pidgin English with you Issan princesses as you buy them drinks all night for the pleasure of your place in the queue, as you watch them shuffle to Rock Hits of the 70's, when it's their turn to "dance"?

How do you cope when you have to go back home? Do you talk to your electrical appliances? Do they respond back?

Just wondering.

I enjoy their company. Some of them I've known for years and even know outside the bars. Much nicer than sanctimonious bores. I can do that anywhere in the world.