Can Booze Bring Back Sunee?

[Manforallseasons]

This walk down Sunee memory lane was certainly great but to answer the question “Can Booze Bring Back Sunee” the answer is unfortunately NO!

[Oliver2]

Mea culpa....but be honest, Pattaya's past is infinitely preferable to its present. And of the two, the 1990s are more real to me than the vague hopes for the future.to which we cling desperately.

Sorry to be pessimistic , but a month after my flight to BKK was cancelled, a second one booked and paid for a few weeks later has just met the same fate.

Anyway, back to the booze. Much needed today. Shame I'm a Methodist.

[maump]

Yes, Thai Scene 1997 (post-Notcutt) lists Crazy Boys but at "Second Road behind old Day & Night bazaar", not in Sunee, and there is no mention of Sunee at all. There's no mention of either Crazy or Sunee in my Notcutt dated 1994 (but we may have different editions despite the same dates).

The first reference to Sunee in the copies I have of "The Men of Thailand" is the 6th edition (1997), where Crazy Pub & Disco is listed at 273/66 Soi Sunee Plaza. 15 Boys Club is listed in both 1997 guides on (of course!) soi 15, so nearly-but-not-quite Sunee. TMOT 7th edition (1999) has a section for Sunee, including Bad Boys, Blue House, Crazy, Kaos and Pattaya Bar. It also lists some bars in soi 14 and 15 and Day-NIght Plaza .

I have the second edition of "Men Of Thailand" (1990) no Sunee .... or Jomtien complex. Jomtien Condotel plaza is shown on the map, but no bars there. There are 2 maps North Pattaya (near Terminal 21 mall), and South Pattaya (boystown).

I can list the bars if anyone is interested.

I have a 1991 Tours to Paradise video tape Thailand Through a Gay Traveler's Eyes" that i would love to watch again, digitize (and post on youtube.....

[Dodger]

Interesting, that through all of our historical perspectives, we've come to the conclusion that Sunee Plaza was first hatched in 1996 with one single gay bar..."Crazy Pub". Then, as the number of gay visitors to Pattaya started skyrocketing - so did the number of gay venues.

Here we are 25 years later, after encountering a sharp decline in the number of gay tourists in Pattaya - where the number of gay venues has sharply declined in exact proportion. The only difference is Sunee Plaza still has 2 gogo bars and a handful of host bars still standing (hopefully) which is far more than were there in 1996.

So you ask yourself the question: Can gay life in Sunee Plaza survive? When, in reality, we should be asking ourselves; Will the number of gay visitors to Pattaya ever increase? Because the survival of Sunee Plaza will ultimately be determined by the answer to that question.

[a447]

I can list the bars if anyone is interested.

There is already a thread devoted to this topic, so please feel free to post the list here

https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showt...-1980-till-now

[goji]

Will the number of gay visitors to Pattaya ever increase? Because the survival of Sunee Plaza will ultimately be determined by the answer to that question.

Pattaya firstly needs to attract the gay visitors, but once we are here, the bars also need to offer enough to get us to visit Sunnee.

At present, the authorities still seem to be trying to discourage visitors, by keeping facilities closed, as we witnessed in Jomtien last night. Whilst I can cope with that, I suspect most of the target market is less tolerant.

Then once we are here, the bars need to attract our business. Bars like Winner or something along the lines of past favourites like Euro Boys or Eros would get me in. Nice Boys can forget it, since I don't come here to see podgy guys covered in tattoos.

[Oliver2]

Are there many young (under forties) gay men anxious to be involved in the bar-scene in Thailand and to pay Thai guys a few years younger than themselves for companionship? How often do we see falang of that age in JC, BT or Sunee? Rarely, I suggest.

And are young "clubbers" likely to travel thousands of miles, at huge cost, to enjoy Bangkok's gay clubs when so many are available nearer to home?

The fact is, we are dying-out, slowly and inexorably and the scene which intoxicated men like me, desperate to escape a lifetime of repression and denial, will end with us.

It's not to say that Thailand won't attract gay people for other reasons but sitting in a Sunee bar watching cute guys dancing and then enjoying company with one of them? I suspect those days won't return after we have gone.

[Dodger]

Then once we are here, the bars need to attract our business. Bars like Winner or something along the lines of past favourites like Euro Boys or Eros would get me in. Nice Boys can forget it, since I don't come here to see podgy guys covered in tattoos.

I hear you loud and clear.

As much as I always enjoyed Sunee, that last few years (before the pandemic) was getting dreadful. There were too many retired song teaw drivers posing as gogo boys around the scene, and not enough boys of staff in general.

The bar owners should go back to the Plan that worked years ago. Hire a seasoned ladyboy mamasan who knows how to recruit, train and manage the type of boys that the customers want.

As much as I've heard punters complain about the slim twink-type pretty boys over the years, believe it or not, those were always the most popular boys who got offed the most frequently. The muscle-bound MAN BOYs were (are) also popular, but with a smaller slice of the market.

Nice Boys is a perfect example of "what not to do". Beer and Mak started recruiting the type of boys THEY prefer (mostly macho types) which turned off a lot of their previous clientele - and then kept the same ones on stage for an epoch until they could hardly see off the stage with all the cataracts in their eyes. There are a couple of really decent guys there - don't get me wrong, but they would make better chess partners than sex partners.

The only chance Sunee has of survival is the return of enough gay tourists to keep the bin full - and experienced mamasans at the helm who know what it takes to keep the customers satisfied.

Mamasan Jack from the old Euro Boys immediately comes to mind - may she rest in peace.

[Dodger]

The fact is, we are dying-out, slowly and inexorably and the scene which intoxicated men like me, desperate to escape a lifetime of repression and denial, will end with us.

As long as it lasts exactly as long as I do, it works for me.

[goji]

I hear you loud and clear.

As much as I always enjoyed Sunee, that last few years (before the pandemic) was getting dreadful. There were too many retired song teaw drivers posing as gogo boys around the scene, and not enough boys of staff in general.

The bar owners should go back to the Plan that worked years ago. Hire a seasoned ladyboy mamasan who knows how to recruit, train and manage the type of boys that the customers want.

I largely agree, although if they can get cute boys without a ladyboy mamasan, even better. Having said that, I don't recall a nuisance in your face mamasan in places like Euro Boys, Eros or Happy Boys. So perhaps a balance can be struck.

As for the board member who doesn't like skinny lads, well he always had the option of going to A-Bomb....