Some Bangkok changes

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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Jun »

Trongpai wrote:It seems to just be the natural evolution of a city. Gay bars, massage venues and independent small business just can't make anywhere near the value of the property. The same thing happen in NYC. Giuliani likes to take credit for cleaning up Times Square, closing all the adult venues, but the real reason was property values. Sell out, take the money and cry all the way to the bank.
This might affect the gay bars in Bangkok, but thankfully there are plenty of other places with no immediate gentrification threat. Sunee comes to mind, but that would be off topic.

Moving up the income scale, Tokyo seems to be hanging onto its gay bars & clubs as well.
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Trongpai »

Here is an update on Hero Massage at the original location. Prince Massage http://www.theprincebkk.com/ has negotiated a short term lease from the new owner of the property on Sukhumvit 11. It seems that there's a slowdown on new upmarket property development and whatever this property is destined to be is on hold. I was told that it will be called 'New Hero' and initially will be staffed by some of the present boys at the 'Prince'. The Prince Massage (once GQ Massage) at Suanplu 6 will remain open. There's hope that some of the regular Hero boys will return.

I'm told it will open on 30 November. No word on the price yet but I figure in the 600-700 Baht range.

Anyone with some personal experience after 30 November would be appreciated.

The vendors on Silom and Sukhumvit ( soi 3 to 15) are gone. Some set up shop in front of business on steps. This includes street food vendors.

The Montien Plaza on Suriwong is closed and appears the building is coming down. This was the location of Bangkok's first Starbucks.

Hemingway restaurant at Asoke is closed to make way for a high rise hotel. I really liked this place--so sad.

Asiatique has a lot of new very good restaurants and bars. They seem to have stopped busing in the Chinese tourists and it's more of a local hangout now. If you went when it first open and were disappointed you might want to take a second look.

Rooftop dining and bars are all the rage now in Bangkok. I've been to many but not all and so far my personal favorite is The Octave. Good drinks and food at reasonable prices.
http://www.bangkok.com/top10-rooftop-bars.htm
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Maxxy »

Great news Trongpai, I hope you don't mind if I share the information on Hero?
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Undaunted »

As for the Silom vendors it was always part of the scene as for Patpong I don't like to hear any vendors anywhere are out of work. As for not wanting to walk down Patpong to get to Tawan, use the soi where the Christian hospital is. So Up2U no reason to complain.
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Trongpai »

Maxxy wrote:Great news Trongpai, I hope you don't mind if I share the information on Hero?
Of course, I think that's one of the purposes of these boards, to share information. Still, things don't always go as planned and there's some infrastructure problems that need to be worked out. Wait and see.
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Gaybutton »

Trongpai wrote:I think that's one of the purposes of these boards, to share information.
It's certainly the primary purpose of this one.
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by ilz »

A rather sad change in the Bangkok scene is the closure of Be High, the only gogo-bar left in Saphan Kwai area. They closed about three months ago, seemingly due to problems that customers had with boys. The fact that this closure has still not been reported anywhere - as far as I know - shows that this bar was not very popular among gay board members, although I saw one or two farangs every time I had gone there - not very often to tell the truth.

Saphan Kwai has still more than eight bars/karaoke (7 of them on a 100 meters stretch on Pradiphat soi 20), and about as many massage places with boys. Bars have a hard time finding guys willing to work there and are more and more staffed by hilltribe and foreign boys.
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Undaunted »

Sorry to hear about Be High, years ago it was a nice alternative to soi twilight...I wonder if Charming is still open soi 19'Sapon Kwai? It is sadly amazing how the gay scene has changed so much everywhere from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and Pattaya....oh well.
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Gaybutton »

ilz wrote:A rather sad change in the Bangkok scene is the closure of Be High, the only gogo-bar left in Saphan Kwai area.
I didn't know they closed. I'm sad about it too. I used to go to Be High every once in awhile too. I remember there were two or three gogo bars in the Saphan Kwai area - years ago. I can't remember the names, though. Now they're all gone.

It's also distressing to know all over Thailand more gay bars are closing than opening. I hope the gay bar scene in Thailand isn't on the endangered species list just yet, but the past few years have not triggered off much optimism, at least not for me.
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Re: Some Bangkok changes

Post by Trongpai »

In the mid to late 90's the Saphan Kwai are emerged as the new hot gay area and was giving the Patpong Venues a run for the money. One of the most popular bar was 'Midnight Cowboy' a bar with a go-go format, shows and lots of cute boys. The owner died and though the bar tried a few restarts it never was able to regain it's popularity.

The prevailing wisdom at the time was that the gay scene would move from Patpong to Saphan Kwai. Soi Twilight at that time only had the Twilight Bar.

Then came the 2001-4 Thaksin's Social Order Campaign. Saphan Kwai was not in the zone:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... A9609C8B63
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