After being reasonably good in Nepal and not drinking too much, I knew that Bangkok was going to be a bit of a blowout. Not only because I was going to be staying back in hostels with a load of people who were probably only there to go out on the piss, but because it was going to be my last few days before I headed down to Phuket for a couple of months training. I didn’t realise just how much of a blow out it would be…
Old Friends
I got some news from one of my friends called Jim that he was going to be in Thailand, Bangkok, at the same times as me. I know Jim from my uni days and hadn’t seen him for a long time so I was looking forward to meeting up with him. He arrived around 3pm to find me still in bed with one of the worst hangovers I have had, and that was because of the night before…
The Night Before
After having already had one big night out down in Kho San Road area, I decided that it was time to get out of there because I didn’t like the area so much. It was full of aggressive looking people running around totally smashed with their shirts off. I was well informed to check out an area called Soi Sukhumvit. It’s a really long road with many areas to it, running for kilometres. I stayed around Soi 11 in a little hostel with my own room. It was a nice place and only £8 a night.
I had met a guy the night before the night before down in Khao San road so he came out to meet up before heading out. There were also some Northern lads staying in the hostel who wanted to go out so we all grouped together. First stop was Soi Cowboy.
Soi Cowboy
Soi Cowboy is right near to Soi Sukhumvit 11. It’s a red light area, well just a street really, with around 40 bars on it. They are all strip clubs where loads of expats go (some very old men there which is a little weird…) and tourists. It’s full of strippers who are also prostitutes. You buy a drink, go into the bar and watch them dance. Very much like any other strip club. However, if you want to chat with any of them you can buy them a drink (they all have numbers on them so you can choose easily…). Then, if you want to go home with one of them you pay the bar for them to leave and then agree on a price and head to a hotel for an hour or so. Anyway, I digress…
Clubs
There are many clubs around the area but first we went to a street called Soi 11. This has a club down the end of the road called Levels. We didn’t get in there because we didn’t have shoes and long trousers on. I think it’s a bit more of a smarter place to head out to. However, along the same street there are some roadside bars which are actually old VW camper vans that have been converted into bars. They look really cool and serve up a really strong cocktail.
There is another club which you have to go into the car park of a hotel to get into, called Climax. It’s on Soi 11 and I think it’s underneath the Ambassador hotel. It’s easy to see the signs and just ask anyone, they will know.
There is another area called RCA which I never went to but is supposed to be where more of the locals go to instead of the tourists who all hang around the main areas. If you don’t speak Thai apparently it’s more difficult to speak to anyone because a lot of people don’t speak English.
The Morning After
So, after lots of shots and drinking cocktails from the VW camper vans we made our way to Climax but unfortunately it was an anti-climax. Not many people inside and luckily one of the guys was allowed to go inside and check how busy it was. We made our way over to Insanity club and stayed there until around 5am…It was a long night and one that took me some time to recover from.
The Next Night
So, as Jim arrived I was still feeling sick and couldn’t go out of the room because the heat was causing me all kinds of problems. It mainly made me feel sick. Jim came to the rescue and managed to get me a croissant and drink, coupled with 3 more hours in bed and I was ready to go again, albeit a little more slowly this time, or so I thought.
Again, we headed out to the main streets with the outdoor VW camper van bars on and started immediately with a long island ice tea. Start as you mean to go on, they say. So we did…After dinner we continued and ended up back in Insanity club which I had been to the night before. After that we went to another club but I can’t remember the name of that one. We ended up getting home around 7am the next morning. Jim needed to leave around 8am and I needed to leave around 10am, both of us having to catch flights.
It was great to catch up with Jim and I had a big 4 nights in Bangkok. Next it was time to head to train down in Phuket, which is where I was flying to with a massive hangover, unable to eat or drink through fear of being sick. Great start to the training week! I resorted to tucking into my stable food source when I feel bad, which is a croissant. I love em!
I’d recommend checking out this site: http://www.bangkok.com/sukhumvit/nightlife.htm for some decent info on places to visit while in Bangkok.