The Slang of Bangkok Nightlife

(sample)
Tourists looking for ST action hit Nana and Soi Cowboy.
Clueless tourists head to Patpong.
Japanese guys and their arsenals go to the Thermae to meet TG’s FL’s who are into Japanese guys.
Longballers looking for GFE go to Sukhumvit Gullivers.
Ball Massage aficionados looking for a tune up and flush head to Orchid Massage.
Arabs who love middle aged overweight over mascara’ed Russian mothers in debt to Thai pimps head to the CM2.

BigBabyKenny

Translation:
ST - short time
Nana - Nana Plaza
arsenals - sex toys
TG's - Thai girls
FL's - freelancers
Longballers - longtime relationship
GFE - girlfriend experience
flush - happy endings
Thermae, Gullivers, CM2 - bar names

Pattaya Is More Affordable, More Fun

In short, Pattaya is more fun.
For some hard statistics, take my recent weekend in Pattaya as an example. I stayed in a comfortable mid-range hotel run by a large group in a double air-con room. The hotel had a swimming pool, restaurant, coffee shop and good security. The room rate was 550 baht per night, including breakfast. A similar place in Bangkok would be the Nana Hotel, whose rates for a standard room have gradually crept up to the current level of 1,290 baht.

Perhaps because there is so much competition, bars in Pattaya try a lot harder. Happy hours are everywhere. One bar on Second Road doesn't have a happy hour as such but charges just 45 baht at all times for bottled beer. Try finding a similar deal in Bangkok.
We crawled from beer bar to beer bar at both ends of Beach Road. The hostesses were lively, fun and engaging company. Most waited for customers to offer them a drink, unlike the many Cola addicts 150 kilometres up the road in Bangkok.

If you decide to buy a lady-drink, they are rarely more than 100 baht in Pattaya, even in the best gogo bars. Contrast that with Bangkok, where a Cola can set you back 150 baht and water masquerading as Tequila (an increasingly popular scam) will dent your wallet to the tune of 200 baht. Beer guzzlers will find Pattaya prices up to 50 baht a bottle cheaper than in Bangkok at beer bars and gogos.

Then there are the relative demands of the ladies. Most Pattaya bargirls will stay overnight with punters for 1,000 baht in addition to a barfine of 300 baht. You can at least double both those prices in Bangkok, assuming you aren't negotiating with those Rainbow gogo girls who now value their services at 4,000 baht. The mercenary attitude of the capital's entertainment providers has persuaded many farangs to head east for their pleasures.

We dined at La Cuisine Au Beurre, a French restaurant that has been getting rave reviews. For 220 baht, I had spinach soup, sensational braised veal shank with vegetables, Camembert cheese, French bread and coffee. I don't know how they make money and am not aware of any French restaurants in Bangkok offering such great food at that price.
The plain fact is that party time in Pattaya is more fun and a lot less expensive than in Bangkok. More and more people are coming to that conclusion.
BaronBonk

Quote of the Week - Soi 33

The Soi 33 (dead artists' bars) girls
look down on the Soi Cowboy girls.

Soi Cowboy looks down on Nana Plaza
and they all talk bad about Pattaya girls.

Arthur

Soi Cowboy was Soi Gold Label (A Little History)

Started in early 1975, the Gold Label was the “seminal bar” in every sense; aside from being the first bar on the Soi; it was the first bar aimed at expatriate custom; it was also the first double-shophouse wide bar, and it was also the first multi-story bar, and it was the first A-Go-Go and “Show” bar (later, upstairs), while downstairs, it remained a lounge.

But mainly, it was the bar that realized -and made others realize- that the Soi was an ideal location for a night entertainment area. The Gold Label enjoyed an approximate three-year run of popularity. At first, only the first and second floors were used, but for a brief period the third floor was opened to accommodate the custom. The regular expatriate clientele treated it as if it were a best-kept secret - and for the most part, it was. It has since been replaced by several other bars, the latest being the Baccara Bluebird A-Go-Go . During those early years the Gold Label was not only the first, but for a long time the only bar, so naturally enough, the soi was referred to as Soi Gold Label .

But times were changing; within the next three years, the Gold Label would fade from the scene and a number of smaller, single-shophouse bars would open. By 1978-1979 the Soi reached a nominal ‘critical mass”, and as time passed, it was becoming clear that the leader of this new pack was the Cowboy Bar.
The Cowboy Bar was opened by another then-recently retired US military veteran. Everyone knew him, unsurprisingly, as “Cowboy”. This upsurge in numbers of entertainment venues on the Soi and the resultant increase in popularity were not lost on Bernard Trink , then with the Bangkok World. The Soi was often mentioned in his weekly entertainment page. He dubbed the soi, “Soi Cowboy” and the name immediately ‘stuck’ - today you won’t find a taxi driver who doesn’t know where Soi “C’boi” is.

Only a few die-hards remember it as Soi Gold Label.

Richard D. Hartman from
Bangkok Eyes

Soi Cowboy on YouTube

Some of the videos feature Dean Barrett, the Soi Cowboy Poet

Bus Stop Update

Then I went into Bus Stop. As I entered through the gateway, two lovely Thai girls greeted me with a traditional “wai.” (The wai is the prayer-like gesture). I like the way the Bus Stop Cheerleaders still don traditional Thai dresses. The Bus Stop girls also greet you with that inimitable Thai smile.
Bus Stop was very busy with most of the tables occupied. I spotted an Aussie mate and sat at his table. Aussie John had a little cluster of cuties around him. After I briefly browsed through the menu, I ordered a Coca Cola, which cost me all of 55 Baht. For a very tasty bacon cheeseburger, I was charged 95 Baht. I am pleased to report that it is still excellent value-for-money at the Bus Stop. However, make sure that you are not in a rush, because service can be slow.
Dave The Rave

Soi Cowboy's Neon Thru Bangkok Eyes

The neon lights of Soi Cowboy, it's looking more like Vegas all the time. Check out the rest of the photo essay of the Soi at night thru
Bangkok Eyes.