Enticing Pattaya regulars

Thanks to jj

There is no doubt that the vast majority of transactions and interactions that take place on any given night are between transient tourists and resident ladies. By transient tourists, I mean the fella who is here for a short visit no matter how frequent those visits might be. By his next passage through Immigration, many changes will have taken place in the Pattaya bar scene.

At the other end of the spectrum are the Pattaya regulars, those of us who live here and make regular return visits to our favorite bars. What then is the advantage to the owners and managers to play for return business? The needs and perspective of owner/managers might be very different from that of the ladies. There seem to be bars (POLO and TIM's) where neither have any expectation of anyone ever returning. They simply plan on sucking you dry once you're there. Other places (TQ2) are purely the domain of the regulars and all outsiders are routinely ignored. A few (Jomtien's Cosy and Scooby), thrive on the owner's circle of friends but at least tolerate others who find their way in.

A few days ago, I wrote about those features of a bar that entice me back. But does anyone care? Are we resident punters just so much icing on the cake; nice to have but not critical to the success of the business?

For the owner's profits my return might very well be unimportant. But the ladies seem to think otherwise. It hardly takes more than a second visit to be deemed 'a regular'. I suppose to them I am then a 'known entity'. The ladies will remember my name, my drink and my tips -- certainly not my physical prowess! I have returned to a bar after a period of months and been greeted like a lost brother. In a few bars, I have a group of regular ladies who vie for 'favors'. Luckily, not all of them tend to be present on any given visit. I do find that it helps to pay some attention to the service staff and the mamasans. Buying a drink and engaging them in conversation has often paid off on future visits. More than once I have been approached by a mamasan and offered the services of one of the 'new girls'; usually one with little experience and perhaps lacking in 'confidence'. Again, I'm a known and safe entity. There are one or two places I go just to see a special lady. The bar itself might offer no enticement and should she not be there, I move on quickly.

So, care or not, I will be back -- or maybe not! Yours is but one of uncounted thousands of places I can spend my money. If you want some, offer something to lure me back and above all don't drive me away.

I am continually amazed at the level of diversity that the Pattaya bar scene is able to maintain. A short run through the pages of this website reveals how the limited number of farang managers and mamasans, to say nothing of the ladies-of-the-hour, move freely and frequently in orbit around this world. One would think that eventually there would be a universal uniformity to all the gogo bars in Chonburi.

Yet, the bars seem to be able to maintain very distinct personalities – some good, some bad.

Some bars are a party (bordering on an orgy) while others are more like a wake (not even Irish). In some bars, the ladies can’t seem to find their costumes; in others the costumes seem glued on. I have been in bars (on a slow night) and had 5-7 ladies vying for my attention (and lady drinks); in others (even on a slow night) I have been completely ignored. In some bars, the sight of a folded bill of any color engenders an immediate (usually favorable) reaction; in others anything less than a red note taken as an insult to their profession.

Diversity is not something that comes easily. Actually, everything about a bar can be divided into either staffing or ambiance. Of the two, staffing is vastly more important. Fun girls trump ambiance every time. A fun girl can even make you forget that you are perched on a rickety stool, drinking a not-so-cold beer, listening to techno-crap music played at an ear-splitting volume. All bars have a personality. For some, that remains pretty much on an even keel, either fun or boring. Others seem to change nightly, never offering the customer a sense of consistency. Since is it obviously not the farang managers and mamasans who shift that often, it must depend on the interaction of the ladies and the customers. Just why these mood swings occur is unclear.

Ambiance, too, only has a few components: music, costuming, seating and dancing. For me, the most important of these is the volume of the music. I actually like to talk to the lady-of-the-hour at my side. It is much easier to have her react favorably to my advances if I’m not shouting three word phases in her ear and if I can actually hear her responses. I can tolerate anything but rap music when there is an accommodating and responsive lady present. As for the owner’s profits, I’m much more likely to return to a bar with its music at a volume that permits casual conversation.

The second component of ambiance is costuming. Neked is good. But there are even times when staring at a dozen neked ladies is over the top. At the other end, no neked ladies is not good for return business. I suppose that that is why the current trend of knickerless-micros is in vogue. A sub-component of costuming is "shows". They are fine when the girls seem to enjoy doing them. If, however, the dancers are just "going thru the motions," it is better to avoid them. Another drawback is when they go on for a never-ending period and take the lady-of-the-hour from my side.

On balance the latter two: seating and dancing are less important than these others but play a role in how long I stay (spending money) and whether I return. Perching on a stool for hours is outright uncomfortable, as well as inconvenient for playing grab and tickle. Bench-seats are fine if hard on the tush – especially when balancing a lady on my lap. Sofas are preferred!

When the ice in my lady’s drink has melted before she gets off the stage, she has been gone much too long and I’m likely to be gone soon as well. When all the ladies are doing the Issan shuffle with no enthusiasm whatsoever, I’m quickly out of there. Haven’t the managers and DJs noticed how an occasional Issan song livens up the dancing? It’s almost like the ladies come out of their trance when they hear those familiar chords. Surely playing the same re-mixed CD of farang songs (old or new, good or bad) night after night after night, places those ladies in the trance and the rut of the infamous and lackluster Issan shuffle.

OWNERS, MANAGERS & MAMASANS TAKE NOTE:

So, all in all, what makes for the perfect setting to spend time and money?

• A stage full of topless ladies dancing 4-6 song cycles. Toss in an occasional neked one or a bit of a show just to break the monotony and you keep my attention – and more of my money.
• Play the music at a volume that allows conversation with an occasional ladies-favorite Issan song for good measure.
• Give me something comfortable to sit on.
• Above all, encourage the ladies on stage to at least make eye contact with the customers. Just how much "interaction" there is between the customers and their chosen ladies is harder to mandate but easy to observe. Mamasans can "tutor" ladies who seem to be neither accommodating nor responsive to the customers. She can weed out the ones who are simply not fun (ta-lueng) and hire replacements.
• Lastly, while diversity across the range of bars is good, consistency at your bar is best. When I come back to your bar and find a completely different atmosphere than the time before, my next visit might be a while in coming.

The angst over a pending pandemic of bird-flu infecting humans still smolders in the news. It hasn’t happened yet and won’t happen soon, but could happen in the future.

A recent experience in a local bar shows just how vulnerable the staff and punters might be if such a pandemic virus begins to spread. Mid-week last week, I was in the bar and questioned one of the dancers about her rather lack-luster dancing. She placed my hand on her forehead to demonstrate her fever. She couldn’t afford to take any time off work so there she was fully infectious and dancing.

I returned to that same bar over the weekend. She had pretty much gotten over her bout of illness, but not before infecting the rest of the bar. Now in all fairness, she might not have been the actual source but just one of the victims of the ripple effect. But the lesson remains the same. Once a flu-like illness is introduced into a closed group like a bar full of girls, they are all at risk. Obviously, the punters are also in the line of fire. Close physical contact with a flu-carrier is a sure way to carry away that infection.

On the weekend, the mamasan was coughing, the girls were feverish and coughing. It was a pitiful sight. The spread of the flu was not helped in that the dancers were self-medicating by passing around one of those menthol inhalers. Anyone who wasn’t ill yet will be in a few days.

I write this only as a harbinger of the effect that a large pandemic of flu will likely have on the Pattaya bar scene. Once it starts, punters will be well advised to avoid such contacts. You’ll find feverish ladies-of-the-hour followed by a few days of fever of your own. If the pandemic proves to be of a deadly variety (a la 1917), the ranks of the Pattaya bar ladies and punters might be significantly depleted.

Hotel review: Holiday Mansions 368/2 Soi Chalermprakiat 13, Pattaya 3rd Road

I stayed at this hotel for 12 days until 8 may 2006. rates per night are either 650 baht for a double room with road view, or 750 with pool view. I was recommended to this hotel by many English visitors.

Hotel has English speaking staff and safe deposit boxes for valuables at reception. The rooms are well furnished , cleaned daily, air con works well as does the plumbing. Has almost all other facilities eg laundry, shop, salon, room service and restaurant with well kept communal areas. No surcharge for ladies visiting and no awkward questioning of them either.

The pool area is lacking some maintenance and proceed with caution for broken tiles etc.

The only fault from my perspective was no hook up for laptop and net access but there are plenty of net cafes nearby.

I shall be returning and staying at Holiday Mansions again.

Thanks to jj

Although I am a full-time Pattaya expat, I do not frequent the bars on a nightly basis. Weekly is more my average. But I do go often enough and tend to return to places that I enjoyed, that I have given some thought to the Pattaya night-life experience as a whole.
I have some observations and some quandaries.

There are times when I find my "loyalties" divided between the ladies and the bar owners. I fully understand why I am being charged 100 for a bottle of beer and 110 for a few milliliters of cola for the lady. It takes a lot of money to keep 30 ladies and assorted staff employed plus provide a tidy profit for the owner. On one hand, I’d much prefer to hand over the money directly to the lady who is playing grab and tickle than to line the pocket of some absentee owner. Yet, without the owner providing the venue, I’d have no place to gawk at naked beauties.

I speak Thai reasonably well. I’ll often engage the lady in conversation that centers around her level of compensation. What does she get from a lady-drink? Her monthly salary? Does she share in any of the barfine? (rarely) There is also the rare place like the Las Vegas in Jomtien Plaza that has a set fee of 200 baht for the ladies to shed their meager costumes and play. The lady keeps it all! I studiously avoid those venues that seem to be exploiting the ladies with excessive fines or demands.

It comes down to a balance of what I’m willing to spend on a given night. Over the course of two hours in a bar, I rarely consume more than two beers, but I’ll buy a lot of lady drinks. As often as not I’ll have two or more ladies at my side – six drinks minimum. Add 1-2 more for the waitstaff and/or the mamasan and we’re approaching 10. That should keep the bar open until I return again plus the waitstaff are perhaps more likely to be there on my next visit even if the lady of the moment is not. It is simply laying a foundation for future explorations.

I suppose that I’m a strange bloke in that I do not barfine the ladies. I confine my Pattaya nightlife activities pretty much to grab and tickle as well as the inevitable gawking. All things considered, I suppose that I actually tip pretty well when a lady shows me a good time. I also attempt to help her achieve her quota of lady drinks. Yet, I find it utterly amazing that these ladies can remember my name. I can return to a bar after a couple of months to find that I am being addressed by name as I am being seated. If a prior acquaintance is present, she’ll often rush over. If those ladies have moved on, as they so often do, the waitress will often offer up a likely candidate. My memory for the myriad of Leks and Gungs is such that I keep a ‘little black book’ of dates and names to help refresh my worn out brain cells if I am returning to a bar after a gap in time. I stop short of "rating" the ladies, just noting name and place. On rare occasion, I have been caught short by a former companion of the evening who has since switched bars.

I have a small group that I "run with". Sometimes that gang is as few as two. We tend to return to places that have proven their worth for a fun evening, but we occasionally roll the dice on a new place. I’d say one in three are added to the list of promising places to return to, while the remaining two are written off. Knowing that likes and dislikes are as numerous as there are blokes, I’ll refrain from providing our list of favorites.

I have found that as a guide to new places to explore, the guys at www.thaianxiety.com have found the key. Their contributors provide reasonably useful, accurate, reliable reviews of experiences. When someone writes a negative review of an establishment, it tends to parallel my experience there. At the same time, tidbits of info like the rotation policy in a gogo or that a bar is functional in the afternoon are generally reliable. Whoever referees the site does a good job at weeding out the self-serving or down-right nasty comments that too often appear of competing sites. Keep up the good work!

Other generic observations for bar owners:

• Playing the music louder doesn’t make it better!
• Copying the fashion of the month (currently knickerless micro-minis) is not always necessary. Variety is good.
• On the other hand, keeping the dancers’ clothes on when all the other bars are not is bad for return business.
• Constant pestering to buy lady drinks often results in my buying fewer and handing the lady a bigger tip.
• Having the dancers double as waitstaff detracts from the overall experience.

For the punters:

• Treat the ladies with respect and they will return the favor. If you return to that bar, you’ll have a better experience on those subsequent visits.

I was just reading through the various reports on Pattaya. I was out there for a week with a mate of mine we got back home 2 days ago and to be honest I am already missing it and looking forward to going back as soon as possible, I enjoyed every minute it was the first time either me or my mate had been there and I will always go back especially the last 3 nights I spent with the same Thai girl she was a fantastic person and made my holiday, I also found the people to be extremely friendly.

Could you let me know how to post onto the site so I can put how much I enjoyed it so that other people may decide to visit.  I will definitely be back over to Pattaya within the next 6 months.

I stayed in Pattaya Beach for about 8 days this March and WHAT A WONDERFUL TIME I HAD!!!!

I stayed at the Sunbeam hotel in Soi 6 for 2 days, then I stayed for 6 days at the Nova Lodge in Soi 8. The Nova Lodge hotel had a beautiful poolside garden, with large ground level Superior rooms, a double sink bathroom and free breakfast buffet for about $50 U.S. per night.

I hooked up with a few different girls out there. One place in particular that I visited was the Kiss Kool club in Soi 6. The girls there VERY sexy and friendly, much like all of the girls in Pattaya Beach. The only real draw back that I noticed is that if you spend too much time with one girl, they tend to get really possessive. I had been to Patong beach, Phuket (before the December 04 Tsunami) on 4 different occasions and I had came across this same problem. The girls BEG you to take them back with you, but get really pissed at you if you pay attention any other girls besides them.. It’s very different going from spoiled, pail American women………to BEAUTIFUL, tan, friendly, outgoing Thai girls. It never ceases to amaze me!!! Anyway, I just thought I’d share that with you.

Thanks and I’m looking forward to my next visit to Pattaya Beach next year!!