BANGKOK – CITY OF SIN. Review on Bangkok

BANGKOK – CITY OF SIN

By

Vinay Singh

Pick up any travel magazine and you will find an article on Bangkok and Pattaya. There are excellent guidebooks available in bookstores all over the World. You can also browse the Internet to find out whatever you want about Thailand, and its two major cities, Bangkok and Pattaya. You will find a lot of information on the hotels, temples, shopping malls and water sports. However, everyone knows that 90% of the tourists who visit Thailand have only one thing on their minds – sex. And none of the guidebooks tell you anything about that. The tourist has to grope (literally) to find what he wants. This review aims to fill this gap.

In Thailand, prostitution is not illegal. In fact, it is treated just like any other profession, and quite rightly so. For many families, the sole breadwinner is the daughter or wife who works the streets at night or dances in go-go bars, which are really nothing but pick-up joints. Many perform ‘live’ on stage, and are quite willing to repeat the performance behind closed doors, for a fee. The vast majority of the girls are locals, though they now have to compete with imports from the CIS and Arab countries. Like the wine list in a French restaurant, there is considerable variety, in vintage, colour and price. There is something to suit everyone, in taste as well as pocket.

Bangkok is the capital of Thailand (pronounced ‘thighland’, a name many feel is more than apt). The best way to go there is by air. The city has hundreds of hotels, most of which are reasonably priced, not counting the Oriental, which is patronized only by millionaires, film stars and those who have an expense account. Any travel agent will arrange a two-night stay for a couple for about 40 dollars, which includes airport pick up and drop, local sight seeing and breakfast. The local currency is the ‘baht’, though foreign currency is accepted by most hotels and department stores. The rate of exchange is about 35 bahts for a dollar. The local transport comprises the sky-train, buses, taxis and the tuk-tuk, which is akin to the three wheeled scooter rickshaw (TSR) found in India and several other countries in South East Asia. If you are alone, the best mode is the motorcycle. It has the advantage of going through traffic jams - cars usually stay in lanes, leaving a gap between adjacent lanes through which a motor cycle can easily pass.

Coming to the important point of where to go and what to do, assuming that you have the inclination. Like everything else in Bangkok, girls are good and not very expensive. There are dozens of escort services (their numbers are in the telephone directory in your hotel room) that will send a girl to your room at any time of the day or night. The top end escorts cost 4,000 bahts (about 5,000 rupees), and if you do not like her face or figure when you open the door, you can send her back, after paying the taxi fare. In most hotels, there is an extra charge for a lady guest, ranging from 300 to 700 bahts. Most tourists from Western countries prefer to engage an escort for several days, round the clock. It is cheaper to book a double room, and check in your guest as a ‘companion’. It is a common sight to see sixty-year old men having breakfast in the morning with girls who are still in their teens.

For those who like to see what they are buying, the best place is a beer bar. The largest number is in Sukhumvit, where one can meet hundreds of unattached girls. One will sidle up to you even before you are perched on your bar stool, and ask for a drink. You can spend as much time as you like talking, changing stools or bars until you find someone you like. The girls charge about 2500 to 3000 bahts for an hour, and about twice this amount if you want them for the whole night. You can take them to the hotel where you are staying, or one that is nearer, where the girl will take you. You will have to pay about 500 bahts for the room, which is about the same you will have to pay for taking her to your own hotel room.

No visit to Bangkok is complete without a visit to the nightspots in Patpong and Silom, in the south-west of the city. Streets in Bangkok are called ‘sois’, and if you walk along Silom Road you will find even numbered sois on your right and odd numbered ones on the left. The area between Soi 2 and Soi 4 has a hundred metre strip that houses the most notorious go-go bars and discos. Entry is free, but you will have to pay through your nose for a drink. There will be a few girls continually dancing or performing feats (mostly with their genitalia) on a raised stage in the center. The ones who are not dancing (they works in shifts) will be sitting around, and one will certainly come and sit near you if you are single. If you like any of the girls dancing, you just have to make eye contact, and nod or make a gesture with your hand. She will come down from the stage and come to the point straight away. A ‘quickie’ in one of the back rooms will cost you about 2000 baht, in addition to 500 bahts for the room. In case you want to take her home, you can wait until the show is over, or fix up a rendezvous for the next day. The rates vary from 2500 to 3000 bahts.

Almost every cabbie and tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok carries an album of naked girls, which he will flash before you as soon as you get in, if you are alone. If you are interested he will take you to a joint, where several girls will be sitting on chairs, each trying to draw your attention. Some of the larger establishments have two parlours, one full of girls who have never had a baby, and the other with women who have. The rates for the first parlour are about 3000 bahts, whereas the older ones cost between 1500 and 2000 bahts. A tuk-tuk driver will find a place where the cost is just 1000 bahts, but the girls will be past their prime.

Bangkok has excellent eating places, including several Indian restaurants. The Akbar and India Palace in Bangkok serve authentic Indian food, almost as good as what one gets in Delhi, at about the same cost. The street food is excellent, and unless one is queasy about ambience and hygiene, deserves to be sampled. In Bangkok one can shop until he drops, Bangkok has several malls, but if one wants to buy a laptop or a camera, the best place is the Panthip Plaza in Pratunam. For golf equipment, go to Thaniya Plaza in Silom. If you want to wash away the feeling of guilt, you can buy a ruby ring for your wife from the gem factory, where all sight seeing tours make a stop.

Have a GOOD TIME.