BKK's nightlife is dead - exagerated?

[voodoo31]

Having read the site for the past couple of weeks I was worried about all the talk of Bangkok's naughty nightlife being almost dead. I arrived last night and from first night's expereince it didn't seem all that different.

 

Arrived late and headed for Nana Plaza. It was past midnoght when O got there. Went to Raibow 1 and PLayskool. Both were fairly busy, usualy collection of gisls ( some stunners, some pigs). Girls seemed not much different to my last vist 6 months ago. I left about 1:15 am and downstairs bars all seemed to still be open. But looking at top levels seemed very dark and possibly those bars were closd or just very quiet. It is off season so definitely Nana Plaza was not in full swing but not too different from previous visits.

 

Went over to Nana disco. 300 baht entrance fee WHAT! hasn't that gone up. Anyway paid and wen inside - very busy and quite a few nice freelancers around. Chatted to a few but in the end left on my own. Place shut about 2:15am. Plenty of girls and punters milling around in the car park and near Nana Plaza entrance. Street stalls doing good business selling food.

 

All in all didn't seem any different from previous visits, mayne I just had a lucky night.

[shygye]

Well, did you see half-a-dozen bars showing tits and sometimes bush?

[OCgringo]

well I was there the last 2 weeks of August and it seemed pretty slow , but its off-season too.

 

Around NANA lots of girls in the bars looking bored because there are few customers.

Many girls have "turned Japanese" because there are loads of Japanese customers.

 

Went to Soi Cowboy one night and it was fun because I had a guide to show me around ,

too bad I had to leave early !

 

PS.....alot of showing (more flashing) in Soi Cowboy.....

[BelgianBoy]

shygye said:

Well, did you see half-a-dozen bars showing tits and sometimes bush?

 

yep, and sometimes kerry as well...............

 

BB

[Nervous_Dog]

Hmmm - Well I am just back from Not nana, another soi, and I saw a full on full nudeoiled show, started at about 11.30, dam good though!

 

DOG - Stay away

[shygye]

So you were on bus no. 12.

[Nervous_Dog]

cheaper than a taxi to get home, still, was glad i saw it!

[..]

shygye said:

So you were on bus no. 12.

No, no, no! Pay attention. The fucking show is on bus 12, the ping pong pussy show is on the fourth skytrain car at 11PM, and the oily show is in the Asoke underground station at 1AM!

 

LOL!

 

Cheers,

SD

[Guest]

Having read the site for the past couple of weeks I was worried about all the talk of Bangkok's naughty nightlife being almost dead.

Notwithstanding the attention grabbing thread captions, I don?t anyone here is claiming that Bangkok?s nightlife is dead. There has been a severe crackdown over the last three months, and despite the heated argument over the details of that crackdown, I don?t believe there is any serious dispute that major changes have occurred.

 

Whether you think that makes Bangkok?s nightlife dead seems to depend upon what you think is important. Belgium Boy, for example, seems to have gone through the list of changes and concluded it makes no difference to him when you compare Bangkok to Belgium (but they do have better beer there, don?t they?) Let?s quickly run through the list:

 

- Early Closing: NEP and Soi Cowboy are closing at 1 am (and earlier on a few occasions last month). When I went by NEP last night ? a Friday - at 1:20 a.m. it was completely dark (more about that below). Some here claim there are hidden away afterhour places that stay open later (and they may be right), but even so, having NEP and Soi Cowboy dark by 1 am is a change. For some this is obviously not a big deal, but I think it changes the entire atmosphere. It is certainly not good for places such as Q Bar, Club Mystique, etc. (places where I like to go after and sometimes before NEP or Soi Cowboy), but if you have a different agenda, the early closing may be irrelevant. I personally think it knocks the wind out of Bangkok's nightlife.

 

- Shows: I think it can be fairly summarized as follows: the most you will see in the bars we are all familiar with in NEP and Soi Cowboy is the occasional flash. Maybe in other bars (perhaps Patpong or some place many of us don't know) they are showing, but for NEP and Soi Cowboy that about is about you'll see now. I saw two bars last night in NEP where the girls flashed. I won?t complain when a girl flashes, but it is not the highlight of my night. To give this some measure, even in NEP's most relaxed ground floor bar (the place that is bottomless when every one else can only go topless), the girls are fully, but creatively, clothed. To be perfectly honest, this is less important to me than the early closings.

 

- Police Raids, Passports and Urine Tests: I don?t think anyone disputes that this is occurring now. It has been reported in the press, and several members have already given very detailed accounts of what it is like to get caught up in one of these nightmares. The police have said ? again in the press ? they intend to raid at least one bar weekly, but I don?t think anyone here really knows if that is happening. If you are tourist dropping in Bangkok for a few days before going on to Phuket or Pattaya, the chances of it happening to you are probably low ? unless you are unlukcy or the crackdown cranks up. If you are an ex-pat who goes out once or twice a week, you face a different set of odds ? if this continues.

 

The big IF in all of this is that things could start to get more relaxed again. Or get worse. And looking for signs of things to come, I took a walk down at Soi 4 starting at 1:20 am or so Friday night (I was otherwise occupied at 1 am), and this is what I saw.

 

The lights were on in the 7/11 next to Bus Stop, but out in all of the bars from that point up along Soi 4, with the possible exception of the outdoor bar across from NEP that is connected to the Nana Hotel (the golden something-or-other); that bar was dimmly lit for a few farangs who were finishing off their beers. NEP itself was dark, and judging from the quality and quantity of the girls trickling out, it had probably closed around 1 am. The bars closer to Sukhumvit already had there steel shutters down and locked.

 

There were fold up chairs and street vendors serving food, and saw a few people drinking beer - if that counts for anything.

 

The Nana Hotel parking lot was pretty light. The Angels disco signs was lit, but I didn?t venture in and therefore don?t know if it was open or not. There was a heavy police presence, but they didn?t seem to be checking people for IDs or doing much other than making their presence felt.

 

I did see one strange sight. I wandered by two MiB who were telling a 30-ish Farang man ?just go home and get some sleep.? It was one of those conversations where you wish you had arrived just a few minutes earlier so that you could put the pieces together. I?ll never know if a farang actually complained to a couple of street police officers about the early closing, and they told him to ?just go home and get some sleep.?

[BelgianBoy]

Whether you think that makes Bangkok?s nightlife dead seems to depend upon what you think is important. Belgium Boy, for example, seems to have gone through the list of changes and concluded it makes no difference to him when you compare Bangkok to Belgium (but they do have better beer there, don?t they?) Let?s quickly run through the list:

 

Never compared, but agreed on the beer, but you have the better Thai gals

My point was -and still is- that even though there is an apparant crackdown on the nightlife in BKK, it still is fantastic to have what you have.

Care to explain me the whing regarding the earlier closing times and why it has to be 2 AM or later, when there are imposing closing times in most major countries over the world ?

 

BB