It’s Shark Week in Bangkok and Pattaya but don’t try finding it on the Discovery Channel.
For this adults-only edition of Shark Week, you’ll need head out to Soi Cowboy on Friday and Walking Street on Saturday for back-to-back anniversary parties.
Bangkok Shark Week Begins Sept. 19
Bangkok Shark Week opens on Sept. 19 Shark Go-Go Club on Soi Cowboy marks 23 years on Soi 23 with a big “thank you” bash featuring a fancy buffet and several special shows.
The exact show lineup hasn’t been released yet, but typically guest performers from Thai talent shows are brought in. They’ll begin after 10 p.m.
And the food? It ain’t just pizza or a pig. Think sushi, canapés, sandwiches and, yeah, a roast pig.
Shark Soi Cowboy’s History
Shark opened on Sept. 11, 2002 – a curious date choice, for sure – adding momentum to transformation of the then-sleepy Soi Cowboy into the Neon Alley we know today.
Shark’s bosses said that, instead of 9/11, Sept. 22 was chosen as the Shark’s official anniversary date as it’s personally significant: It’s the birthdate of the two brothers’ late father who started the Shark/Mandarin group. This year, the party was moved up three days to put it on a Friday and to allow the brass to attend the Pattaya bash the next night.
Shark Pattaya’s 1st, 21st or 23rd?
Shark Week continues in Pattaya on Sept. 20 with an event curiously named – until a few hours after this story originally was published – 1st Anniversary Party at the “New” Shark Go-Go Club on Walking Street.
According to the PattayaGoGos.com website – the closest thing Pattaya has to a naughty bar encyclopedia and archive – Shark go-go bar has operated in Pattaya since the autumn of 2004. That’s 21 years ago. Shark’s first 12 years were upstairs on Soi Diamond in a spot that old-timers will remember as Big Willie’s Go-Go Bar. By the end of the aughts, the Shark Group had Shark a-Go-Go, a smaller Shark Club and Tiger a-Go-Go all up flights of stairs above a busy and dynamic Soi Diamond.
The decline of Soi Diamond, fueled by the closures of Carousel, Super Girl and Super Baby, brought an end to the upstairs bars, with Shark consolidating and relocating to Soi 15, in the spot of the former Spice Club, in May 2016. It survived the coronavirus pandemic and reopened there in May 2022.
But, when prime Walking Street real estate became available, the group pounced and created the huge new Shark Go-Go Club on the corner of Soi Diamond, opening the new bar and closing the Soi 15 location on Sept. 18, 2024. It became an instant sensation.
Shark’s owners – the two sons of the late French founder – said today the Shark brand goes back 23 years, not 21. It’s their bar, they must know! But, despite the brand’s longevity, the Soi Diamond & Soi 15 clubs never achieved the pinnacle of quality and success Shark Go-Go Club has achieved in just 12 months. So, initially, it was flush the past and celebrate the future and call Sept. 20 the first anniversary. Until it wasn’t! As of tonight, it’s now the 23rd Anniversary.
Shark Pattaya’s Best
Most agree Shark Pattaya is, hands down, Walking Street’s best go-go with Stickman Bangkok recently writing at Shark’s “music, the ladies, the service, the cleanliness of the men’s room, the impressive frontage, the reasonable drinks prices and the vibe make Shark, for me, the best bar of its type in either Pattaya or Bangkok.”
Both Shark Week parties will be huge, with bosses and managers from both cities visiting each other’s parties and anyone who is anyone in Thailand’s nightlife scene to be present. Food, shows and lots of ping-pong balls are assured. Your weekend plans are set!
In Pattaya, Sept. 20 marks the first year of Shark in its new location. The “1st Anniversary Party” tosses out all the years smaller Sharks previously operated on Soi Diamond and Soi 15. Those clubs never reached the pinnacle the New Shark has, so better to just forget them than fete them!
