Soi Cowboy Bait and Switch
[QUOTE=Western787][The "hello girls" outside Soi Cowboy bars are] a deliberate deception. [They] look like G club quality, the inference being they are between dance sets and thus ready to go back to the club and available to be barfined. In fact they are (barely legal if even that) young teens acting purely as touts. This is certainly relevant to a discussion of the merits of Soi Cowboy vs Nana. When you see hotties hanging outside Rainbow 4 in Nana Plaza, those girls *are* available. Many Soi Cowboy girls hanging outside are not even "Coyotes" which by definition are girls that DANCE but don't normally (with some exceptions) barfine.[/QUOTE]Perceptive commentary from Mr. 787.
I had read numerous online reports about the downfall of Soi Cowboy since my last visit in 2010, and in January I saw it for myself.
To my horror, I saw that it is now a destination for falang tourists who aren't even close to interested in the pay-to-play scene. I saw all manner of couples strolling up and down. I even saw single falang women.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
At least on Walking Street in Pattaya there are 'civilian' restaurants and bars. But Soi Cowboy is a tiny little block which has virtually nothing to recommend it unless you're a naughty boy. With everything else there is to see in Bangkok, why come there at night?
The tourists gawked at the punters and the girls like they were visiting a zoo.
The bars now cater to the Looky Loos by setting up outdoor seating. Why would you pay 180 baht for a beer to sit on the sidewalk and judge the guys scuttling by? I even saw civilians *inside* the clubs. Again, what's the fucking point?
'Oh look Nell, that woman has comically large breasts! '
'Indeed! And look at the poor dear sitting with that portly bald gentleman. He's old enough to be her father! '
For their part the naughty boys seemed to be staying away in droves. Granted it was the middle of the week and the political unrest had just started to break out. But when the legendary Baccara is empty that tells you the punters have voted with their feet.
With respect to the 'hello girls' any guy who's spent more than five minutes in any red light district anywhere on the planet will state with categorical assurance venues that offer value for money don't need hawkers or barkers. On the contrary, the wise punter steers clear of any joint employing them because once you're inside it's almost certain to be a clip joint. The emergence of these girls touting the bars they stand in front of is distressing, to say the least.
I made the rounds, drinking a single beer at several different places. There were a handful of decent girls at Baccara. If somebody put a gun to my head and forced me to go with a Soi Cowboy girl, I would have probably pulled from there. Tilac had enough girls on stage to get me to sit down and buy a beer, but after five minutes I realized the lineup was devoid of talent. Several of the girls were total cows.
My last stop was at a club I'd never heard of, I think it was the Cowboy 2. The lineup was lousy in there as well, but there was one girl who was absolutely stunning. She was supermodel tall and toned, with a gorgeous face that suggested her father might be falang. She was sitting with a younger chap who looked like a military guy. Good on you soldier.
All in all, Soi Cowboy V2014 struck me as a place *FAR* past its prime, a place squeezing out a little money from people who wouldn't have come near it back in its heyday, a place coasting on its naughty reputation even as those who appreciate naughty have abandoned it.
It reminded me a little of New Orleans in the late 80s and early 90s, a place pretending to be dangerous, but really just smelly and expensive.
I spent the rest of my time in town enjoying Nana Plaza and the scene on Soi 4.
Bunky
