This time last
year I came up with ten Bangkok Gogo Bars and asked you
to vote on which one was the best. The result was not
exactly as I anticipated although I had suspected that
Playschool might win.
They did.
Long Gun was second and Angelwitch
third. The Patpong gogos did particularly badly and
I am sure that this is because many of you rarely visit
Patpong. So this year I have decided to move the goal
posts a little and try and correct those flaws.
I am going to nominate gogos again: however I will
nominate them by area but only one gogo bar can qualify
of those operated by any one multiple operator in any
one area. In addition there will be a vote for each
area. So we will have individual winners from Patpong,
Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy and the overall winner will
still be the gogo getting the most votes. Playskool,
who won last year are ineligible this year.
Patpong still retains its seedy clip
joint image, although there are some very good bars
in that area. Regrettably there are also plenty of clip
joints waiting for the unwary. The latest addition to
the Patpong scene is Club Electric Blue
(CEB) which has replaced the old Rififi. Micky and partners
still hold court at the CEB bar although it is Andy
from CEB Pattaya (and formerly of Dollhouse) who is
in charge of operations. I think Andy has found it hard
to get going here. Patpong is very different from other
locales and whilst CEB Patpong is a vast improvement
on the Rififi, I have not yet seen it swinging a la
CEB Pattaya or even Dollhouse in its early days. At
99 Baht for a beer CEB is marginally more expensive
than most of the other gogos (as opposed to show bars)
in Patpong.
The Kings Group operate several venues ranging from
some quite good gogos to music bars, discos, show bars
and katoey gogos. Their three main gogos are Kings
Castle 1 & 2 and Camelot Castle.
The best of these is KC1. If a gogo is about dancing
girls and lots of them then KC1 must be one of the best
in town. The music is loud and easy to dance to even
if it is techno: hence the girls do dance and the heaving
stage normally has plenty to catch the eye. The other
two are similar but not as good as KC1.
Goldfinger has been around with Randy
as boss for nearly 20 years. Randy always seems more
ageless than the gogo. I have often eliminated Goldfinger
from my gogo list simply because it is more of a bar
operation than a gogo. However this year there has been
a new influx of girls and I have started taking Goldfinger
more seriously as a gogo. On top of that the music is
normally first rate.
However for me there is one gogo, in Patpong, which
is right up there with the best and that is Safari.
It has a slightly different format in that there are
two stages one at the back and one by the door, with
a kind of mix-and-match area between the stages where
you can mingle and tingle. The girls here only wear
stars over their nipples and as such there is currently
more on display here than virtually any other gogo in
Bangkok. The music is amongst the best in any gogo in
town and while much is made of price when it comes to
bar-hopping in town, at Safari, certain beers are only
75 Baht. Singha is advertised at that and I found that
Tiger is the same. Kings Group sell Singha at 80 Baht
and other beers at 90, which is the Patpong ground floor
bar norm.
Nana Plaza has had a mixed year with
closings and government early closing policy, with sometimes
even midnight closing. For the time being it has settled
down closing at about 1 am, but with strictly no showing.
Angelwitch is still one of the most
popular bars in the Plaza and at showtime is packed.
It is a compliment to Pin, who runs the shows, that
she has managed to keep the freshness, variety and interest
up.
However is Angelwitch a gogo bar, or a show bar?
Last year, at the last minute, I included Erotica
in my top ten. It was a very new bar then and it seemed
to have all the makings of a very good bar. I am pleased
to see that it has gone from strength to strength through
the year and is now clearly one of the important Nana
bars. There was a rumour that Anton maybe returning
to breathe disaster into a good operation: but fortunately
that has not happened!
I personally am not a great fan of the various Rainbows,
but there is no getting away from the success of 1 &
2. I am sure that leaving the three Rainbows out last
year contributed heavily to the ‘none of these’
total. As far as I can ascertain, Rainbow 1 is the more
popular for farangs and Rainbow 2 for other Asian visitors.
To me they are both very similar, and there are plenty
of girls and normally plenty of action in both, which
must qualify them both as good gogos. In addition they
are now selling Tiger so they are back on my circuit!
In Nana, the Crown Group seem to pick up most of the
brickbats: in most cases, I fear, they deserve them!
I am just surprised they do not let a couple of units
go and concentrate on just a few. The main problem now
seems to be the girls are spread far too thinly and
no Crown gogo has the buzz of a busy, all-action operation.
The nearest to it is GSPOT, where I
have in the past I have had some great nights. Alas,
those nights are now few and far between, although I
was in there just the other night and it almost seemed
to have the zip and zaz of old.
I am not sure what to think of Mandarin
and Silver Dragon. Silver Dragon has
never really made it into the top gogo bracket whereas
Mandarin blows hot and cold. I have had good nights
at Mandarin although I find the stairs up can barely
be described as user-friendly! I believe there are some
management changes in the offing here and I am sure
that will help. I have always thought these bars and
Shark (soi Cowboy) lacked direction and as a result
are very up and down.
Of the smaller gogos Temptations is
currently run by Jo who is a friendly enough girl and
does seem to have got the place going quite well. But
it really does not qualify as a serious gogo: mainly
I fear because it is too small. The original layout
as Spiders Web was, in many ways, much
better!
One gogo that seems to keep right up with all the big
spenders and conniving farangs is Pretty Lady.
For a long time it was accused of only doing well because
it had showing when everybody else was covered. But
in recent months they have had the same rules as everybody
else and they are still full. Unlike many I do not like
the cartoons: I am not sure what they add. But I do
know it normally has a good crowd of attractive girls
that dance and look happy. And it is not as avariciously
priced as everybody else. At the moment it is suffering
a temporary forced closure, which may disprove many
of those police owned/operated theories. I am told they
are due to re-open on December 6th, but as they failed
to close on time it may be a few days later!
Soi Cowboy’s year has been defined
by a reforming police chief who keeps closing bars down.
There was a moment when, I think as many as six bars
were closed at the same time leaving one side of the
street dark. However the end of the year has seen Cowboy
as busy as ever and most people have come to accept
that showing is verboten. Both Shebas
and Susie Wongs have suffered closures,
and also their sister club Playschool
has been closed for fires and regulatory problems. When
one or the other of these three is closed the other
two pick up their girls. The result has been moments
when both Sheba’s and Susie Wongs have been as
good as any gogo in Bangkok. Currently they are both
open and do both seem to have finally found a crowd.
There is action aplenty and the music and sound systems
are first rate. I was at SW’s at the death the
other night watching the girls on the stage. If that
performance does not end at closing time a webcam in
the girls room would be XXX rated and worth a fortune!
Long Gun is still as popular as ever,
although it now seems to have a new name of Five Star.
That is confusing because there is another Five Star
opposite. But either way the shows here are slick and
more about gogo than just shows.
Black and White and Tilac
are both popular gogos with plenty of girls and friendly
action. I prefer Black and White but I not sure there
is really that much difference between them. Cowboy
2 is one of the few new bars that actually
has a bar. Apart from that it is very much on a par
with most of the other big gogos. Next door is the newest
gogo on the Soi: Spicey Girls. Unfortunately
the name is the spiciest part of the whole operation.
I am not sure what is happening at Dollhouse. I get
the feeling that it is living on its past reputation.
That does not mean it is bad: just that it is no longer
special. Midnight was closed for a month and took the
opportunity to upgrade, a renovation that was badly
needed. I think the problem for Midnight is that naked
women was its principal draw. Now it gets lumped with
the rest in this paragraph.
Shark barely qualifies anywhere: a
file to its teeth might help! I always think that one
of the best operations on Soi Cowboy is Baccara.
Boss Serge is a dirty old man in the best senses of
the word. He is not afraid to let his own imagination
guide what he thinks people want. Glass floors and mirrors
on the gogo surround little girls in short skirts. Okay
I know he is a Frenchman and thus does not have to be
PC, but he is also un-inhibited enough be honest about
what a gogo is all about! Sometimes I get complaints
about pricing at Baccara but you ‘pays your money
and makes your choice!’
So now you can vote: one vote for each area. And please
be fair and try and look at all the options, if you
do not already know them. One vote in each area only!
Last year I nominated my gogo of the year and it did
go on to win. This year I will nominate Safari:
however I am reasonably sure it will not win. Unless
that is most of you should actually go to Patpong and
take a look!
My nomination for Nana is Pretty Lady
and Cowboy is Baccara.
As a guide my criteria for a gogo out of 100 is:
30 gogo dancing,
20 music:
20 friendliness:
10 service:
10 shows
10 Design
Results will be announced mid/late January.
Nominations:
Patpong
1. Electric Blue
2. Kings Castle 1
3. Goldfinger
4. Safari
Nana Plaza
1. Rainbow 1 (with Rainbow 2)
2. Angelwitch
3. Mandarin (with Silver Dragon)
4. Erotica
5. GSpot (with other Crown Group)
6. Pretty Lady
NB Playskool (Not Eligible as winner last year)
Soi Cowboy
1. Sheba’s (with Susie Wong’s)
2. Black and White
3. Dollhouse
4. Long Gun
5. Midnight
6. Baccara
To the Archive
