warren report No1.

Thailand, and in fact Bangkok, is a very easy, friendly place to get a drink .... and Female company, just be sure some keen waiter dosent put "ice" in your beer or wine, and that the Female, is in fact a "she" - sexy dressed, big feet, tall, approached you first ? - beware, these are not the traits of a Thai " girl" .
Anyway that said, how to go about finding the drink and the girl, Normally a tourist will go to Patpong or Soi Nana, here you can sit in an air-condition bar, while Go-go dancers, semi or fully naked do their thing, and you can drink small Beers or shots of Spirits for around 100 Thai baht a time, the girls will no doubt get some "ladies drinks" out of you, that is a small coke, at the same sort of price, for them to sit with you between dances. At this rate, a 1000 baht is soon gone, OK, thats only 50 D-marks, but the night is still early, and if you then want to take the girl out, you will have to pay the Bar about 400 baht to release her, then negotiate a price with her, as you are just a "customer" you will get no favours, she will ask for 2000 or 3000 baht, and then want to go to your hotel and get the "business" done as quickly as possible, so perhaps she can return to her bar and find another customer. Now you may be quite happy with this, but as an old Bangkok hand, let the "thaiprivateeye" suggest an alternative ............

Bangkok of course has many "pick-up" areas, perhaps the best known at the moment, is in and around Sukhumvit road, soi 7. [Soi being the Thai word for lane or side road]
About 100 yards down the soi from the main road, is a large open food hall, which serves cheap fresh Thai sea food, and a little further on, across the road, is a German Beer Garden. Both these places will be crowded with Thai girls from early evening until around 11pm, - the majority of these girls are "free-lancers" - they will tell you they work in shops, go to university, or anything, but basically they are available for sex.
The good thing here, is you do not pay any bar-fine, you can approach any girl and talk to her, ask her if she wants a drink, and in most cases, unless she has a "customer" already, she will be happy to share a drink and chat with you. Drinks here are also cheaper, around 70 baht. If you are keen on the girl, then I suggest you tell her you want to take her to a restaurant or Nightclub, - also offer or allow her to bring a friend, as this is Thai style, and will keep the girls happy, plus they will respect you for it.
Most of these girls, or their friend, will speak fair English, not because they have learnt in school, but because they spend a lot of time with "farangs" as they call Europeans. Of course if you can learn Thai, it does help a lot, and opens even more doors !
Anyway again in most cases, the girl will be very happy to go with you, Thais love to eat and have a good time "sa-nook" is the Thai phrase, but of course most can't afford to go out very often. If a girl suggests just going straight to your room, - it means they are totally interested in money, and not having a good time, for me, I prefer to let these ones, often more attractive, go.
Where to take the girl, well I suggest you get out of the overpriced "Tourist" area, and go to Ratchada, or Ratchadapisek road, about a 15 minute cab fare from Sukhumvit soi 7, there are many good venues here, if you want to eat some good Thai food whilst listening to live music, "Bow-gung Pow [ thai for King prawn B-B-Q] is very good, or just next door, the brand new "Beer Pavilion"
- if you want a Nightclub, very entertaining show with Dancers/singers plus DJ, tell the Taxi "Hollywood - Ratchada" or next to it, my favourite "DanceFever".
Typically with Thai nightspots, drinks are usually limited to Thai or foreign whiskey, Beer, a few cocktails, and Coke, Soda or water. I prefer to open a bottle of whiskey, and will usually choose Chivas or Johnny Black, for which the charge will be about 1200 baht. this allows free entry into the Nightclub for 4 people, who otherwise will charge you about 200baht per head and give you 1 drink. The other advantage with opening a bottle, is when you are ready to go home, provided you haven't finished the bottle ! - ask the waiter for a "drink card" - he will take your bottle, ask you for your name, and then return a card to you. You can come back to the nightclub for usually 1 or 2 months, present the card, and the bottle will be given back to you, again you will get free entry, and only have to pay for the 'mixers' Coke /soda / water and buckets of ice are charged at about 40 or 50baht each. This works out at a good deal, and good entertainment in the long run.
Whilst you can go to these places on your own, and especially after midnight, many girls from nearby massage parlours will go after work, it is better to go with a Thai girl until you know how things work. You can always ask, and usually get, the phone number from anyone interesting nearby ! The other advantage with this method, is by now your Thai girl has had a drink, she has spent a few hours with you, she has had a good night out, so will be quite happy to return with you to your Hotel if you wish, and probably no mention of money, - but the normal rate, depending on if you wish to see her again, or how well she performs ! is to give her between 1000 to 2000 baht in the morning, when she goes home.
If you dont want her to stay with you, then give her, or her friend if she is still there also, 100 or 200 baht for a taxi, and you will remain on good terms.
Remember in most cases, these girls are working to assist their family, many have been married at 17 or 18, have had a child, and then the Thai husband has gone - there is no social benefits or government help in Thailand for such cases, just as there is little help or care for the sick or elderly, they have to take care of themselves as best they can.
Sure they may place an emphasis on money, but on the other hand, an attractive girl in her twenties, has no worries about going out with a man in his fourties or fifties, so that has to be worth something !
Get to Thailand and enjoy ..... prost / cheers / choke dee,

Warren. thaiprivateeye.com