Soi Cowboy: Strippers, Hookers, Elephants, Children and other curiousities.

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Well, we are back in Bangkok and staying at our home away from home - Asha Guesthouse. We went to Soi Cowboy district last night. It was certainly interesting with its epilepsy inducing flashing neon and assortment of odd and unsavoury characters. I must say it has to be one of very few places on earth where you'll see hookers, elephants and children all in the same space.

Soi Cowboy houses your run of the mill strip joints. If you want to see the infamous, crazy sexshows (complete with pingpong balls) you need to venture out to Patpong - which we didn't. Apparently it is illegal in Soi Cowboy to have strippers go more than topless - they need to keep their g-strings on. Of course there are a number of places there that flout the rule and risk the fine to let the girls go completely naked. We stumbled across one such establishment.

We picked it randomly based on the fact that it had especially nice neon signage. Once inside we felt obliged to have a drink. There were several girls onstage leaning against their poles and swaying lethargically - and none to enthusiastically - from side to side. It seemed pretty clear that they don't hold much passion for their work and obviously harbour no illusions about being discovered and making it big ( the common cliched excuse from 'dancers' in the west). To me there was absolutely nothing seductive about any of it. The place was smoky and crammed with creepy old caucasian men letching onto scantily clad and barely clothed asian women or else obscenely drunken 20 somethings letching onto scantily clad and barely clothed asian women. It was all a bit sad and depressing but in an interesting and somehow darkly amusing sort of way. Not to say I'm amused by the womens lot in life, I'm not, but I was amused by the men. Their false bravado and misplaced air of confidence, feeling all high rollerish. As if those women would be sitting there listening to them talk and smiling in all the right places, letting them paw all over them, if their livelyhood didn't depend on it.

Still it was an experience that arrested my curiousity. Had to be done. After our first and last drink we left the dirty bowels of the strip joint and returned to the street to have our senses assualted some more, just for good measure. We resisted the wares hawked by children (mostly glow sticks and flashing trinkets) and the pleas of doormen from varoius establishments to come inside. We took a few snaps and bid farewell Soi Cowboy, returning quite early to the comfort of our air conditioned room at Asha's.

Next stop: Laos. Tomorrow we take a long night train journey, followed by a bus to the nations capital, Vientienne. Have heard great things about the coffee, the scenery, the pace and the people. Am really looking forward to it.

Till next time, be good people!

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Photos

A Hooker, an Elephant and Children
You find find that too many places...

Soi Cowboy
Enough neon to make you fit...

Down Time With Jenga!
After chilling by the pool to find relief from the sweltering heat we relaxed with some jenga fun.

From A Distance
Soi Cowboys light glare out at us from across the road

Comments

[Claire]

Yay I love Jenga! Naked Jenga!