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Patpong, Thailand's Red Light District

Analyst

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Analyst

Analyst

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I thought I would share some of my writing about Bangkok. Enjoy!!

DSC00086a.jpg

Bright Lights, Sin City:

I love this photo. It was taken by a close friend a few years ago in Patpong, the infamous red light district on Silom Road in Bangkok popularized by American GIs during and after the Vietnam War.

My buddy, Nate S., took this picture around 2am when Patpong shuts down each night as mandated by the government. He followed a group of English or German tourists exiting one of many go-go bars on the main strip. Ahead of the pack are two "working girls" probably looking for another party or a farang's warm hotel bed for the evening. I've observed both parties' laughter, conversations, and quarrels a million times in Thailand. The Westerners are often loud and drunk and are obnoxiously shuttling between numerous go-go bars and sex shows. The Thai girls, most of them from one of the poorest regions in the Northeast area of Udom, speak in shrill tones that are heavily accented with an Isaan dialect. Both playing a cat and mouse game, but it's hard to tell who is the hunter and the hunted.

Here, you won't find any local Thais having a drink or pawing at young girls dancing on a pole with 20 other women clad in bathing suits and thigh-high boots. Thais often view this area and Westerners with disgust and distain. But at the same time, it is what it is. A normal part of life in this area. For the Isaan Thai girls working in these bars, this is how they support their families in the north.

Amid the pulsating techno beats sped up to about 170 bpm in the go-go bars, the scene is choatic. Bright casades of multicolored lights disoriented you as soon as the curtain from the street is drawn. As soon as you sit down at the bar, you become a gazelle stalked by scantily-dressed predators in too much makeup. Every girl in the room sees you as one thing. A mark. Payment for tuition. ATM machine for food. A house for their parents. They descend upon you immediately (three or four at a time) by sitting on your lap or stroking your leg. In broken English, they ask if you will buy them a drink priced at about 190 baht or about $4.50 dollars. For each drink they "sell" they pocket a small sum that feeds into their nightly quota. All respond similiarly: I've only been here for about three weeks. I'm 21. My name is Nok, Dao, Krung, or Jiap. One young girl, no more than 20 years old, seizes your attention and asks if your want to "go" out. To be able to take a girl out of the establishment, you have to pay a "bar fine" of 500 baht or about 10$. Once you pay the fine, the girl changes into normal street clothes you'd find on any girl in the mall: jeans, a hoodie, sneakers. Now, anything else is completely negotiable. 2000 baht or about 50$ for a quick romp in a nearby short time hotel. More time costs more.

These girls have perfected the art of seduction. They play their roles perfectly with the right amount of eye-batting peppered with cute laughs and limited English. Behind their smiles lies a girl who has lived far past her current age. And they are driven completely by one thing: survival. In Thailand, where are no government subsidies. No government-provided housing, health care, jobs, or education. Here, it really is survival of the fittest. Natural selection. There's more and more younger competition arriving each day in BKK from the mountains, the northeast, and the northwest. The only thing that doesn't change is the movement of time. And time is cruelest to those trying to run against it.

When you speak with the girls in Thai, honesty prevails. They speak in matter of fact tones. Many are tired of this life. They hate the chaos of Bangkok and long for the rural simplicity back in the North. But for the time being, they are doing the very best that they can.

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darkanimal

darkanimal

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In Thailand, at least the pretty high class whores in hotel like brothels, are not looked down upon even if their friends know that's what they do for a living. It sometimes even becomes prestigious. Well I heard it's considered a curse to be poor. This girl there even showed me her school ID and was going to some normal University, I left around closing time. She kissed me goodbye as she hoped in her luxury car. So young... so soft!!!

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cuddlysheep

cuddlysheep

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i wouldnt mind being a sugar daddy to a pretty young thai girl.

In Thailand, at least the pretty high class whores in hotel like brothels, are not looked down upon even if their friends know that's what they do for a living. It sometimes even becomes prestigious. Well I heard it's considered a curse to be poor. This girl there even showed me her school ID and was going to some normal University, I left around closing time. She kissed me goodbye as she hoped in her luxury car. So young... so soft!!!
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beast

beast

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In Thailand, at least the pretty high class whores in hotel like brothels, are not looked down upon even if their friends know that's what they do for a living. It sometimes even becomes prestigious. Well I heard it's considered a curse to be poor. This girl there even showed me her school ID and was going to some normal University, I left around closing time. She kissed me goodbye as she hoped in her luxury car. So young... so soft!!!

Many of these whores lead normal married lives after their stints with their husbands knowing full well what they did. I suppose Thais look at prostitution differently.

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Largo

Largo

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It's true. Girls in the tourist-friendly districts like to rack up multiple visitors who can support them, their family, and their "Sick Buffalo" (has anyone actually heard this line?), and regularly keep them on a string via love filled e-mails and saucy text messages/pictures while they're back in their home town.

It's worth mentioning that while a lot of girls end up planning to leave the business, more often than not they come back for the money. It's not neccesarily the most reputable lifestyle, but then again I don't see your average Thai up in arms that much over it. Usually the advice is something along the lines of "Be careful, and wear a condom." I'd say disdainful Westerners who scoff at the sight of people drinking and loitering around Patpong and Soi Cowboy probably account for more of the uproar over the industry than anything else. The vast majority of Thai men I know hit the massage parlors and 'karaoke bars' more frequently than the expats I've met here.

Still, the lines are always the same as what Analyst said, and the routines never change even if the faces do. Maybe (definitely?) I end up with a slightly different experience than he does because I'm a farang, but the girls do seem happy enough for a break from the norm once you start talking to them in Thai. Even if the only thing you're offering is a cheerful crawl through town and a few drinks, the girls seem happy enough to come along, even if you're not adding much to their pockets for the evening. It's a fine line between the carefully manufactured seduction they produce in the go-gos and the possibly equally manufactured camraderie I go for, but I've found after a while I don't really care either way.

So who's coming to Bangkok?!?

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beast

beast

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It's a fine line between the carefully manufactured seduction they produce in the go-gos and the possibly equally manufactured camraderie I go for, but I've found after a while I don't really care either way.

Haha! You got it right as far as what is your approach as far as this business is concerned.

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englandmj7

englandmj7

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Missed this write up; nicely done Analyst

I have spent an absurd amount of time in Patpong, ha hah.

If any of you are ever in the area and want to go to something other than a pussy show or a strip club (though, why would you - you're already in Patpong perverts.....) check out Crystal Palace, The Other Office, the Madrid, and Crown Royal, they are great places to drink without some asshole trying to charge you $8 for your beer because there are nude girls in the room.........everyone in those 4 bars knows England. ;)

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Analyst

Analyst

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England,

These days Soi Cowboy and Nana seem to be the place to go to grab a few drinks and hang out with the local talent. Go-gos in Patpong just don't really pack them in like it used to; although, it is still the mecca of the pussy show: razor blades and ping pong balls galore.

Patpong has become more of the night market to buy DVDs and watches or fake luggage, etc.

Thaniya, the Japanese hostess bar street two sois down, is also entertaining. You can always trust those Japanese salarymen to know how to have a good time.

The hard part is finding the right bar. As you can see in the picture, each building has a lounge on each floor (at least 5 floors in each building). A back of the envelop estimate puts over 50 lounges on that street alone. Each lounge has between 10-40 girls in each place. Average is probably around 15. Basically, that street has the highest concentration of talent per square meter in all of Bangkok.

In terms of quality of time spent...well, that's a different question altogether...

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deltakid

deltakid

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I think Soi Cowboy is the best place for some red light bar hopping. Nana is kinda annoying with all such girls and katoeys trying to pull you in. Patpong has one decent spot which is the "Funky Dojo". Of course you can't compare it with any real nightclub but it has its own distinctive flavor and crowd. One area is electro the other is hiphop/charts/rca sound.

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Analyst

Analyst

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I think Soi Cowboy is the best place for some red light bar hopping. Nana is kinda annoying with all such girls and katoeys trying to pull you in. Patpong has one decent spot which is the "Funky Dojo". Of course you can't compare it with any real nightclub but it has its own distinctive flavor and crowd. One area is electro the other is hiphop/charts/rca sound.

Around Patpong, I did also find a few nice breakbeat/drum&bass clubs on Silom Soi 2/1. Now the " /1 " is important, as the Silom Soi 2 is quintessentially the gay version of Patpong.

I briefly hungout one night at Breaks on Silom Soi 2/1. Small upstairs club with some locals and young Japanese tourists and a few farang. The local DJ was excellent. He even dropped the white label DJ Zinc remix of "Ready or Not" from 1996-1997. Lots of old jump-up and jungle records from ages ago. No idea where he would have found this record. Vinyl and not CD.

Good times. Cover 200bt, I think, which got you one drink.

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xcoldricex

xcoldricex

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He even dropped the white label DJ Zinc remix of "Ready or Not" from 1996-1997. Lots of old jump-up and jungle records from ages ago. No idea where he would have found this record. Vinyl and not CD.

aw shit, i need to bust this out.

Patpong has become more of the night market to buy DVDs and watches or fake luggage, etc.

Yeah, what is with all these tourist families bringing their kids to Patpong?

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Supremehot

Supremehot

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what kind of western guys will go thailand for sex ?

here's my personal experiences, I was there in pattya last summer , me and my family(dad mom me and my sis), "WE" went into a italy pizza shop for take away, 3 white guys were sitting there near by us,my younger sister stood right beside me , one of those white guy asked " how much" for one night to my little sis,she looks like 15 ( she is 18 actully), he knows WE ARE FAMILY AND CAME THAILAND FOR VACATION AND WE DONT LOOK LIKE THAIS , it was really pissing me off , I said could u respect people ? no F words , I want to say are why some white guys go to asia countries will starting acting like jerks ? will they do those things to the white girls when they are in their own countries ? changing the angle , if asian guys ask this crab in france restaurant ,what will they get ?

no offend

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englandmj7

englandmj7

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On a side note, have any of you been to Pattaya lately? I was there a few weeks ago and hadn't been for about a year. The place is a completely different city. It's like Cancun now (not a good thing). They are putting in high-end residential skyscrapers everywhere, brand new malls, it's crazy......The other astounding thing was the number of Russians there. I shit you not, one year ago, I barely saw any Russians there and now most of the restaurants have signs in Russian, Russian menus, etc. I'd say that Russians account for at least 50% of the tourists there now. Speaking of Russians, they have opened a 'European' go-go bar (Latvians, Russians, Czechs, Ukrainians - none of them that great) on Walking Street. Worst place in town. They want something like $60 (US!) for a lapdance and $500 for 'long time' (sure this is somewhat negotiable, but still). I SHIT YOU NOT.

There were also a lot more families and the price of food, etc. has gone up quite a lot. What has happened to my old stomping ground.......

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FaMeZ

FaMeZ

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just got back from pattaya, was there with my parents for a family trip, was alright, was weird seeing all the "beer bars" walking around the streets with my parents hahah.. the girls were quite aggressive too, i walked around at night and they would literally grab me to come into the bar, i spent some time with a few girls but didn't take any back to my hotel room thankfully. you just buy them drinks and they grope you, kiss you in the bar. the last night in bangkok a very cute girl literally put her tounge down my throat even before i bought her a drink and had a conversation with her. im not complaining about that at all. i got out of there asap, gave her 500 baht and ran off to my hotel

and you're right about the russians, thats all i saw there and 2 out of every 4 russian girls i saw were unbelievably hot, their bodies were perfect

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englandmj7

englandmj7

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and you're right about the russians, thats all i saw there and 2 out of every 4 russian girls i saw were unbelievably hot, their bodies were perfect

There were definitely some decent Russian tourists. I have to say, though they may be hot, I have never seen people who dress more scantily/tacky whilst on vacation..........jesus. I saw 12 year olds walking around with their moms & dads clad in cut-off 2 inch long butt shorts and bikini string tops (with the obligatory gold jewelry).

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