1:20 a.m. at Nana on a Friday Night

[Gadfly]

The sidewalks cannot accommodate the crowds and they spill over into the streets. The plaza itself is pitch dark black; everyone has ever left the bars and is either somewhere on a lower Sukhumvit sidewalk or already back in their rooms. There are very few cars on the street, and I am wondering why?

 

Walking the short distance from the plazaâ??s entrance to the corner of Soi 4 and Sukhumvit, I repeatedly hear: â??Mister, you take me home?â? In that short distance I heard this same question repeated over 20 times in feminine and not-so-feminine voices. If this was your first time to Thailand, you could be forgiven for concluding it was the national anthem. â??Mister, you take me home?â?Â

 

Arriving at the corner, the MiB are furiously blowing their whistles and waving their hands in a desperate and not entirely successful attempt to control vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Cars are waived on at both the Soi 4 and Soi 3 corners and theyâ??re enough MiB around to ensure that no taxis stop anywhere near these corners or turn into Soi 4. That explains why there are so few cars on Soi 4.

 

The sidewalk bars donâ??t really start in serious numbers until about Soi 7, but between Soi 3 and 7 the stands selling pirated DVDs and other counterfeit goods operate unencumbered and contribute to the pedestrian congestion, requiring farang customers to squeeze by overly aggressive and grabbing gatoeys. Along the way touts offer beer for sale or ask if I want to to go to a bar open all night. "Mister, you want go now?â?Â

 

Approaching the new Thermae and across from Chuwitâ??s monument, the sidewalk bars thicken. I see scores of girls from the bars I met earlier in the evening asking me to sit down and pointing out the obvious: â??no need to pay bar fine now.â?Â

 

A good percentage of the crowd is very drunk, BGs included. The gatoeys are even more aggressive on this part of Sukhumvit. Many Farangs and Thais down here are staggering more than they are walking. There are no police here pushing traffic on, so this is where it congests. Itâ??s a real circus, and must be a quite sight from a car on Sukhumvit.

 

There are more touts and girls on this part of street. There is an unpleasant edge to their persistence reminiscent of my last trips to India and Burma.

 

Thailand seems poorer than just a scant six months ago, at least out here. There is an unmistakable difference. I donâ??t think the early closings are causing this, but there is certainly more grubbiness and poverty on display now.

 

Thailand has changed over the last six months and continues to change, and you can see plenty of signs of this by simply walking down Sukhumvit after hours.

[elef]

Thanks for that report!

 

On the evening 28 april I had dinner in La Casa with a TG living in Denmark and her brother who is a very high-up police officer, his wife who works as an immigration officer in new airport (always picks me up at arrival and takes me through diplomatic or thai passport counters empty while long queues everywhere else, also follows me through customs) and their daughter who is in an international school.

 

Later that evening I take the TG to Nana, it's her 1st visit to the BKK nightlife and she's excited seeing the gogos and beerbars in Nana. Finally we sit down at the beerbar to the left at the entrance if you leave Nana. Several gogo-dancers arrive from home with luggage like air stewardesses.

 

Later back to Landmark for sleep some hours. I wake up 1 am and needed to smoke and a beer. The TG was sleeping beside, my regular waiting in Pattaya had phoned so I decided to go out. Not much in the hotel was open at that hour but Greenhouse was. I ordered a big beer, sitting outside and started to smoke my Havanna. Phoned my regular and said I would be back 2 pm.

 

Many shop assistants passed by, many of those were clearly interested in joining me for something to drink and something more. Also some freelancers with more understandable interest in doing the same. A few BGs from Nana passed but not many that hour I was sitting there.

 

The traffic was also weird, just taxis in long rows, more than 1000 taxis without passengers.

 

 

[Hugh_Hoy]

and I am wondering why?

 

Doesn't sound unlike what I've observed in recent years, but like in Jan.-Songkran. I attribute it to "loooooooooooow season".

 

HH

 

[kojis]

"There are more touts and girls on this part of street. There is an unpleasant edge to their persistence reminiscent of my last trips to India and Burma. "

 

Gadfly,

 

where did u see persistent touts in Burma? As we're talking about nightlife, I'll guess Yangon... so really... which touts?? There are definetely less than in thailand there...

[buddha]

Gadfly: "Thailand seems poorer than just a scant six months ago, at least out here."

 

I walked down the suk last night from cowboy and experienced the same thing. The desperation is getting a bit thicker. I remember the same thing happening in NYC just before the economy went bust.

 

I will add that the theramae was poppin', yeah i know what you're thinking, but there are a good number of cuties there.

[junglesoup]

Gadfly: "Thailand seems poorer than just a scant six months ago, at least out here."

 

If this statement is true, what is the cause of this. Why is it happening now? Whats going on?

Why are people poorer now than 6 months ago?

 

Surely it cant all be down the coup d etat?

[elef]

I agree that you get that feeling inside central Bangkok, but already coming to Pattanakarn Rd it's completely different. There the property prices have doubled in a year. Also in Khon Kaen, Buriram and Korat people seem to be wealthy. Pattaya we don't have to discuss, instead of a sex city in a 3rd world country, you get the impression that you have come to Honululu and Waikiki beach.

[buddha]

Well what happened in NYC around 1999 when the internet bubble burst and then again after 911 was eerily the same.

 

I lived in a shitty neighborhood that greatly benifited from Mayor Giuliani's initiatives. Just when the city was completely cleaned up all of a sudden the lower echelons of society got a lot hungrier. Overnight people started to feel the pinch and it went from the bottom to the top. There were more homeless people, more crime, more esperation....6 months later waves of layoffs started hitting, 6 months later mid level execs were getting cut, and on and on....

 

These things bubble up from the bottom to the top and what I saw last night reminded me of it.

[elef]

Also an observation by the TG I brought to Nana. I had told her that the majority of BGs in BKK is coming from up north and many also from BKK. She told me that the almost all BGs we saw that 1½ or 2 hours we were there were speaking lao and coming from Isaan. Of course limited to those we saw or sooner heard.

[kojis]

"I had told her that the majority of BGs in BKK is coming from up north and many also from BKK. She told me that the almost all BGs we saw that 1½ or 2 hours we were there were speaking lao and coming from Isaan"

 

Elef,

 

this is nothing new, most BGs in Lower suk and Cowboy have been coming from Isaan for as long as I remember -at least 10 years.

 

Used to be a bit better as there was no 20 y o age limit but otherwise pretty much the same girls. Claims that BGs (this including many "different girls" guys seem to be dreaming they've found) catering to westerners are the low end of BKK "model" market are far from unfounded...