No ‘Bar Girls’ Bars; Just Fun Nightlife Islands With Other World Travelers
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Travel Blogger
I’m about to make my first trip to Thailand, and I’m pulling my hair out for several reasons.
One is I can’t figure out where to go in Thailand. Bangkok is an obvious two-day starting point but from there it’s like I’m blindly throwing darts at a board. I have a week and a half and want to be efficient in my time but also if I find a gem, I want to toss out the anchor and stay a while.
I’m seeking beaches. And not just beaches, but those with single people who love to party. You know, a kind of the Mykonos of Thailand.
And this is the second reason I’m pulling out my hair.
Whenever I ask a friend who has been to Thailand several times, or try and do research on the Internet, all I come across are destinations with seemingly nothing but girls for hire. All the destinations they recommend, it seems, only have places with “bar girls” and while I’ve never been to Thailand I can figure out what that means, of course.
Not only that, but “you can get a girl to spend a whole day and night with you for $40,” my friends boast.
Well I don’t WANT girls for hire. I want real girls, you know tourists from Europe and other parts of the world. I know for a fact that Australians love going to Thailand; where the heck do those girls hang out when they go to that country?
“Real girls?” one of my Thailand veteran friends responded. “You’re not going to Thailand for ‘real’ girls.”
No, I’m going because I won a free flight on China Airlines to Taiwan and they were kind enough to extend it to include Thailand. But while I’m there, I want to go to normal bars where I can flirt with girls and not have to think about them being paid companionship.
Talking to and picking up a girl because I pay her a few bhat is just not my style. Plus, I’m a Leo and I like the thrill of the chase.
And then there’s the he-she factor. Apparently, there’s a number of people pretending to be girls and they are so good at this deception, it’s difficult to know what you are getting yourself into, so to speak.
Here, my friend offered this advice:
“Don’t forget the golden rule in Thailand: ‘the most beautiful women aren’t,’ ” he said. “No problem, just look for big hands and Adam’s apples.”
So where the heck do I go out in Bangkok – my friend set me up at the Nana Hotel in Nana Plaza, which I’ve since learned is the top “girls for hire” area in the city. Further research leads me to believe I’ll be spending time in an area known as RCA, tho I hope it’s not too clubby.
And what’s next after Bangkok?
One blog post suggested a beach near Bangkok called Koh Samet, which seemed like a nice place until I looked into it further and it seems to be largely a gay destination.
A female blogger I found recommended Koh Chang & Lonely Beach, which is a haven for hippies and backpackers. That’s certainly not my first choice of fellow travelers to hang out with but it certainly beats “bar girls,” gays (calm down, I’m not knocking them but I’m straight and want to be around straight people) and he-shes.
Ko Phi Phi (apparently pronounced “pee pee”) looks promising and it’s a two-hour ferry ride from Phuket, a place my veteran friend highly recommends (he loves Patong Beach but again, that looks like a place full of “bar girls” places).
It appears Phi Phi is a “normal” destination and there are other islands in the area (I’ve long wanted to go visit “James Bond Island,” a day trip from Phuket where scenes from The Man With The Golden Gun were filmed).
So for now, that’s my plan. I’ll keep you updated on what I discover – hopefully I can write a PubClub.com article on places that meet my criteria so others who want the same don’t have to pull out their hair.
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