SAGuy

Did you give this some thought or was it on a whim?

So as part of my promise to give back to the forum that has been so helpful to me, this is my first new topic.
I started visiting the LOS in 2009 and this was the very first hotel that I stayed in in BKK. It was booked as it was close to where I was working on Soi 13.
I stayed at S15, which is part of a small chain of 3-4 hotels for 3 visits between 2009-2010 and it is a great location, right on Sukhumvit and in walking distance of Robinsons and Terminal 21 and also the fleshpots on lower Sukhumvit.
The hotel is very clean, serves a decent breakfast and is guest friendly. As this was my introduction to life in the LOS, the 'walk of shame' also wasn't too far LOL.
I stopped staying there after midway 2010, as their rates kept climbing to around THB 3,500 per night and they weren't interested in a corporate discount deal.
I still use the lunchtime buffet from time to time, as it changes every day and its a good venue to take a mixed group of people, with different dietary requirements.
This hotel is also the scene of one of my favourite newbie mistakes, of which there have been many over the years, which I'll document in later posts.
After checking in I tipped the hotel porter what I thought was THB 100. (It had been a long flight and in my defence I was unused to the Thai currency). Later that night I realised I had actually given him THB 1,000! Even in the States and Europe that would be an extraordinary tip for carrying one bag and also explains the smile from ear to ear that he had!
So what do I do? I can't really ask him for THB 900 back? On the other hand, it just didn't seem right to let him get away with it. So a plan was hatched...
After a wash and some food shopping I went to see him again and explained the situation and advised that he now needed to do me a favour. He could keep the THB 1,000 but had to procure me a decent looking GG. (Yes I do realise it was a newbie mistake, but it was my first night in BKK and little did I realise that there were GG a plenty literally outside the hotel or down the street outside the Ruamchit Hotel). This was before the days of Holly Coffee, which is also a great pick up spot.
So I expected him to take about 30 minutes to 'procure' one, but within 5 minutes he was knocking on the room door with a great selection of 3! This is when I realised that BKK was like no other city I had ever been to before and its when I coined the phrase "you are never more than 10 metres away from a potential jump."
Afterwards I also laughed at the difference between BKK and the big London Hotels, where the concierge would use the code phrase "would you like an extra pillow for your room Sir?" 
It was on my second stay at the S15 that I broke my LB cherry with Eye, from an escort agency, so happy memories!
So in summary, S15 is a good hotel, in a great location, but is a bit pricey for what you get and some could find the rooms to be a bit austere.
I swapped in 2010 to start staying at the Dream Hotel further down Soi 15. But that's another story and another hotel review.
Here ends my first ever proactive post!
SAG

As I have said before, staying at Nana Hotel, the only shame is walking through the foyer without a Ladyboy or GG on your arm!
Life is too short to be concerned what others may think or say.

The problem is, for the average Chinese tourist, a line is an alien concept...
SAG

The problem is, for the average Chinese tourist, a line is an alien concept...
SAG

I can attest to this, as I have been to LOS sometimes 6 times a year, all on visa waivers and always via an airport.
I've never had a problem, but I am always careful of overstaying beyond the 30 days, which are counted from the day you arrive.
Also be aware that if you fly into LOS, but then travel somewhere outside of the LOS and re-enter via a land border, then the counter is reduced to just 15 days from the re-entry date. 
This bit me once after a side trip to Cambodia.
Cheers
SAG

...thats the story of my life Taas!
SAG

...thats the story of my life Taas!
SAG

Hey Taas
Wandering slightly off topic - one of the benefits of living in the third world is that lung torpedoes can still be purchased for less than USD 1, which shows how much sin tax you are paying in the UK!
Regarding the illegality of vaping in Thailand, I wonder if its a coincidence that it is rumoured that the Thai Minister of Health owns a substantial shareholding in the cigarette importing monopoly?
TIT after all!
Cheers
SAG

Staying strictly on topic here Ropey...
I can confirm that this is certainly correct for BKK, DMK and UBP airports. In March I spent a fruitless 30 minutes walking around BKK looking for the 2 smoking rooms that I used to use, only to be told that they had all been shut down.
This was also the case for DMK and UBP in May.
My advice is to binge smoke outside in one of the designated areas, prior to going through security, otherwise it could be a long flight!
I don't know why they did this, as the rooms were sealed and so wouldn't affect non-smokers. From experience, once an airport does this, then it will rarely ever go back to the previous set-up.
It will be very interesting to see how the hordes of Chinese package tourists, who are famed for their law abiding nature and non-smoking, will be able to handle these new regulations. Maybe that's the Thai master plan - generate a big extra income from fines levied on illicit smoking in the toilets?
Cheers
SAG

Hey Taas
Wandering slightly off topic - one of the benefits of living in the third world is that lung torpedoes can still be purchased for less than USD 1, which shows how much sin tax you are paying in the UK!
Regarding the illegality of vaping in Thailand, I wonder if its a coincidence that it is rumoured that the Thai Minister of Health owns a substantial shareholding in the cigarette importing monopoly?
TIT after all!
Cheers
SAG

The alternative short cut from Citrus Suites would be to take the side soi by the Holiday Inn Express, which joins up with Soi 13.
There's also a side soi connecting the Ambassador Hotel to soi 13.
Soi 13 is a bit dark at night down towards the bottom end, but it also has a lot less traffic than soi 11 and takes you out to Sukhumvit by Margarita Storm, which is almost opposite CIB and you can access the other side of Sukhumvit via the overpass near to Holly's Coffee Shop.
WN Bar is about a 5 minutes brisk walk from there also. A top tip for walking to WN Bar is to take the elevated walkway that connects from Robinson all of the way through to Terminal 21 and then past Soi 21.  This has the advantages of being a covered walkway and you also avoid the traffic lights of the Asok intersection.
Cheers 
SAG
 

This is because the BTS rabbit card is (as of this year) now able to be used as a payment card for other goods and services, therefore is treated like a bank debit card and comes under anti money laundering legislation, while the MRT doesnt have this capability so doesn't require the ID by law. 

Ah ha. Thanks for the explanation Ropey. That all makes sense now.
But what would make the most sense is if you could use the 1 card across all 3 networks!
Cheers and thanks for the in-country intel, much appreciated.
SAG
 

Yes, but she was disinherited when she started partying at the Hillary and King's group bars.. Still interested?
(Just kidding of course...)

Hi Thanks
Great research as always, but I cannot comment on any of these 3 venues, as they're too far off the 'beaten path' for me to have looked at.
If you want a real Thai experience, maybe try Udon Thani?
I was there on a job about 3 years ago and there's a whole area in the city centre, unimaginatively called "Bar Farang" so very easy to find! Its a strip of about 12 beer bars under a roof and they had a lot of GGs there, who seemed to be retired from PAT and BKK and so went home. I don't remember any LBs, but I am sure that there were.
Udon Thani is a cheap flight from BKK and I liked the place, so maybe worthwhile for you to have a look?
Cheers
SAG

It's probably a long shot, but I'm asking anyway...
I'm looking for information and leads on the following three "Thai Thai" nightlife areas: 
- Cocowalk, 
- Udom Suk Rd. and 
- Srinakarin
One possibly interesting Thai style nightlife area could be Srinarakin Road I think. 
The Railway weekend night market (Talad Rot Fai) on Sri Nakarin Road near Paradise Park Mall as well as Seacon Square Mall looks intriguing - at least on Google images...
I've found out already that the market days are Thursday to Sunday evening. Apart from the market stalls, there are also some western style bars there it seems...
Has anyone an idea if one can find (pro or non-pro) girls (LB or GG) there? I guess Flip Club (on the "other" side of the two big malls) is not really an option to meet lbs?
Srinakarin is close to Suvarnabhumi airport and there are a few international hotels nearby. I'm looking at the Dusit Princess as a potential place to stay either the night after arrival or before a flight out of BKK. So getting there would be by cab I expect.
Has anyone been there, i.e. at the Sri Nakarin railway market and/or the Dusit Princess or has anyone otherwise knowledge of the (LB/GG) nightlife scene there?
Another nightlife area I'm looking at that is apparently mainly set up for the locals is Udom Suk Rd. 
Since the opening of the BTS station there a few years ago, it appears it has now become accessible even if you're staying far away, e.g. in the Sukhumvit area. 
Apparently "many" foreigners have bought or rented condos in this area, particularly since the opening of the BTS station. So there might be at least some foreigner friendly nightlife there, right?
Udom Suk ist just 3 BTS stations from On Nut...
I know that there are some naughty massage parlours around Udom Suk near the Sukhumvit end and there's at least one ST hotel, Hotel Udomsuk, where streetwalkers (apparently LB & GG) go to with their clients...
I've also learned from a Google search that the road is very long and that the bars and restaurants are scattered throughout the road. However there's apparently a cluster of (hostess) bars and karaokes between Sois 49 and 51 and further up toward Srinakarin. 
One hostess bar is called Ting Ting:
Another one is called Lan La karaoke. Obviously also a hostess bar. Another potentially interesting bar I guess could be Fifty Five bar .
Rao Cocktail lounge even has an interesting video on their homepage:
I assume those aforementioned hostess bars are mostly GG places? From the little experience I have gained so far in LOS, I figured out that where there is a p4p GG place there's often (though not always) a lb or two mixed in or at least not far away...
Getting there from BTS Udom Suk on foot is not recommended I guess? Are cabs available (and willing) to get you from the BTS station to Soi 51 or other alleys with bars?
On Stickman, there's an older report on the Udom Suk karaoke / hostess bar scene. The 'Midnite Hour' has also reviewed the area in the past.
Has anyone explored the (GG or LB) nightclub scene there? What about the streetwalker scene?
Is it worth the effort or does Udom Suk, well, suck?
A third area I'd like to give a shot sometime is Cocowalk, or better "Co Co Walk" - to avoid confusion... 
Of the three areas mentioned it should be the one that is the most easy to get to. It's located right next to Ratchathewi BTS station, just four stations away from Nana BTS and only three from Phloen Chit BTS...  
There are some bars with live music and in general, from the images I see on Google, it looks rather "western" to me...
Are there any particularly good places to pick up a lb at Co Co Walk?
 
In general - by and large - I do like staying in "tourist town" (Nana/NEP, Phom Phrong, Silom/Patpong, Asok/Cowboy) for its convenience and easy access to all the foreigner oriented (lb) nightlife. 
However "tourist town" is about as authentically Thai as a Rolex watch bought at the Patpong nightmarket is authentic Swiss made... 
I therefore like to explore new and more authentic Thai nightlife areas - well, at least once in a while...
I've posted this in the general nightlife section. So please feel free to post here anything related to the three areas - and not only related to p4p...
Thanks :-)

A very basic, 10 minutes long overview of 10 hotels around Nana Entertainment Plaza (NEP)...
It includes Boss Suites, Ibis, Dynasty Grande, Phachara Suites, Majestic Suites, Dawin and some other hotels.
Not covered are some relevant LB friendly hotels such as the Citrus Suites 6, the Ibis Styles, the Icon, the Sure Stay Plus by Best Western, the Majestic Grande (DoubleTree Ploenchit), the Novotel on Soi 4, the Landmark, the Marriott, and some other relevant places to sleep with or without a lb or two...  Nevertheless it gives someone who's never been in this area before an overview of some accommodation options. 
Thanks :-)

I highly recommend the Dental  Hospital that was on Soi 49, now relocated. 
Top quality work, competitive pricing. Friendly...etc.
http://www.dentalhospitalbangkok.com/
 

Hi I know there are server issues. My trip report updates seem invisible and no likes. No one likes me. Haha

That's the strange thing, both buildings have the same address and so the only way to avoid ending up in the annex is to state upfront that you want to be in the main building.
I have been in the annex once and it wasnt terrible, but the main building is better and this is where breakfast is served, so its more convenient.
Cheers
SAG

Hey there Manga
I've seen 2 in 10 years of visiting.
One was a bright yellow/green one down by the canal path at the end of soi 15 and the other was a python in Chatuchak Park.
But saying that, Oliver is right, the soi dogs and rats are a lot more prevalent!
Your biggest risk will be some of the two-legged sharks you may encounter.
Cheers
SAG

Hey there Geronimo
You are most probably right, but I was just repeating what we were taught in basic training many years ago. Saying that, like many things in that military it was probably wrong!
Cheers
SAG

It could be worse - what the North American Mid West is going through at the moment looks like zero fun!
SAG

Taas
You are right as usual, but now you are thinking like a farang bloke!
The opportunity for selfies  (i.e. face points) is much greater on a roof top and that's why the Thai LBs love them as a destination. The farang who is needless to say paying USD 20+ for a watered down cocktail is less impressed.
I took some chums to the Sky Bar on my last trip and they went missing for at least 30 minutes as they were in a selfie frenzy. Well that's how they explained the absence, who knows?
Cheers
SAG