Back to mai kaew jai.
I had barely been in Bangkok for a couple of hours when I asked a question and was told
mai kaew jai. After a living in a country where most people speak at least some English to suddenly be back to mai kaew jai was a graphic reminder of the joys of Amazing Thailand!
Being back in LOS after several months elsewhere enables one to take a reasonably fresh look at what is what. Sadly my health problems slowed me down but I had a solid week at the end playing the games that matter. I did not go to Patpong but heard nothing but bad about the place – facelift and urgent are two words associated with that area. It seems that even big Andy wants to sell
Club Electric Blue and apparently Micky the previous owner of Rififi, and still a major partner, is onside with the sale. I am not sure if that is because they have both had enough of the business or Patpong or both. The asking price appears to be 15 million Baht, which would presume an annual profit of 5 million. There seems to be a big question over that figure. Andy did put the oomph back into a moribund Rififi and many rate Electric Blue as the best of Patpong’s gogos although there is not exactly much to compare it with.
Nana Plaza continues to stagger on, and is even getting busier. What is interesting is that the renaissance is due mainly to the prices up the road in Cowboy. However, having said that, the new management at
Spankys is proving that providing punters with something worthwhile will bring in more. For my money Spankys is more than competing with its next door neighbour,
Angelwitch, with some fun shows. They may not all work but the girls at least look happy and are having fun. Throwing beach balls around a place littered with full upright bottles does have its risk but it is a damn sight more fun than listening again and again to that dirge that introduces the shows next door. Why oh why will Angelwitch not change that intro? Ask 100 Angelwitch customers about one single improvement they would like and 90% will say change the bloody music. So Spankys is new, good and doing business; Angelwitch is still pulling them in but I get the feeling it is stale. But the main problem is as ever the dying Crown group. I use the word dying as that is what it looks like.
Carnival, with the bucking bull on the top floor, is now yet another katoey bar. It used to work quite well with girls and the non Crown owned Hollywood opposite (on the same floor) is doing reasonably with some almost risqué shows. So why has Carnival been changed? I would have thought NEP had enough boys posing as girls; for many it has far too many!
I went into G Spot, once the Crown Group’s flagship bar. All I can say is the customers outnumbered the dancing girls by 2 to 1 (there were six customers). And to support all those dancing girls there were a handful of service girls, but on top of that there were seemingly six managers and mamasans, at least two of the third gender. We know in LOS that Chiefs (generals) are normally essential and numerous, but not surely in private companies. One has to seriously wonder how long the Crown group can keep going, and one thing is for sure, as exemplified by Spankys new enthusiasm, it could with a little effort make those Crown Group bars work and in the process resurrect Nana Plaza. In fact it would almost certainly be in the Head Ice Cream's interest to get rid of half his bars and let some new blood come in and make them happen; the likely result will be that his other bars do a lot better.
As ever Soi Cowboy looks and has the feel of a highly successful bar area. The battle of the neon initially between the No Name Group and the Arab, but now joined by all, has proved, if it ever needed proving, that competition is the mother of invention. The new lights and the outside bars have transformed Cowboy. It is a pity there is not more price competition because I think 150 Baht for a local beer is pushing the limit. The problem is that, on pricing at least, the No Name and Arab are for once in agreement with a 'stick 'em for every penny we can' policy. I suppose that is the free market but you have a choice and you do not need to pay; just go elsewhere. Last night I was in Tilac and that had a lot more atmosphere than several other bars showing a great deal more. The old fashioned operators are convinced the only thing that matters is how much they can show but I am not so certain. A decent party atmosphere, fun girls enjoying themselves and sensible prices also count and go a long way, if not all the way, to replacing shaved pubes as an attraction.
Cowboy is about to get another boost as Citibank's three branches in the city are being merged and will jointly occupy 20 floors of the new Exchange Tower that backs on to Cowboy. Mind you those impoverished bankers will not be happy punters if what happened to me in an Arab bar is the norm. I was aimlessly watching a girl and the mamasan saw who I was watching and asked if I wanted to buy the girl a drink. I indicated yes and the girl left the stage and waied nicely. I offered a drink and she went and collected a coke. She came back to me waied again and then said 'I go dance!' I told the mamasan exactly what I thought in a few short pithy words and left vowing never ever to put a foot in one the Arab's bars again.
The Boston Diamond after an arduous year trying to make ends meet in Soi Cowboy has given up on chips, hairdressing and coyote dancers. Not yet 40 he has taken early retirement from the stress of late nights and bitching tarts in favour of a simple life and beauty sleep.
What was Blu Bar BQ and then Harry's bar and more recently Legends has been reincarnated as
Beavers. Under normal circumstances I would give a bar with such a history, stuck at the wrong end of Soi Wall Street (off Soi 33), little chance. However Powelly has moved from the bar of that name in Soi 33 proper and will operate the new bar with Keith. In addition the ownership has been revamped removing an obstacle in the shape of someone who thought he knew all but in reality knew very little. Steve Powelly assures me that either he or Keith will always be in residence, and he has bought his team of willing (and able) ladies with him. Powelly is a good operator so I hope it all goes well – it certainly now appears to have the right ingredients in the mix.
I hear tales that the Bangkok police are finally getting serious about drink driving and several farangs, as well as Thais, have been stopped and breathalysed. Those over the limit have had their licence confiscated for six months and in some cases a suspended prison sentence added. Many may say not before time but I doubt such actions have got to the islands yet. The irony will be if making the police enforce the drink driving rules will alienate them from the middle classes as it has in the UK. In a round about sort of way this could be the moment which starts the reform of the police. Most Thais accept police corruption because it lets them get away with whatever. End that and ........................!
So that is the end of another year. I am sorry this newsletter is so delayed for reasons explained above. The Cheap Baron was in Angeles so he has done a piece on his impressions which are aimed at the first time visitor rather than the Philippines residents – except that first impressions sometimes count more than you think.
September 2010 will see the tenth anniversary of this newsletter which is worth pointing out if only to excuse my tardiness – it is sometimes difficult to get enthusiastic about all you have seen before. They say what goes around comes around and I wonder about Soi Cowboy; 10 years ago Nana Plaza was the king of the nightlife jungle and Cowboy was a shabby street of bars. Then Nana started price gouging and Cowboy started with a smart new bar – Dollhouse. An interesting parallel, particularly as I cannot see the Crown Group lasting much longer. Maybe a 180º turn in fortunes is on the way. Could the No Name Group become the Crown Group of the last decade? I will leave you with that thought as I wish you a Happy Christmas and a great New Year.
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