ALL THE GAYBORHOOD'S DRINKING HOLES, DANCING HOLES, PUKING AND BURGERS IN ONE NIGHT
Bangkok is a very special city for me. After visiting it a gazillion times I decided to spend the whole winter there. It was a bit of a hassle as they don’t give you a 90- day stamp or even a visa, but if you really want you make it happen you make it happen - right?
So here I am - basically a Bankokian renting a beautiful apartment in the central area aka drunk walking distance (which is slightly longer than sober walking distance) to the gay bars. My typical week schedule is ‘working’ (meaning going out), recovery the next day, feeling better in the evening by 10pm, having a dinner and going out again. That's Wednesday to Sunday. I know - terrible work schedule with long overtime hours!
Most of the nights were OK, some special, some amazing. The one I’m gonna tell you about was rather special. I knew these two American guys from before (had drinks with them a couple of times). We agreed that it was a time for another night out (obviously). After meeting at their hotel we headed out for a drink at a classy straight bar called MAGGIE CHOO’S, which serves amazing cocktails and sometimes has drag queens performing.
This place is in the Silom area but still slightly further from the gay streets. After getting amazing cocktails, realizing there are no drag queens in the room today we headed back to 'work' - where the heart called us. It was early, but being tipsy we couldn’t stop - the only option was the bars on soi 2, where I never go. Just to be clear - it’s next to the red light district and knock off night market - so there’s nothing classy about it. But hey - it’s gay! Another option would have been soi twilight, but we needed drinks, not happy ending massage.
Here we were at soi 4. Most of the bar tables and chairs are outside so picking the bar was pretty easy. There are only a couple of no name bars, that were totally deserted. As usual, BALCONY and TELEPHONE were busy with old creepy foreigners buying drinks for the underage Thai sluts. The last option - STRANGER where I’ve never been before. My friends said they’re service was good so we sat down for a drink or two.
Before I continue about our amazing drinks, let me brief you on BALCONY and TELEPHONE. If you ask about gay bars in Bangkok, everybody will tell these names. I don't really remember which one is which as they are both located in front of each other - both are trashy with outdoor tables filled will ugly old guys looking at all the guys passing by while being served by the touchy feminine Thais. Yikes! Passing by there will make you feel like you’re walking on a catwalk while ugly guys are staring at you - not fun! Drinks are more or less OK and reasonably prices. A side note - I just don't get why they put that smelly pad made of some unknown fabric under your glass (disgusting!).
Back to STRANGER, where we are sipping on our drinks, that are not too bad for a 100 BHT special. They actually had a basic drag show for our entertainment. Soon one of my buddies started feeling not so good. As we all know, most of the alcohol in gay bars and clubs here is fake - it’s always a lottery on how you will feel the next day (I have had all types of hangovers following nights out in Bangkok). Thank god their hotel was nearby as we basically had to carry him home where he spent at least an hour in the bathroom, all thanks to Bangkok alcohol and STRANGER!
After he was done and tucked in bed, his bf and I went back to Silom - finally it’s time for the gay sanctuary DJ STATION. Any gay guy you saw on Grindr or on the street - sooner or later they all will end up in DJ STATION (I'm talking about everyone from 18 to 80 year old). You might think Bangkok has a huge gay night life, but in the end there is just one club where all the foreigners go.
Of course due to my friend’s puking incident we were late for the worst drag show on the planet where all the Thai drag queens beg for tips (starting at 11:30pm). We knew what to expect as we are loyal clients here - touchy Thai guys asking you to marry them and foreigners who come here with the vacation / free-love attitude. Interesting fact - they never check white boys IDs, but always check asian ID’s - no racism at all. Here you will find vast amounts of alcohol and rather decent pop / dance music kills all the restraints - pure fun! It's super easy to make new friends here, every single person here is looking for fun - only you decide what that will be!
Nobody said that BKK gay night live is classy - DJ STATION isn't either. People wear whatever they feel like - even shorts and tank top works great. I saw people wearing flip flops… Wouldn't go for that in a packed club where everybody is stepping on your feet and there's a ton of broken glass on the floor.
We were wasted - dancing on the stage with some other 30 drunk foreigners - some were even shirtless - so much fun! None of us care how we looked or behaved - our brains are swimming in alcohol and Thais and old creepy foreigners loved watching us. Obviously the best time and place to make friends, make out, take selfies - you know the drill.
Due to some terrible law in Thailand the clubs close at 3am. I was super disappointed as we just started (5 hours ago). After leaving with the whole crowd, we had to stop for our usual alco burger at the gay Burger King next door, while Thai boys have their noodles on the street. This burger place becomes so much fun as all the shit-faced boys begin making friends with one another.
At this stage there were just two options - leave for a hook up with one of the boys or walk a block to G.O.D. As nobody really looks that attractive (OMG am I getting sober?) and I still feel like dancing - I chose the after hours club. I walked there as my friend was crawling to his hotel (I think that’s what he did, but it was kinda foggy).
Trust me that place has nothing to do with God - it’s a dark and dirty after-hours club but that was my only option at the time! It's a huge 3 floor club: harder house music, shitty sound, shirtless local guys, drugs. Don’t even think of doing drugs here - they use this thing called “Ice”, which is basically something like meth, but even worse! People tend to disappear after doing it so definitely DON’T do it.
If you do meet a guy who might look OK in the darkness there, be warned - he might scare you off when you're outside or, God forbid, in the morning. The only better looking people are the ones coming from the DJ STATION and they never stay long… Same with me and as I usualIy don’t stay longer than a couple hours.
The strange part was waking up in bed with both friends sleeping. That part was pretty confusing, but oh well - welcome to Bangkok!
DJ STATION 🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭
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G.O.D. 🍭🍭🍭
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STRANGER 🍭🍭
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coolness of the venue --------🍭🍭
hotness of the crowd ---------🍭
friendliness of the people ----🍭🍭🍭
music quality ------------------🍭
drinks --------------------------🍭🍭🍭
lights and sound --------------🍭
coolness of the venue --------🍭