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![]() Bangkok's Night Scene In Review ![]() ![]() ![]() Soi 24 Night Scene Review - A BANGKOK NIGHTLIFE UPDATE |
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Bangkok, 01 August 2003 William R. Morledge |
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As promised last December, MIDNITE HOUR presents the first in our series of Nightlife Updates in the Sukhumvit Road area - the hub of Expat Night Entertainment in Bangkok. Soi 24 is one of the many roadways that connects Sukhumvit Road with Rama IV Road and has a long, if not particularly illustrious Night Entertainment history. Dating back to the "R&R" years, there was some Night Scene activity around the Impala Hotel, but nothing to write home about. Since then, there has been slow, if irregular growth of the Night Entertainment "industry" there, to include the occasional 'contraction' - where more Night Venues were closing than were opening up. MIDNITE HOUR recently set out to see if Soi 24 would qualify as a separate Night Entertainment Area on its own. Soi 24 is almost exactly 1.3 km. in length - much too large to be considered a single Night Entertainment Area. The MIDNITE HOUR criteria for such is that there are enough Night Entertainment Venues within to have reached "critical mass" - enough venues to become a 'draw' on their own; a location where one could comfortably spend an entire evening at the various venues. The second criterion is that the Night Entertainment Area be in a contiguous location -each venue easily accessible from any other. Although Soi 24 does not qualify in these regards, it does have a few small pockets of Night Scene activity worth entering on the ledger. The first 'mini-area' on Soi 24 is almost entirely hidden from view - right across the street from the side entrance to the Emporium - just behind the Nuch Massage. This small enclave can be accessed by either of two small sois - which are connected by another small cross-soi just two shophouses inside. Once inside we can see a variety of local shops and a handful of venues of interest to the Expat in search of Night Entertainment. Of the handful of local restaurants, only the Wunderbar Bar & Restaurant stands out - more a restaurant during the day; more a bar during the evening. There is also an assortment of "Thai Traditional Massages" to choose from - each with a fairly high ambiguity quotient; - Bee Massage - P.S. Massage - Baron Massage Nevertheless, this enclave is plainly physically too small (See our Map The second entertainment enclave to be found on Soi 24 is Siwaporn Plaza, and is located about 300 meters in from Sukhumvit on the right. This compound is dedicated solely to Night Entertainment, however it also lacks "critical mass". Virtually the entire enclave is dedicated to Japanese clientele, although this reviewer did not see the usual "Members Only" or "Japanese Only" signs prevalent in other Japanese Night Entertainment Areas. Aside from a couple of good restaurants, the following establishments within the compound qualifying as purely Night Entertainment Venues are; - Bacchus, (No relation to the one on Soi 33.) - Cafe Bean Paco, - Japanese Karaoke Club (+ another sign in Japanese), - Shot Ranpuya, - Coffee Shop Koto, - Twenty-4 Massage \-Thai traditional -catering to all.\ - Isan Champroo - Blues Bar and Restaurant (Really...and despite the name, its also geared to Japanese clientele.) (*CLICK* here to view MAP The third Soi 24 entertainment enclave is the Bangkok 2000 exhibition building located on the left about 800 meters into the soi - closer to Rama IV Road than to Sukhumvit. This building is worthy of note more for what it was, and for what it might become again. For those of you who have never visited this facility, take it from me, it is enormous - we are talking about individual venues measured in the hundreds of square meters - one needs to see them from the inside to believe. It has the potential to house the largest Night Entertainment Area in Bangkok - all under one roof. As the exhibition building stands now, only The Fort remains open, however in its recent past, it housed such giants as - Species , (No relation to the one on Tobacco Road.) - Rattanakosin - Darling, (No relation to the one on Soi 12.) - The Adventure Karaoke - Rioja. -Not to mention a selection of restaurants and other outlets which have long since called it a day - remembered now only by their tattered signage. With the exception of The Fort, mentioned above, it is now a ghost town, and looks like it was struck by a tornado - the gutted remains of the old venues never having been cleaned up. It should be noted that in its heyday, it was primarily a Thai Yuppie area, with the occasional Ferang visitor venturing in. Nevertheless, the potential remains - should it ever be redeveloped, it could be the ![]() ![]() Other venues listed below are mentioned more for the purpose of completing the historical record than any real hope they will ever become a focal point for any future Night Entertainment Area. -Lemon Grass, (Restaurant / Bar) -Seafood Town, (Thrives on taxis working on commission.) -Merai Bar, (In the Impala Hotel) -Totti, (Italian Restaurant / Bar next to T.House) -T. House, (Restaurant / Bar) -Japanese Pub Restaurant, (In the Medico-Chiro Centre.) -Sarina Japanese Club, (In the Medico-Chiro Centre.) -Seafood Market Restaurant, (Seafood emporium - mostly tours.) -Lot 24, (Bar / Restaurant) -Eurasian, (French Tea House / Restaurant / Bar - next to Lot 24) -Starbucks Coffee, (Of course... Across from President Park.) -McDonalds, (You knew there had to be one - at Rama IV.) -DeMeglio's, (Restaurant / Bar - In the President Park Complex) If one buys into the 'philosophy' that the three prevalent forms of Night Entertainment in Bangkok are "Local", "Ferang" and "Japanese", we could, in summation, say that Soi 24 was once primarily a Local Entertainment Area, but that it is now predominantly slanted to the Japanese Entertainment Scene. In view of an ongoing Purachaiian outlook on Night Entertainment in general, there is little chance that the earlier mentioned "Sleeping Colossus" at the Bangkok 2000 exhibition building will awaken, however such an eventuality cannot be precluded entirely. MIDNITE HOUR will, as time allows, visit the various Sukhumvit sois as we continue to review the Bangkok Night Scene landscape. (*CLICK* to view Soi 24 MAP Sukhumvit Square Redux
-LITTLE REAL AID TO 'SURVIVORS' No one living in Thailand could have missed the recent and ongoing news relating to the now-defunct Sukhumvit Square Night Entertainment Area. Those familiar with the story will recall that this Night Entertainment Area was literally crushed by a combination of underworld Mafia and Institutional Mafias. Bulldozers and a small army of men were brought in at 04:00 a.m. on 26 January of this year - under the noses of Bangkok's Finest, and over 100 shops, tourist outlets and bars were crushed and looted. Public outcry was considerable; Prime Minister Taxin said that no such Mafia activity would be condoned on his watch. Since that time, the hemostats have been trundled out by the wheelbarrow-load in an effort to stem the hemorrhaging - token arrests, government pronouncements and finger-pointing have been inflicted on the villains and the scapegoats alike. Police Chiefs, military officers and prominent underworld figures are getting their public aprons dirtier by the day. While the Soi 10 debacle was still in the process of being unraveled, Prime Minister Taxin announced his latest crackdown on Mafia activity and corruption; warning that the bad guys had three months to stop their nefarious activities, or pay the consequences. He was apparently -somehow- unaware that the two largest Mafias were Institutional Mafias. In a later 'mid-course correction', he announced that it would take a little longer to rid the National Police Force of their corruption - 5 years, to be precise. For the police who are being nabbed in this crackdown, "the consequences" they are facing is reassignment to an inactive post. Oh, dear. This anti-Mafia pronouncement was followed shortly by the arrest of Khun Chuwit Kamolwisit, the owner of the land at Soi 10, the site of the Sukhumvit Square demolition. He was charged with being the brains and muscle (money) behind Nickel Co, the apparent owner, and was therefore responsible for the mass destruction that took place. Chuwit didn't take kindly to these police allegations, and said publicly -to our great delight and entertainment- that inasmuch as he regularly pays the police off with bribes amounting to "millions of baht" and "trays of Rolex watches", that he shouldn't be singled out for this kind of treatment. This of course blew the lid off of everything. - and Prime Minister Taxin found himself between the proverbial Irresistible Force and the Immovable Object. He was then in the position of having previously committed to crack down on the Mafia elements responsible for the destruction of Sukhumvit Square, as well as more recently committed to cracking down on Mafia elements in general - and within the Police Department specifically. And lo-and-behold, he suddenly now realizes that where Sukhumvit Square is concerned, he is dealing with a single, monstrous two-headed beast at war with itself - and it doesn't care where the blood gets splattered. His tap dancing has been colorful, if not artful. If anyone ever entertained as true the old adage that there is 'Honor Among Thieves', his little illusion would have been long shattered if he had been following the Media coverage on this dirty, dirty business. Amid all the scandalous revelations and machinations, virtually nothing has emerged that will result in any sort of restitution for the Soi 10 survivors - those hundreds of shop owners and investors and employees who lost everything in that predawn assault. It should be remembered that this selfsame Nickel Co. long ago made a public offering to all the shop owners to pay them for their losses. Detailed lists were prepared, which included the names of all the shops within, and the amount each shop owner could legitimately claim based on his/her investments. (Of course the shop owners couldn't very well include the tea-money or the monthly bribes to the police - they had to content themselves with showing the cost of the original construction, subsequent renovations, and the chattel within.) As mentioned in an earlier issue of MIDNITE HOUR, we had an opportunity to review this 'claims list' first hand through our contacts on the ground at Sukhumvit Square. It is a matter of the public record that the Nickel Co generously offered some of the shop owners ten cents on the dollar. The others were offered less. Most of the shop owners told Nickel Co. where they could stuff their 'compensation'. Nevertheless, as late as yesterday, 30 July, Chuwit himself said he was personally willing to consider compensation for the Soi 10 survivors - as long as it was acknowledged by all that he was in fact NOT responsible for the destruction. How terribly sordid - this, of course, being tacit admission that the survivors had NOT been compensated under the original scheme. It remains to be seen whether Chuwit actually compensates the Soi 10 survivors, or if he was once again playing to the gallery. MIDNITE HOUR (along with the rest of the expat community in Bangkok) continue to watch the story unfold with a mixture of amusement and disgust. In the event there are any REAL developments, we will keep you advised. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
August's
![]() ![]() MIDNITE HOUR presents the NEWS on the Bangkok Night Scene; - the 'history-in-the-making' for all major Night Entertainment Areas. - for the month up to 1 August, 2003 : • PATPONG II •
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • PATPONG II •
• NANA PLAZA •
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • NANA PLAZA •
• SOI COWBOY •
![]() ![]() • SOI COWBOY •
• COWBOY ANNEX •
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() • SOI COWBOY ANNEX •
• SOI DEAD ARTISTS •
![]() ![]() ![]() • SOI DEAD ARTISTS •
• QUEEN'S PARK PLAZA •
![]() ![]() • QUEEN'S PARK PLAZA •
• WASHINGTON SQUARE •
![]() ![]() • WASHINGTON SQUARE •
• SOI KATOEY •
![]() ![]() • SOI KATOEY •
• 13 NIGHT MARKET •
![]() ![]() • 13 NIGHT MARKET •
• The No-News-Is-Good-News Dept. •
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