Hanging in Phnom Penh

Sharkys Bar, Shanghai Bar, Walkabout, Martini Pub, all good.

Baht Strongest in a Decade

The baht jumped to a 10-year high yesterday at 34.25 to the US dollar in local trade thanks to continued foreign inflows. In the offshore market, the baht was quoted as high as 31.7. Rates between the local and offshore market have been split since last December due to the Bank of Thailand's 30% reserve rule on inflows and other capital controls.
Bangkok Post

Visa Problems
Dave The Rave says its better to get your Thai visa at your country of origin. The "visa upon arrival" has become problematic. Try to go to your local Thai Consulate before you come to Thailand to obtain a visa.

What I Love About Bangkok

Soi Cowboy was hopping with the Suzie Wong show as good as always but the most fun was had in Dollhouse.
No tops and no undie girls cavorting on our laps. Awesome.
Rawhide had a dancer contest with most of the A team and B team competing in mostly naked shows. All good. However it does get old buying the A team girls a drink and they disappear a few sips in.
Doubt I will do that anymore.

After closing down Cowboy we hit Spicy on Rong Muang. It was rammed. We could barely get a table but managed to share a table with 3 cuties. Within moments of joining them some Japanese guy came over and handed one of them some cash. She handed it to her friend who counted it and then 2 of the girls left. The last girl stayed, who my friend took home, but later the other 2 reappeared after taking care of business. Spicy can be all business at times but yet on some nights you might meet nice office or uni girls. Love it. Spicy appears to still be the king of after hours.

Farang Speaks 2 Much

Eating at Nana Plaza

It's always a pure pleasure to grab an entree at one of the many food stalls inside of Nana Plaza around 6 or 7 pm. You could sit up to one of the walkway counters next to some cute girls and watch the evening begin. The girls would trade food with you, trying to explain what it was that you were eating.
One of my favorite stalls was the food booth next to Casanova. It's excellent Thai street food, and the cooks are friendly.


Around 10 pm at the entrance of Nana was always the hamburger cart, where you could get a freshly cooked hamburger on your way out.

Images are from the book "The Street Food of Bangkok,"
by Randy Magnus.
160 color pages of Street Food and Marketplaces. Purchase it today.

Are The Good Old Days Gone ?

So while many guys come to Thailand looking for the girlfriend experience, all they often end up getting is a quick bonk, a quick fix. That's it. To make matters worse they are often paying upwards of 4,000 Thai baht for it! To put that in perspective, it's almost $US 120.

Don’t believe me? Find one of the genuinely pretty girls in Nana Plaza – and I am afraid there are fewer and fewer that meet this description these days. Typically the most attractive girls want at least 3,000 baht for short time. Of course you can get some for less, but the prettiest girls want AND command that. The barfine is 600 baht. You’ve had a drink or two yourself and she’s hand one so that’s another 350 baht. And if you take her to a short time hotel, that is going to be a few hundred baht more. All up, for what may end up being half an hour of passion (if that!), you’re paying 4,000+ baht. What a rip off!

Stickman

(Editor's note: With the prices going up and the US dollar going down (a 1,000 baht use to cost about $25.50 US dollars, now a 1,000 baht cost about $34.14).
Has anyone heard any updates from Phnom Penh in Cambodia lately?
Did the military coup mark the beginning of the end as we know it?)

Note from On Nutter about room service at the Walkabout Hotel in Phnom Penh:
A very cute Cambodian girl knocks on the door. She was about 21, dark-skinned and with an appealing look of untamed beauty. She brushed past me, checked the room and said: “You no have lady. You want short time?”

It was a VERY short time. She looked even better when she stripped off, with beautiful pert breasts. I knew this wasn’t going to be the girlfriend experience. Our union was brutal and brief, but oh so needed. She asked for 20 US dollars (about 680 baht at current, very favourable exchange rates) and I happily handed over the greenbacks.

Later, talking to the old hands in the downstairs bar, I learned the short-time rate was $10 to $15, with long time starting at $20. Even those rates are negotiable. While I had undoubtedly been ripped off, who cares at those prices? I mentally applauded the girl for taking advantage of a newbie.

Short-Time Rooms In Nana Plaza

Nana Plaza has some hidden short time hotels, such as:
ST hotel 1: 2nd floor (3rd to septics) - in between Cascade and Carnival.
ST hotel 2: 2nd floor again, turn right out of Hollywood Carousel and it’s past the stairwell, next door to the beauty salon, above Farang Connection and Rainbow 3.
ST hotel 3: 4th floor(!) - go to the doorway of Erotica, but go up the small staircase instead of going into the bar. Past the door into Erotica’s (closed?) second floor, keep going straight ahead and don’t look down.
ST hotel 4: Mandarin?
Mandarin bar may or may not also have short-time rooms available upstairs (Some girls say it does, others deny it completely. Upstairs has been closed recently so maybe that has something to do with it)…

Bangkok Bad Boy at Farang Speaks 2 Much

In the short time ‘hotels’ within Nana Entertainment Plaza itself they are about 300bht an hour for a very basic room. The beds are big and not that bad (in other places, such as one I used recently in Pattaya, the bed was impossibly hard). The room had a shower and towels and soap.

mochalover

Slow Season for Working Girls

The woes of the working girl can be heard nightly on the streets “Not have Farangs tonight. Go with me please?. I very horny. I give you special.”

…and later you get…

“This low season. I not have many customers. Can you give me one more thousand?. Have to pay rent, send buffalo to chiropractor, buy new kidney for mama, etc.”.

The Farang Speaks 2 Much

Too Much To Handle

Genuine Advert from Phuket Gazette magazine June 2003

BARGIRL FOR SALE.
No key money, just take over payments. Great exterior condition. Attitude may need slight adjustment. Will cook if hungry. Will clean for jewelry. Expert in hand phone operation, sofa management and budget mishandling.
Genuine reason for sale - owner bankrupt!
Call now, this offer won't last.
(I have removed the phone number!)

from Bangkok Bob

Pattaya Distractions

In the Walking Street go-go bars you are trying to have a sensible conversation and a hot babe thrusts her perfectly shaped figure upon you. I find that very distracting don’t you? It’s funny how we never get to finish the conversation.
Oh well guys, this is one of the “hazards” of visiting Pleasure Palaces in Pattaya.
Dave The Rave

Shy Thai Girls - Moving to Udon?

Before I met her I thought I’d grown tired of shy Thai girls; prefering experienced go-go girls rather than bashful blanket-grabbers.
But with Nam I dig that shyness all over again, the buzz of carefully coaxing them out of their shells, and making them feel comfortable with you. With Nam her sexuality is now starting to shine through, whereas before I was making all the moves. Now that her inhibitions are rolling away the love-making gets better every time.....

What was supposed to be just a weekend in Udon turned into a whole week.
Now I’m back in Pattaya wondering why I returned. This town always seems lonely and dilapidated this time of year, strange and oblivious characters trawling the streets, and old and familiar faces in the places you don’t want to be.....

I quite like Udon.
There’s a small expat community there, a few bars, a modern mall and some decent western restaurants. The massage parlours are a bit down-market. I won’t be visiting them again. But I can definitely see myself moving there. In fact, we spent the last few days house-hunting.

Anybody want to buy a bar?

Two Fat Farangs

Making Merit

Here in Thailand men can make merit by becoming a monk for a short period of time in their lives.
Women can’t become monks. But women can make merit by giving money to mom and dad. How can a country full of poor women easily and quickly make merit?
The Nana Disco, folks, that’s how.

comment from Farang Speaks 2 Much

Now Open Until 2 AM

Now the go-go clubs and beer bars in Bangkok can stay open until 2 am, a good chance for all of you nite owls to check out some of the newer dance routines at Angelwitch. Last time I was there this is when they tried out the new stage shows.
(I personally will miss the old school Thai dance parties and celebrations which use to take place at Hog's Breath from 1 to 2 am. Everyone was welcomed to step in and dance along to the old Thai songs.)
Thanks for the update from Dave The Rave.
(Who recently upgraded to a more interactive blog-like program on his website. Check it out.)

Is Mango Sauce Gone?

Dave of Mango Sauce, mentioned that the website was going to be put on the back burner after a reduced viewer-ship due to what Dave believed to be a reduction in Google listings. And then losing his AdSense advertising account, he felt he had to get a real job.

But now it appears
to be gone entirely.
I didn't always understand where he was coming from, or what he was talking about,
but I appreciated that he was there.
Mango Sauce will be missed.

Nothing Like Being in Thailand

A friend of mine (like many guys) who has to live outside of Thailand for most of the year said, “It doesn’t matter what I do in Farangland because nothing compares to Thailand. Even though the bars are closed for a public holiday Thailand is still a much better option than being in Farangland.”
Dave The Rave

Bringing Your Dad Along

The comedy routine started when Papa would take a girl every time he saw one he fancied, which was often. My friend could not keep track and said that Papa had a different bargirl in his room every time he knocked on his door.
My friend approaches Papa’s hotel room... “Dad don’t lie to me. Have you got another girl in there?”
Papa felt he had to oblige every time he was introduced to a lovely young lady of the night. Each time Papa sheepishly opened his hotel door there was a hot babe in his bed. After several episodes of Papa’s playboy antics, my friend finally said to us,
“I’m fed up with being Papa’s pimp!”

A Free Happy Time

How 'bout those Italian women, huh? In a northern town in Italy, the police have started arresting the johns who invite ladies into their cars. And fine them.
That didn't set well with the entertainment providers. So the good ladies have said that if the johns show receipts for what they paid the police they will give the johns a free happy time. A wonderful spirit of entrepreneurship!
Dean Barrett

Secrets Bar by Hammer

In Pattaya on Soi 14 is a bar called the Secrets Bar.
Hammer seems to be managing the place and promoting it with photos of its parties.
Seems like a friendly place.
Happy Birthday to whoever.
Thaigers

Pattaya - Cover Up or Face Closure

Beer Bars and Go-Go Bars told to cover up or face closure.

Police Colonel Sutin, the Superintendent of Pattaya Police along with Khun Ronagit, Deputy Mayor of Pattaya, chaired this Friday Morning Meeting attended by 360 staff members of Beer Bars and Go-Go Bars operating here in Pattaya. They were told that the Police and Pattaya Administration will no longer tolerate explicit shows and nakedness in the bars of Pattaya and any establishment found to be disregarding these orders will face a minimum of a 60 day closure order and even the revocation of entertainment and liquor licenses. It is thought that a Bar Crackdown will shortly follow to ensure that bars are following these newly enforced regulations.
Thaigers

Isn't Every Thai Girl Like This?

Had one guy in my Thai school who continually used his example sentences in class to talk about his crazy Thai girlfriend who was always angry at him, extremely jealous and prone to fits of anger that typically ended in a fight with various household items thrown at him.
At break I would ask him why he put up with it? He would say isn’t every Thai girl like that?
(Possibly.)
Plus he added that they were hot and put up with his lack of ambition and his dream of doing nothing in Thailand for as long as he could.
(Cool.)
He then added that this was better than dealing with the Japanese girls and his parents constantly pushing him for more.
(Nice.)

Another Japanese guy I knew, also dating a bar girl, was the most calm guy I had seen but when he had a fight with his girlfriend all hell broke loose. U could suddenly see his only child pent up rage coming out in full force against every calm Japanese cell in his body.
Farang Speaks 2 Much

Monsoon Season Already?

Significantly heavy rainfall possibly indicates that the monsoon season has officially started. Considering that it is supposed to be the hot season the weather is very variable. The monsoon downpours have been so intense that I have been woken up on several occasions, as the rain cascades down like a multitude of silvery bullets.
The natives are complaining of being “now maak” (very cold) and don’t you just want to hug the cold cuties? A cute bargirl stood inside Angelwitch Bar completely soaked from head to foot. With sad puppy dog eyes she looked for sympathy. The cute babe was far too drenched to hug, tough moo steak…next!
Dave The Rave

photo from Nana Disco

Bars and Girls from Korat in the 60's

Bars and Girls
Fes Cannady's photos from 1966-67 in
Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base
Order your copy at
Fes Cannady's photos

The Big Mango by Jake Needham

Check out the
author Jake Needham
reading from his book
"The Big Mango" for Mac.
or
The Big Mango for the PC.



Found this on
The Farang Speaks 2 Much
Good stuff.

I Love U Too Much ....

"I love you too much, but I love my family more!"
(Translation: Keep sending the money back home, or I'll leave you.)
********************************************************************************

I am half Thai myself and the satisfaction that we young women (well, I'm not all that young anymore but anyway!) get from supporting family members is something that many Western folks just don't seem to fully appreciate. But then, too many of them imagine that being involved in any way in the "entertainment industry" means a life of streetwalking, pimp beatings, and drug addiction, all stemming from a history of child sex abuse. But as you know, this is Bangkok, this isn't San Francisco or Philadelphia. It's simply a completely different game out here...
L.

Underage Girls ?

I can say that the men in brown have been all over the plaza lately. Closing things at 1am and supposedly checking into underage girls. For the record - believe what u will. No bar is suppose to have girls under 20 going with customers. Meaning you may think 18-19 your old girls are fair game but not if they are in the bars. That is illegal from a bar perspective. We can also debate that anytime a girl is rendering services for money - the said girl should be 20 and over. This is the police definition. Whether or not the girl is in the bar. Although there is a huge gray area around this and we can debate it all night. Hard to debate though when prostitution is illegal anyway in Thailand.
The Farang Speaks 2 Much

Breakups Are Hard to Handle

Thai women take relationship breakups with farang guys badly indeed. They don’t just cry, they wail and howl and you wonder if they will ever stop. If you only see the tears then it’s not so bad.
Some guys see their life’s possessions flying across the apartment, and not infrequently, off the balcony. Just why do Thai women often respond so badly when their relationship with Khun Farang goes bad?
I believe that there are a combination of factors that can make a Thai woman get extremely upset, or even go crazy, when she is dumped by her Western boyfriend....
Stickman
(photos from Pattaya Addicts)

A Bar Blessing

I got to witness the bar-blessing ceremony. A girl took a pair of what I believe are called “khiks” (a khik is a big wooden stick shaped like some kind of gargantuan knob), tapped it around the doorframe, and then tapped the clasped hands of each of the bargirls in turn. I held out my hands, and also got a “good luck” tap from the big wooden phalluses. How many people can say that?
Bangkok Bad Boy

Stickman comments....

In some bar areas, particularly Nana Plaza, the bars are much tamer than they were 5 years ago. Back then there were dance contests, really raunchy dance contests and bars would do record trade those nights. The legendary Nanapong dance contests of 2000 and 2001 packed out the largest venues and guys around the world were known to plan their whole holiday around the date of such contests....



The girls these days are businesswomen. Don't misunderstand that. Just because they are young, and pretty and don't speak good English doesn't mean that they're not shrewd operators...
Stickman


(photo from Pattaya Addicts)

Dave's Birthday Party on April 30th

Dave The Rave will be having his 44th Birthday Party on Monday, April 30th, at Angelwitch in Nana Plaza. Everyone should stop by and buy him a drink. Tell him Nana Journals sent you.

Exodus to Cambodia and Chasing Ladyboys by Stickman

The new visa restrictions have caused a major exodus of foreigners out of Thailand and this is almost certainly the major contributing factor to the swelling of the expat population in Phnom Penh. Reports suggest that the number of Westerners in the Cambodian capital has soared over the last year, particularly the last 6 months - exactly the period since the new visa restrictions appeared. The numbers are upsetting some who have complained that men now outnumber women at weekends in some of the city's popular nightlife venues. These new arrivals are exactly the type that the Thai authorities were hoping to get rid of, and would appear to have succeeded in doing so. It is no coincidence that the attitude of Khmers towards foreigners has started hardening.....

I have to be careful what I say because not a small number of you are fans of cocks in frocks, but for those of you who are not, you'll be pleased to know that there was something of a foot race in the Soi 4 area on Wednesday night involving the boys in brown and the you know whats in frocks. Creeping out of the shadows in the Nana Hotel car park, two boys in brown crept up on a bunch of trans-sexuals who bolted across the road into the plaza where they sought refuge. Unconfirmed rumours have it that Dave The Rave took the tall beauties in.....
Stickman

Songkran Photos

Mango Sauce
Does anyone have any good photos of the water fights of this past Songkran celebration? Email them to:
arttvhawaii@hotmail.com
for us to possibility use them here.

Hog's Breath Goes Fishing & Golfing

And so can you. Just sign up with Michael for the May 18th Fishing Derby where you can catch some 60 pound catfish (I've been there, and the fish are really big), and on the following day (May 19th) join in for the Annual Spring Golf Tournament at the Bangkok Golf Club. A fun time is had for everyone.
See Hog's Breath members to sign up.

Hog's Breath didn't die, they just went fishing.
Join them for a day of fun.
(As they always said: We're here to work on our alcoholism, sex addiction, and our game of golf.) And so can you.
Hogs Breath Saloon

Another Sign The Japanese Are Taking Over?

Many of the women plying their trade these days at Thermae are employees of Japanese-oriented establishments, venturing to the Thermae Coffee House for a bit of extra cash when the establishment they usually work out of has closed for the evening. And if you're not Japanese, there is every chance that they aren't interested in you at any price! Approaching one girl who I was trying to set up with a friend, she told me in reasonable English that, "I no speak English, only Thai and Japanese."
There was a look of horror on her face when I responded in Thai that Thai would not be a problem and that I really would appreciate finding someone to keep my friend company for the evening, and she was out of there in a flash!
The rule of fours must rule in Thermae, and not available to Westerners!
Stickman

(I thought the girls considered the rules of three applied to the Japanese: a three inch unit which lasts for three minutes for three thousand baht. - No offense, it's what some Thai girl told me.)
I remember being in a club once when a group of Japanese guys sat right next to the stage, and the more excited they got by the go-go girls on stage, the faster they puffed on their cigarettes. When they were asked to spread the lotion on the girl's leg while she was lying on stage, the entire room filled with smoke.
ArtTv

Dave The Rave Has New Photos

Lots of new photos from Dave The Rave. He even has some
of those cute little modified-traditional-costumed Thai dancers
with the finger-extensions from Angelwitch. Check it out.

Angelwitch at Nana Plaza

Found this on Bangkok Bad Boy's site. Added some music to make the viewing more enjoyable. (This may not stay up for a longtime, so enjoy video for short-time.)

Pattaya, Thailand, Songkran, #1

Its that time of the year again, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees, its time to celebrate the Thai new year and to get wet.

Stickman Is Back from Udon

I got back to Miss Udon's house and was sitting outside when another bunch of kids came along to see the farang. I got chatting with them and after a while one of the kid's mothers comes along. She introduced herself and sat down to chat. I can only assume that she was a lonely housewife for she had the eye of a woman who had not had a bit in a while, a real shame because she was pretty. We got chatting and she mentioned that she would like to find a farang guy. No kidding honey, it's obvious to all.

Miss Udon, who had been inside attending to the evening meal, came outside and they chatted away for a while. The pretty one asked me about what farang guys look for in a woman and I told her that in serious relationships, Western guys held honesty and integrity very highly indeed. I told her that Western men generally found Thai women attractive so finding a pretty woman was not difficult. What Western men looked for was an honest woman who they could form a bond with, and that was not so easy to find. She explained that she was up in the village for a few days only and that she actually lived and worked in Bangkok herself. She said that she was honest and that she really wanted to find a farang guy. Seeing how she looked and listening to what she said, I mentioned that I know a few guys who may be interested. She passed on her phone number to Miss Udon.

The pretty one had a daughter, one of the kids who I had been chatting with before she had come along. The daughter had been sitting close by, minding her own business, sipping away on a cup of Coke that had had a bunch of sweets thrown into it, some sort of local Isaan treat I guess. But at that point she decided it was her cue to say something and she piped up. "But Mummy, mummy, what about the guy you told me about who you have been seeing in Bangkok, the one you said you might marry!" The look on mummy's face was priceless as she realised that everything she had just said about being honest had now been shown to be a lie. She scurried off very quickly.....
Stickman