Deomgraphic and Technology shift
[QUOTE=Crocodilexp;2716489]There's no longer an ample supply of working girls in Thailand. Demographics have shifted massively and permanently. Fertility rate has been under 2 children per woman since 1992 (affecting the number of women under 30 now in 2022), compared to the 5+ in the early 1970's (women under 30 back in 2000's). Incomes have also risen significantly, to the point where a typical salary, even on the low end, is sufficient to live on without freelancing part-time.
The difference is stark, but the industry started off huge, there was plenty of inertia, and many punters were refusing to see the changes. For almost a decade, we've seen attrition with very few new faces, but many of the older providers hanging on. This was apparent everywhere, but most obvious in oilies like Tulip.
This situation was dire well before Covid, and the pandemic won't make it better. I just don't see where the large supply of girls would come from. Perhaps the economic crisis brewing in Laos (nearing a breakdown) would send a few working girls over the border, but that won't last long and is unlikely to have large effects down in Bangkok.
Meanwhile, there's no shortage of punters, so with the full reopening, it's only natural to expect prices to go up, and quality way down. At one point, I guess they'll stop coming.
Plenty of places were mongering meccas for a while, but withered due to various factors, usually demographics and increasing wealth of the locals, coupled with some significant event. I hear 1988 Olympic Games killed mongering for foreigners in Seoul and SARS in 2003 killed foreigner bars in Hong Kong. Thailand is here now, unfavorable background trends plus a major event. Now, mongering will never disappear (it still exists in both Seoul in HK), but it might change to be smaller and mostly for locals, no longer worthwhile for most visitors, especially long-distance ones.[/QUOTE]This is such a great post. I would add that technology and new wealth in Asia is also changing the scene.
Even 20 years ago white farangs were basically the only game in town. Now there are Korea, Japanese, Chinese and even Indians flexing their economic muscle. I know of lots of girls that will only see asian guys, preferably Korean, Japanese or Chinese.
Adding to this the internet has opened up a whole other world. They join "how to date a farang" facebook groups, have been given the tour of the local village by mum pointing out all the houses that have been built by farang money in 1 way or another. When they hit 18 they are already well versed in all the little deceitful tricks that we all find so annoying.
My first visit to Thailand in 3 years
I used to live in Bkk but left in 2019 and went to live in the Philippines, I am in Bkk now on a 'visa run' and it's my first visit to Thailand in 3 years.
Arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport last weekend on a flight from Manila, and before I went through Immigration, I was asked to provide my proof of vaccination record and my passport. They were only checking the name on the vax record to see if it matched the name on the passport, there was no validation check on the authenticity of the vax record, each inspection lasted no more than about 10 seconds. I don't actually have a genuine vax record so I was lucky that they didn't try and validate it, but my guess is with the numbers now coming through the airport they won't have the resources to validate every single vax record. You only need to provide proof of a negative test if you are unable to show your vax record.
Apart from the brief check mentioned above, there are no other restrictions for foreign tourists arriving in the country, all the other restrictions and requirements ie compulsory health insurance, the Travel Pass etc that were in place, were dropped on July 1.
When I was living in Bkk I used to visit the 3 main gogo bar areas about once a week. I had my favourite bars in each area and there was always a good choice of pretty girls available in those bars.
Last Saturday night I went to Patpong, the night market is no longer operating though there were still a few stalls open on Silom Road but very few people about. The majority of the gogo bars in Patpong were closed. Most of the area was in darkness and there were hardly any visitors about. I would be surprised it it ever recovers. The main Kings Castle bar (King 1) was open and had an acceptable number of girls up on the stage, but the numbers were way down on pre 2019 when the bar was always bursting with girls. On my visit last Saturday I'd say there were only about a fifth of the number. I thought the quality of girls was below average, IMO prior to 2019 the quality was always above average and the bar was always popular with the Japanese and other Asians, as well as with Westerners. There were few customers in the other bars.
On Sunday night I went to Nana Plaza, the majority of the gogo bars were open but visitor numbers were way down on what was the norm when I was last there in 2019.
One of my favourite bars at Nana Plaza was Billboard on the top floor, it was then a very popular bar always crammed full of girls, many of which I thought were very pretty, and you could always see quite a few really smoking-hot girls in the bar. I went in there last Sunday and was shocked at the extremely poor quality of the girls and the numbers were about half of what they were back in 2019.
Outside of Nana Plaza on Soi Nana, most of the bars were open, some were quite busy, some had few customers. I counted about 30 streetwalkers, and IMO they really were a bit on the rough side.
Then on Monday night I went to Soi Cowboy, as in Nana Plaza the majority of the gogo bars were open but the usual visitor numbers were way down. Many bars that always used to be busy with customers and had a good number of girls, though they were open, were dead.
Tilac bar looked very busy from the outside, almost all tables at the outside patio area were occupied with customers and had a few girls floating around, but inside there were only 3 girls up on the stage and about the same number of customers. It always used to be a very popular bar with dozens of dancers, and was always busy with a lot of customers.
I went into Crazy House bar, it always used to be stuffed full of mostly pretty girls as well as some really smoking-hot girls, but on my visit on Monday the number of girls was about less than half of normal, and the quality was a bit on the rough side. It always used to be stuffed full of customers as well, though on Monday night the bar was quite busy with customers rather than being stuffed full of them. The upstairs area was closed.
Baccara bar used to have a system whereby you had to pay for a drink BEFORE entry into the bar, but they have done away with that and you now enter the bar, find a seat then order a drink. Girl numbers were way down, and there were not too many customers.
