Soi Cowboy and Patpong

In my research for the trip I came across a series of novels by John Burdett featuring a half-caste Thai police officer and his experiences in the seedy underside of Bangkok. The primary setting for the books is Soi Cowboy, a short strip of go-go bars named for an African-American vet who found the states too dull after the Vietnam so returned to Thailand and opened up his own club. I stopped by the street early in the afternoon before anything got rolling just to see the place. Very intereting. I had a beer at a sidewalk bar with Julian, Dave and another 50-60ish long-term ex-pat who were drinking off their hangovers from the night before and regaling each other about their exploits from the night before. Apparently Dave’s girlfriend came in last night catching him with another girl who he had stashed out on the balcony covering his tracks completely except for the interloper’s shoes which were sitting by the door. They were certainly a colorful group but I just couldn’t see a life of continuous adolescence in lieu of the rewards of a loving family and rewarding career. What impact will they have left on the world when they are gone? Before heading back to the hotel I stopped by Joe’s Bar where they were still in process of opening up for the night. Seeing they weren’t yet open for business, I made to leave but the proprietress insisted I be the first sale of the day in honor of my name.

The whole family ventured out to Patpong, a couple of subway stops from our hotel. This apparently used to be ground zero for go-go bars and touts advertising shows of questionable cultural value. While some of the clubs remained, the famous red light district of Bangkok had gone decidedly tourist. The central parts of Soi (street) Patpong 1 and 2 are transformed every evening into a night marked chocked full of vendors selling knock-off Rolexes and Cartier. We wandered under the neon lights through the confusion stopping for dinner from a food vendor who had set up shop outside of a bank. The main seating are consisted of a couple of plastic tables and some chairs set up in the fenced off area around the ATM machines. The food was fine and I was particularly impressed with my mother who must have been suppressing her concerns over cleanliness as she jumped right in and enjoyed the meal with us. The kids were really starting to get tired by this time so we dodged across another busy street to another brightly-lit “Joe’s Bar” where we could sit and have a drink alongside the street and enjoy the spectacle before us from a position of relative comfort.