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Sometimes when you live in Thailand, its easy to get blinkered about stuff - just one example was a visitor asking me the other night about 'after hours' options - after reading various boards, he was worried that basically everything in BKK shuts up shop at 1am and thats it.
So as a public service - here is the low down on whats happening and what to do if your a night owl.
First off, you need to understand BKK is split into different police districts - Nana for example is in a different district to Patpong and so is Soi Cowboy. So despite these 3 entertainment areas being relatively close together, they have 3 different enforcing authorities. To further compound this, Patpong is considered a special 'zoned' nightlife area where the other two are not. That works in Patpongs favour as the bars are all allowed to open later officially, not just by someone turning a blind eye. That means that if your planning a late night - Patpong is more consistent in its offering.
Kicking of with Nana area as its the prime hunting ground for the forum members. Nana is going through some changes with the fairly recent changes at Lumpini police who cover this area. Seemingly the top guy is adamant, no late opening will happen in his district and surprisingly, it has been working. Even relatively famous late night venues have all had to close at 1am. Q Bar, Bed Supperclub etc are all in the Nana district and these are closing at the same time as the rest of the district. There has been sightings this week of a more relaxed attitude coming out from Lumpini, probably because they see its putting the bars in their patch at a huge disadvantage to other areas. Maybe the extended opening will stay around, but for late night hunting and drinking it is unpredictable.
Soi Cowboy which falls under Thonglor police, is far more relaxed than Lumpini and 2am opening seems to be the norm, however that can change at any time. Nightclubs in Thonglor tend to be open later as well. So for example, Narcisus which is LB friendly, is closing circa 3.30am. Narcisus is just off Sukhumvit Soi 23 - every cab driver around Sukhumvit will know it. You will be looking at paying a 500b admission fee which includes 3 standard (beer basically) drinks. Jack Daniels and soda runs around 180b which is not too bad for a late opening club. Typically these clubs dont either water down or sell fake spirits - so what you order is what you get.
Patpong though probably remains the late night venue of choice. Some of the gogo's are open as late as 3am, including KC3 and within 100m, you have countless other late night venues. The majority of late opening venues are not at street level. Kings lounge for example is above Kings Corner and just across from KC3 - its more of a late night bar than anything else - to call it a club is stretching it a bit, but in there favour are standard drink prices (100b beer) + admission price.
There is another place across from Foodland which is on the 4th floor of a building - just look where people are going to and you will find it easily enough. Admission here I recall is about 250 baht and includes 2 drinks. It is a proper club, albeit its pretty cheaply done but by that time, most people wont be caring about the decor. Both places are good bets - they seem to be run well and dont fleece customers.
There are still countless more places up in the Thai dominated areas of Ratchada and into Thonglor proper. Maybe someone else with experience of these places can give more comment as I dont really know these areas. With the exception of Q-Bar - all these places are LB friendly and you often will find LB's freelancing in some of the venues (and especially KC3 LOL), however as a word of caution, you will likely be required to show picture ID to enter many clubs even if your 40 years old.
Cheers
Mardhi
So as a public service - here is the low down on whats happening and what to do if your a night owl.
First off, you need to understand BKK is split into different police districts - Nana for example is in a different district to Patpong and so is Soi Cowboy. So despite these 3 entertainment areas being relatively close together, they have 3 different enforcing authorities. To further compound this, Patpong is considered a special 'zoned' nightlife area where the other two are not. That works in Patpongs favour as the bars are all allowed to open later officially, not just by someone turning a blind eye. That means that if your planning a late night - Patpong is more consistent in its offering.
Kicking of with Nana area as its the prime hunting ground for the forum members. Nana is going through some changes with the fairly recent changes at Lumpini police who cover this area. Seemingly the top guy is adamant, no late opening will happen in his district and surprisingly, it has been working. Even relatively famous late night venues have all had to close at 1am. Q Bar, Bed Supperclub etc are all in the Nana district and these are closing at the same time as the rest of the district. There has been sightings this week of a more relaxed attitude coming out from Lumpini, probably because they see its putting the bars in their patch at a huge disadvantage to other areas. Maybe the extended opening will stay around, but for late night hunting and drinking it is unpredictable.
Soi Cowboy which falls under Thonglor police, is far more relaxed than Lumpini and 2am opening seems to be the norm, however that can change at any time. Nightclubs in Thonglor tend to be open later as well. So for example, Narcisus which is LB friendly, is closing circa 3.30am. Narcisus is just off Sukhumvit Soi 23 - every cab driver around Sukhumvit will know it. You will be looking at paying a 500b admission fee which includes 3 standard (beer basically) drinks. Jack Daniels and soda runs around 180b which is not too bad for a late opening club. Typically these clubs dont either water down or sell fake spirits - so what you order is what you get.
Patpong though probably remains the late night venue of choice. Some of the gogo's are open as late as 3am, including KC3 and within 100m, you have countless other late night venues. The majority of late opening venues are not at street level. Kings lounge for example is above Kings Corner and just across from KC3 - its more of a late night bar than anything else - to call it a club is stretching it a bit, but in there favour are standard drink prices (100b beer) + admission price.
There is another place across from Foodland which is on the 4th floor of a building - just look where people are going to and you will find it easily enough. Admission here I recall is about 250 baht and includes 2 drinks. It is a proper club, albeit its pretty cheaply done but by that time, most people wont be caring about the decor. Both places are good bets - they seem to be run well and dont fleece customers.
There are still countless more places up in the Thai dominated areas of Ratchada and into Thonglor proper. Maybe someone else with experience of these places can give more comment as I dont really know these areas. With the exception of Q-Bar - all these places are LB friendly and you often will find LB's freelancing in some of the venues (and especially KC3 LOL), however as a word of caution, you will likely be required to show picture ID to enter many clubs even if your 40 years old.
Cheers
Mardhi
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