Bangkok Scene: All Change but Same Same

[Dodger]

Fantastic Report Jay.

Best I've ever read on any forum.

Much appreciated.

[billyhouston]

When I passed Super A on Sunday afternoon there was work going on, with 'fairy lights' in evidence. When I looked in Nature Boy on Sunday evening there were no boys at all there.... just the doorman.

[dpforever]

This was posted on Jupiter's facebook:

สอบถามรายละเอียด� �ด้ที่
นุ๊ก : 089-1456278
หนึ่ง : 088-6170887
ติ : 087-7811912
เอ็กซ์ : 081-2082455
เจี๊ยบ : 086-4943826

Anyone knows what does it mean?

[Armando]

Great report, many thanks.

Like some others, i am into twinks and I want to see the boys in the flesh. As long as they wear jeans and shorts, like christianpfc I am not interested. Once they return to underwear or some other skimpy pants I'll return

As for New Twilight, it is clearly breaking the government's rules by permitting smoking inside. I hate a smoky bar. I'd really like to see it once it is properly up and running but only if smoking is banned. By allowing smoking, the owner should get ready for raids by the b in b.

[christianpfc]

This was posted on Jupiter's facebook:
[Thai language removed to avoid text cut off]
Anyone knows what does it mean?

"You can ask for details at" and list of names and phone numbers of staff (cut off in original post, but appears when I quote).

Smoking inside gogo bars! I didn't consider this, and the issue did not arise during my recce. Unless I spot really hot boys, if I see or smell smoke during my first view (I never walk into a bar and take a seat, I take a few seconds in the door to asses if it's worth spending my time and money in that place), I will leave and tell staff the reason.

[Jellybean]

Several posts unrelated to the topic have been moved within Sawatdee Gay Thailand forum and given the new title, Why is it only Thailand has male go-go bars?

To contribute to the new topic, please click on the following link:
https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showt...ale-go-go-bars

[Armando]

Smoking inside gogo bars! I didn't consider this, and the issue did not arise during my recce. Unless I spot really hot boys, if I see or smell smoke during my first view (I never walk into a bar and take a seat, I take a few seconds in the door to asses if it's worth spending my time and money in that place), I will leave and tell staff the reason.

Years ago when Solid Bar was still in existence and a friend and I were reasonably regular visitors, on one evening I was pissed off that one farang was at a table monopolising the 6 cutest guys. All were smoking. Expecting the party to break up, we stayed. Eventually I went over to the farang to ask if they would kindly cease smoking and pointed out the two large NO SMOKING signs in the bar. They all put out their cigarettes. Within moments the farang came over to our table and my friend was concerened that he might be about to start a fight. It turned out he was the co-owner. Politely he stated I had been correct about no smoking, but if he banned smoking the bar would be closed within a month as nearly all his customers smoked.

[JayToff]

I zipped into Bangkok on Friday, the 30th of September for an extended weekend, flying out on Tuesday, almost exactly a month after I was last in Bangkok. Walking through the usual spots, my impression is that things have continued to pick-up, with several changes to the scene over the last month, and with more to come.


ON PATPONG 2

Dream Boy has now opened at its new location in the old Lucky Boys venue. In a shocker for Thailand, that put their opening a full week ahead of their initial target date. They had their soft launch on Saturday, the 1st of October, with an official launch planned for a later date.

The bar now has entrances both from the old up-the-stairs Lucky Boys entrance on Patpong 2 and a ground-floor entrance on the soi which connects Patpong 1 and Patpong 2, which was once known as Soi Bat Boat after a now long-gone restaurant.

Dream Boy Entrance 1-min.jpg
View from Patpong 1

Dream Boy Entrance 2-min.jpg
View from Patpong 2

The interior of new venue is impressive enough with, by far, the most comfortable seating in any of the bars. Their stage is huge, which allowed them to have much of their stable on view at the same during the boy parade. Despite the size of the bar, the place was almost full on Saturday and that was despite the heavy downpour that night. If they can keep attracting crowds like that, they won’t be looking back.

Dream Boy Interior 1.jpg


There were about 50 boys on stage on Saturday night, with quite a few new faces to be seen. As visible in the picture of the interior above, guys are now in white shorts, rather than jeans. Mamasan informed me that they now have a total of about 80 boys in their line-up. Given that several of the guys that I remember from their old, downstairs, venue were not to be seen in the bar on Saturday, I can imagine that there are quite a few more in their stable than were present in the bar that night. 80 seems believable. The quality of the line-up has definitely improved as well, although there is still a long way to go before they approach what they had on Soi Twilight. There is also now a very visible Cambodian presence in this place, along with a few Vietnamese guys. I asked the Thai owner about this and he insists that they are working on rebuilding their line-up of Thai boys and this is a stop-gap measure to meet demand. Time will tell.

The current, Thai, owner was previously the manager of Dream Boy on Soi Twilight, having worked under the old German for a long time The German himself still maintains an interest in the bar and continues to act as an advisor, so there is a clear idea on the standard to be aimed for. The acts are, currently, largely the same as what you saw in the previous venue with the addition of a new katoey who is actually a pretty good dancer. I am not a big fan of katoey shows, but credit to her, where it is due. If we are going to have katoeys, I would rather have one who can actually dance and entertain than yet another lip-syncing Beyonce wannabe.

In passing, it’s interesting to note that the new venue has been in use as a go go bar for decades. In the 1980s it was the Blue Hawaii a go go, then becoming the famous Super Queen a go go bar from 1990 till 2010. Super Queen, contrary to what its name might suggest, was an all-female bar. Lucky Boys took over the long-vacant venue in 2019, with Dream Boy opening there on 01.10.2020.


ON SILOM SOI 4 (SOI KATOEY)


Bipolar 1-min.jpg

#Bipolar: Soi 4 is set to see a new venue open next month. It will appropriately enough, be called #Bipolar. It is located right at the mouth of the soi, where the Nakarat Massage previously was. The format is to be a lounge, with electronic dance music (EDM) and ladyboy cabaret shows. That is according to the concierge at the downstairs Silver Sands. With the impending arrival of yet another ladyboy venue, Soi 4 seems determined to regain its reputation as Soi Katoey.


Jupiter: More hard cock was to be seen at Jupiter on Sunday night than I ever remember seeing pre-Covid. It is all woven into the shows, rather than as standalone items, but you get a lot more now than you did with just that brief flash at the end of the show before the pandemic. Jupiter has made an obvious concession to these still trying times. The bar was about one-third or more full on Sunday night with the usual complement of Asians and girls. A trip to Jupiter’s lavatory also brought home that I might be viewing the pre-Covid period through rose-coloured lenses. I, honestly, had no recollection of Jupiter’s loo being such a dump; or perhaps they just let things slip during their long, pandemic-induced closure.


ON SOI TANTAWAN (SOI 6 SILOM)

Super A is, literally, the last bar that I expected to see crawling out of its crypt; but it has, indeed, returned to the night games. When, during my previous visit from August to September, the katoey concierge who has been there for ages told me that they were planning on reopening in September, I was rather sceptical that it would; but re-open it did on the 27th of September. It is now under new ownership but the place is still a dump. On Friday night, it had four guys in the bar; three were fully-dressed and the fourth, the oldest, was bare-chested. The handful of patrons were all Thai and had bought bottles. Individual drinks are 200 bath each, both for customers and for boys. Super A is where it was.

Super A 1-min.jpg


The Golden Cock: As I noted in the earlier post above, the katoey concierge had mentioned that the owner of the New Twilight Bar had taken-over the old GC venue. A stroll down the soi confirms that. with signage on the outside of the old Golden Cock saying that it to provide parking for New Twilight. A similar sign was on the outside of the building to the left of the old GC. Any hopes that the Golden Cock was going to return to its old digs can be permanently set aside. The Golden Cock had been at that location from the time that it opened in 1987 until it moved into the Nature Boys venue in September 2020.

Golden Cock 1-min.jpg

Golden Cock 2-min.jpg

On that note, comments that have appeared elsewhere questioning the judgement of New Twilight’s owner for opening his bar in that, supposedly out of the way, location seem to be misplaced. He obviously has the resources to hold-on until the Mainland Chinese market rebounds. More importantly, the sceptics seem not to realise that the Soi Tantawan area already has a number of higher-end venues catering exclusively to the Chinese market. Up to this point, these have all been straight venues. They go unnoticed by farang because they have no English signage. The location is hardly out-of-the-way to the target Mainland market though and with the demise of Lucky Boys, there is probably a gap in the market for a gay bar aimed squarely at the Mainland Chinese. Time will tell, though.


MISCELLANY

The Electronic Boy: Anyone in the Silom area looking to have their mobile phone, tablet or laptop repaired should consider the boy who sits at the junction of Convent Road and Silom Road. The guy seems able to fix just about anything and does it at a reasonable rate. He’s not dirt cheap but he is definitely cheaper than Pantip or MBK and it will save you the trip. His work is good and he is quite quick as well. If walking towards Silom from Convent, he is usually to be found on the right at the junction. Given the current repaving work there, he sometimes moves a bit further down to the right from the junction and sometimes to the left-hand of the junction. Either way, look for him around the junction of Silom and Convent.

Electronic Boy 1-min.jpg


The Surawong Café on Soi Thaniya 2 hasn’t seen much of a pick-up in business since I was last there. Its location definitely counts against it in-terms of attracting walk-in traffic. With the long-running Madrid Tavern on Patpong 1, which was legendary for being the first restaurant in Thailand to serve good pizza, having relocated to Sathorn, the Surawong Café serves the best pizza in the Surawong area by a mile. I do hope that they survive. They currently close on Sunday.

Surawong Cafe 1-min.jpg

Don Mueang Airport Train: There is now a train service between Don Muang and central Bangkok, with the launch of the Red Line train in August. You can board it at the station just outside the airport terminal. The station is about a five minute walk from the arrival hall and most of that walk is through the air-conditioned parts of Don Mueang. The Red Line runs to the Bang Sue Grand Station that has become the new transport hub for Bangkok. From there you can transfer to the Blue Line, which goes to both Silom and to Sukhumvit which, between them, will probably be where 90% of readers are staying. While taxi fares between Don Mueang and downtown Bangkok are hardly prohibitive, this is a convenient alternative at about a fifth of the cost and no risk of being caught in traffic when you’re rushing for that flight.

Is it possible to book someone from say Jupiter online (in advance)? Tried facebook messenger but it seems no one responds despite their account being active with almost daily posts

I doubt that you are going to be able to make any bookings via bars' social media accounts. You would have to contact the mamasans directly vial LINE or their phone numbers and it would depend on the particular bar and / or whether they know you Hot Male used to allow bookings via their official LINE account, but I have no idea if they still do. No idea about Jupiter.

Fantastic Report Jay.

Best I've ever read on any forum.

Much appreciated.

I can think of several more amusing ones, but thank you Dodger.

[christianpfc]

The Surawong Café on Soi Thaniya 2 hasn’t seen much of a pick-up in business since I was last there. Its location definitely counts against it in-terms of attracting walk-in traffic. With the long-running Madrid Tavern on Patpong 1, which was legendary for being the first restaurant in Thailand to serve good pizza, having relocated to Sathorn, the Surawong Café serves the best pizza in the Surawong area by a mile. I do hope that they survive. They currently close on Sunday.

I will try the pizza at Surawong Cafe. Madrid's is as delicious as before, but the new location (Charoenkrung Soi 49, as shown on google map) is very out of the mainstream. I went there several times, currently closing time is 20.

[JayToff]

For anyone lucky enough to be in Bangkok this weekend, Hot Male is hosting an Isaan dancing event this Sunday night, the 23rd of October. There will be live Mor Lam music and dancing.

Hot Male Isaan 1.jpg

The event starts at midnight and ends at 2:00 a.m. Tickets are 400 baht and includes two drinks. Single drinks are still 400 baht before midnight. Given that the event only starts at midnight and that prices are double before then, I can think of no reason to get there before 12:00, unless you're going to turn back into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight. They will be having their regular 10:30 show though. I think that the Isaan dancing would make a nice change from the same-same though. The boys will definitely be having a lot more fun dancing to Mor Lam than to the usual pop crap that they don't actually listen to; and if the boys are having a good time, you probably will too because a happy, tipsy Thai boy is a virtual guarantee of a good time.

Hot Male Isaan 2.jpg

Hot Male is located on Soi Patpong 2 and their LINE ID is Hotmaleagogobar
Have fun.