It’s time for a Bangkok high season nightlife reality check. There are still holidays, parties, refurbs and idiot tourists but there’s a general feeling that the peak is behind us and low season is coming too soon.
My Funny Valentine
Not much is planned for Bangkok high season nightlife for Valentine’s Day. Bar owners say Valentine’s actually is a slowish night in the bars, although with Valentine’s falling on a Saturday, this year could be different. The only organized party is at Vicky’s Secret on Soi Cowboy. The “Where is My Husband”-themed party offers free tequila and soju shots for guests all night and 100-baht local beers and house pours.
Chinese New Year
The Patpong Night Market was full of Chinese Thursday night about Thai authorities expect 4 million arrivals for Chinese New Year, but, despite the many decorations, there’s no real events planned in Bangkok high season nightlife on Chinese New Year. The exception will be at Billboard and Butterflies in Nana Plaza which will have spectacular Chinese magic shows on Feb. 17. The Magic Mask show will be at 11 p.m. at Billboard and midnight at Butterflies.
Bangkok High Season Nightlife: ‘It Feels Like Low Season’
Nana Plaza remains, far and away, the top Bangkok high season nightlife area, be it by bar, girl or customer counts. But the boil definitely has come off Bangkok high season nightlife with some nights starting surprisingly quiet.
Spanky’s is a bar that consistently fills up by 8:30, sometimes earlier. On Feb. 4, bossman Marc looked around shortly after 8 and saw a buzzing bar, but remarked that the cameras outside – shown on a screen at the bar – showed almost nobody strolling the middle floor corridor. “Weird,” he said. “It feels like low season” … except inside Spanky’s, which was the usual bedlam.
Monday Pinks
Supposed Patpong experts are keen on saying that even though Bangkok’s oldest redlight district is the happiest place on earth and that nothing else comes close, Monday’s are always dead. This week, the supposed experts were wrong on both counts.
There were no Bangkok high season nightlife Monday Blues at Pink Panther at 11 p.m. this week with every seat in the house full with a couple large groups filling the VIPs and three dozen happy ladies, plus a few service staff. Asked what was up, the French manager couldn’t explain, but wasn’t complaining.
Shark VIP Coming Soon
As Supernova prepares for a late February-Early March opening, another refurb is close to being wrapped up on Soi Cowboy. The upstairs bar at Shark Club is set to open as a new VIP lounge, with its own stage, bar and dress code, possibly similar to that in Nana Plaza’s Mandarin VIP. The renovation is basically done. The only holdup is getting the girls to work it. Staffing across the city has been a Bangkok high season nightlife challenge since Christmas and doesn’t look to get any easier with Songkran coming up in 59 days.
Nana Plaza Refurbs
At Nana Plaza, a couple of third-tier bars are doing some facelifts to turn around their poor Bangkok high season nightlife fortunes. Rainbow 3 – the former Enter – on the top floor next to Billboard had a blue-lit front wall that was surprisingly removed before Christmas, leaving an ugly bare wall. February, however, as seen the wall of lights returned, but this time in red to match all the other Rainbow bars.
Downstairs at Orbit, a major renovation is in progress with the Greco-Roman style exterior owners spent so much time and effort on is being ripped out – along with the prohibited short-time room hidden at the bar.
The room, sneakily tucked outside the bar didn’t have a bed, but it did have a sofa and a lockable door. After other owners howled about the short-time room after all the plaza’s hotels were shut and curtained off bar areas prohibited, it’s doubtful the room was scarcely or ever used.
So, the walls have been knocked down and the Roman arches removed. In its place is an outside bar with a pool table to be reintroduced to the area where it was for years when Orbit was part of Twister.
Inside the bar, the interior is set to be ripped out and replaced with a futuristic, blue LED-heavy design that feels much closer to the spacey Orbit concept.
Enter the Ice Cream Man
An increase in idiot customers is a given during Bangkok high season nightlife season, but sometimes the newbie tourists just leave you scratching your head. In Bad Beach on Soi Cowboy this past week, a drunk European man got his panties in a twist because the go-go bar menu didn’t include … ice cream. Refusing to order a drink, he simply stood up and shouted “I want ice cream!” before storming out.
Haggle for a Beer
Sure, Thailand is a place where you can haggle for the price of everything from a taxi ride to a knockoff t-shirt. But a beer in a Bangkok high season nightlife bar? Apparently so.
At the bottom of the menu at Vicky’s Secret on Soi Cowboy a warning says “The price is clearly marked. No counter-offering.” It’s also in Chinese, so the assumption here is that the mainlanders are the problem children at Vicky’s. But Facebook commenters (of course) pointed their racist fingers at Indians. And a couple thought it might have been Aussies.
Bar Anniversaries
Spanky’s 17th anniversary on Wednesday was the expected insanity. Guests showed up early and drank often, leaving many partygoers – and organizers – wrecked. One prominent partygoer reportedly had 18 beers before midnight and the midnight anniversary cake rollout had to be pushed up an hour because of the state of many.
Meanwhile, upstairs at On Top, the lounge’s one-year anniversary passed this month quietly, but a party remains in the works for after high season. Owners see little need to juice business with a party when the Billboard Group bar is doing so well. Save the juice for slower times, they figure.
Next Up for Bangkok high season nightlife? Lace Lounge, which will celebrate its second anniversary in early March.
