Another Sunee Bar Closes

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James the First

Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by James the First »

Leases and lease renewals to Mrs Sunee?
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Gaybutton
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Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by Gaybutton »

James the First wrote:Leases and lease renewals to Mrs Sunee?
If you have spoken to him and know his answer, that's fine. Other than that, let's not get into speculation and guesses.
Dodger
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Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by Dodger »

Gaybutton wrote:I wonder why, after keeping the bar open so long without many customers, he chose to close the bar now, just as high season is getting underway
I haven't seen a real significant increase of customers visiting the gay scenes (including Sunee) for several years now. Resilient as Thais are, it just gets to a point where there's no other choice than to pull the plug.

Drugs...alcohol...corruption...street violence (mafia's)... raids...blackmail, suicides...and the list goes on, all contributed to the demise of Sunee Plaza. As one poster mentioned, a half dozen boys who he knew are dead now as a result of the temptations and lawlessness that consumed this small parcel of real estate. I know a handful myself who were all under 25 when they lost their lives.

Sunee Plaza was once a place of "Big Business" where small fortunes were made by all participants, i.e., working boys, boys in brown, mafia's, screeching ladyboys, skilled mamasans, landlords, street vendors, drug dealers, etc., where a good looking 16 year old boy was draped in more gold then a 1,000 year old Buddhist shrine. For a young teen boy coming from a rural jungle village surviving this extreme environment did not come without significant risks. The "Apps" are a much safer place to survive.
windwalker

Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by windwalker »

Gaybutton wrote:That video is around 9 or 10 years old by now.
I thought I recognized Ray who now works in Eros Bar? About .38 in the video.
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Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by Gaybutton »

windwalker wrote:I thought I recognized Ray who now works in Eros Bar? About .38 in the video.
I think you're right. It looks to me like a much younger, pre-tattooed Ray (he pronounces it 'Lay'). Now he is heavily tattooed, mor so than the photo, which I believe is several years old.

Image

He comes and goes. He works for awhile, then disappears. When he works, it is always Eros. As far as I know, from among all the boys in the video, Ray is the only boy who can still be found in Sunee Plaza.
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Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by Undaunted »

Another video from back when:



Notice the amount of customers in the plaza.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
riverdee50

Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by riverdee50 »

sad for me big time it is hard to explain but,30 years ago bought my first sparactacus guide book and always wanted to visit pattaya about 1980 ish but never did was still in the closet, and was not until 2011 my first visit stayed in two guys and sunee was my first experiences of gay life thought Krazy Dragon was amazing and the place was amazing,last there October met Alan at sky bar shared a few drinks hope to meet up again
its like for me A First hopefully you know what I mean guys
fountainhall

Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by fountainhall »

I certainly know what riverdee50 means. I have been a rare visitor to Pattaya but I was also in the closet when I first visited Bangkok in 1979. I had to depend on a tout to get me to my first gay bar. Thereafter Spartacus broadened my horizons, but I quickly threw it away as I got to know the locations of the other bars and the many which were soon opening up.

I was like the little boy in the candy store. Only a couple of years earlier I had been initiated into the sex clubs on Hamburg's Reeperbahn, although only straight ones. So I knew what was likely to happen in the Bangkok bars. What I was not prepared for was the beauty of the Thai guys who worked in them. I can't think what life might have been like had I not been able to visit regularly between then and 2011. I was very lucky!
James the First

Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by James the First »

Regarding the paucity of those appearing to attend gay venues it is not just because there are apps. Think about this carefully....which generation wanted to recreate in the way of the previous generation? In modern times the answer is none. There is a lack of 20-30-40 and even 50 year old people coming to Thailand for "the gay life" from western countries. Thailand is not even in the top ten.

https://www.axelhotels.com/live/en/10-t ... -for-2018/
fountainhall

Re: Another Sunee Bar Closes

Post by fountainhall »

That list is highly subjective. The fact is that it has been compiled by a single hotel chain aimed at the gay traveller. Although it does not have hotels in most of the recommended cities/countries, the lack of specifics makes it seem pretty arbitrary. Australia as a gay destination? Sydney and Melbourne, certainly. But the whole country? Are gay tourists going to fly half way around the world in the hope of finding gay nightlife every night of the week in places like Cairns, Canberra and even Adelaide? They'd be in for quite a surprise! As they would expecting a thriving gay scene in Lombardy. Beautiful scenery, great food and wine, perhaps. Just because it features in a movie with gay undertones, Lombardy is hardly a gay mecca!

Besides, you can find all manner of similar lists on the internet. This one had the 7 best spots for a gay summer holiday this year. One destination happens to be Chiang Mai! And the only destination common to both lists is Seoul.

https://matadornetwork.com/read/7-best- ... mmer-2018/

This particular thread is about one area of Pattaya that has clearly been close to its death throes for some time now. Dodger's post above gives some of the reasons. As far as I am aware, Boyztown and the bar area in Jomtien seem to be at least surviving reasonably well. As for Bangkok's go-go bars, I have long predicted their eventual demise, but that is certainly not here yet. With the more recently affluent Asians making up for the reduction in westerners, some bar owners are able to keep going. Their difficulty, in my view, is that Asians do not generally come for as long holidays, and once here they are less interested in sampling gay nightlife every night as quite a few westerners do.

Yet the fact is that for the time being at least both cities offer something that few cities/countries on that list offer - go-go bars with boys ready to provide some form of eye candy and perhaps entertainment whom punters can then off if they wish at a price that remains very reasonable. Besides, as long as I have been coming to Thailand - and that is a long time - I never have seen all that many 20s, 30s and 40 year olds. In the 1980s and 90s, flights to Thailand were just too expensive for most in those age groups. Younger westerners like me tended to be those living and working in the region.

In recent years there have been very substantial gay developments in other Asian cities like Taipei, Hong Kong and Seoul. But none yet has the more in-your-face gay nightlife than Bangkok and Pattaya offer. If only for that reason, I believe Thailand will retain its attraction as a gay destination for some time.
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