Nightmarch

[PattayaPete 530]

Just Where Exactly? On Saturday night 19 August a new beer boozer called The Blue Monkey will be opening its doors. I was handed a little leaflet announcing this fact, but sadly the operators (Aron and Steve) forgot to note down the location of their new establishment. Luckily, the person who gave me the leaflet was able to tell me the Blue Monkey is in Soi Skaw Beach , off Second Road , just before the Made in Thailand complex.

 

Ten Years After: Although the fleshpots of Bangkok were closed on Saturday night 12 August and a long weekend was in place, Fun Town didn't seem to gain a lot of benefit from walking wallets decamping from the Big Chilli. Many of the dens of the chrome pole reported a drop in trade on at least one of the two normally busy nights, although the Heaven Above ogling den (Soi Diamond) was packed to the gunwales to celebrate its second anniversary on Friday night 11 August. Hard to believe it's been two years already since the place opened.

 

On the same weekend, Walking Street celebrated its 10th anniversary by turning the street into an obstacle course, making perambulation a difficult exercise. As usual with these sort of celebrations the local authorities and various businesses were allowed to set up stages and food stalls and tables and chairs on the street. Apparently, near the Lucifers Disko the impediments to foot traffic were so numerous many people gave up the idea of going any further.

 

What's Happening Around Town: Tony's new late-night venture, the Europa Club is due to hold its opening night on Thursday 17 August. Reputed to have cost around 300 million baht to construct it is located along Soi 16, at the end of the Covent Garden Complex of boozers. One wonders if the new place will draw crowds away from his flagship Tony's Entertainment joint on Walking Street proper.

 

Does Fun Town have enough people to support another flashy up-market late-night joint? Considering the unqualified success of Lucifers Disko as well as the new Hammer live band and head-bangers joint and the recent opening of places such as Roxy (the former Club Electric Blue) and Byblos (Soi Diamond; officially opened on 3 August), perhaps the answer is a resounding ‘yes'.

 

The Casino Club late-night gyration barn (Soi Diamond) will be holding its Dance Contest on Sunday night 20 August, starting around 10:00PM and featuring local lasses pitted against a few imports from the Big Chilli.

 

Then, a week later, the Coyotee's ogling den ( Soi Marina Plaza ) will be running its second Best Ass in Pattaya Dance Contest. Early reports are that most of the judges from the first competition have handed over substantial bribes to be allowed to make pencil marks on sweaty pieces of paper (otherwise known as score sheets), but at least one new face will be ‘on the bench' as it were: the well-known Roundy from the popular and long-running Roo boozer (corner of Soi Happy, Walking Street).

 

[b}Innovation and Experimentation:[/b] The management of the Club Boesche ogling den (Covent Garden Complex, Soi 16) recently installed a large plasma TV screen in the upstairs section so that imbibers could watch the water antics of the birthday-suited damsels frolicking about in the downstairs Jacuzzi.

 

I'm told there are serious plans afoot to further expand the den with a series of showpiece areas, including a VIP room. Building work is set to commence very soon with the aim of being open by the next high season. If the plans I was shown are anything to go by, then this will take the concept of an ogling den to stratospheric heights.

 

Down around The Market ( Second Road , just past Soi 6) plans are well under way to construct a series of chrome pole palaces, beer boozers, nosheries and the like with the aim of creating an almost self-contained entertainment and munching area. The aim is to have these places up and running come the next high season.

 

Ain't What it Used to Be: When I first came to the shores of Thailand -and the little ‘foreign' enclave called Pattaya in particular- the people who brought me here lamented, “It isn't as good as it used to be.” That was 13 years ago. A man from northern England made a similar comment to me the other day as we rode the elevator in the condo where we live. It's true; and false at the same time. Pattaya is twice the size it was a decade or more ago, it has twice the number of bars and, specifically, about three times the number of chrome pole dens.

 

Are the girls who work the bars better or worse than in years gone by? For probably most people who have spent any length of time in Fun Town , the answer may well be, “worse”. I agree; and disagree. Those who've been here long enough to know better, should realise this place really is ‘fantasyland'. After all, the majority of dancers in the dens have Thai boyfriends; they did 10 years ago, and they will in 10 years time. Many also have one or more foreign walking wallets on the string. They did 10 years ago, and they will in 10 years time.

 

In response to my item (16-31 July edition) naming the dens I consider to be the best in Fun Town at present, I received a well-considered e-mail from my reader who took issue with my ratings. I readily accept my rankings, as I wrote at the time, are my opinion only and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. My reader agreed with my top rankings for New Living Dolls 1, Peppermint, Super Baby, and Super Girl and considers Catz the best in town at present. ‘The girls are pretty and, most importantly, have a good attitude. I had just about given up on a-go-go-s, but had such a good experience at Catz I definitely will return.'

 

What I found interesting, if very debatable, were his comments regarding showgirls. ‘The shows became popular. The…showgirls…became “Stars in their own lunch time.” They demanded that they not have to dance “a-go-go” and some idiot bar owner said, OK. Then they demanded they not have to go with customers if they don't want to and some idiot bar owner said, OK. Scratch the availability of many of the really attractive dancers. In bars where there are lesbian shows some of the girls are, or become, hardcore lesbians and refuse to go with customers…It is my personal opinion that having hardcore lesbians in a bar is like the old rotten apple in the barrel…They, the lesbian corps, have a negative influence on the other girls in the bar…'

 

While I agree in part with my reader, I have to say anyone looking for anything more than a commercial transaction with most of the damsels of the chrome pole is asking for trouble. The dancing girls can spot a fresh-faced unused load of testosterone and a full wallet just waiting to be emptied faster than an Italian pickpocket on the Spanish Steps. The potential victim only has to cough up for a lady drink and the scene starts to resemble vultures around carrion. The game is all about money; not love, not affection, not a white picket fence and two and a half children and a mortgage. If you want that then you've come through the wrong door.

 

I happen to agree wholeheartedly with giving the working damsels the choice as to whether they will, or won't, go with a customer. Relative freedom of choice happens to be one of the reasons why the bar scene in Pattaya is defensible. The girls work here because they choose to do so; it's better paid than working as a cashier at Carrefour. And if they choose someone else over you, get over it and find another girl who will choose you. There are, literally, thousands to choose from, so why waste your time with a girl who's not interested?

 

Once More into the Breach: The second edition of the magazine Pattaya by Night is now on the streets and in the bars. The first edition, I'm happy to say, was a sell-out and this version looks even better than the original. The cover was designed by English graphic artist Matt Wright and the magazine features exclusive photos of some the best looking (and average looking) chrome pole molesters from (in alphabetical order) AngelWitch (Soi 15), the now defunct Babewatch, Casino Club (Soi Diamond), Catz (Covent Garden Complex, Soi 16), Club Boesche (Covent Garden Complex, Soi 16), Coyotee's (Soi Marina Plaza), Diamond (Soi Diamond), Dollhouse (Walking Street), Heaven Above (Soi Diamond), Living Dolls Showcase (Walking Street), New Living Dolls 1 (Walking Street), Super Baby (Soi Diamond), Super Girl (Soi Diamond), TQ2 and Windmill (Soi Diamond).

 

The magazine is 52 pages and retails at 150 baht. It's available from most of the participating dens mentioned above as well as DK Books (Soi Post Office), TK Books (Soi Post Office), DK Bookmart (Central Pattaya Road, near Beach Road), Pattaya Beach Books (upstairs in Tops, Central Pattaya Road), Globetrotter noshery and bar (between Soi 7 and Central Pattaya Road), Tops (Central Pattaya Road), Jeremy's Bookshop (Soi Chaiyapoom), Foodmart (Jomtien), Lukdod (north Pattaya), and in Bangkok Book House (Sukhumvit Soi 4) and Nana Hotel Bookshop (Sukhumvit Soi 4, opposite Nana Plaza). There are at least another 30 outlets around Fun Town as well as the bookshop in U-Tapao airport.

 

It should soon be available via the Internet from www.pattaya-night.com or www.dcothai.com Unfortunately, Danny Speight, the webmaster for these sites, took an unintended leap from an unsteady ladder on the day the magazine was released and finished up occupying a bed in the Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital. He made a right mess of himself, with a broken arm the least of his injuries, and will probably be out of action for a little time yet. Some people will do anything to avoid work.

 

Piece of Pith: I won't mention any names here because it involves a couple of dens of the chrome pole, but Lanky Bob from the Catz ogling den (not one of those involved I hasten to add) related the following quote to me, uttered by a Thai woman who has been in the bar scene for more years than she'd probably like to admit to. “Things are changing in Thailand ,” she said to Bob. “Thais used to steal from farangs; now farangs are stealing from Thais!”

[elk 1]

Thanks for the info about the pattaya-by-night mag, I bought the first one, and it keeps me going through the day to day grind here in the uk