Malaysia Hotel History

[My Penis is hungry]

THanks to this web site, http://www.bangkokeyes.com/ I found this interesting article,

 

Never hear of Bangkok Eyes before, they claim to go back in their archives to 1990!

 

Flash no doubt can verify, maybe he wrote it

Reader : I was recently part of a many-headed thread of emails discussing the Malaysia Hotel and its participation in the backpacker evolution and the R&R scene, and it appears there are a number of dissenting views on these subjects. The discussion started over an article on the Malaysia in the Khao Sod English website. Does your Bangkok Eyes go back to that period, and what're your thoughts on all this?

 

Midnite Hour: Although the Bangkok Eyes website does not go back to that era, and although not directly related to Night Entertainment, our staff was very much in place during that era. We saw the Khao Sod English articles, and were in discussions of our own with a number of our contacts. Regrettably, the articles made errors of omission and over-simplification - and while they covered the basics on the historical aspects of the Malaysia Hotel itself, and other hotels, they failed to present an accurate picture of the situation on the ground. Rather than rehash point-by-point the failings of the Khao Sod English articles, we will instead, present the essential facts of the day - with emphasis on those points that are continually misunderstood and misrepresented on the Internet.

 

While the rise in the 'backpacker era' and the build-up of the war in Viet Nam both took place during the same years, they each had their own separate and independent effect on Thailand, specifically Bangkok. It would seem this wouldn't need to be said, but it does.

 

Backpackers in the first half of the 1960s, while they stayed in various parts of Bangkok, were mostly found in and around the Hua Lampong train station, in the cheap flop-house Chinese hotels. The Thai Song Greet being the most well-known of these. In these years, there was no backpacker action on Soi Ngam Dupli / Soi Si Bamphen / Soi 1 Sathorn. While the Malaysia Hotel did exist - since 1967 - it was not an R&R hotel, and did not serve as one. Nor was it immediately a popular tourist hotel - although later that would change. On the other hand, the US military presence in Thailand (military stationed in Thailand) was substantial; at the end of 1966 the number of US soldiers stationed in Thailand was approximately 25,000. No mean number - and those stationed at JUSMAG, just around the corner from the Malaysia knew the area well, frequenting the Malaysia and Pitak Court and the Blue Fox bar-restaurant. These 25,000 plus G.I.s were not, repeat, not on R&R (although many of the grunts in from Viet Nam had expressed their doubts....).

 

The R&R Hotel. R&R hotels were specific hotels, not apartment buildings, that were leased by JUSMAG directly from the owners for use as BOQs (Bachelor Officer Quarters) or BEQs (Bachelor Enlisted Quarters). -Each having their own lease agreement. Again, these hotels were only some of many "leased facilities" that were leased and lease-managed by JUSMAG. Soldiers coming to Thailand on R&R were assigned to an R&R hotel, and not left free to find their way 'on the economy'. (Not that they necessarily stayed in their assigned R&R hotels..) These JUSMAG leased facilities should not be conflated with JUSMAGs NAF Special Services contracts that involved the likes of Tommy's Gems for tours and entertainment.... Other hotels frequented by the G.I.s coming in from Viet Nam during the R&R years were not R&R hotels.

 

By the early 1970s the small Chinese hotels around Hua Lampong station could no longer handle the number of tourists looking to live the "See-The-World-On-A-Dollar-A-Day" dream. It was at this time that the guest houses started sprouting like mushrooms in Sois Ngam Dupli / Si Bamphen. At this time, the Malaysia Hotel grew in popularity - many of today's long term Thailand residents stayed first in the Malaysia. But the two crowds - the true backpackers staying in guest houses, and the Malaysia Hotel guests were essentially two different classes of travelers (although some wannabe backpackers -who never slept in their sleeping bags- did stay at the Malaysia). The Soi Ngam Dupli (and adjoining areas) still was not an R&R area, although it continued to be frequented by the US military from JUSMAG. In this respect, the Soi Ngam Dupli area was unique in that there was a mixing of US military, true backpackers and other budget travelers staying at the Malaysia and similar hotels in the area.

 

On R&R. The R&R program for military serving in Viet Nam started ramping up in 1965 and was ended in late 1972 on the concluding of the Paris Peace Accord (in January 1973). In that the US armed forces were out of Viet Nam almost immediately after that, there was of course no need for an R&R program. This fact seems difficult to assimilate by many who visit, or live in, Thailand. We see for example, various so-called 'historical' descriptions of Soi Cowboy as one of the R&R-era Night Entertainment Areas. The first bar on Soi Cowboy, even before it was 'Soi Cowboy', was the Gold Label, and it opened in late 1974 (?), almost two full years after the end of the R&R era. The confusion likely stems, at least in part, from the fact that the US military contingent (of now slightly less than 25,000) stationed in Thailand did not depart for home until June-July 1976 (leaving only a small core of advisers at JUSMAG itself).

 

By the 1980s - 1990s, the center of backpacker / budget traveler activity was shifting to the Khao San Road area, leaving Sois Ngam Dupli / Si Bamphen with fewer and fewer guest houses. But the only constant is 'change', and now Khao San Road is an open zoo by day, and an closed off "walking street" bazaar and Thai-Yuppie Nitespot venue at night - the guest houses and budget hotels having shifted to the nearby sois.

 

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/arts/2017/11/24/salute-50-years-late-nights-bangkoks-malaysia-hotel/

A SALUTE TO 50 YEARS OF LATE NIGHTS AT BANGKOK’S MALAYSIA HOTEL =========================================================== http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2017/11/24/bangkoks-1960s-retro-cool-hotels-live-photos/

BANGKOK’S 1960S RETRO-COOL HOTELS LIVE ON (PHOTOS)

[My Penis is hungry]

My only story about malaysia hotel is from a mate, he noticed that the Bangkok Post on sale there always had been stamped "Promotional Copies Free" but the staff sold them anyway.

 

KhoSod article is good.

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/arts/2017/11/24/salute-50-years-late-nights-bangkoks-malaysia-hotel/