Nana Coming to Life

The Bangkok Nana Plaza go-go dancers arrive in their street clothes and street makeup, walk by, eyeing the potential customers (and being eyed by them) and heading for their respective bars. Many stopped to wai the Buddhist and Brahman shrines, some lit incense or bought garlands or fruit from nearby vendors to place on the shrines. Others stood about deeply engrossed in cellphone conversations, no doubt assuring men overseas that, no, they definitely were not working in the bars anymore so please keep those checks and wire transfers coming.
Dean Barrett

Bangkok Girlfriend

Her name is Lon.
This blog is not all about her.
But there’s no telling her that.
As we all know, Thai women are angelic creatures who enjoy nothing more than to shower their farang mates with docile caresses. They are far less self-involved than farang women, rarely if ever hot headed, and require little maintenance. In fact, they don’t really even want our money. We just enjoy giving it to them.
Strangely, my darling Lon deviates from the norm we ascribe to Thai females, but only inasmuch as she is an unbelievable pain in the ass who is driving me nuts.

Check out more on this new site at:
Bangkok Girlfriend

Following the Dragon at Chinese New Year

Last year me and my assistant, a girl I bar-fined from G-Spot, were fortunate enough to stumble upon some dragon dancers who walked right in front of us in Chinatown.
The first day they led us to a small Buddhist temple in an alley where they performed just for us and the resident monks. They would bow to the Buddha statues in each of the four walls.

The next morning another (and more skilled) dragon dancing troupe passed right in front of our taxi and led us to the central stage for the national media and government big shots. The cultural commissioner's wife was happy to see the Hawaiian media present (although I had no media passes, only my Art TV Hawaii business card) and told us about visiting Hawaii for a formal tea ceremony earlier in the year.

All the media would run up upon the stage to shoot the commentary by the bigshots and retreat for the dancing. I could see what was happening and was able to place myself in ideal spots to shoot the entertainment, all the time thinking the network TV crew was going to bump me from my vantage spots.
It opened with some beautiful Thai dancers, whom I was able to get backstage before their performances and shot portraits of them putting their makeup on. Then the dragon dancers would jump rope with the dragon body, roll on the stage with the dragon body above them, and even get on each others' shoulders for a rotating spiral effect with the head held up high in the center. And the lion dancers then danced and pranced on top of poles above the audience.

After the formal presentation was over, we followed the dragon across the street where they performed for the masses of spectators of common people. My assistant was very impressed with how I was able to get in among all the big-time media and government officials inside the ropes, right to where the action was. And the cultural commissioner's wife invited us back the following evening to see the queen who was suppose to attend, but I had enough of the crowds, all wearing red shirts for the occasion, and just wanted to get laid by my assistant.

So the motto of the story is to "Follow the Dragon," it'll take you to where the action is.
Art TV
(bottom photo by Dean Barrett at this year's event.)

Watching Soi Cowboy Wake Up

Watching the soi wake up is an enlightening experience. Many of the girls live above the bars in which they work - so we see them emerging, sober and docile, into the soi to buy lunch from one of the countless food carts. Office workers pop into the soi to buy food, looking warily at the girls and hastily beating a retreat once they’re loaded up with som tam.

Later in the afternoon, some of the girls who’ve managed to acquire their own apartments (or spent the night in someone else’s) begin to arrive - some by foot, some in taxis or on mopeds or motorbikes. Some even arrive on the back of their Thai boyfriends’ motorbikes (which the girls probably paid for).
Bangkok Bad Boy

Dean Barrett Walking Down Soi Cowboy

This YouTube link features Dean Barrett walking down Soi Cowboy, talking about the nightlife. It's great.

Dave The Rave Has A New Look

Dave The Rave has updated his website,
complete with some new photos. Some exciting stuff.

Dave writes about Valentine's Day:
Valentine’s Day is a lovely time in Thailand, when the girls and guys can have some fun and offer hearts in the form of gifts and stickers. It is also visually appealing to see the pole performers in the go-go bars all wearing seductive red outfits. Valentine’s Day is a time when the world can celebrate love and romance, but in the nightlife areas in Thailand it is a time for fun and frolics. Being the man with the reflective dome, my head ended up being completely covered with love heart stickers. This is another good reason why I still enjoy my time here, because the Thais will spontaneously party and have fun. The world can be such a serious place, so it is always enjoyable to be able to escape that.

Have a look.
Dave The Rave
Dave also has a new video out. Take a look at Youtube.

"The Katoeys of Nana" Book Available

Now available, a 120 page 8x10 inch book of color portraits of the Katoeys of Nana Entertainment Plaza, by Randy Magnus.
It can be ordered at:
The Katoeys of Nana Entertainment Plaza.




Photographs by Randy Magnus


Katoeys:
This is a land where the boys are often prettier than the girls.
Someone told me that if it looks too good to be real, its a Katoey (Ladyboy.)
These girls are from Nana Plaza clubs Temptation, Cascade, Obsession, and Casanova.

New Year's Eve at Soi Cowboy

However, without question, the winner of the most-fun-bar on New Year's Eve is Dollhouse also on Soi Cowboy. In his wisdom, Darryl every year brings in an enormous amount of tiny Styrofoam balls so that one must wade and swim across the floor, one hand on a glass and one hand on a lovely, skimpily clad lady.

Dean Barrett

Hog's Breath Is Sold - Changes to Come

Sources tell me that The Hog's Breath Saloon at Nana Plaza was sold on January 10th, 2007.

This will be a great blow to all of the ex-pats and regular patrons who relied on this establishment as a meeting place to discuss their sex addiction, alcoholism, and their game of golf with a few beers.

Maybe Bob and his wife are dancing with relief.
(See what Dave The Rave has to say.)

photographs by Randy Magnus

Here is an update from Dean Barrett on Hog's Breath:
It was sad to see Bob and his friends carrying out the interior items from the Hog's Breath in Nana Plaza - deer antlers, boar's head, boxes, etc. Bob had the bar for God knows how many years and finally under financial pressure from a bank had to sell. Rumor-Control Headquarters has it that the wall between the Boar's Head and Spanky's will be torn down thereby creating a bar in which at least two customers and two dancers can cram inside at the same time. Apparently, Bob still will carry on his free Sunday chili as well as golf tournaments, etc., but based in the tiny Tavern Pub just down the street on soi 4 which also according to Rumor-Control Headquarters might knock out a wall to take over the hair dresser's thereby creating a pub in which at least two or three customers can sit down at once. Perhaps if this trend continues someday one entire floor of Nana Plaza will be one big bar. A friend of mine went by the old Hog's Breath the next night and a girl outside said, yes, it is open, and sure enough inside were three customers drinking despite no dancers and no decor. I guess go go bars never die; they just get carried away.
Dean Barrett

Nana Panorama

Here is a panoramic view of Nana Plaza taken during the early evening. I found it on NanaPlaza.com. Check it out by clicking here.

Bombs Cancel Bangkok's New Years Celebration

Bombs went off shortly after 6 pm in Bangkok on New Year's Eve. This caused the New Year's celebrations to be canceled. But the gogo clubs could stay open all night until 6 am. More bombs went off after midnight.
So the best place to be at would be cuddled up with your teelak (girlfriend) in some bar, enjoying the show, and staying off the streets.
More on this from Bangkok Post, or Bangkok Bad Boy.

Christmas in Bangkok

Christmas at Soi Cowboy
I found this image in Dean Barrett's archives from last year. Hopefully, there will be some photos from this year's holiday season.
Happy Holidays to everyone.

Christmas at Nana Disco

This shot is from a couple years ago, showing the dance girls at the Angels Disco (or Nana Disco), dressed for the holidays. (Its the dance club that's found inside the Nana Hotel.)

Maintaining Face

It takes a lot of courage for a Thai female to decide to enter this type of work. The one difference that sets Thailand apart from other countries is the Thai culture. It usually falls to the females to take care of the parents. The money that they make goes to support their parents and they live on the minimum amount that will sustain them. Often they live in small rooms without air conditioning and many live with another person to even further lower their costs.
The face being gained here is they are not pocketing the money for themselves but supporting their families who probably live upcountry. So if you decide to spend some time with a Thai lady who you met at a nightlife venue, keep in mind that you are making a donation to her family and not to her. By doing this she gains face with her family. Her family more than likely turns a blind eye as to how she makes her money. This is the case in the vast majority of cases.
(To read more about this, click on Dave's name.)
Dave the Rave

Songkran Festival Celebration in Pattaya

Photo from celebration in Phuket

Here is a link to Jim Suay's video on celebrating the new year in Pattaya. This takes place in April.
Check it out.

Hog's Breath - A Neighborhood Bar

Hog’s Breath is a little different than the other go-go bars in Nana Entertainment Plaza.

It’s a meeting place and hangout for old ex-pats, who often organize fishing trips and golf tournaments for its patrons. I saw the guys catch some 60 pound catfish on one of their sponsored excursions. The men gather about 5 or 6pm to drink beer and talk story, until the music starts at 8pm and then they are driven outside.

The girls spend more time mothering you, greeting the regulars with a cool damp washcloth, a smile, and your usual drink. On Sundays the manager even cooks up a pot of Texas chili for its patrons. One evening at the outside counter some of the girls showed me how to eat roasted crickets and bugs. The girls at Hogs Breath often shared their food with me, allowing me to try many exotic Thai dishes.
Later in the evening the djay plays old Thai pop and traditional songs from Thailand, and the girls will show you some of the old Thai dances. Some of the workers from other bars join in the celebration just before closing.
Its a safe haven for the ex-pats to tell stories, to relax, and to watch the tourists and katoeys walk by.

Its an old neighborhood bar in the middle of all of the excitement.

Randy Magnus

Fon

Dean Barrett Talks About His Thanksgiving

I decided I was spending waaay too much time in Bangkok's go go bars, so I decided to give myself a test, to make sure I wasn't addicted, I mean. And so I decided to go to Burriram for at least 2 1/2 days! To see if I could handle cold turkey, appropriately enough, as I was there over thanksgiving. Burriram, as you know, is where many of the most beautiful women in Bangkok come from. My Canadian friend, Dave, former master scuba diver, invited me up to his farm to relax and to take some photographs of the scenery. Somehow, when I got back to Bangkok, inserted the pictures into the computer, and looked through the shots in the computer, most of the shots turned out to be of his lovely wife, Fon, whom Dave was smart enough never to leave alone with me even when checking on the water buffalo in the barn.

Dave is so much in love with Fon that he has come up with a remarkable idea. When he dies he will be cremated and his ashes placed in a small stupa in the boundaries of the small local temple. But to ensure that Fon visits him all the time, he is going to build an ATM machine into the stupa, and if Fon wants money from his pension every month she has to type in something like "I miss you too much, Dave!". Now I ask you, is that not brilliant?
Dean Barrett

What The Girls Make....

What the girls make in the go-go clubs by Mango Sauce

Bar girls' salaries range from 2,000 to 6,000 baht (US $55 to $164) per month.

Here are some of their work rules.
* Only two days off permitted a month, or they must pay 300 baht a day for extra leave days.
* No leave permitted on Fridays, Saturdays and national holidays. Otherwise, fines range from 500 to 1,000 baht a day.
* Must go out with the clients four to 10 times a month or pay fine of 500 baht for each missed quota.
* Must sell 80-100 drinks to clients or pay 30 baht a drink for the missed quota.
* Must have health check-up every three months. If the blood test is positive for sexually transmitted diseases, they will not get the salary for that month.
* Must wear the outfits arranged by the bars or pay the fine of 100 to 200 baht.
* Must not use the clients' restrooms.
* Must not eat during work hours.
* Must buy own drinking water.

The benefits package isn't very tempting but, on the plus side, they get to meet lots of interesting new people.

(Typical income for their takeout company is 1,500 baht (US $41) for short-time and 2,000 baht (US $55) and up for all night after the barfine is paid.)

Stickman's Most Popular Photo

photo by Stickman

"Without a doubt the most copied part of the my website has been this picture of a bargirl wandering down soi 8 in Pattaya with her dinner in hand. It has appeared all over the ‘net, from local discussion forums to US-based escort sites, to various Asian forums to at least two different German porn sites.
Cripes, it’s a good photo but it's not that good!"
- Stickman

Dreams Can Come True.....

photo by Randy Magnus

The best night in Bangkok this time was going to the Long Gun GoGo Bar at Soi Cowboy and paying the bar fine for this great outgoing-personality, affectionate girl from the stable for short-time. I noticed her dancing among the other girls on stage. She came down and said hi, but I didn't recognize her with her clothes on.
She moved on to this other guy, and I could see how friendly and passionate she was as she flurted with the other client. But he didn't take her out.
When she passed by I tapped her and bought the girl a drink. She quickly fell into my lap and asked if I was going to pay the bar fine for her. I told her I wanted to see her dance again. After her stint on stage, she came back and I gladly accepted. On the way back to my place we stopped by Nana Entertainment Plaza and went inside a place I knew I could photograph in.

The bar was pretty dead, the girls only sitting around. I put the Long Gun girl up on stage, and the place came alive. The other girls were enjoying her energy, everyone was dancing. She would fall into my outreached hands in front of the stage, and dance in my arms. After a little bit, she wanted back on stage so I lifted her back onto the stage. I had a hard time having her keep her bra and panties on as she performed her pole moves, saying she was hot. Five or six guys wondered in and stayed to watch her. She was a ringer, for sure.

On the way down the stairs at Nana she held tightly onto my body saying she was sorry she was so drunk. She had a great time.
We both did.
We got to my place, undressed, showered and began cuddling on the bed, rolled over to another position and she passed out, face down, right in the center of the bed. I squeezed over to one side, placed the covers over us and went to sleep myself.
As she was waking up the next morning, the girl was very affectionate and loving, the way one hopes to wake-up with being with such a beautiful creature, and continued the affair.

Later on while I was videotaping the Thai Cowboys performing their bluegrass music at the Weekend Market, I called her up and had the Blue Mountain Boys seranade her with a country version of "Happy Birthay". It was her birthday on that day.

Drugged in Bangkok......

Don't Accept Food From Strangers
by Randy Magnus

I was photographing the people leaving Nana Entertainment Plaza at closing time, and this kid said she was hungry and wanted soup. I told her I’d get her some. She looked 12, but said she was 19. What was strange was she wanted soup on Sukhumvit - not on Soi 4, where Nana Plaza is.

I’d been documenting the street food and their vendors all week long in the Nana area, and I knew there were a lot of them on the other side of Sukhumvit who set up for the closing Nana crowd. We walked down Sukhumvit to the pedestrian crossing just before the Nana skytrain stop, crossed over the road, and right there was a seafood soup place - the kind they put the charcoal right on the table, a clay pot of heated water on top of the charcoal and you cook the food right at your table [This is called Jim Jum - Bangkok Badboy].

I was taking photos of her and her friend preparing the soup, drinking only water because I’d just had a hamburger at the entrance to Nana Plaza. When the soup was ready, she prepared a small bowl for me, which I refused. I should have left then and taken photos of the other vendors on the way back to Nana. But I finally agreed to eat the bowl of soup - which she had drugged.

I woke up 12 hours later in my room at White Orchid Inn, a little boutique hotel in the alley across from the 7-11 on Soi 4 (two alleys away from Nana Plaza). She and her friend had assisted me to my hotel - only she was allowed in with me, the friend left and waited outside. Nattaya was her name on her ID, from Pattaya.

Nattaya went through all of my stuff in my room, took the cash and my two digital still cameras. She couldnt slip my video camera in her purse and get it by the receptionist, so it was saved.

The receptionist got the information from her ID card, and I went to the police, filled out a form, and talked to another policeman, who send me to a small hospital for a urine test to verify that I had been drugged.
The receptionist at White Orchid Inn said that the police don’t do much unless you slip them some money.

I sent a letter to her and her parents to the address in Pattaya (assuming it was a valid ID), and had the receptionist at White Orchid translate the letter to Thai, asking them to return my cameras and telling them that what she did was wrong.

We’ll see what happens, if anything. She probably sold the cameras down Sukhumvit at the night market…

Footnote: Got word from my hotel that the ID was stolen from a university girl.