Songkran is less than six weeks away and the high season slowdown has become obvious. Bangkok’s Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy continue to hold their own but the downturn has been especially bad in Patpong and Pattaya.
War in the Middle East is sure to accelerate the high season slowdown, depressing visits from both Arab tourists and Europeans who suddenly can’t find affordable flights to Thailand. Fares between Bangkok and London doubled this week alone.
Despite the high season slowdown, bar owners continue to invest in their chrome pole palaces, opening new sections or new bars entirely. Meanwhile, the tourists that are here – or maybe even stuck here – are making the most of their holidays.
Holiday Belies High Season Slowdown
With every Buddhist holiday, more and more of Soi Cowboy opens, and punters have noticed during this high season slowdown.
Last year’s Visakha Bucha Day in May was the first Buddhist holiday during which alcohol sales – and thus bars open – in international airports, registered hotels, officially licensed entertainment establishments, venues associated with tourism in designated tourist zones.
By letter of the law, that allowed Patpong to open, but loose interpretation of the legal changes – as well as some brown envelopes to the right people – allowed bars on Soi Cowboy and virtually all of Pattaya to open.
Many Soi Cowboy bar owners, however, remained cautious with Baccara, Suzie Wong and Shark opening. July’s Asalaha Bucha Day saw more venues turn on the lights, but with Tilac, Afterskool, music and ladyboy bars remaining closed. With much of the big neon off, Soi Cowboy felt like it did during Covid. Inside the bars was busy, but outside the street felt dead.
On Monday’s Macha Bucha Day, nearly all pretenses were dropped, with only the Stumble Inn Group’s bars (Hot Lips and two ladyboy bars), Vicky’s Secret, Country Road and Corner Bar remaining dark. This year, during a high season slowdown, the lights were on and crowds packed both the street and bars.
Patpong also had a strong night for a weekday. But Nana Plaza, in the Lumpini police district, was closed, adding insult to injury during a high season slowdown.
Shark VIP Opens
Despite the high season slowdown, Shark Soi Cowboy on Monday opened it upstairs VIP lounge and it looks even better than the revamped main bar. Even though Shark had renovated the upstairs bar in 2023, owners took the area back to bare walls and floor for the 2026 facelift.
Gone is the raised stage, replaced with a glass floor, allowing those downstairs to see the dancers upstairs. The area is separated from seats by a railing and a half-dozen dancers prance around in less-than-sexy (but good for the glass) sneakers. Beyond the trainers and bikini bottoms, the rest of the dress code is flexible.
The row of bench seating that had been behind the raised stage remains but rest of the lounge is completely new. Where the old single row of bench seating was now sits three low, round stages where girls conceivably will dance for customers at the tables behind.
The old bar had a raised area where high tables & stools sat. That has been replaced with a row of bench stating that wraps around the walls.
The sound system installed in 2023 has been repaired and upgraded and now sounds better than even, with additional lighting supplementing what was already there.
Shark’s bosses are calling the upstairs bar a VIP lounge, but there’s no prohibition against single or pairs of customers from enjoying the view. It’s well worth heading up the stairs.
Supernova Inches Forward
The signage is up at Supernova on Soi Cowboy, but amid this high season slowdown, there’s no sign the fun is about to explode there anytime soon. The bar, which was said to be 70% complete three weeks ago, had been expected to open around March 1. But even though the sign is on, there’s still nobody home. Supernova’s boss said he still “isn’t sure” when it will open.
Lucky Luka Coming to Nana?
Could Lucky Luke’s Tiki Bar become Lucky Luka’s Idol Traktir?
Lucky Luke’s was the first beer in Nana Plaza, opened by a Belgian mercenary in the early 1990s. It changed hands a few times and was eventually sold by the Stumble Inn Group back to Nana’s landlord in 2022. They remade the beer bar into Lucky Luke’s Tiki Joint, a marijuana dispensary. But, with the air going out of Thailand’s weed market, Lucky Luke’s closed in January with an unknown buyer taking over.
That buyer is unknown anymore. The bar was taken over by the Russian owner of Kino (the former Whiskey & Essence go-go bars) and whatever they’re calling Rainbow 69 / Private 69 (the former Casanova ladyboy bar) these days.
Due to its location, the Russian cannot make the former Lucky Luke’s into a go-go bar. So it seems likely it will return to being a beer bar. Will Lucky Luke live to see another day during this high season slowdown?
Stuck in the Past
Old, white guys visiting (or living in) Thailand for decades still can’t get their heads around girls refusing to go long-time for 500 baht anymore.
That was on full view in an expat-centric Soi Cowboy go-go bar last week when the balding, overweight farang stormed out of the bar shouting “that’s bullshit! Bullshit!” at the mamasan.
Being that the joint is normally very personable and welcoming, Redlight Report asked the mama if he was joking around or genuinely angry. “Angry,” she replied.
Angry at what? Being quoted 3,000 baht for a short-time tryst with one of the bar’s comely dancers (in addition to a 1,000-baht barfine). The mama said he offered 1,500 baht. Cowboy go-go girls (generally) haven’t gone anywhere for that price in at least 10 years.
Currently Soi Cowboy short-time rates start at 4,000 baht these days, even during a high season slowdown.
High-Season Hijinks
The high season slowdown may be apparent, but it’s apparently peak time for young British and European lads to wear skirts, or less, on Soi Cowboy.
Within a week, the neon alley saw:
- A bearded, dreadlocked Aussie in shorts and a large pair of wings fluttering around Shark Soi Cowoby claiming to be the Tooth Fairy.
- A group of lads in rugby shirts and pink skirts in haggling over drink prices in Tilac
- A 2-meter-tall farang getting his jollies in Crazy House while wearing only a bathrobe. (And, yes, the girls checked.)
- Another European dude in a pink skirt and fluorescent orange wig in Long Gun.
All of the above were likely bachelor parties or birthdays, but even the guy with orange hair couldn’t outdo what one of his drunk bros got up to in Long Gun.
He was dressed normally, but not for long. Pulled up on stage for an “audience participation” show, the matronly women who dance nude in Long Gun quickly stripped the twentysomething farang nude and made him the center of the (less-than) sexy show.
You’d think the rubbing and tugging the girls were doing on him would have aroused some excitement, but one of the female participants said after that he was more Limp Biskit than Ironman throughout the show.
