Sexwork Cyber Center
By Dave in Phoenix
dave@davephx.com
PO Box 55045, Phoenix AZ 85078-5045

Promoting Intimacy and Other-Centered Sexuality

Thailand Intimacy & Healthy (Adult) Sexuality Research Report

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Dave’s Pattaya Explorations
As a first time tourist Days 1 & 2 

Pictures I took of Baht buses along Beach Road near hotel on Soi 8.

In 2 days I have done lots of walking around. I am becoming familiar with riding the Baht buses all over (only 5 baht!). But it seems if they are parked the convert to taxi’s and yell taxi? as you walk by. I asked one the price back to Soi 8 that was at about Soi Post office, and he quoted 50 baht. I declined and got a moving one for 5.

Regarding this report and the Taxi situation Khun Bill in BKK nicely added:
Dave, you have done very well in your exporations of Pattaya ! By now you probably know that the baht buses that act as "taxi's' are just that. They are dedicated to just taking you to your destination, rather than follow a sort of route, picking up and dropping off all along the way. They are the way to
get directly to say the "Tiffany Show" or some other spot - Jomtien Beach.

 

I do very little walking at home or any kind of exercising. I’m the typical paunchy, overweight, older American man. But I enjoy walking and people watching in new cities. I surprise myself on how much I can walk without getting tired. My huge problem however, is that I tend to perspire very easily. So even at night when it is cooler, I don’t get tired from walking but get very hot and sweat like a wet rag. Therefore, I have to stop in a cool gogo once in a while. The outside beer bars are just not cool enough for me, besides not liking beer, and not being able to socialize much with the bar girls since I don’t know a word of Thai. I also brought lots of clean shirts and change clothes frequently and shower whenever I return to my hotel.

 

In response to this, Chanchao wisely replied:
Just find a place near a fan; With a fan blowing, pretty much any temperature is tolerable.

I replied:
True. At one of the beer bars in BKK with Long Gun (not Oy's at Soi 2 but up about Soi 5) I was sitting with a very nice breeze from a fan which did make it quite comfortable.

Chanchao continues:
I don't like Pattaya gogos; I don't know why but people just ignore me in there, as opposed to the bars where there's usually a whole group talking to me. Besides gogo pricing is screwed up: 49 baht for a beer is cool, but order a coke or coffee and get charged 89. This is not even getting into barfines, which are quite amusing amounts.

I replied:

I'm glad it isn't just me that is ignored in many of the gogo's. I noticed that most men were also alone. Yet in others in BKK, as in Manila, sometimes you had the swarm of them attack you as you walk in. There seems to be little middle ground, either they ignore you or all attack you.

The only exception so far in Pattaya was at Las Vegas gogo and Mok joining me (see more below) I enjoyed her but would have also liked to have met some others since their were so many attractive dancers. But me obviously not knowing Thai it may have been that since Mok knew some English and the others didn't that may have been why. Once Mok was with me bargirl etiquette as I understand it keeps the rest away from me, and (as with others I met in BKK ) they stay with you until you either barfine them or leave. There is no nice polite way, for me in something understandable it seems to say I enjoyed you but scram, I'd like to meet some of the other girls here.

In PI this seemed a bit less of a problem.. At some gogo bars the girls invited over all their friends... but they seemed to all hang out with me even if I wasn’t buying them all drinks. Often I could make a choice and do more playing, hand holding etc with those I choose and eventually the other "non-chosen ones" would leave.

At some gogos I was only charged 55b for my coke, I recall another at 65b, the highest I think was Happy-A-go-go at 95 and I don't recall all the rest! (100b is US$2.50)

It seems most bars had signs saying barfine 500b ($US13)  but they may have been negotiable.

I went to a few of the gogo bars on Soi Post Office, Soi Diamond, Soi Pattayaland and the large Happy A-Go-Go on its own Soi, and had my one coke at each. Super Baby in Soi Diamond was also nice with attractive dancers but I didn’t meet any. I also noticed a couple large groups of Chinese tourists being led around by a guide.

It seems that in Pattaya that they don’t have my diet cokes like most bars did in Bangkok. So I have regular cokes. The only significant bar girl contact I had so far was Mok? at Las Vegas gogo. She spoke sort of understandable English for the main bar girl questions and of course wanted me to take her to my hotel. I am being very selective after having my sexual needs almost over fulfilled in Bangkok but still searching for more intimate encounters instead of just sex. Sometimes the gogo bar experience is better for intimacy than barfining them for sex!

After trying to explain to Mok I was a butterfly and wanted to visit a bunch of bars she started asking if she could go with me. They sure are desperate to be taken out it seems. However, at some of the gogo’s none of the girls approached me, which I sort of prefer rather than trying to select one. I figure if they come to me, maybe they like old Americans and perhaps the ones that might know some English (like Mok) would more likely approach me.

But the lack of companionship wasn’t a big concern as I enjoy the people watching and cooling off in the gogo’s. There seemed to be more customers in the gogo’s than in the beer bars which had mostly zillions of girls trying to get you in and seated in the bar but very few customers. Maybe others like the air conditioning of the gogo’s like I do or watching the girls wiggle. Happy A-go-go had the best actual show; instead of just swaying bored looking dancers.

The real challenge is fighting off all the "Hello Girls" who at times literally take your arm and try to drag you into their bar. For people who have never been to Thailand, I kid you not. Those who are familiar with the scene of course just take it for granted. In Soi Diamond and Happy A-Go-Go Soi, my only hope was to walk fast in the middle and look down! On some of the back sois, which were even narrower, it was no use. Some would jump out so you run into them. I sort of hugged them a bit but try and go on, which isn’t always easy! Actually I prefer the stop and hug you approach more than the take your hand and try to drag you in technique. Sometimes the Hello Girls go with you into the bar or gogo and sit with you (if they are not very attractive) or just get you in and they stay on the street to drag in others (if they are more attractive it seems).

Just the short walk from Second Road and Soi 8 back to the Eastiny is a challenge with all the beer bar girls yelling "Hello, come in" every few feet! A few freelancers I think have jumped in front of me with a more direct approach – like hugging me and begging me to sit with them. Actually I might try a freelancer some night since they are all over the place and seem to frequently approach me. I have qualms about it due to all the scams that they can pull. But since they have to register with ID at the hotel that does perhaps offer some protection. Seems interesting how much I’m approached on the street but not nearly as often approached in a gogo bar.

An interesting comment after seeing this report:
"If you are not in a hurry, and don't mind having some fun, try dancing with the girls when they grab you as you walk by their beer bar. I do this most the time; and I find the girls usually get a laugh out of it, and after 10 or 15 seconds of quick dancing (as I take the lead), they let me go on my way. Another trick is to say you are going to the toilet, and they will let you go. There are probably many other fun techniques to keep going. I gave up on looking down and ignoring them. Too many good looking girls not to see."

Another comment by "Nalak"
"love being kidnapped by the girls on the street. last week i was walking in the rain on soi 8 and a girl from smiley's came out with an umbrella and walked with me, eventually turning me around and getting me into the bar. she only spoke about 8-10 words of english, but we laughed and played games for about an hour, before finally taking her out. she was great. my logic is that if they go to the trouble of grabbing and pursuing you, they probably at least like you a little. nothing worse than spending time with one that doesn't like you and just wants the cash."

Walking Street is certainly interesting and it’s so nice not to have to worry about the cars and motorcycles running you over on the narrow sois. After midnight however, traffic is allowed back and you play dodge the cars/trucks again. Cutting through one of the Walking Street sois, I thought I could find Second Road to catch a baht bus to go back to Eastiny Inn on Soi 8. Since Beach Road is a one-way going south you have to go to Second Road which is a one way going north to get back to Soi 8. Somehow I got very lost but finally backtracked and got back to Walking Street, walked up to Soi Diamond and cut through to easily find Second Road and a baht bus back.

Found the BoyBars around Soi Pattayaland, I have no interest and didn’t go in any, but it is nice that both options are available for those who prefer…men instead of just women.

I am confused about when the bars actually close. I understand they are supposed to close at 2am but often don’t until the police come by? It’s now 3:30am and from my room on the top floor of the Eastiny I have a great view of Soi 8. There are still lots of girls at the beer bars, the music is still playing and the Welcome to Paradise gogo still has the Hello Girls out front and its lights all on! Update the lights went out a bit after 4am.

Khun Bill in BKK commented:
You also have figured out that Patayya does not close at all - until there are no more "Dave's" wandering around spending money !

I haven’t visited some of the gogo’s near me yet. Now that I’ve explored some of the other areas and been in some of the more famous bars, I may stay closer to "home" and visit the nearby clubs and be more open to barfining since so close to hotel.

My next agenda is to do "research" on some of the massage places that are often recommended just as I did in Bangkok since I enjoy massage (all types) so much. I want to try and find in Pattaya the good laid back experience at a reasonable cost I reported on at Annie’s in Bangkok here in Pattaya. Various people have given me lots of suggestions for massage places, some of which I look forward to trying starting tomorrow.

For those that might be considering Pattaya and are want to be connected to the Internet, just like in Bangkok there are a huge number of Cyber Café’s in Pattaya. Since I have my own notebook I got Webnet by Loxinfo as an ISP service with 20 hours for 600B. However last night all of a sudden I got disconnected and it would not take my password. I called technical support in Bangkok (Pattaya number only works during office hours) and as I suspected I had used up my time. You can’t extend or buy more time by phone but you have to go to a store that sells there package and buy it again. This was easily done the next morning at Apple Computer about mid block sharing a building with a legal office on Soi Post Office. While at home I usually connect at about 50k I was only getting 26k connections in Bangkok. But in Pattaya I sometimes connect at about 46k.but then at other times only 26k

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