Bangkok Night Life : Red Light Districts

Bangkok has developed a very nice night life scene completely apart from plain old sex tourism in the past decade. Still it is not secret that many men travel here mainly this type of tourism in mind. In Bangkok, sex industry catering to foreigners are concentrated in 3 areas: Soi Cowboy, Patpong and Nana Plaza. Patpong is probably the most famous one of these because this is the place where all naughty night experience has started. Probably the best and "family friendly", if you can say that, of these is Soi Cowboy. Nana Plaza is definitely a place to avoid if you are just going to there to see not do.

Here is a short Bangkok nightlife guide for the naughty side of Bangkok. Before heading to these red light districts, read our tips and warnings section at the end of this article!

Soi Cowboy
This place is named after an Afro-american dude who has opened a bar here and always walked around with a cowboy hat. Soi Cowboy is much calmer than Patpong and Nana Plaza and have a carnival mood (there were elephants on the road in the past). The street and 20 something go-go bars here are mostly packed with Japanese and Caucasian tourists and expats in Bangkok. These bars offer a platform in middle on which girls dance with bikini and occasionally fully naked. Entrance is free to these bars and it is quite acceptable to just watch. All dancers and most waiters here are sex workers and if you are into it, you can just take them out with a bar fine.

Most popular customers for sex workers here are Japanese and old uncles. I thing this is because they are much nicer and generous than almost always drunk young Caucasians. Most popular of all go-go bars in Soi Cowboy is Baccara at the end of the street. This is place is so popular that you cannot go in without buying your first drink and you are always fed with alcohol in the bar. Thanks to Japanese demand, it is quite expensive inside (both drinks and girls).

Deja Vu A Go-Go, Kiss A Go-Go ve Midnite Go go are some other popular bars here. You can simply access Soi Cowboy on foot from Skytrain Asok Station.

If you would also like to stay around this location, you can take a look at Bangkok Soi Cowboy Hotels or hotels near Bangkok Asok Skytrain Station pages.

Bangkok Night Life : Red Light Districts

Nana Plaza
This 3 storey plaze on Sukhumvit Soi 4 can be accessed from Skytrain Nana Station on foot. Nana Entertainment Plaza is much more commercial sex oriented than Soi Cowboy and Patpong.

The entrance floor is full of bars but the main attraction is at Level 1. Although there are bars here full of only lady boys, most go-go bars cater to man looking for women. Probably the most popular of all bars here are G-Spot, Cassanova, Temptations and Rainbow 4. Rainbow 4 has a Japanese theme (Thai women with Japanese makeup and hair do) and looks like invaded by Japanese tourists till the end of the world.

For hotels and accomodation around this area, take a look at hotels near Bangkok Nana BTS Skytrain Station page.

Patpong

Red Light District aspect of Bangkok Night Life has started here. You can access Patpong  from Sala Daeng Station on BTS Skytrain Silom Line or Silom Station on MRT Blue Line on foot. Patpong has 2 parellel streets : Patpong 1 and Patpong 2.

Patpong is famous with its go-go bars and ping pong shows. Best known of the 3 red light districts.

Bangkok red light district tips:

• Never enter a bar or any establishment which is not on the street level. This is the most important rule to stay safe and away from scams.
• Never let one of those men on the street to direct you to any establishment. Read from internet first and decide where you will visit and just visit those bars.
• One of the most dangerous mix in the world for a man is alcohol and woman and both are constantly pushed in Bangkok's Red Light Districts. Many men who even goes there to just sightseeing end up in commercial sex because of alcohol worse usually unprotected.
• And the last but not the least: Stay away from commercial sex in Thailand. People from around the world come here for sex and many do it without condom. Just imagine what kind of nasty STD strains are roaming through those shiny neon lights and attractive bodies. I do not want to be a party breaker here but better read HIV and STD blogs before then after.
• If you will not listen to our previous advise, at least bring your condom with you, correctly use them (learn how to use them correctly before heading to there) and do not drink at all.
• Also if you will "do" it anyway, never ever do it with a street walker. Although the rules are not very tight, many girls and boys in the bars still go to some STD checkup once in 1 or 3 months. And if one gets HIV, he/she is usually kicked out of a bar. Where do you think they end up? On the streets.
• And do not shop in Patpong Night Market. It is quite expensive there.

Pattaya Night Life : Red Light Districts

Pattaya's extra colorful night life is infamous with its sex tourism offers. Although you can have a holiday in Pattaya without going into this naughty part of Pattaya night life, if you will not be able to take a very young girl/boy (sex worker) hand in hand with an old uncle, than Pattaya is probably not for you.

But if your reason to be in Pattaya is commercial sex in the first place, Pattaya is the capital of it. This type of tourism does not necessarily stop after 1-2 hour horizontal sports: there is something called boyfriend/girlfriend experience in Pattaya (and in fact in all Thailand tourism attractions) where you hire a woman or man to be your temporary partner in your entire holiday. A very good opportunity for a working lady, boy or ladyboy to empty your vallet.

Pattaya Walking Street
Walking Street is the main red-light district in Pattaya with hundreds of beer bars, go-go bars and brothels. Pattaya is famous for its beer bars and its bar girls who are for hire for sex tourists who drink there. But majority of the customers you see in these bars in fact do come there to drink and flirt with the girls without bar fining them (paying the bar fine and taking them).

Go-go bars are indoor bars where there is a stage full of bikini clad (and occasionally topless and fully naked) dancers. All the dancers and usually all the girls serving drinks are "for hire" with a "bar fine". These places are also open for those who go just to drink and watch. But you cannot take picture and camera the action inside and if you are caught doing this you may be beaten up.

Some famous and best go-go bars in Pattaya Walking Street are Baccara A Go-Go (one of the most lavish and impressive clubs in Pattaya), Airport Club (dancers in bikini style air hostess outfits), Living Dolls Showcase and Peppermint.

If you want to stay near Walking Street, choose hotel in Pattaya Beach Road area. Here are the list of Pattaya Beach Road hotels with their ratings and reviews.

When living the Pattaya night life to fullest do not forget to bring your common sense (as well as condoms) with you. Since most of the blood in your body will be sucked by your "little" buddy, to keep whatever intelligence you have, do not drink a lot. Beer is cheap in Pattaya (compared to many Western countries) and in go-go bars they will push you to drink a lot (especially the cute lady hanging with you).

Many do not have any significant issue during Pattaya stay but some simple cautions are necessary. Never be directed to a go-go bar (or any bar) by a stranger. Always either choose your destination before heading to streets or go into places you choose. Also, this is important, do not go into any go-go bar which is not on the street level (ideally entered from street and you can partially see inside from street).

Pattaya Walking Street

Many tourists end up drinking a lot and having sex without so much memory of the night and then spend more money to HIV tests than the bar-fine, the girl and the beers.

Walking Street is full of colorful neon lights, girls, boys, lady-boys and snatch thieves. Do not carry large sums of money or valuable on you. When choosing a Pattaya hotel choose one with safe-boxes and use them.

It is best to avoid commercial sex in Pattaya but if you are really into it, note that picking a street-walker or engaging in sex without condom in a place where people from all around the world comes for boogy nights is a playing russian roulette with your life.

Craft Beer in Singapore - The Good Beer Company

One of the best places to drink craft beers in Singapore is interestingly in a hawker centre in Chinatown. The Chinatown Complex hawker center is quite a well known place in Singapore but in a relatively difficult to find corner of it you will find The Good Beer Company, a stall which brings in a range of great beers and ciders from brands never previously seen in hawker centres. You can also find some very nice Asian brands here and the bonus is that you can drink your craft beer with hawker center food!

Whenever I go to Chinatown (which is usually to bring a guest to visit Chinatown), I try to visit this stall. The Good Beer Company is not very easy to find in this large and complex hawker center but don't give up. The beer is certainly worth the find! Since it is in a hawker center, you will sit in a standard hawker center table but this also means that the imported, craft beer you drink is relatively cheaper compared to your usual restaurant or bar. Unlike many people, I am a fan of fruit beer and Taiwanese (NTW) Lychee Beer (which is sometimes available in supermarkets) is a must try and you would probably like it even if you are not a fan of fruit beer. Anyway, the stall has really great selection and if you are not sure what you should try, ask the uncle : he will make great recommendations.

Located in Chinatown Complex hawker center, The Good Beer Company offers nice selection of craft beer with reasonable prices

The Good Beer Company is at #02-58 Chinatown Complex, 335 Smith Street, 050335.

Best happy hours in Singapore has an app now

I have recently written a blog post about HappyHour Singapore, a blog that aggregates the best happy hours in Singapore in a single place so you do not miss the next best deal if you follow the site regularly. At the end of the post, I have mentioned that a "Singapore Happy Hour App" will be very handy because it can provide notifications on the phone and you would not miss a happy hour when you do not visit the site for a while.

This app concept was probably already in the line when I wrote the article because now HappyHour Singapore has an app. Happy Hour SG - The Best Bars App is available in Google Play (currently only Android version is available but iOS version is on its way). Although the app offers tons of happ hour deals nearby, what we have here is a lot more than just a simple happy hour finder: Happy Hour SG - The Best Bars App is probably the best directory of bars in Singapore and is a must have for Singapore night life.

More than 500 bars and restaurants in Singapore with the available happy hour deals are in the database. You do not only get a very nice search facility which finds the bar for your taste and choice, it also has all the details such as location, opening hour and contact information. The application is map integrated so you can easily find your way around and plan your next pub crawl.

Map integrated Happy Hour SingaporeThe Best Bars App offers a very detailed database of bars in Singapore in a very accessible format.

The application also makes it very easy to find the best happy hours promotions in Singapore. So if you are living in Singapore (or visiting in Singapore) and you go out for night life, this is one of the must have apps in Singapore.

You can install the application to your Android phone here.

Find the best happy hours in Singapore

In Singapore dinning and winning can be very expensive especially if the winning part is a bigger portion of your night out. To maximize the pleaseure per value, I usually try to follow up the happy hours. But I was doing this the old fashioned way; subscribing to mailing lists of favorite venues, regularly checking different venues and simply googling "happy hour in Singapore" to fish for happy hours.

If you are following this route the chances are that you will miss many great happy hour offers. I even missed the ones I get in mails because they simply may hide behind a lot of mails. Not any more (there is a reason I use past tense :)).

I discovered HappyHour Singapore, a blog that has entries about happy hours in Singapore. if you are looking for a great bar to go out and look for a great deal for dinning and winning in Singapore, you should definitely visit the site. This way you will not miss a promo of your favorite bar again and save dollars. Plus, you will also have a chance to discover great places for a night out in Singapore.

HappyHour Singapore has a simple and easy to use design. Each happy hour is an entry where you will find information about the bar, location and the happy hour deal.

Find the best happy hours in Singapore

HappyHour Singapore is at http://www.happyhour.sg/blog/. You can also follow them on Facebook at Happy Hour Singapore Facebook page. The blog is updated frequently so you should check frequently for the deals. An app and at least a mailing list would be handy so you would get notifications about the latest deals.

UPDATE : HappyHours Singapore now has a very nice app which allows you to find the happy hour deals as well as the best bars in Singapore.

Singapore Escort Services Launches Mobile Classifieds Service in Singapore

Companies publishes press releases to advertise their products and to share news with potential customers. There are several avenues to do this on the web and one of them is prweb.com. I have just seen an interesting press release recently in prweb.com: Now there is a mobile app which should not be seen by your wife. An escort news and escort agency classified in Singapore has released a mobile app for escorts as well as their potential clients easily meet.

With the launch of Singapore Escort Services’ new mobile classifieds platform, social escorts can now look forward to building more awareness about their services both on computers and users mobile phone. Mobile phone users will be able to select the most suitable escort by physical appearance, body type and even spoken language that they are looking for in addition to many other attributes they may find important to them.

In their web site Singapore-Escort-Services.com mentions that they do not take a cut of the escort’s earnings as commission nor do they promote sexual services. Singapore Escort Services is an online classifieds directory that allows both male and female escorts in Singapore to list their services.

According to a senior manager named John at Sexy Ladies Escort Agency social escorts are not prostitutes. "The main bulk of clients are foreign professionals, senior managers, C-class executives and wealthy businessmen who want social escorts to accompany them to social events, corporate meetings or casino games at one of Singapore's integrated resorts at Marina Bay or Sentosa."

Good looking is a must, but It is not sufficient to be just good looking. A successful social escort, both female and male escorts have to familiarize themselves with local culture and places of attractions so that they can double up as personal tour guide for their high-net-worth and well-travelled clients.

Visitors to the mobile phone version of Singapore-Escort-Services.com can filter social escorts through a list of criteria describing his or her dream social escort. Upon completing his search, the visitor will get a call or an email (whichever he/she prefer) within the same day from the social escort.

"Good and high-end social escorts across the world, continues to be in demand as Singapore is increasingly promoted and seen as a high-end luxury lifestyle location for wealthy individuals, in the ranks of Monte Carlo in Las Vegas. These affluent travellers want more than a romp in Geylang, they want an escort who can communicate and engage them intellectually," says Dominic, Manager at Singapore Social Escort Services.

Phuket Night Life : Red Light Districts

Phuket is the party capital of Asia with  famous night life and colorful beaches. Patong in Phuket is where the action is and this town is running a very obvious sex industry with its female, transgender and male workers catering to every taste.

Patong has two main red light districts: Bangla Road mainly (but not exclusively) catering to straight sex tourists while Paradise Complex serves to gay customers. In Bangla Road especially 4 sois are where this type of night life is concentrated: Crocodile (also known as Soi Katoey and is full of ladyboys), Eric, Gonzo, and Seadragon. These soid are full of pubs, beer bars and go-go bars.

You will see beer bars along Bangla Road and its sois. The bar girls in these bars are for "hire" to bring somewhere else but if you just want to drink and maybe flirt with s "working" woman here it is quite OK. In fact, most of the crowd you will see in these bars are there for a drink and some fun rather than paying a bar-fine and taking a woman out.

And then comes the go-go bars. These are bars where woman in bikini (and occasionally topless or full nude) dance on a stage with numbers attached to them. All these dancers and most of the woman serving drink there are sex workers and will go with a customer after a bar fine (money paid to the bar to take the woman out).

Go-go bars in Phuket like beer bars are also OK with only drinking and again many customers you will see inside do not barfine the women. Devil's Playground on Soi Seadragon  is probably one of the best Go Go Bars in Patong. Suzy Wong's A Go Go on Soi Seadragon calls herself "Ass Smacking Fun Factory" and is quite a popular Go Go bar. Many go go bars are similar here but one, Moulin Rouge on Soi Vegas, is different where you will watch Russian Girls.

Soi Sea Dragon Bars

Bars in Bangla Road are usually open from 21:00 and although the official closing time is 02:00, many stay open until 05:00.

Probably the hottest place in Bangla Road is Soi Seadragon.

Note : All this sex tourism in Phuket can easily be avoided if you stay off Bangla Road.

Where to stay in Phuket?
If you are in Phuket for the red light districts, you will probably stay in Patong. For a detailed guide on the accomodation in Phuket, refer to our where to stay in Phuket post.

Bangkok Night Life : Red Light Districts

This post is moved to Oravar Bangkok Night Life Red Light Districts.

Bangkok nights: What to do in Bangkok at night?

Bangkok offers many things to do in the night. Although "Bangkok nights" reminds many a visit to Bangkok's notorious red light districts, Bangkok offers much more night life options other than plain sex tourism.

Visit a Bangkok Rooftop Bar

Many visitors to Bangkok simply skips this attraction: a nice rooftop bar looking over Bangkok with a fantastic bird-eye view. But Bangkok's concrete jungle becomes something great to look at in the night especially from the top.

In my opinion, no Bangkok trip is complete without visiting one of the many great rooftop bars in Bangkok with fantastic bird-eye view. Here are some of them you can visit:

• Vertigo and Moon Bar (Banyan Tree Hotel)
• Park Society (Sofitel So on Sathorn)
• Sky Bar (Lebua at State Tower) - Yes you know this place from The Hangover Part II wherePaul Giamatti was having his brunch at the end of the movie.
• Three Sixty (Millennium Hilton Bangkok)
• Octave Rooftop Bar

Tips : Most rooftop bars require at least a smart-casual attire so do not show up at the door with your shorts. Also check the weather before heading to one because if there is storm, they are usually closed.

Bangkok offers some great rooftop bars to enjoy. Here in photo,
State Tower SkyBar - LeBua at State Tower

Visit a Muay Thai (Thai Box) Stadium

This is another uniquely Thailand experience which is also missed by many. These Thai Box competitions can be watched in almost all major Thailand cities but are best viewed in Bangkok. There are 2 main venues you can choose among: Lumpinee Boxing Stadium at Silom and Ratchadamnoen Stadium at Rattanakosin. Although the "show" will go on all the night, best matches are the last ones so schedule a long night there. Entrance is quite expensive 1000 - 2000 Baht but it worth the money.

Lumpinee Boxing Stadium is probably Tayland's best known Muay Thai place. You can watch Thai box here on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

There are also Muay Thai matches at MBK on every Wednesday between 18:00 - 21:00. These are free to watch.

Bangkok Night Markets
Although most Bangkok malls are closed by 21:00, there are some malls open until midnight. You can visit several Bangkok Night Markets which offers a great night shopping experience like:

• Asiatique - A night bazaar and a mall combined which is near BTS to Saphan Taksin.
• Khaosan Road - This backpacker heaven is best visited at night. You can shop everything here but I do not suggest to buy private bus tickets or travel packages here if you do not know what you are doing.
• Khlong Lod Night Market
• Khlong Thom Market

Bangkok Dinner Cruise Tour

Sailing gently along Chao Phraya River on a traditional Thai boat like a converted teakwood rice barge is an experience you should try to spend a Bangkok night. These cruises usually offer great night views of The Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun), Wat Phra Kaew and The Grand Palace while you are having your delicious Thai dinner served under the candlelight and classical Thai 'kim' music and dance performances.

Bangkok Dinner Cruise Tour

Top 25 cities for nightlife chosen by Agoda customers

Agoda.com, Asia's leading and fastest growing online hotel reservation service, has released a list of the top 10 cities that offer the best nightlife excitement, as chosen by its customers. And with New Year’s Eve quickly approaching, these cities are perfect for a quick getaway if nothing’s been planned yet.

Since Agoda.com is used mainly to book hotels online in Asia, top 10 and top 25 is not suprisingly dominated by Asian countries. So based on feedback from over 113,000 respondents provided at the end of their stay, Agoda.com customers had the opportunity to rate the nightlife on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “poor”, and 5 being “excellent”. The top spot was taken by South East Asia's tourism hub Bangkok.  Thailand’s energetic capital known for its tuk-tuk’s, temples and street food, followed by Dubai, the gleaming desert city in the United Arab Emirates, and Boracay/Caticlan in the Philippines, famous for its white sand beaches and swaying palm trees.

Thailand placed again with Pattaya, the seaside town widely known for its raucous Walking Street and massive influx of tourists looking to blow off some steam, followed by Tokyo, Japan’s neon-lit mega-city that’s home to 13 million people. Thailand’s largest island, Phuket, was next, followed by China’s Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, the former known for its vibrant architecture and world-class food, and the latter famous for its massive casinos and Portuguese/Chinese cuisine.

Rounding out the list were Taiwan’s modern capital of Taipei, and Bali, Indonesia’s perpetually buzzing island paradise.

Check out the full list of the top 10 cities below:

1.      Bangkok
2.      Dubai
3.      Boracay / Caticlan
4.      Pattaya
5.      Tokyo
6.      Phuket
7.      Hong Kong
8.      Macau
9.      Taipei
10.    Bali

Thailand’s energetic capital Bangkok offers the best night life according to Agoda customers.

And here continues top 25:

11.    Osaka
12.    Shanghai
13.    Seoul
14.    Singapore
15.    Sydney
16.    Samui
17.    Chiang Mai
18.    London
19.    Taichung
20.    Kuala Lumpur
21.    Jakarta
22.    Manila
23.    Kaohsiung
24.    Paris
25.    Siem Reap