Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
seat at one of Patpong's first-floor 'pussy shows', otherwise you're likely to receive an as-
tronomical bill.
PUSSY GALORE
Super Pussy! Pussy Collection! The neon signs leave little doubt about the dominant industry in Patpong, the
world's most infamous strip of go-go bars and clubs running 'exotic' shows. There is enough skin on show in Pat-
pong to make Hugh Hefner blush, and a trip to the upstairs clubs could mean you'll never look at a ping-pong ball
or a dart the same way again.
For years opinion on Patpong has been polarised between those people who see it as an exploitative, immoral
place that is the very definition of sleaze, and others for whom a trip to Bangkok is about little more than immers-
ing themselves in planet Patpong. But Patpong has become such a caricature of itself that in recent times a third
group has emerged: the curious tourist. Whatever your opinion, what you see in Patpong or in any of Bangkok's
other high-profile 'adult entertainment' areas depends as much on your personal outlook on life as on the quality
of your vision.
Prostitution is actually illegal in Thailand but there are as many as 2 million sex workers, the vast majority of
whom - women and men - cater to Thai men. Many come from poorer regional areas, such as Isan in the north-
east, while others might be students helping themselves through university. Sociologists suggest Thais often view
sex through a less moralistic or romantic filter than Westerners. That doesn't mean Thai wives like their husbands
using prostitutes, but it's only recently that the gradual empowerment of women through education and employ-
ment has led to a more vigorous questioning of this very widespread practice.
Patpong actually occupies two soi that run between Th Silom and Th Surawong in Bangkok's financial district.
The two streets are privately owned by - and named for - the Thai-Chinese Patpongpanich family, who bought
the land in the 1940s and initially built Patpong Soi 1 and its shophouses; Soi 2 was laid later. During the Vietnam
War the first bars and clubs opened to cater to American soldiers on 'R&R'. The scene and its international repu-
tation grew through the '70s and peaked in the '80s, when official Thai tourism campaigns made the sort of
'sights' available in Patpong a pillar of their marketing.
These days Patpong has mellowed considerably, if not matured. Thanks in part to the popular night market that
fills the soi after 5pm, it draws so many tourists that it has become a sort of sex theme park. There are still plenty
of the stereotypical middle-aged men ogling pole dancers, sitting in dark corners of the so-called 'blow-job bars'
and paying 'bar fines' to take girls to hotels that charge by the hour. But you'll also be among other tourists and
families who come to see what all the fuss is about.
Most tourists go no further than stolen glances into the ground-floor go-go bars, where women in bikinis drape
themselves around stainless-steel poles. Others will be lured to the dimly lit upstairs clubs by men promising sex
shows. But it should be said that the so-called 'erotic' shows usually feature bored-looking women performing
acts that feel not so much erotic as demeaning to everyone involved. Several of these clubs are also infamous for
their scams, usually involving the nonperforming (ie clothed, if just barely) staff descending on wide-eyed tour-
ists like vultures on fresh meat. Before you know it you've bought a dozen drinks, racked up a bill for thousands
of baht, and followed up with a loud, aggressive argument flanked by menacing-looking bouncers and threats of
'no money, no pussy!'.
Were we saying that Patpong had mellowed? Oh yes, there is a slightly softer side. Several bars have a little
more, erm, class, and in restaurants such as Mizu's Kitchen in Patpong 1 you could forget where you are - al-
most.
