The FARANG Speaks 2 Much

Ahhh, my first blog entry for the Mango Blog. Nick here, the other owner of the Big Mango Bar. Michael, the better half, set up this great blog on our site and I hope folks will find it useful. I’m not quite the writer Michael is but will try and get the point across.

My first topic has to do with partying after 1:00am in Bangkok. My work schedule is typically 4:00pm to 1:00am as it is for thousands others in the nightlife business. That means it’s dinner time at around 1:30am and party time right after. One problem with that is Bangkok nightlife businesses officially close at 1:00am. Well, this is Thailand and not all is conventional so here is the latest on what to do after 1:00am in the Sukhumvit Soi1-Soi23 area of Bangkok. Of course this can change but will try to keep readers updated occasionally on changes. One very important update here: Nana Plaza now stays open until 2:00am. This is only a week old so will keep you updated on if this continues.

For food you only need to walk along Sukhumvit. There are about 40
or so makeshift food stalls that are legendary and stay open until the
sun comes up. You also have Nana Hotel (Soi 4), Dynasty Hotel (Soi 4),
Subway (Sukhumvit by Soi 4 and Soi 7/1), PennyBlack (Soi Cowboy and
Asok), O’Brians (Suk and Soi 5), Foodland (24hrs on soi 5, excellent
food and a must to experience), and a nice 24hr coffee shop/restaurant
on Soi 11 (a few shops off of Suk…I forget the name). These are all
open all night.

For fun you currently have:
- Soi 1 open til around 5:00am (Josephines on the 4th floor where the daytime beer bars are)
This place was open for four or five months and then closed for a few
months and is now back open. Very interesting little open air (although
it stays very cool via mist fans) hip hop club. Mixture of working and
non-working girls but most are freelancers. They have about 20 tables
and a larger bar and dance area. Entrance is 250baht for Men, women get
in for free. You get a free drink with the 250baht entrance fee. Drinks
themselves are 250baht on average. You can also get a nice flavoured
tabacco hooka for 300baht at your table. Weekday nights have been
showing about a 4 to 1 girl to guy ratio, weekends are about 1 to 1
(more guy wiggers looking for no-pay-for-play). A fun place worth
checking out. It’s definitely not shooting fish in a barrell but good
chance you will find your love for the night if you are willing to fork
over 1000-3000 baht (no bar fine here). The non-working girls you will
have to work for but they are definitely there.
- Nana Disco open til 2:00am (walk through lobby of Nana Hotel on Soi 4)
All first timers to Bangkok should experience Nana Disco (ND). It’s
400baht for Men and Ladies get in for free. You get a free drink with
the 400baht entrance fee. ND is the epitemy of the reverse universe
syndrome that you will experience in the Nana area. Basically,
beautiful young women chase men (and it doesn’t matter what you look
like). ND holds about 120 people and about 70% of them are women. One
bar in front and one in back with a large dance floor in between and
about 20 booths/tables scattered about. Walk around and you will feel
what it’s like to be stared at like a piece of meat sizzling on the
bbq. Also, don’t be surprised if you get malested along the way. The
women in ND consist of some working girls coming from Nana Plaza
gogo’s/beer bars when they close but are mostly freelancers. No bar
fine and short/long time rates are typically 1000-3000baht. One
negative about ND is that it sometimes gets crowded with drunk aholes.
Ignore them. In the land of kharma they will get it back 3-fold. One
more thing to mention, there is the Nana Hotel Lobby bar open til about
3:30, the restaurant and coffee shop stay open all night. Freelancers
are all over the Nana Hotel parking lot and Soi 4 street until the wee
hours of the morning.

NOTE: No bar fine typically means no recourse if events should unfold negatively. So, be careful out there folks.

more to come in part 2…

-pmmp