No - not related topics but both articles I read on Asia Times that got me thinking. My big post on women is still coming - stay tuned. Also have one in the can from On Nutter as well. Funny shite. Seems the night life is somewhat back to normal hours but I have not been out to know for sure. My g-club posse has been texting later than normal and assuring me that places like Pent and Forte are back to normal. Anyone have a rundown on the after-hours scene? I guess Tunnel is done and for me that was my favorite after-hours pulling venue despite my issues with it. You can torch boss and lucky for all I care. Spicy is fun as a last resort but gets old fast. I need to try the Ratchada after hours scene a little more.
Here is the link again to satisfy your CP needs. Surprisingly we still get asked about progress so there u go.
First off was this article about Tesco. I am not a big Tesco fan. It is like the walmart of asia and I never went to walmart in the states. I liked target though. If I go to the big box stores it is usually carrefour. I like the layout and the vibe more but I think tesco is probably cheaper.
The article is about the current change in the legal and pr departments at tesco. It seems they used to use an international team for this and then recently let the local teams handle things. Suddenly there is a rash of lawsuits for lots of silly stuff. The Thais are not usually ones to sue for everything but in the case of things like defamation and misinformation it seems they love their lawyers. This is also coming at a time when inflation in Thailand is very high and it is seen that companies like Tesco make too much money according to some people. One would think this would not be a good time to start suing everyone but there you go.
The article also mentions the extremely poor planning of the Thai government around foreign ownership laws. They are trying to ram through a law to keep out more big box stores. Which I don’t have a problem with really but it would be hard to enforce something like this fairly. However, the big box stores know this is coming, and are now overbuilding in hopes they won’t need more stores. Surely this is not a good strategy. It just shows you how complicated things can be here. I know for myself, even running a few small business, that Thailand can be quite a daunting placeif you trying to make it on your own. We will have some post-opening mango stories to share regarding our current project. Fun. Fun.
The second article is a not very welll written view of women’s lib or equal rights for women in Asia. This is a tough topic in places like Bangkok when the place slides to the very rich, the very poor and a huge working girl industry. It was funny to me that the author chose to interview bargirls more than the normal girls.
Intrigued, Joom said, “But you said as ‘equals’; women are meant to be sexy. Men come to the bar that are rich, see me and think I am sexy. Then I am equal, because suddenly this ‘big man’ becomes a little boy. I can make him [part with his] money for a few minutes of pleasure.”
“I am more powerful then. If I wasn’t sexy, I wouldn’t have that power,” she added.
Yes. And part with money people do. Sometimes more than they need to.
Check this recent comment on the blog from Asad:
The first one who came was no match for the one in the picture of website which keeps changing the name it was something like Number 1 BKK. The girl who came had no visible breast and had a scar in the belly for child birth. She was however good. I hired her for 2 hours by paying Bath 6000. I had good sex 2 times as she was very good at it. She also gave me good blow job. No additional tips.
That is 3000 per pop folks. Am I missing something? Seems the women are doing okay.
Anyway not sure I want to touch this subject in Thailand. Anytime one does it turns into Farang women bashing or getting into why all sex is paid for sex anyway. Something I don’t buy into. I will admit though - Asian women in general are sexier, more ladylike and more interesting to me that my own race. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Sure I could add that I date younger women here, generally get laid more than I ever have and live beyond my own veil of celebrity. Not sure that matters though. Point is - will places like Thailand stay this way forever. Probably not.
May get out for a drink tonight to see if there still is nightlife in bkk.
No visible breast
“the girl you really got was not the girl who was in the picture” Welcome to the world!
View all comments by Suk Psycho
yes. report on ratchada after hours would be great. anything really. a name. will take just that. will then check it out myself. perhaps will post in a comment what like here.
View all comments by daddy
d - renovate is the main one. but had not been open late during the crackdown. been there a few times. fun to go with some girls or with a posse but tough place to pick up.
http://guide.2thebigmango.com/thailand/bangkok/bars/after_hours/ratchada_pisek/renovate/
The other one is Baryan Tree
Not in the guide but nestled right behind this mall
http://www.durianseed.com/thailand/bangkok/shopping/malls/esplanade-mall/
They also were not going late during the crackdown.
View all comments by smitty
ive been baryan tree before. didnt know that it used to go after-hours. must have been good after-hours.
View all comments by daddy
Was in Baryan Tree last night - didn’t really get going until about 11:30pm but once it filled up, it was good fun. I arrived a bit earlier (around 10:30pm) and waited outside for my friends to show up. I was watching the taxis arriving and dropping off customers - about 3 to 1 female to male, with girls arriving both singly and in pairs. The ratio inside appeared to be about 3 to 2 female to male. I guess the guys drive their own cars.
Next door is “Inch”, similar in layout to Baryan Tree but a bit better kitted out sound system and decor-wise. Was there last weekend and it appeared to be more “couples and groups” when compared to Baryan Tree. Both good fun, but my guess is that it would take some luck and effort to pull in these places. I bought my own on both occasions. At Inch, I was at a table with a gik and three friends she bought along - by midnight the two Thai guys at the next table were hitting on two of the gik’s friends (don’t blame them - why is it that you meet all of your gik’s good-looking friends AFTER you’ve already closed the deal?)
Baryan Tree was still going strong at 1:30am when I left. I’ve heard it usually closes between 2am and 2:30am.
View all comments by KamnanT
t - inch is not that fun in my opinion and impossible to meet girls there. My thai friends and some of our employees tell me they pull from baryan tree all the time. It used to go until about 5 in the morning.
good info. thanks!
View all comments by smitty
I went Jonnie Walker bar last night and I was the youngest and most handsome ferang there. Granted I was the only ferang there from what I saw so that kinda ruins my angle
I sat at that little beer bar on the corner by the little markets that face the clubs behind Esplanade and watched hordes of taxis pulling up and groups of 3-4 girls hopping out, inside ratio must of been 4-1 for girls, and the music was top notch (hip-hop so not to everyones tastes)
Drinks were cheap and the layout is slick, plus they show football on the screens.
Fairly easy to get numbers and hook up
View all comments by Young Penfold
yp - is the j w the inch club or something else?
how was the LB scene there for u?
View all comments by smitty
I thought it was called Jonnie Walker. The place with the funky waterfall and the massive yellow Jonnie sign behind Esplanade.
Shit you not i got accosted by an LB as I was shaking my shit o the dancefloor. Maybe its my headband that gives my game away?
View all comments by Young Penfold
I think u were in the Inch Club. Anyway.
You should remove the LB Friendly logo off of the headband.
View all comments by smitty
Not just the headband but the “I wank it to Akhenaten“ t-shirt. Dead giveaways.
View all comments by pmmp
The legwarmers and rucksack were probably a bad idea in hindsight (sp?)
Ill shave off the big german moustache next time - who am i kidding i cant even shave yet
View all comments by Young Penfold
The more custom Tescos get, the more money finds its way back to the UK - the more money that finds its way back to the UK, the more tax they pay to the government - the more income the government gets, the less tax I will have to pay personally - the less tax I pay personally the more time I can spend in Soi Cowboy and ahem in the new Big Mango bar.
Go Tesco !!!!
You do know Carrefour are French?????
View all comments by doctorbond
The Tesco article was pretty good I thought, though not sure you can lump Tesco & Wal-Mart into the same category. As the article notes, Tesco takes its social repsonsibility quite seriously.
One point is that although the likes of Tesco may be threatening the mom & pop stores, in rural areas it is actually often these stores who are guilty of price gouging, due to lack of choice. These folks, and some of the middlemen are of course angry that their businesses are threatened, but this can actually be pretty good for your average Joe if he can get to a supermarket. Very small village stores also now find it more cost effective to buy from Tesco or Carrefour than from the local rice/sardine baron.
View all comments by Combover
Combover: I think you can do a global find and replace for Tesco and Thailand replacing them with Wal-Mart and America. I’ve read this same article in the states regarding Wal-Mart many times, quite similar. As for social responsibility, check out http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17803920/ . Wal-Mart is one of the top corporate charities in the world. No, I don’t have Wal-Mart stock, I’m just saying.
View all comments by pmmp
dr - isn’t tesco british?
c - have to side with pmmp on this. they do all that public social responsibility to cover up all the crappy shit they do. I am not versed enough to get into this but I think a lot of the big box retailers, although provide service and value, are in it to make huge profits and usually at the cost of the old way of doing things. I guess this is progress but I don’t have to like it.
I was more commenting on how now that the Thais have taken over the legal and PR dept they are suing the hell out of everyone. seems strange.
if you read the wal mart history they started the charity shit specifically to counteract their negative PR. They hired on of the big corporate PR groups who specialize this to manage their charity stuff.
View all comments by smitty
Tesco is British, Lotus is Thai. Tesco-Lotus = JV.
I’m by no means a great advocate of Tesco; they were instrumental with many other UK supermarket chains of driving British farmers into the ground a few years back.
However, IMHO they are not quite WalMart yet. I have contacts in the buying teams of both Tesco & WalMart in Hong Kong & Shenzhen, and I can say there is a huge difference in how they operate. For sure this is comercially driven, but Tesco now do see this as a point of difference, and invest significantly in trying to ensure the integrity of their supply chain. That said, Chinese factory owners are generally one step ahead.
View all comments by Combover
And yes, that lawsuit thing is kind’ve strange.
View all comments by Combover
c - the british comment was meant for dr bond. Tesco british - care4 french. I am an american so I don’t care either way but I like shopping for food at care4 versus tesco.
They may not be wal mart yet but my guess is they aspire to me like wal mart in some respect. However I was more hitting on the weirdness in the local market and how tesco is dealing with it.
hopefully I will never see a wal mart in thailand.
View all comments by smitty
It isn’t always the megastores that are taking trade from the mom and pop shops. It’s the 7-11s on every street.
View all comments by Bangkok Barry
Yes indeedee Smitty - Tesco is as British as fish and chips and warm beer and started by a London market trader whose wife’s name was Tess.
As I say - support Tescos and keep Britain Great (because of the machinations of the Chinese and Indians we have already slipped from 4th richest country to 5th richest with 6th place on the horizon - luckily still richer than the French. C’est Magnifique !
View all comments by doctorbond