Nightmarch 24 July 2003

[PattayaPete 532]

What do all of the following places have in common? Bamboo Bar, Blues Factory, Hard Rock Café, Hopf House, Lucifer’s and Tony’s. Apart from providing live entertainment, they are about the only places catering to couples as well as single men out on the prowl.

Apart from the Bamboo lounge lizard libation room (which my friends and I refer to as the Pattaya R.S.L.; substitute Working Men’s Club if you are English), they are all expensive places in which to drink and dine, by comparison with most ogling dens and a number of specialist munching palaces.

 

I recently went into the Blues Factory (Soi Lucky Star, off Walking Street) on a late Friday evening and the joint was packed. The vibe was excellent with the band kickin’ butt. As a typical impecunious journalist (editor, kindly take note), drinking copious quantities of anything containing even a whiff of alcohol was beyond the scope of my budget with bottled amber and liver wasters at 125 baht. Lolly water is flogged off at 95 baht. Happy hour now consists of draught amber at 60 baht before 10:00PM. Nevertheless, I personally rate the joint a country mile in front of any other joint aiming at the ‘couples’ market.

On the main thoroughfare of Walking Street, the Lucifer’s late night boogie barn is also doing good business. Formerly known as Diablo, the house band in the bar at the front of the shack is not as slick as the mob in the Blues Factory, but they still manage to get the place up and running. Libations run to 120 baht for bottled amber nectar and liver wasters, although some lolly water concoctions are reasonable at 50 baht.

 

Ten gallons or more: The Spicy Girls ogling den (Pattayaland Soi 1) will be holding a birthday party for a regular customer who goes by the ‘handle’ of Texas Nick on Monday 28 July, kicking off at 7:00PM. The usual forlorn pig will be sacrificed, friends and regular customers are welcome; balloon chasers, according to the message I received ‘will be shot.’

 

One down, more to come: The Lek eclectic beer boozer (Soi 7) will be celebrating its first anniversary at its new premises with a party on Friday 1 August. The usual free buffet will be provided, including Lek’s well-known and filling beef stew.

 

A dozen reasons to visit: The Polo showtime ogling den (Walking Street) is continuing to present its quite polished series of 12 vignettes, which take around an hour for each cycle, from opening at 8:00PM until 2:00AM closing.

The cameos feature props such as parasols, wedding veils, inflated rubber mattresses, flower garlands, wooden chairs and masks while body paint, fire-eating, and Heineken bottles also add to the variety.

Happy hour prices, with most libations around 60 baht, apply until 10:00PM and then the impost climbs to 120 baht. Definitely a place to put on the agenda if you happen to be showing people from out of town around Fun Town, unless it’s a maiden aunt or a member of a religious order.

 

Come back Chubby Checker: After closing its doors for far longer than originally expected, the Peppermint ogling den (Walking Street) re-opened its doors to the paying public on Saturday night 19 July.

 

Tossed off: Big Andy, the Club Electric Blue ogling den (Walking Street) supremo, has a new gimmick designed to appeal to the gambler in us all. If you happen to have found the next true love of your life caressing a chrome pole in his establishment and she has consented to accompany you for a test run, it is possible to offset the impost of the 500 baht bar fine by ‘tossing the boss’. Now before you start thinking Andy’s turned a little queer and is looking to get his jollies via someone else’s helping hands, the concept simply gives punters a chance to walk out the door hand-in-hand with their dancing damsel without coughing up the bar fine. All that’s involved is the toss of a coin and a correct call of ‘heads’ or ‘tails’. The catch is that if you lose you pay double: 1,000 baht instead of 500. That’s how Andy gets off!

 

My e-mail address is: nightmarch@hotmail.com

Author of Pattaya "Patpong on steroids"