Stickman Bangkok packs it in after two decades

[webfact]

Kindling: Seminal sexpat blogger Stickman Bangkok packs it in after two decades

By Laurel Tuohy

 

In his nightlife reporting, Stickman reported on bar girls but also on nightlife regulars, club owners, bartenders and other characters on the scene. Photos: Stickman Bangkok

 

BANGKOK: -- In a sad and surprising post, Stick, the blogger behind one of Bangkok’s oldest expat blogs, Stickman Bangkok, announced that he’s packing it in and calling it a day after writing about Bangkok’s naughty nightlife scene and publishing glamour photos of bar girls for 19 years.

 

Many of the city’s expats (or, c’mon, sexpats) will feel a bit lost without his weekly updates about girly bar gossip and photos to peruse over their morning Nescafe (or, let’s face it, beer).

 

The blogger, a man from New Zealand named Nick who keeps his identity semi-concealed and boasts legions of farang male fans, moved back to New Zealand a few years ago after selling his site to an investor. He remained the site’s main paid blogger, using his network of bar bosses, regulars, and naughty nightlife insiders to get up-to-the-minute info about the the city’s go-go bars and underbelly news.

 

It worked well enough. It was hard to tell he wasn’t out trolling Soi Cowboy, Nana, and Pattaya’s Walking Street himself to dig up the site’s info. But, on Sunday, he wrote that the person he sold the site to can no longer pay him so he’s quitting.

 

Full story: https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/kindling-seminal-sexpat-blogger-stickman-bangkok-packs-two-decades/

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2017-08-23

[CelticBhoy]

Bring back Bernard Trink   . . . . .  

[Briggsy]

2 minutes ago, CelticBhoy said:

Bring back Bernard Trink   . . . . .  

If Trink is still alive, it would still be impossible to "bring him back" as he is permanently stuck in the 1950's.

[Hanuman2547]

It's the end of an era!  Good luck Stick in whatever your next venture is.

[impulse]

32 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

If Trink is still alive, it would still be impossible to "bring him back" as he is permanently stuck in the 1950's.

 

Then he'd be a good fit for a lot of the demographic he'd be writing for.

 

[GaryAdriaenssens]

Pretty old news, isn't it? He informed about it a few months ago already! But to all good things comes an end sooner or later and is in this stupid era replaced by something negative. Getting used to all the crap (people and things!) that's around these days worldwide requires a body of steel unless you're a heartless addicted robot of course.... Was good to read his stories and insight views. 

 

[ratcatcher]

1 hour ago, Briggsy said:

If Trink is still alive, it would still be impossible to "bring him back" as he is permanently stuck in the 1950's.

He is, but at 86, I doubt he's interested anymore.

[bberrythailand]

Wait a fail ! This is the only way to to call a 17 years project that stops !

 

[Briggsy]

2 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

He is, but at 86, I doubt he's interested anymore.

You could just reprint any of his old columns from the 80's. Nobody would notice.

 

You could even invent Trink bots to write his column automatically. Burma Shave, TIT, huMAN natURE, Lek at Cowboy 2 is worth a try out, Balloons at Rainbow 3, 1950's New Yorker style............ and repeat the formula.

 

You would have to prime the bots not to repeat his early stuff about underage girls though.

 

Trink's column defined anachronism.

 

(You're not Trink, are you?)

[irishken]

17 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

The times they are a changin'.

 

We the lucky few that were here in our 20's through the 80's, 90's and early 00's.

 

Stick, whom I have met several times for a wee drinkie, knows like the rest of us long-term expats, that the gig is up in Thailand. 

 

 

The gig is perhaps up for you and other long term expats who have giving up but Thailand has so much to offer that it's history is not going to be decided or its best times past in the 80's 90's and 00's. 

 

Every new new visitor doesn't know what it was like back then so it's all new to them to make their own memories just like you did. Just check YouTube for the 1 million vlogs about Thailand (all with the soundtrack to the movie the beach)and you'll see plenty of happy experiences 

[Minnehaha]

31 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

You could just reprint any of his old columns from the 80's. Nobody would notice.

 

You could even invent Trink bots to write his column automatically. Burma Shave, TIT, huMAN natURE, Lek at Cowboy 2 is worth a try out, Balloons at Rainbow 3, 1950's New Yorker style............ and repeat the formula.

 

You would have to prime the bots not to repeat his early stuff about underage girls though.

 

Trink's column defined anachronism.

 

(You're not Trink, are you?)

True dat

[shavedPotter]

Wow, don’t you people know a game of poker when you see it. There is way too much money invested in the Stickman website.  Stick was not getting paid so…… run the math. I think he will be back fairly soon before the website devalues too much.

[Artisi]

2 hours ago, Briggsy said:

If Trink is still alive, it would still be impossible to "bring him back" as he is permanently stuck in the 1950's.

That would be ok, as most of Thailand hasn't advanced to that level as yet. 

[lamyai3]

2 hours ago, Briggsy said:

If Trink is still alive, it would still be impossible to "bring him back" as he is permanently stuck in the 1950's.

Still alive, his weekly book reviews are in the same paper that published his Nite Owl columns. 

[toxicfume]

The era of Trink and Stickman have ended. Times are a'changin. Welcome to the era of My Mate Nate....

[wow64]

Its a blog.... move on. 

 

 

[marquis22]

15 minutes ago, toxicfume said:

The era of Trink and Stickman have ended. Times are a'changin. Welcome to the era of My Mate Nate....

Never read any of those three's exploits and I'm sure living in the present and wow what a life to enjoy with Thai women!

 

[JAG]

I agree that " the times they are a changing", but then things" ain't never what they were"! I rather suspect that the almost universal presence of Facebook has killed off most of these blogs, or at least made them financially less viable.

[tubby johnson]

Instead we have to make do with cheap imitations such as prurient Stickboy, and douchebags like My Mate Nate.

[Lupatria]

The motto of Thai investors (I assume in this case it is one) is like a musician once described it: "You take a nice and simple melody and drive into the ground."

[irishken]

18 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

It's no fun anymore, not really.

 

Sure, there's shedloads of foreigners arriving now (and the Thais can't hide their disdain for them) and they don't know what it was like 25 year ago but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

 

Hey, if you like shopping malls and soulless English-style bars that serve mediocre food then Bangkok will be great.

 

You are just another number in Thailand now. 

My Mother  always used to say to me that we are living in crazy times and that the world has gone mad, yet she was alive during WW2 when the world was at its maddest.

I think everyone likes to look back and think it was better before,maybe just to make themselves happy.

I've been coming to Thailand for 12 years and i haven't really noticed any difference if i'm been honest.

I actually think some things have got better, pattaya for one is actually cleaner and i'm bringing my kids there in Feb as their is lots to do for families,even the beach is cleaner and with no ladyboys hanging around it's safer.

I wouldn't have thought that 12 years ago.

 

Anyway i've heard this stickman retiring story many times before, i'm sure he'll pop back up again somewhere

Edited August 23, 2017 by irishken

[gummy]

1 minute ago, irishken said:

My Mother  always used to say to me that we are living in crazy times and that the world has gone mad, yet she was alive during WW2 and the world was at its maddest.

I think everyone like to look back and think it was better before,maybe just to make them happy.

I've been coming to Thailand for 12 years and i haven't really noticed any difference if i'm been honest.

I actually think some things have got better, pattaya for one is actually cleaner and i'm bringing my kids there in Feb as their is lots to do for families,even the beach is cleaner and with no ladyboys hanging around

its safer. I wouldn't have thought that 12 years ago.

 

Anyway i've heard this stickman retiring story many times before, i'm sure he'll pop back up again somewhere

Stickman has made enough money from the gullible and socially naïve,  predominantly expats and visitors here in Thailand, that he should just retire gracefully so the world and the fools encapsulated by his bias can forget him.

[55Jay]

1 hour ago, irishken said:

The gig is perhaps up for you and other long term expats who have giving up but Thailand has so much to offer that it's history is not going to be decided or its best times past in the 80's 90's and 00's. 

 

Every new new visitor doesn't know what it was like back then so it's all new to them to make their own memories just like you did. Just check YouTube for the 1 million vlogs about Thailand (all with the soundtrack to the movie the beach)and you'll see plenty of happy experiences 

That's right.  Every generation thinks theirs was the golden age.    Everyday though, some wet behind the ears newbie arrives and feels like Christopher Columbus, and that bar fines and beers are "cheap as hell".  It's all relative.  LOL.

 

Know a guy 'round where I live, mid-60s now, and I enjoy listening to his tales of SE Asia/Thailand- the ladies, bars, and the colorful, if not questionable, characters of the day.... 60s and 70s into the 80s. 

Edited August 23, 2017 by 55Jay

[Antonymous]

I read all of Trink’s columns and loved them. Couldn’t believe they let him carry on in ‘The Other Newspaper’ for as long as they did, but missed him when they were gone. Still have some cuttings (before the internet for those wondering what cuttings are).

 

Stickman’s style never matched the style of Trink and I didn’t follow any of his stuff. Still, I can see that perhaps this is the end of an ‘era’.

 

About comparing night life today and years past I’ll say this. There was a lot more freedom back then. Freedom to be good. Freedom to be bad. Didn’t mean you had to be bad, but the opportunities, the unbridled rawness of experience, the acceptance of everything as it was, these were exhilarating. It was definitely more fun, as Father Stack says.

 

And a certain sense of danger prevailed, at least in Bangkok. I had a couple of really bad experiences around 1991 that I wouldn’t expect to happen again now. These didn’t make me leave…

 

Relatively speaking the night scene today is bleached and ironed and countless iPhone cameras snapping inanely, leading to YouTube videos of everything under the sun as well as under the bed, take all the freewheeling joy out of any ‘public’ experience.

[Sparkles]

27 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Add to the fact that the expat haunts of Soi Cowboy, Patpong and Nana have been turned into neon tourist attractions.

 

Soi 10 gone.

 

Asok Plaza gone.

 

Clinton Plaza gone.

 

Soi Zero gone. 

 

Soi Happyland gone.

 

Washington Square gone.

 

I could probably name dozens more but the fun has been squeezed out of Bangkok now. 

When I first came to Bangkok, for work I lived in Happyland Mansion Hotel.

 

I managed to snare a very large room on the 10th floor with aircon,satellite TV and a twice weekly clean and change of linen for 6,000 baht a mth, not even a deposit required.It was heaven and 5 mins to work in the Mall Bangkapi by motorbike taxi. Street food was plentiful and outside my front door

 

I remember the night I moved in and the taxi driver said "oh you like massage,many girls" I hadnt noticed, or understood, the large neon sign, in Thai of cours,e that indicated that there was a fishbowl through the side entrance,how convenient and room service available.

 

I stayed there for around  3 months until I got the lay of the land and knew that the job was what suited me.I only moved because the receptionist decided I should be her boyfriend and her brother was a policeman,she became quite unpleasant and commonsense prevailed and I  moved out

 

Stickman and Trink  were a great source of information when ones leisure  time was limited as was a page in the Nation,the authors name I cant remember but it was an amusing refection on life in Bangkok during the Taksin reign.

 

Every month on a Thursday night,Friday our only day off ,we teachers would taxis to Soi Cowboy for a night at Susie Wong's with its 60 baht Chang draught specials and loads of happy people enjoying a night out.The regular visit at 10pm of the BIB in brown to accompany the mamasan to the back room was a highlight and a source of much amusement and smiles all round.

 

They say you should never go back and 4 years ago I did with some former colleagues and the whole vibe had changed.No longer happy faces just a relentless pursuit for you to buy over priced ladies drinks and pay a horrendous bar fine.The girls were jaded .no longer any real smiles and frankly walking around the soi we felt quite vunerable.A meal at a tarted up English style pub cost an arm and a leg it was all a huge let down.We stayed in Sukumvit, Soi 22 and were hounded buy the Indian fratenity trying to sell us drugs and fake watches etc.The only words they undertood was "F*** off and leave us alone".I have no desire to go back.

 

I now live in Chiang Mai, in retirement with my lovely Thai wife of 13 years, and no longer interested in the night life which is apparently almost non existent  anyway. CM power brokers have decided that CM will target up market Chinese,Koreans and Japanese that have buckets of cash to spend but they dont frequent the places that Westerners previously loved so much.  

We had the best of it,even Pattaya was fun and thanks to Stickman. I dont care if you made a lot of money no one was ever forced to follow your advice even you did get a backhander

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

That would be ok, as most of Thailand hasn't advanced to that level as yet. 

He wrote for people like himself who thought there was nothing else in life except sex, I always felt a little sorry for the old fool

[bannork]

1 hour ago, toxicfume said:

The era of Trink and Stickman have ended. Times are a'changin. Welcome to the era of My Mate Nate....

Noooooo! nuff said.

[Thaidream]

I completely agree with the Father and the other posters reminiscence on Thailand and its current lack of real fun. Yes, I was here in the 60s and every year after that.  The nightlife scene in Thailand and Bangkok in general is now approaching the nightlife scene in America and Europe-  give me the money and then leave me alone-.  The  working girls are bored to death; lack a real Thai smile; and can't even fake an interest except in  one's pocket and how to get it from your hand to theirs.   Then there is the ubiquitous - so called- smart phones in which every word and every action can be documented and sent around the World. One can't even be themselves  lest the whole World know where you are and what you are doing. I threw mine away years ago.

 

I visited Soi Cowboy a few weeks ago not having gone down there for years- I even talked to a few owners I knew and they all indicated that the industries golden years are gone. There are a few old time punters around but with higher prices; lower exchange rates and crackdowns by the police- the fun is not there. they know that at some point Nana , Cowboy and the others will all be gone so they're trying to get as much as they can from the unlucky punters which in turn just drives more people away. There is no place for  Trink or Stickman today because the scene they reported on is in its death throes.

 

If you want to find out what Thailand was like in its heyday- head for Cambodia; Vietnam or even Mongolia.

[Fumanchang]

https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/weekly-column/2015/04/the-slyest-geezer/

[dreamboy3394]

i talk with that man one time in my life and something very wrong with that guy i can you tell you that ....one of my happiest day in my life :) great news :) celebrating!