(*this post contains some material that may be objectionable an/ord controversial and may not be appropriate for all audiences…you have been warned)
I pushed back the curtain at the narrow entrance of Rawhide and was immediately hit with wave upon wave of loud techno music and the strong smell of alcohol. Ducking through the curtain my eyes quickly adjusted to the dim surrounding light and bright stage strobes, if you could call it a stage. As I looked up and around it took me a second for what I was seeing to make its way through my head and make connection with any logical thought. It was nothing like I had ever seen before or would probably ever see again. My jaw dropped to the floor and all the way to my seat I couldn’t stop chuckling.
…three hours before…
‘Hi, my names Sam, nice to meet you…’ ‘Hi, my names Richard, nice to meet you…’ was how I met them. A simple greeting as they walked into the dorm at the @Hua Lamphong Guesthouse in Bangkok started what was to be some of the maddest nights of my life (condensed into one post here). Sam, an Englishman of Pakistani descent and Richard, an adventurous Irishman, were both traveling Thailand for the time being and were up for some fun, which was good because Bangkok offers some of the craziest fun on this planet. (see: Note)
Our warm up was a couple drinks in front of the hostel. Our chairs faced the busy road in front of Bangkok’s main train station and as we sipped our whiskey cokes a steady stream of people flowed by. Occasionally a tuk-tuk driver would walk up with a ready grin and try and talk us into taking with him. It was funny how persistent they were, insisting that they knew the best place for boom-boom (Thai speak for prostitutes) and the infamous ping-pong shows. They always insisted the cheapest prices and best looking girls but any idiot with a head on his shoulders would know they were just in it for a commission. With a wave of our hands and a laugh we shrugged them off. We knew where we were going.
Soi Cowboy, a three hundred meter long street located next to Sukhmvit station on the MRT. Three hundred meters of what some would call horrible sin and what others would call pure heaven. Me, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the place…
Dark night turned to day as the lights on this somewhat narrow street came to life. Pink, green, yellow, blue, orange, every color of the rainbow flickered, flashed and shone advertising bars with unique names like Doll House, Spice Girls, and Baccara. Everywhere there were girls (and some ladyboys as well). Girls in the street, girls sitting on stools, girls hanging on rails, girls in the bars (behind soft felt curtains), and all of them were calling for us. Lines that I had read as a child about a place called Sodom and Gomorrah came to mind as I strolled down Soi Cowboy bathed in an eerie pink glow.
The thought that any of them could be had for a price stunned me. It was a thought that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. My upbringing had been geared to respecting women and sex as an extension of love, yet here was a place where they were treated like objects in a store to be used and cast away for just a few dollars (for those of you curious folk the price is actually around $100 including bar fines, room, and girls price).
The three of us strolled up and down Soi Cowboy a couple of time before we finally caught our bearings and figured out which of the brightly lit slightly shady entrances we would go in to.
…Rawhide
Our beer was placed in front of us, three Tigers, at a price that would seem cheap in the US, around $5, but we barely noticed their arrival. On the stage, or rather platform with 8 brass poles reaching almost to the harsh green jungle motif ceiling, about a dozen girls were moving sexily to the music. What were they wearing you ask? Well, they had their smiles on…oh, and a few had high heels strapped loosely to their feet.
Now I’m sure you’re asking, why would an upstanding gentleman such as myself even think about entering such an establishment? Well, there are plenty of answers to that one. Simply put, I’m a guy on an adventure and if I passed this up I know I would regret it in the future. Any deeper reasons then that would take up pages upon pages of writing…
So there the three of us were, jaws gently resting on the counter eyes glued to the beautiful female forms that moved in front of us. The arena like seating around the center stage was filled with other men in various stages of conversation with the girls who worked the bar. The three of us, intent on the dancers, barely even noticed the few girls who tried to solicit a ‘ladies drink.’ (a ladies drink cost the same as a beer but is usually a small coke, it is the first step towards a ‘deal’ but not necessarily a contract between the guy and girl).
Then a song came on that had the three of us looking around with puzzled looks on our faces. ‘What in hell is that song doing here,’ the three of us thought in unison as the first chords of the Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ filled the bar. It was the first time we heard that song in Soi Cowboy, but not the last. How a girl could dance to that I have no idea but the ones on stage using the poles like gymnasts did real well.
I won’t bore you with the details of the second bar we patronized (Doll House), needless to say it was similar to the first but like real men we moved from the background to the front seats. There we learned the valuable lesson of keeping our drinks in our hands lest the dancers accidentally kick them over. At this point, thanks to the alcohol, some of our group were willing to see what a ‘ladies drink’ would get them. The details on that I won’t even begin to write about…
It was at our third and last club where we had an experience that will forever be etched into my memory. Richard had been batting perfect for the evening with his choices so when he said, ‘let’s get one last beer here,’ pointing to the Long Gun, (sometimes known as Lucky Star) the two of us cheerily agreed. Thanks to that man we got to see something that we never would have expected to see in that place (normally seen in Patpong at an infamous second floor room for exorbitant fees).
The $5 I paid for that small Tiger beer was the best $5 I have ever spent in my life and over the next hour I laughed and cheered like I was at a high school football game.
‘Laughed and cheered like I was at a football game?’ Why would I ever do something like that at a strip club (not technically strip because they started…erm…raw). Clap yes, but cheer and laugh?
I will not go into detail at all about this portion of my experience. Instead I will give you some words and let your imagination make up its own images. Popping balloons with darts shot from a blowgun, dancing with streamers, smoking cigarettes, ping pong balls, blowing horns…
…
The ride back in the tuk-tuk was rather quiet, all of us lost in our own thoughts. As our driver shot through the hot Bangkok night on empty streets revving his high-pitched engine over and over I kept on shaking my head and looking at Sam and Richard to check that what we had seen had been real.
‘Did that just happen?’ I asked Richard. He looked back at me with a lopsided grin on his face, ‘Yes Mike, yes it did.’
One night in Bangkok indeed…
Endnote: Just in case any of you are wondering if I bought a girl, the answer to that is, ‘no.’ Also, frequenting these kinds of clubs can seriously dement how you think about women and I have no real desire to return to them.
The ‘fun’ that I’m talking about isn’t for everyone. I think Murray Head summed it up best in their famous song, ‘One night in Bangkok.’ Anything that you want can be had in this city at a price, for better or worse (be careful of ladyboys). I’m not going to get into the morality of what goes on here, prostitution, strip clubs, drugs, whatever, because that is a subject that I don’t want to get into on this blog. There is an interesting blog I ran across when doing some research that might be of interest to those of you who would like to get a grounds eye perspective of the situation, it can be found here.
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[...] “Are you sure you want to go?’ I asked cautiously. The swim had been refreshing rather then tiring and even though it was almost 10pm and her flight was leaving at about the same time the next day she was still eager to experience some Bangkok nightlife. To be more specific, the bars and clubs I had described in my post on Soi Cowboy. [...]
Hey Mike glad to hear your trip is going well.
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