Bangkok - The City of the Night

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This would be the 7th time I had visited Bangkok and I can visit Bangkok so many times and still not feel bored of it. It’s one of the cities in the World that can give you relatively good and cheap lodging, food and entertainment.

Flying into Bangkok from Singapore is a breeze. There are up to 6 flights from Singapore Airlines and up to 5 flights from Thai Airways on a daily schedule, not to mention all the other airlines that ply between the 2 cities as well. The Suvarnabhumi Airport is a lot further away from Bangkok than the former Don Mueang Airport. Traveling in a limousine taxi from the airport to the Swissotel Le Concorde at Ratchadaphisek took about 40 minutes. It felt nice to be driven in a limousine taxi but I had to fork out 900 baht for the trip.

Ratchada is a wonderful area. Here, you will find a congregation of massage parlors and KTVs for the effervescent male. Le Concorde is right in the middle of this strip of night spots.

The Crowded Chinatown

It was a sunny afternoon. The first thing I needed to do was to buy myself some souvenirs for the folks back home. So, off I went to Chinatown or Yaowarat in Thai. Commuting in Bangkok is easy, if the places you are going to have access to the MRT or BTS mass transit system. Chinatown is actually quite far off from the nearest MRT station, so I took the MRT from the Huai Khwang Station to Hua Lumphong Station and then took a taxi just outside the Hua Lumphong MRT station to Chinatown.

Traffic in Yaowarat is really hazardous. There are 2 things that you must do to cross the streets – be quick and be daring. I bought my usual dried foodstuff – dried pork floss and mini love letters with floss – and headed straight off for my favorite shark’s fin soup and bird’s nest soup. By the time I finished my bird’s nest soup, it was already almost 7 o’clock in the evening. I quickly headed back to the hotel with my 2 bags full and had a cool shower before getting ready for my night hunt.

My Worst MP Experience

It was almost half past eight when I started strolling along Ratchada. I felt hungry again, so I popped into a teppanyaki restaurant at the corner of the road junction. This restaurant was opened by some Taiwanese residents and seems it had started business not too long ago. Food was okay and relatively cheap at 118 baht for a mutton teppanyaki set with a coke. After fulfilling my tummy’s need, I walked along Ratchada for awhile to take in the neon sights and finally ended up in one of the massage parlors.

I had been to this massage parlor before but had never engaged any of their services. I remembered one of my friends likes to frequent this joint. I sat at the lounge looking into the ‘fish tank’ for interesting mermaids. The mommy came up to sit beside me and said, “300 baht Thai massage. 800 baht oil massage,” and she started recommending some of the girls. “Number 20 is good,” she said.
“Hmm….” I continue scrutinizing the features in the tank.
“Number 51, nice body,” the mommy continued.
There weren’t any girls that really met my expectation, so I decided to lower my expectation and picked one of the girls with long hair and slim body. Unlike most of the other girls that were wearing low-cut blouses and high-slit skirts, she was wearing a red short sleeved T and blue jeans. I opted for the oil massage.

I signed my bill at the counter. The girl came and we took the lift to the 3rd level. We had to walk an extra flight of stairs to the 4th level as the lift does not serve the 4th floor. Argh! The room was tiny, looked horrible and it smelled. There was just a small upright bed, a stool and a shower cubicle. She turned on the air conditioner and told me to take a show before she left the room. This was really not what I expected. Anyway, I took a short shower, dry myself and lay on the bed. She came back when I was showering and was seated on the stool waiting for me. No shower service. She hardly spoke a word during the massage. I can hardly felt the massage, which was concentrated mainly on my back area. No golden questions. After about 45 minutes, she told me it was finished and to take my shower.
“Huh?” I looked at her blankly.
“OK. Ap nam,” she said pointing to the shower cubicle.
I gave up. Took my shower, dressed up and went downstairs to pay up.

The mommy came over and asked, “How was it? Massage OK?”
“Not OK lah! No good,” I exclaimed, “she didn’t even massage full one and a half hours.”
“Hah? Why you didn’t tell the girl?” she queried.
“Nothing to tell, it’s just not good,” I replied.
And I paid off and left. This had to be the worst massage parlor experience I had in Bangkok.

Next day, I slept till 7 and had my breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast spread was good. By 9, I was in the office and couldn’t wait till night falls again. That evening, I had dinner at the open air seafood restaurant next to the Le Concorde. There were lots of foreigners eating here. From their accents, they sounded like Singaporeans and Malaysians. The dinner was not cheap as compared to other eateries in Bangkok. Just a dish of fish cake, a plate of fried kang kongs and a bowl of shark’s fin soup cost me 505 bahts.

Go-go Bar Go – Soi Cowboy

After the meal, I went back to the hotel to take a shower, watched some TV and rested for a while. I finally got out at 10 and took the MRT to Sukhumvit Station and to Soi Cowboy. Soi Cowboy is one of the well known strips for go-go bars in Bangkok. It’s about 5 minutes walk from the Sukhumvit MRT Station or the Asoke BTS Station. Nothing much was changed since I last came here about a year ago. The street was still lined with girls and intoxicated guys on both sides of the road. I walked through to the end of the street and entered into Baccara, one of the larger and newer go-go clubs in Soi Cowboy. The place was already filled with customers. More than half of them were Caucasians and the rest were mostly Japanese and Koreans. The club has 2 dance floors, one on the ground floor and the other on the 2nd level with a glass floor. Obviously, the glass dance floor was meant for the drinking crowd below to stretch their necks up to ogle at the wondrous sights. There was 6 bikini clad girls dancing on the ground floor and another 6 on the 2nd floor. Those girls on the 2nd floor were in skimpy tight lolita-styled school uniforms. Some practically do not wear any undies beneath their short skirts. This was probably part of the reason why the seats around the stage on the ground floor were so quickly filled.

There were hardly any seats left in the club, but, I found myself a seat at one of the corners. One of the bar waitresses came over and took my order. The bikini girls were dancing to the beat of the loud music, slithering their bodies around the chromium poles and tantalizing the male crowd from the stage. Occasionally, you will see a few girls making eyes at some of the male clients, suggesting to them to buy them drinks. Every 15 to 20 minutes, the girls rotate to go on stage to strut their stuff. As the night grows, more and more girls went up to the stage to dance.

Suddenly, the music changed and all the girls got off the stage. 6 girls went up the stage. As the music played, the girls started slowly and teasingly stripped off their bras, then their panties. 4 other girls in school girl outfits on the 2nd floor were also doing the same striptease routine. The music was hot. The girls were hot. Man! Everyone watching was hot.

Some of the girls, who were waiting for their next turn to dance on stage, went around to sit next to the male clients. Some attempted to coax the guys to buy them drinks. There were a couple of girls pointed at my direction, making their smiles at me. Too bad they weren’t my taste, so I looked away to avoid any eye contacts with them.

After I sat for about an hour and not finding anything else of interest, I left Baccara. It was about half past eleven. I walked back to Sukhumvit Station and managed to catch the last train back to Huai Khwang.

A Relaxing No Nonsense Massage at Veronica’s

The next day, I checked out of Le Concorde and moved to stay at the Veronica’s Residence, a nice little boutique hotel along Ratchadapisek. I particularly liked the modern designs and bright bold color schemes in the hotel room. The other good thing about this hotel was that you get free wireless Internet access in all rooms.

I had a late and heavy breakfast at Le Concorde, so I wasn’t feeling hungry after checking into Veronica’s at noon. I rested for a while and decided to call the hotel for a massage. Ten minutes later, a slim looking girl came knocking at the door. She looks around the age of 25 and had a very pleasant look and smile. Her massage was good. She rubbed at just the right pressure and skillfully cracked my joints. Near the end of the 2 hour massage, she started to joke with me by tickling my sides. She spoke to me in Thai. Apparently, she thought I was a Thai.
“Mai poot Thai”, I told her that I don't speak Thai.
She looked surprised and spoke a few more Thai sentences. I do not know what she was talking about so I gave her a frowning smile. She laughed so cutely. I tried to ask her, in English, what time she knocks off from work, so I can bring her out for dinner. But, it seemed she doesn’t know what I was saying. This was the second time in Bangkok that I had trouble communicating to a Thai girl to date out for the night. The first was about 3 years ago, when I tried to bring out a sweet girl from one of the massage parlors.

Not So International’s International Cuisine

Sutthisan Station was the nearest MRT station from Veronica’s Residence. I took the train to Sukhumvit and tried to look for a nice restaurant for dinner. I walked up to this restaurant in one of the side lanes, which had a bright light-box sign displaying “International Cuisine”. Seated inside, I realized that most of the waiters and waitresses were Indians. Most of the clients were Indians. Eventually, I understood this was an Indian restaurant serving mostly Indian and Thai dishes. That’s so much for the ‘Internationality’.

Best for Last – The Poseidon Adventure

After dinner, I walked around a little and took the train back to Sutthisan. Instead of heading back to the hotel, I headed towards my next favorite haunt – the soapy massage parlor. I’ve heard many good reviews about the Poseidon Massage Parlor, but, I’ve never visited it once during all my other times in Bangkok. Poseidon is housed within its own 10 storey entertainment complex. Besides the massage parlor, there was also a KTV lounge for entertainment. I walked up to the 2nd floor and sat in one of the couches. There was a huge glass ‘tank’ housing about 15 girls in revealing night dresses. Outside the ‘tank’ in the opposite corner next to the lifts, there were a few girls standing around. They looked pretty. These, I was later told by the pappy, were the freelancers or most often, they were called sideliners.

I ordered a soft drink and sat to slowly ‘admire’ the sights in the ‘tank’. The pappy, sitting next to me, tried to recommend some of the girls to me. Oh no. He was speaking to me in Thai also. I guessed he also thought I was a Thai. I didn’t say a word. I watched as some more girls went into the ‘tank’ room. He recommended a few numbers.
Finally, I told him, “Bed sip hok”.
He called into the room for the girl to come out. A girl in white sexy dress stood up.
I quickly said, “Mai, mai. Bed sip hok”, pointing to the girl, number 85, in a sexy black dress next to the one that he called, which was 86.
“Orh… bed sip ha”, the pappy said.
Darn. I spoke the wrong Thai word. It should be ‘ha’, which stands for 5, instead of ‘hok’ which, is 6. That’s how rotten my little knowledge of the Thai language was – and still is.

The pappy ushered me to the counter for me to make my payment of 2,000 baht for the massage. The girl carried my drink and we went up to our room. It’s an African theme room. She prepared the bath, while I sat on the sofa and watched TV. The bath was ready and she tested the water temperature to make sure it was just right. She came over and dropped her bath towel that was wrapped round her body. My brain was going ‘Wow!’ My eyes were roaming all over her great slender body as she helped to undress me. We soaked into the large bubble-filled tub. The bath was sensual. Her services were tops. She was able to converse in English and not bad too. We chatted throughout the course. She had worked in Singapore before, but, disliked working in a foreign country as she felt it’s not as safe as working back in Thailand. After our long sensual bath, we moved to the large queen-sized bed. She continued to treat me like her darling and we ended with a burst of ecstasy.

All too soon, we had to kiss goodbye in the lift down to the lounge, where we part our ways. It was already 1 am in the morning. I walked back to Veronica’s and slept really well that night. The next day, I packed my bags and flew back home to Singapore, bringing with me my wonderful experiences of Bangkok for this trip – except for the first massage parlor that ‘reaped’ me off.