The Amazing Ripoff

After a long absence, a friend and I decided to soak up some real Thai culture so we went to Museum Row on Soi Twilight a few days ago. It just doesn't stop to amaze me how exorbitantly expensive the museum admissions have become.

After battling our way with our umbrellas through a group of disgusting touts from the Future Boys Exhibit, we managed to make it to an upstairs Museum. A glass of cola and a glass of soda water that consisted mostly of ice, came to a total of 460 Baht.

That is 14 US dollars for the "privilege" of sitting on a torn and decrepit bench, looking at an exhibit of bored and ugly boys in underwear. All the while, from the right we were pestered by a mamasan with a missing tooth and from the left by smelly cigarette smokers.

So much for Thai culture.

Yet, some people seemingly can't get enough of it. Amazing.

[thrillbill]

If you were into real Thai culture, then the price would be dirt cheap. Your "museums" aren't found all over the world; thus, the proprietors can charge the visiting tourist as much as they want. To me, after you visit one of the "museums" on Soi Twilight, they all look the same.

yes, it is expensive, but you have a choice and don't do it again is my solution, go to the more cheaper bars or hang around the bars in the Sois, where the drinks are reasonably priced and you can watch the world go by.

[netrix]

Yet, some people seemingly can't get enough of it. Amazing.

Quisp has posted 32 comments/snide remarks in one day since joining. That's not a troll, that's an uber-troll.

What is snide about it? I am expressing surprise that people still go to Soi Twilight, despite the high prices, smoke smell, pushy mamasans, and increasingly ugly boys.

Oh, my visit was a rare one, just to check up on things and nothing had changed. I can go there every day of the week if I wanted to, but I don't. I guess once in a while I need to confirm to myself that Soi Twilight is a total ripoff. :-)

Oh, my visit was a rare one, just to check up on things and nothing had changed. I can go there every day of the week if I wanted to, but I don't. I guess once in a while I need to confirm to myself that Soi Twilight is a total ripoff. :-)

Gay porno DVD - "80 baht"
Chang beer from the 7/11 - "30 baht"
J/O in your own room because you're too cheap to go into a museam and off a boy - "Priceless"

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

sounds pretty grim asiagayboy.

I steer clear of anything called a museum these days in case I'm mistaken for an exhibit and shoved into a display case.

That is 14 US dollars for the "privilege" of sitting on a torn and decrepit bench, looking at an exhibit of bored and ugly boys in underwear. All the while, from the right we were pestered by a mamasan with a missing tooth and from the left by smelly cigarette smokers.
So much for Thai culture.

1 There aren't that many places in the world where you can watch such a stage show for $14. If you can recommend any outside Thailand, please share the information here.

2 If they are bored & ugly, either you don't like Thais, or you got very unlucky in the choice of bars. Check out who's on the stage before sitting down & ordering a drink.

3 The real value kicks in with the off fee & tip. In global terms, this is really good value for the service provided.

Almost all Museums in the UK now have free admittance.

[elephantspike]

Is "museum" some kind of new code word for "go-go bar" now?

Just wondering.

[lonelywombat]

What is snide about it? I am expressing surprise that people still go to Soi Twilight, despite the high prices, smoke smell, pushy mamasans, and increasingly ugly boys.

People still go to Boyztown but not like they used to. Perhaps ignorance of where there is better value than the above

Is "museum" some kind of new code word for "go-go bar" now?

Just wondering.

I was wondering exactly the same thing that you were wondering Spike. I wonder if we are wondering along the right lines? If we are, I wonder why they call them museums. I bet you are wondering the same. For the record, I am being serious in not knowing.


George.

Is "museum" some kind of new code word for "go-go bar" now?

It's the first time I've heard it, but it's quite an apt term, actually. Don't we go there to look at lifeless exhibits?

[elephantspike]

Is "museum" some kind of new code word for "go-go bar" now?

It's the first time I've heard it, but it's quite an apt term, actually. Don't we go there to look at lifeless exhibits?

In their natural habitat?

A friend of mine came up with the "museum" term. "Let's visit the museums again". I guess it's based on the observation that a lot of the guys in Soi Twilight are museum pieces. The ones that should have been left in storage but were put on display anyway.

By the way, I do like Thai boys, they are my favorites. After all, I have whole websites dedicated to Thai boys. :) But I don't like the overpowdered guys with spiky hairdos and rude attitudes that dominate on Soi Twilight.

[Shuee]

i once got ripped off big time in phucket

me & bf where drawn to the bar as it had sex show now, when we ordered drinks, i saw that we were charged 300bt per drinks 600 total,
ask to see the menu & there it was all drinks were 300 each, but they waited until you sat down & order, before this big surprise,

after the show they then had the balls to come road with a tip bin!

this bar wasnt in the main strecth of gay bars,

Not exactly a rip-off if you didn't ask the price beforehand, now, is it? And you call this "big time"? Hahaha...what a loser.

[Brad the Impala]

i once got ripped off big time in phucket

me & bf where drawn to the bar as it had sex show now, when we ordered drinks, i saw that we were charged 300bt per drinks 600 total,
ask to see the menu & there it was all drinks were 300 each, but they waited until you sat down & order, before this big surprise,

after the show they then had the balls to come road with a tip bin!

this bar wasnt in the main strecth of gay bars,

I would guess that this was the old Tangmo bar beside the Royal Paradise Hotel, which briefly enjoyed a period of live sex shows catering to gay and straight tourists. As their costs were higher, so they increased the bar prices.

[lonelywombat]

i once got ripped off big time in phucket

me & bf where drawn to the bar as it had sex show now, when we ordered drinks, i saw that we were charged 300bt per drinks 600 total,
ask to see the menu & there it was all drinks were 300 each, but they waited until you sat down & order, before this big surprise, after the show they then had the balls to come road with a tip bin!

this bar wasnt in the main strecth of gay bars,

I would guess that this was the old Tangmo bar beside the Royal Paradise Hotel, which briefly enjoyed a period of live sex shows catering to gay and straight tourists. As their costs were higher, so they increased the bar prices.

The only sex shows I have seen in Phuket were at My Way. Tangmo was too ladyboy to have a real sex show.I have been only 3 times in 5 years so I am not the expert you are.

My Way owner not only lead naked boys around the bar introducing them to seated patrons, but encouraged patrons to play with them publicly. He was hands on with a number of performers that caused me more than a little discomfort.

Tangmo in my experience was trying to reduce costs by using audience members in discussions and very frank interviews

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

"It's the first time I've heard it, but it's quite an apt term, actually. Don't we go there to look at lifeless exhibits?"

this is true..and the customers often look like relics found from an archealogical dig.

I was out at My Way in Chiang Mai tonight. I don't go out to the bars very often, but, when I do go, I try to have a good time and try to help others to have a good time.

This evening, there were two different farang couples doing the One-Drink Trick. That's easy to explain: go to a bar to watch the show, and nurse one lousy orange juice through the entire two hours. Remain alone. Do not talk to any of the boys. Better still, Look Serious! :-) At My Way, assuming you leave no tip, you can get away for 150 baht -- about $USD 5.

What struck me tonight is this: these guys have already spent about $USD 1500 on their air ticket -- about 50,000 baht. You can buy a damn fine motorcycle for that much money. In addition, they have hotel bills and restaurant bills, transportation and all the rest. I used to budget $100 a day while I was a tourist -- over three weeks that came to $2100. Another 70,000 baht.

But somehow -- is it American Puritanism, or what? -- it never seems to occur to these guys to go out, order a bottle of Black Label, and share it with anyone in the place they would like to share it with. THAT might cost as much as THREE THOUSAND BAHT!!! Gasp!!!!! That's NINETY AMERICAN DOLLARS (gasp). And we haven't even included tips & gifts for the boys.

A hotel bill for 3000 baht a day, on the other hand, is frequently taken for granted.

God squash all Moralizing Homosexuals, but I will Moralize just this once: if you're going out to have a good time, please do just that! :-)

[Bob]

I'm not sure what the point is bitching about it, Henry. Yea, there are "cheap charlies" out there but probably a lot of the bars are happy to have somebody buy even one drink during the lousy low season.
The first few years I came to Thailand (and mainly Chiangmai), I sometimes wondered if I was spending too much (I've never had the opposite problem, thank buddha) but, for the last many years, I just don't care what somebody else's thinks and I go, like you suggest, to have a good time. But I'm easy....I could have a good time sitting on the footbridge by Warrarot Market just watching the traffic go by.

Quoth you: "I'm not sure what the point is bitching about it, Henry."

About what?