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What is the Karaoke Kraze?


zanemay

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I don't know about the Thai Karaoke clubs, but have a lot of experience in the Singapore scene. In Singapore, as earlier posted on Thailand, there are several levels. Starting with the basic sing-along and flirting with the girls. Next level is private room with more serious flirting and still singing. The last (best) level is the down and dirty private room. Not much singing, but a lot of dancing and touching, and with the right girls, not much clothes. In one case, I actually got a blowjob sitting in the room from this darling little Malaysian girl. Did I mention, the rooms are real dark. In Singapore, in house sex is not usually available, but some girls would go with you after work for the right price. Once you get into the scene, it is a lot of fun. I actually got the point I preferred this to the Orchard Tower scene (until I met my wife, then most of that all stopped). What we would do, is go to private room until about 1:00AM, then if nothing was going to work with one of the karaoke girls, head over to Orchard Tower for a sure thing.

Of, course, being Singapore, none of this is very cheap. A private room, with a bottle of gin and brandy (for the girls), and the girls time would could easily run to over S$500. There are Japanese clubs in Singapore that the bill can run up over S$2K in a heartbeat.

My wife worked in the Bangkok karaoke scene before going to Singapore to do the same. When I met her, she was working in one of the sing-along clubs in Singapore(I didn't meet here there, I just started going to her club after we met). We lived together a couple of months in Singapore while she was still working, and I can tell you, she was making anywhere from S$200 to S$500 a night in tips, just for singing and flirting. Needless to say, she took a huge paycut to move to Malaysia with me.

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Hi,

Zanemay asked:

"Or, what is so special about the karaoke girls that I would want to pay a lot of money for them to FLIRT with me?"

In my eyes, and certainly in the eyes of most Asians, the girls are a lot more attractive.

"But inside those very private rooms with several girls, all they are doing is SINGING!? No sex?"

In most of the bars, yes, all that is going on is singing, drinking and flirting.

"Is this because Thai men and Cambodian men have lots of access to prostitutes, so the paid sex is more mundane and karaoke is more social interaction and fun?"

I think this may very well be one of the reasons. I hardly ever see somebody going to karaoke by himself, mostly it is small to medium sized groups of men.

I also think that a lot of these guys frequent massage parlours either before or after the karaoke.

Sanuk!

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Perhaps she was telling you what she thought you wanted to hear. The point of buying mali for the singer is to show your appreciation of the singing, or in payment for a requested song. Without these tips the girls would only make the basic 4,000- 6,000 so mali money makes up a lot of their income.In some places the girl gets half of the mali money but in other cafes by paying an extra sum, usualy 20 baht, the girl gets the whole 100 which is clipped on the mali. She will come and sit with you after if on your own or at least come and wai you if you are with someone.The singers do go with customers after hours but it's by no means a sure thing.

In cambodia I went into two karaoke bars which were quite shabby compared to thai ones and expensive by cambodian standards, two girls, ten small beers and nibbles for 1.5 hours was $25, next to sharky bar. The ones I went into had rooms at the back for sanuk.Taking a girl out was $20.-peter

Originally posted by Zane May:

[QB]Thank you fellows!

I went to a couple of sing-a-songs and I saw no value for the baht in putting flowers around a girls neck. I asked a Thai woman what the point was. She said, "Oh that's where Thai men go to show off."

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Could you say where villa and mirage are located please? I don't remember hearing of them before-peter

 

quote:

Originally posted by Smartwong:

Just

Now back to the CAFEs.. Villa, and Mirage are two of the best known though there are many others.. Girls get up on stage.. and single and men buy flowers..

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Thank you fellows!

I appreciate the insights and I have to say I still don't get it. Baht for baht the farangs are getting a better deal at our bars. Or, what is so special about the karaoke girls that I would want to pay a lot of money for them to FLIRT with me? Are they incredibly skilled at it?

I went to a couple of sing-a-songs and I saw no value for the baht in putting flowers around a girls neck. I asked a Thai woman what the point was. She said, "Oh that's where Thai men go to show off."

I know this is an Asian thing like going to a Geisha club. Westerners want something more concrete for their money.

I have been in situations where I could watch the comings and goings from private karaoke rooms. There is a lot of going in and out with drinks. But inside those very private rooms with several girls, all they are doing is SINGING!? No sex? That is really Asian, I'm sure.

Is this because Thai men and Cambodian men have lots of access to prostitutes, so the paid sex is more mundane and karaoke is more social interaction and fun?

Zane May

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Had a pretty surreal experience in a KTV place in Singapore in '96. There were 3 of us in there just for the crack. Lots of middle-aged Chinese guys singing Mandarin love songs, ( so one of the KTV hostesses said, I didn't know what language it was at the time.)

Anyway, had a lot of fun. Drank a few pitchers of beer and the girls kept asking us to sing. They brought over the menu. Had a look at Western pop songs. Couldn't believe it. There was Gerry Marsden and The Pacemakers 1960's classic "Ferry 'cross the Mersey." So, we'll have that one then. There we were, less than an inch on the map from the equator, watching a video of the Pier Head in the middle of Liverpool with a Ferry bobbing through the river, singing our guts out. Don't know what the other punters made of it as we were the only gweilos in there. The girls loved it though. For encore it had to be Elvis.

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quote:

Originally posted by Khun Sanuk:

Hi,

These bars are all over the place. You could try Claudia, Spago or Nataree for instance. All of them are on Ratchada.

Would be happy to take you to one when you are in town.

Sanuk!

Yes, that would be great. I'll be in town next week and hoping to meet some of the regulars in Woodstock on Friday the 22nd. Maybe we will finally have a chance to talk smile.gif" border="0 to smile.gif" border="0 . Looking forward to meeting you soon, Guido.

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quote:

Originally posted by Jap 12:

What do you know about the 'laos sing a song' scene, I've never been able to find out why the dancin/singin girls get money hung around their necks, is it payment for services to come !! or people just giving it away ? I used to go regular with my thai (now ex) wife and she was very evasive with her explanations..

JP

This is five year old info, but...

In Bangkok I used to go to my favorite Northeastern Thai dance club called 'Issan Darling 2' (no sign in English). One paid a nominal amount (5 baht?) to dance with the employees, mostly attractive early college age women in uniform. You buy coupons and as you dance a clerk collects them.

 

If you like the musicians and singers you can pay for a garland (variously priced) and honor them.

Regarding sex, the cutie I was interested in didn't respond to my sideways suggestions, and I got the impression (erroneous?) that most of the dance hall girls were only that -- paid entertainment companions, not hookers. Or maybe if they really like you something could happen. But a more seasoned dancer, all of 23, did proposition me. Out on the street cotrbner after closing she was disappointed I didn't want to go with her. She was a bit too aggresive for me, and frankly I like fresher girls.

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The Villa Cafe is on Petburi Road. It's actually geared more towrd family fun than sanuk though they have over 100 girls there to buy flowers for. YOu will see enitre families have dinner there while watching the show wwhich is ranked as one of the best in Thailand.. Famous actors often make appearnces here. They even film the Villa cafe performances once a month for a local Live television broadcast.

Now the Mirage is located off Ratchada behind the Emerald hotel. They have a MP, Karaoke and one of the more highlyh ranked Cafes in all of bangkok. On a friday night you can see nearly 200 girls there.

BTW.. I've heard a bunch of theories behind how much Singing girls make in the cafes. This is the truth. The top 10 girls at Mirage routinly make 5k to 8k baht average per night. I went to that cafe about 3 times a week for 4 weeks and saw girls receive as much as 20k in flowers in one evening.. and this is not a rareity. It happens all the time. They will also never ever go home or even to eat out with there admirers.. due to the fact that as soon as the word gets out that one of these "good girls" has "gone out" with a customer.. all the other guys giving her flowers will see that she has been "deflowered" ...for money and stop giving her flowers even though that is exactly what they give her flowers in the first place for LOL. Something just don't make soo much sense that they begin to make some sense ROFL...

Anyway The girls get 90% of the flower cost. MOst guys I see at Mirage never ive less than 1000 baht at a time and many give 3000 or more several times thoughout the evening to keep the girl at there table talking to them. However.. last time I was there 2 of the top girls sat at our table with my thai buddy and tey left there cell phone there while talking to the customers that were giving them flowers then made excuses every 30 minutes or so that thye had to go answer there cell phone (which were at our table) so they could sit with us and we didn't pay anything LOL..

Just like the lounges.. the girls will give it up for free if they like you. But have no illusions there are expert flirts and they make a living out of coaxing people to spend outrageous sums of money on them. Amny Japanese and Chinese as well as wealthy millionare western businessmen can be seen spending money to buy flowers for a s many as 6 or 7 girls at once so they will surround him at his table while chatting the night away. Total cost for buying 6 girls flowers for an entire evening could exceed 50k baht easily. ...Well to each his own I guess

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