Where are they now?

[poshglasgow]

Like so many of you, accustomed to at least one trip a year to Pattaya, I am increasingly yearning for that day when I may step off the flight at Bangkok, after nearly three years absence. So, this evening, while the winds and rain do their worst and temperatures plummet on the south coast of the UK, I opened a bottle of Singha (3 large bottles, each of 630mls, for a fiver in Tesco and Morrisons) and dipped into my portfolio of memories of so many exciting trips of yesteryear. Various characters re-appeared as phantoms - some more welcome than others.

As I set the ball rolling, please add your own favourite recollections/memories of characters / venues in a feast of warm nostalgia that not even a UK winter can cool. Memories awash with fond memories, in preparation for that day when, given reasonable health and with the financial means to do so, we may revisit Thailand again with a degree of confidence. I predict that will happen this year 2022. Omicron, from my own research and learning, may well prove to be not so much a bogeyman as a knight in shining armour, heralding a return to a degree of normality as the pandemic becomes endemic.

So, in raking through my memories, I caught sight of Mama Pai at the Sunee Plaza bar (green chair bar) chewing on her nightly supper of chicken, her head bobbing up and down behind the bar as she feasted. Will she still have a job after all this mayhem? I do hope so. I first met her when she ran a unit at the 'eclectic' Siren Bar of the 90s. I wonder too about Pai's long-haried son, Joy, (ex-military). I recall too the former owner of that bar (wasn't he a Dutch guy, now deceased who resided near Soi Yensabi)? I haven't seen him for years.

Where is running boy? has he avoided the lure of yaba? Does yaba even exist in Sunee anymore? Has the virus cleansed us of that menace that sent so many young minds askew? My God, I recall the nightly skirmishes and battles that occurred every night in Sunee with gangs of yaba-fuelled urchins racing through the sois with sticks and other weapons.

What about the guy who pulled himself abound Boys Town selling flowers from his mobility trike, with a sign along the lines of: Like me, these flowers are not perfect, but please...."

What happened to Dudley who owned Penthouse? Is he still around? I think I'm right in saying he was from a wealthy family in Wiltshire. I stayed at the Penthouse in 1993 and again around 1999.

And what of the owner of the former Gentleman Club? Swiss guy? Did he return to Europe or is he languishing in some less exotic venue?! Across the road, opposite Lewinsky's and the Italian restaurant, was an interesting breeders' bar - the Sin Bin - run by an Irishman who loved to play Rod Stewart's greatest hits at full volume.

More recently, I've been thinking about how long it will be before I throw my case into the Venue and pop into see Zak in @Home bar next door. I wonder how he's coping? Zak, if you're reading this please don't go anywhere until I have that first beer on my next visit.

Anyone remember the blond-haired adonis, 'Art', who was a dancer at Throb, next to Cafe Royale? I fell madly in love with him but he was whisked off to Germany by Herr Flick and returned to manage the Kitten Club - part of Penthouse !! And what has become of Ott, a freelance masseur operating out of Copa? He used to bike in each day from Chonburi. I've sent him various texts but none has been acknowledged. I fear he may have come to harm on the highway.

Please share some of your own special memories of venues, friends and characters.

[Oliver2]

Many memories evoked and I'll return with some of my own later when I've finished my housework. And there'll be no mention of the C-word by the way.

Throb's Art was seen by me at a Soi Twilight bar, years after his Pattaya sojourn, doing a fire-eating act. I was amused because, on occasions, he'd stood in for the regular performer at Throb, with hilarious results. It was like Tommy Cooper's magic show but I'm afraid only British posters will understand that reference.

Didn't he later manage Neil's place in Soi 2 for a period, only to be discovered by Neil renting out the premises for parties out during the night? Neil was told and, accompanied by a former employee, turned-up, much to Art's surprise, found him in flagrante dilecto as it were, and sacked him on the spot. I had seen Art at Ambiance once and he told me that Neil was paying him 25000 bht a month . Not a good job to lose, IMHO.

I think I know "Ott" as another "Art" and if we are talking of the same guy, I have some good news- we still communicate on LINE. He is working in Chonburi and is well. He still drives his motor cy to Pattaya on occasions, something I invariably tell him to avoid!

The rumour I heard about the manager at Gentleman's Club (wasn't he also associated with Look and Sundance?) was that he was sent to prison in Switzerland for the predictable thing. But that was years ago. Decades, possibly.

Keep 'em coming! so many amusing characters from the Good Old Days deserve a mention.

[poshglasgow]

Great post, many thanks O2

[Dodger]

The rumour I heard about the manager at Gentleman's Club (wasn't he also associated with Look and Sundance?) was that he was sent to prison in Switzerland for the predictable thing. But that was years ago. Decades, possibly.

Yes, he was deported and ended up in prison back in Switzerland as you stated.

It was LuLu's French sidekick who actually ran Look and Sundance. LuLu, being the owner of Villa Rouge/KAOS back in the day. The boy bars that LuLu and his French partner (name?) operated were commonly referred to as the "French Connection".

[Oliver2]

OK...I'm sure you're right!

[Manforallseasons]

I was friendly with German Peter who was the original owner of Krazy Dragon, after a long night in Boystown I would walk through Sunee and he would be sitting at the horseshoe shaped bar outside and would insist I join him for a drink, it was hard to say no as it became a late night gathering place for boys from Btown and Sunee.
What later was know as the Corner Bar began as The Sports Bar owned by a Thai named Dang, it never closed was open 24 hrs. There were times when I watched the sun come up before returning home to sleep, it also was a popular place for cops to come and have a drink on their break.
BTW back in the day Sunee Bars had no official closing hours they were open as long as they had customers.
Green Chairs Bar (Pai’s bar) at times was so busy that chairs were row after row in the street, If you weren’t into gay fem boys it was a great place to pick up guys playing pool there.

[Oliver2]

In memoriam "Tiger."

Many old-timers from Boyztown will remember this guy. He even gets a mention in Michael Burchill's unmissable history of Boyztown.

Tiger was one of the original go go dancers in the early days of the gay scene. A toothless urchin, cute and willing, he was provided with a set of false teeth and went on to entertain falangs for many a year.

By the time I arrived, Tiger was long- retired but retained an ubiquitous presence at the Pattaya Second Road end of the soi, doing odd jobs for all and sundry and each evening strolling the length of the soi waving and chatting to friends as they drank their early-evening Singhas.

My last memory of him was when he appeared just as I was putting my luggage in the taxi for my return home to earn a tip. Not untypical behaviour as that sort of thing was how he survived.

A few weeks later, I read that he had died in hospital.

He was a true Boyztown character, an original. In some ways, i am pleased he didn't live to see its decline; on the other hand, he was a permanently, cheerful presence who is missed.

[poshglasgow]

Yes, I remember Dang when it was the Sports Bar. After he left SP he opened a place with snooker tables in a side soi off Breeders Avenue (Soi Buakhao). The Sports Bar had a certain reputation and was raided on at least one occasion. And, you're quite right, it was a favourite stopping place of the BsinB. I often spotted the former owner of Memory bar (situated in Naklua in the nineties) in there with other ex-pat club owners. They were swatting off MBs like flies. I understand that the northerner who owned Memory Bar died back home in the UK. Did I hear correctly he'd taken his own life?

[latintopxxx]

...for years had a fascination with a gogo who did erotoc shows in the first bar as one entered soi twilight, short with long hair and a lithe swinners bod and the most amazing bubble butt...used to do the naked hula hoop thing with and erection...then would bottom during the fuck show...would often do 3 shows a night if he wasnt offed...could watch him perform dozens of times and never tired of it....then discovered he had a woman and 2 kids...occasionally would see them at Lumpini park...found that soooo erotic...doting dad...straight looking...all butch with his woman...yet every evening he was bottoming ...always had a serious expression...hardly smiled....like it was just a job...i offed hom once and hammered him as hard as I could ...he hardly flinched...very mechanical...but did maintain an erection...a year or so later found him wandering alone looking terribly disheveled...then he dissapeared

[mr giggles]

he was provided with a set of false teeth and went on to entertain falangs for many a year.

...I think I would prefer toothless...