The FARANG Speaks 2 Much

The after hours scene took a nice twist this past week with the opening of The Tunnel bar on Soi LangSuan. This is one of the coolest looking clubs in Bangkok and shows some promise but after 2 nights of giving it a try I am not going back until I hear they get there shit ironed out. Let me explain.

For reference - by the way I did not know there is a website dedicated to Soi LangSuan - The Tunnnel is located just back a little bit from Soi LangSuan right past Soi 5. Follow the candles, the thump the thump or whatever else they happen to be using to let u know that a club is there.

First off - this is a very cool place and my hat is off to the designer and construction people who put this place together. They did a bang up job and knowing how hard to it to build quality projects in Thailand I am very impressed. Sound system is cool, service is okay but they could use more service staff, bathrooms are amazing and the drinks are reasonable but bottle prices are a little high in my book. The music is pretty cool and the place is starting to draw an interesting crowd.

But I can’t figure out what they are trying to do and how they plan on staying in business. For 1 this place should open up for normal hours but my guess is due to their location they cannot. However - if they could open up for like 10 pm business and later my guess is they would steal quite a few regulars away from the overpriced Qbar and equally overcrowded Bed club. I can’t stand Qbar and love Bed but sometimes it is too hard to stand in Bed club let alone dance.

U can get to The Tunnel by midnight and they will let u in but the music is not going, the lights are too bright and the service staff is in shambles. The security guard says they really don’t open until 1:30 am - okay cool. We shall classify The Tunnel as an after hours place then. But wait - 2 nights in a row. Fri and Sat. The biggest nights to be open The Tunnel has been shutdown by the police at 3 and 3:30. So tough to be a real after hours place if they can’t stay open. After leaving The Tunnel all the other normal after hours places were still going so clearly The Tunnel has not been able to sort out their police situation. Given that part of the people behind The Tunnel were also part of Mystique - it does not surprise me that The Tunnel is having police problems since Mystique had their fair share of police issues and rumor is that the police ultimately shut Mystique down.

It is a bummer cause I think Bangkok could use a new club, with better music and a thought to cool design. The Tunnel has all that but if they don’t get going until 1:30 am but run u out at 3:30 am - then my guess is this place won’t make it. One rumor circulating was that The Tunnel was only going to be open as an after hours only place just during the high season but I find that hard to believe given the money they spent on the place. Well. I will wait a while before going back since I don’t want to be at a place that only stays open for 2 hours a day. Kind of boring. Hopefully they will get it sorted soon or at the very least open at a more regular hour instead of focusing on only the late night scene.

more soon…