Dynomite bar

Last night me and B/F went for a night out in Boyztown for a few drinks. We enjoy having a drink and chatting with the young men in the bars. We had never been into Dynomite bar and with the outside doormans sales pitch we decided to go and check it out. There were about 20 dancers of all shapes and sizes, the seating was comfortable but with only one sofa facing directly in front of the stage found ourselves having to contend with a pillar blocking out some of the view. We decided to have a boy for a drink. Nice guy, he ordered a beer, the beer came .. short glass full of ice and beer.. check bill 150 baht. Our drinks were 120 baht. I asked the waiter why the boy's drink was 150 baht and why he only recieved 1/4 of a beer for 30 baht more. You know the smile and dumb look you get when you question anything in a thai establishment, thats what we got. My B/F asked the same question and got " the 30 baht extra is for the boy if he only has a glass of beer, otherwise he does not get the 30 baht for the drink. But wait, we paid 30 baht extra for his drink no matter what he choose to drink. Why be cheep and just give him 1/4 of a beer. We have been out and found this same thing at Soi 2 bars, A-Bomb, except they give the boy a regular drink but charge 30 baht extra. My point is, when i have a boy for a drink, when i leave i give 100 baht tip for his time and conversation, but if i am being charged on the bill for his time, why should i pay extra. I am not cheep and never have been, but i am getting tired of bars that think they must make that extra baht at every oppertunity. Most bars charge the same price for boys drinks and give 20 - 30 baht to the boy as a commisson which in most cases still gives a high profit margin. To me this is fair, these are the bars that will get my busseness. Until people start questioning these bars it is only going to get worse, soon it will be like Bangkok 200 baht to get in, poor service, then looking at you like a puppy dog at time for the tip. Time for bar's to teach there staff the meaning of the word TIP. and to not assume it is something one gives automaticly when paying a check bin.

These establishments are clip joints and whorehouses.
You want ethics and fairness?
I know, some might reply, but they are our clip joints and whorehouses! :compress:

clip joint :cherry:
n. Slang.
A restaurant, nightclub, or other business where customers are regularly overcharged.


whore┬╖house (h├┤r'hous', hōr'-) :cat: n.
A house of prostitution.

[elephantspike]

Well, if the guy is making 30 baht per drink he is bought, and is taking a portion of that as a commission, he will need to have an awful lot of drinks bought for him in order for it to add-up to a significant amount. Do you want him to be falling-down drunk by the end of the night? :shaking2:

[wowpow]

Happy Here and many tourists and ex-pats are quite well aware of what the bars are. Pejorative titles or euphemisms makes no difference. From a moral viewpoint there is no difference between the punter and the tart. BBC News is reporting that the gutter press say Prince Harry went to a lap dancing bar - wow!

I rather object to buying a boy a drinks in a bar period. Especially when the drinks are very expensive (up to Bt270) because they have a show. In Bangkok most of the Duangthawee bars give the boys Bt100 so I adjust my generosity there.

Only in a few of Pattaya's less successful bars have I found them charging extra for a boy drink. I think it's silly as HappyHere and others will just not go back there or if they do they will not buy the boy a drink but give him a better tip. I would like to think that the bars would learn that this is an unpopular charge and will decrease their customer numbers. As we are going into low season now that's unlikely to stop them.

I had fallen into the habit of drinking Black Label and soda in Bangkok as all drinks are the same price and just saying whisky means a danger of getting Mehkong. In Boy's Town I found I was being charged Bt150 a drink (supplement for Black I guess?) but in Krazy Dragon it was only Bt95!

Oh, lordy lordy that hoary old topic of costa lota cash. Darlinks if you can't afford to go out then stay at home in you sad little rooms at the back of Sunnee Plaza or back in Tooting or some tennement in Glasgow, Melbourne, The Bronx or, or, or where ever.

I of course have the necessary to make the boys feel appreciated. Afterall they are not just bits of meat in a butchers shop, they are human.

I made the mistake of going into K Boys the other day. I bought my beer and watched. A Belgian who is known to many in the Sunnee area: this disgusting old potbellied farang with bad breath and sweat patches had one of his hands down some kids' knickers and in the other hand held the beer he was swigging and a foul cigarette was jammed between the yellowed fingers. He intermittently moved his head from his bottle to thrust his tongue down the boys throat. When, after about fifteen minutes the boy escaped his clutches there was no tip, no drink for the boy and just a summons from this fat Belgian jerk-off for another boy to join him.

I thank God every day that my circumstances are such that I did not get born in Thailand and that I did not have to earn my crust in a go go bar having to service the sexual fantasies of the likes of Henrietta-Happy-Here or Tracy-TeePee.
. :bootyshake:

30 baht is less than 50 cents USA and 100 baht is close to 2.50. As a tourist I don't think you can find another place to go and enjoy yourself so cheaply. Most boys don't get offed that much and this is a way of keeping the boys working the bars as they can at leas earn enough to eat on.

So far you have all missed the point of this post, it is not about the money the boy receives. I do more than gladly give them a tip. It is about the bar owners being greedy, getting every penny possible out of the customer and not taking any responsibility for the boys.
I am happy to report that not ever one in Pattaya is as yous have spoken. I treat my guest as just that, guests. It is the owners who degrade them by not treating them equal. I oppose the fondling that goes on in the bars, but why do you choose to attack a post that is giving information on a bar. Why don't you write your own post in regards to your fat fondling farang's.
I thought this was a message board to pass on information good or bad for the benefit of the readers. I guess it has just turned into a personal advertising board for most, no longer a forum to discuss issues.

[thanatorn-old]

I agree with you HappyHere. One of the reasons I have taken so long to post any replies or comments is for the very reason that when a query is raised it seems to deteriorate, within a few posts, into a slanging match between what seems to be people who are seriously very bitter or so bored with life that the only pasttime is to be sarcastic or ignorant comments. My God - look at me- this is infectious - its only my second post and I am begining to sound just like them!!!

when a query is raised it seems to deteriorate, within a few posts, into a slanging match
There is a certain inevitable entropy about Forum threads

....It's Shagem's third law of forum dynamics, I'm told.

Hey, didn't really mean to be negative about this myself. Its just that I like to keep my expectations in life modest and then hope to be surprised. I don't expect anything but trickery and greed from a go go bar. Also, I do go there for the experience of the Thai boys, not the mamasans, not the overpriced drinks, not the boring shows, not the drag queens, etc. etc. If a bar had a crew of stunning boys and it was the sleaziest joint in town, I would go there rather than a joint run by the Green party (sans the stunners) and donating all the profits to elderly midgets. I think I am typical, so maybe not doing a service, because the bar owners know this too.

donating all the profits to elderly midgetsElderly fat midgets, surely?

donating all the profits to elderly midgetsElderly fat midgets, surely?
I don't discriminate, but at their height, it surely becomes harder for them to maintain their boyish figures.

I agree about the high cost of drinks vs. what the boy gets. I always ask the boy if he wants a drink or 100 baht. Never has a boy chosen the drink. So if you'd like to save money, while giving the boy more of a tip, ask him the question and give him the 100 baht -- doing so quietly, because mamasan and waiters may well resent this.

It my case itтАЩs not whether I can afford to pay 150 baht for a glass of beer but more a case of am I stupid enough to do just that. A small bottle of Chang Beer costs the bar 18 baht on wholesale prices and draught beer somewhat less, (other products are similarly priced). ThatтАЩs a markup of about 700%. ItтАЩs up to the buyer to decide if the markup of 132 baht per bottle represents a fair and reasonable profit to the bar. I know that some bars provide entertainment and that entertainment has to be paid for but also remember that if you тАШoffтАЩ you are then paying toward that service so again itтАЩs up to the buyer to decide whether the price of a drink is fair and reasonable or is he being ripped off or not.
As an example would you be happy to pay 700% markup to your butcher, or to your grocery supplier, if not why are you happy to pay it to a bar? Would you be prepared to pay 150 baht for a beer on the beach at Jomtien or at a local Thai owned bar in PattayaтАЩs suburbs. If our good friend Rit (often known as Lit) at Jomtien charged 150 baht for a beer this forum would light up with complaints but fortunately he does not and therefore he enjoys very good patronage from us.
I am not home in Pattaya at the moment (I am back in my home country to visit family) but when I am there I regularly have a drink in Thai owned bars in the Pattaya suburbs and pay 35 baht for the same beer that you are paying 150 baht for, I avoid the Farang owned bars because they often charge very much more and sit empty most opening hours taking very little profit whereas the Thai owned bars are usually very busy and accordingly have a much better ambiance. I live comfortably in retirement on my savings and investments but have to make sure that I spend my money wisely so I would never pay 700% markup for anything. If you are a 10-holiday person who has money to burn and an income to bank when you return home then I can indulge your frivolous ways but I wont accompany you.

I agree about the high cost of drinks vs. what the boy gets. I always ask the boy if he wants a drink or 100 baht. Never has a boy chosen the drink. So if you'd like to save money, while giving the boy more of a tip, ask him the question and give him the 100 baht -- doing so quietly, because mamasan and waiters may well resent this.
No need to ask. Just tell the boy, I will tip you instead, and they always like it. Why wouldn't they?

Regarding 700 percent markup on beer, see above definition of CLIP JOINT. But in general they are offering more than beer, eh?

I agree about the high cost of drinks vs. what the boy gets. I always ask the boy if he wants a drink or 100 baht. Never has a boy chosen the drink. So if you'd like to save money, while giving the boy more of a tip, ask him the question and give him the 100 baht -- doing so quietly, because mamasan and waiters may well resent this.

I have once or twice done this and can confirm that the boy is more than happpy and in fact eager to take the tip rather than the drink, which is often just coke or nam som. However, whilst I have the money (which may not be for too much longer) I do tend to offer any boy invited by me to sit and chat and then give both a drink and then also a tip too. This may sound dumb and possibly is, but I tend to think that the boys have to put up with my ugly mug and desparate attempts at engaging conversation. Any boy who just plonks himself next to me, who I do not wish to speak with, I do not offer a tip or a drink as he is not there at my request.

As for commission on drinks, I know this varies between bars and can range from 20 baht to 100 baht for the boy.

If you are worried about how much you are spending, then be choosy as to which bar you go in. I have found the open air bars in Sunee to be the cheapest around, but of course you don't get the gogo. If you think you are being ripped off in one bar, don't go there anymore and find a bar you do like.

I think that anyone who balks at giving a guy 100 baht tip (one pound 50 pence in the UK) for sitting and chatting with an aging Ferang, has probably lost all sense as to what things cost back home. Where else would you get an attractive guy to spend time with for so little and get real, look in the mirror sometime and think, 'if I were a early twenty-something attractive guy, would I want to sit and chat {or more} with me'? Then be grateful and divvy up the tips.

I think that anyone who balks at giving a guy 100 baht tip (one pound 50 pence in the UK) for sitting and chatting with an aging Ferang, has probably lost all sense as to what things cost back homeI've never understood this mentality. Who cares what things cost "back home"?

Yes! It would certainly be lovely if all bars charged the same as a mini-mart or Thai owned bars in the boonies--Forget, 'Back home.' Too bad some farang doesn't open one. It would be packed every night--For as long as it would take him to go broke--so he'd need be farang ruay mahk-mahk: Very rich. Nevertheless; if some dizzy bitch found cola one baht cheaper at Family Mart, they'd come 'here' and squeal like a little girl, "This money-grubbing SOB is making a ...Gasp...profit! Burn the bitch!" And all the 'good customers' would flounce off in a snit..."The bloody nerve!"

Lesson learned, first trip to LOS: One night, a handsome, young farang sat in a Boys Town bar with a fist-full of folded twenty-baht notes: tips for the boys walking around the run-way; not for talking, sitting or drinking with him, just for the fun-hell-kindness of it. If he wasn't the happiest of anyone in the joint, he certainly looked it. Some people just have a knack for having fun.

The few bars I've been where boys could sit with a customer who didn't buy him a drink were 'approach' bars--If you don't like approach bars; 'no drink' will make them disappear like nuns at an orgy?...okay, dry party. Just for my edification, please, where are the (Still in business) go-go bars that don't require the customer buy a drink for a boy he asks to sit with? Crazy Dragon? Anywhere else?

I've no problem with it, it's how the game is played, I can take it or leave it--But my leaving it is not going to change a thing except--So far as my evening\good time goes--leaving may throw a spanner in the the works...over 30 lousy baht! "Well! snif snif, It's the principle of the thing!" No, my having a good time is the principle of the thing! I'll not allow my wallet to stand in the way, selfish as that may be.

Suggestion: If one doesn't like the 'boy drink' thing, ask him if he would like beer: whatever you are drinking. The usual reply(s) is, "yes," "bier," "same-same." Then tell the waiter, 'same-same'--and point to yourself. Give the drink to the boy. Tip him before you, he, or you & he, leave. If this causes an objection from the waiter, mamasan or captain; don't go back, stay home, go where the policy is more to your liking--Up to you--but that objection\reaction from a server may be the attitude\rules of the owner, which the employees; who need their jobs, are expected to follow--So don't take it out on them, have enough class to leave a (decent*) tip if service was, otherwise, okay.
*No: I'll-make-a-statement-by-leaving-one-baht! sniff, puff-puff., bullshit--Unless, of course, you're willing to stand up and show everyone in the joint the size of your itty-bitty 'tip'...both of them. :cheers:

I think that anyone who balks at giving a guy 100 baht tip (one pound 50 pence in the UK) for sitting and chatting with an aging Ferang, has probably lost all sense as to what things cost back homeI've never understood this mentality. Who cares what things cost "back home"?
This is the root of the real economic divide between tourists and expats.

In Pattaya, it is getting almost silly. Many of the locals know what things cost in the west and are constantly using this to justify overcharging for all kinds of things.

That said, I think 100 baht tip for a social session in a bar is a fair price for Thailand.

Maybe I'm different to many who post here, but I have no objections to buying the boy a drink and giving him a tip. As someone else said, where else can I (a fat old farang) pop in for a drink, gaze at near naked boys and have one (or two) sit by me for as long as I want making me feel good, for around Bt500?

My policy is if I think the drinks are too pricey I make one do for the whole time I'm there, and do not get intimidated by the waiter or mamasan coming every few minutes asking 'you want drink'. If I felt I couldn't afford it, or didn't want to pay it, then I would stay away.

Yes the drinks are overpriced, the mamasans pushy, but the boys are delightful and worth every baht I spend. I fix myself a budget before I leave home and I'm happy to leave Thailand with under Bt1,000. I hope the money helped to make some boys happy.

Rather than find a new boy everynight I stick with the boy who pleased me. Might take a day or two to find one with whom i click, but from then on everything is fine. I have rarely made a wrong choice.

Maybe I'm different to many who post here, but I have no objections to buying the boy a drink and giving him a tip. As someone else said, where else can I (a fat old farang) pop in for a drink, gaze at near naked boys and have one (or two) sit by me for as long as I want making me feel good, for around Bt500?

My policy is if I think the drinks are too pricey I make one do for the whole time I'm there, and do not get intimidated by the waiter or mamasan coming every few minutes asking 'you want drink'. If I felt I couldn't afford it, or didn't want to pay it, then I would stay away.

Yes the drinks are overpriced, the mamasans pushy, but the boys are delightful and worth every baht I spend....

Here here Ahobni, the voice of sense and reason, and maybe a few tight wads here will sit up and take notice.

I don't get it. The OP buys a boy a beer and gets a 1/4 of what he pays for and is charged 30% more. He's being ripped off. It is not a matter of being cheap. It is a matter of being pissed off because the bar is ripping him off.

I went out to several bars last night in Portland OR. Two of them had go-go dancers. I actually bought one of them a drink at one bar when he came over between sets to talk with me and my friend. Had the waiter brought him over 1/4 of the size of the drink I was drinking and charged me 30% more for it, I'd raised holy hell. So would anyone on this Board. Yet because, TIT, and you feel oh-so-lucky that anyone looks at a fat farang like yourself, then you should just let the Thais get away with behavior you'd never accept anywhere else.

Also, interestingly enough in speaking of what things cost "back home" all of our drinks last night (beer and vodka tonics) were either $2.50 or $2.75 (same-same for go go boy), and this was in three different bars. Standard tip for go-go boy is $1. None of the waiters or bartenders ever even considered asking us for a drink (much less got rude or pouty if we did not buy them one) because they don't drink at work. Obviously, the go-go boys don't wear numbers and the standard rate to off is 5,000 baht minimum, but last week I walked right out of one bar and picked up a pretty 19yo off the street for $40. So, I've never felt like I was getting any bargains with Thai nightlife except for the price of the hookers and when drinking in the country (now that is a bargain).

I adore the Land Of Smiles. Truly. What I like most is the nightlife. However, I don't like feeling as if I'm being railroaded or ripped off in any country I go to, and being told to just be jai dee farang is IMO a bit insulting. Like the OP and many others on this thread, I would not go back to any business establishment in any country that treated me in that fashion.

Pete

Maybe I'm different to many who post here, but I have no objections to buying the boy a drink and giving him a tip. As someone else said, where else can I (a fat old farang) pop in for a drink, gaze at near naked boys and have one (or two) sit by me for as long as I want making me feel good, for around Bt500?

My policy is if I think the drinks are too pricey I make one do for the whole time I'm there, and do not get intimidated by the waiter or mamasan coming every few minutes asking 'you want drink'. If I felt I couldn't afford it, or didn't want to pay it, then I would stay away.

A voice of sanity in the wilderness!

Why do so many visitors instead of voting with their feet and not visit bars that they perceive are 'ripping them off' and simply go elsewhere instead of returning time and time again then bitching about it on various forums?

All over the world their are variations in prices for local/tourists and some a lot more blatant than short measures on drinks. I have just returned from a holiday on the UK and took my nephews who live in Portsmouth to visit the Spinnaker Tower, because they live in the city where the tower is they were charged ┬г6.00 each, as a non resident of Portsmouth I was charged ┬г12. In Australia I was charged $25 to ride the skytrain in Cairns my sister who lives there was charged $14. All these prices are clearly displayed and it seems that only in Thailand is this some great issue amongst visitors.

As has already been suggested, take a look in a mirror and honestly decide if you are such a great attraction to these boys that the small amount you are being charged is such a bad deal.

We all have differing financial circumstances so let us as individuals decide if we want to pay the going rate or not. If not then go elsewhere and if you cannot afford the prices complained of in the earlier parts of this thread then either you are a cheapskate or should really look for somewhere else to live/visit that is more suited to your pocket.

[jolyjacktar]

Ok im all for the practice of a little bit added on for the tourist, as its been pointed out it happens world wide. But if i buy a drink for someone and they get a smaller measure for more money then the shit hits the fan.Ok charge me slightly higher for the boys drink but dude make sure the glass" Measres up" or youll waite for the tempest to arrive

In bars such as these, we aren't really customers in the Western sense.
Rather we are "marks", we are "water buffalos" there to dispense cash.
I repeat my assertion that to look for fairness and ethics in these settings is folly.
Enjoy them for what they are, with eyes wide open, and wallet well protected.