Pattaya Nightlife News and Reviews

Thai health officials have announced new Covid-19restrictions targeting Thailand's hardest-hit provinces. The new restrictions include ordering all nightlife venues to close. Restaurants cannot serve alcohol and those dining-in must leave no later than 9pm. If you want to get take-away, you must do so before 11pm, unless you are in a province listed as an orange zone.

Taweesilp Wissanoyothin of the national pandemic task force also said that all gatherings should be kept to no more than 50 people, schools should avoid holding in-person classes, restaurants can no longer serve alcohol, nightlife venues must remain closed and hours limited at a number of businesses where people gather in the nation's COVID-19 red zones.

Chuwit Kamonwisit came to prominence as a nightclub and soapy massage parlour owner. He then became a politician and has now produced an academic paper estimating the extent of the Thai sex industry.

Chuwit pulled no punches about his assessment of sex for sale in Thailand. He said that there were a million women in the sex trade and it was financially bigger than illegal drugs.

Sex for sale in Thailand was everywhere he said. He listed:

Pubs, bars, beer bars, karaoke, Go-Go bars, lounges, soapy massage, traditional massage, fake spas, hotels, resorts, cafes, restaurants, barbers/salons acting as fronts for the business, girls on the end of the phone. These days there were sideline girls (those engaging in sex to pay for their studies or lifestyle in other areas) and pretties (promotional models).

He apologized if any of these were legitimately working outside the sex industry rather than just offering sex. He listed others that keep the nighttime entertainment business going and live from it such as waitresses and waiters, kitchen staff, salon workers, drivers, guides, cashiers, mamasans, taxi drivers, restaurants, shops, alcohol providers and the like.

He said that poor education was no obstacle to entering the sex trade and that for a woman aged 18-25 this was their golden years with some in top end Bangkok clubs able to earn 100,000 baht a month (£2400). After 26 things started to go downhill for many women, he said. When prostitutes were over 30 they went to sell themselves in Pattaya and Phuket or other places where there was a big sex industry.

Some went abroad to work in casinos or Thai massage in Asia, Europe or the US.

In Thailand he said the sex industry continues to grow that it was a multi 100 billion baht industry that eclipsed even the trade in illegal drugs.

All entertainment places in 41 provinces, including Bangkok, will be ordered to shut their doors for at least two weeks, as Covid-19 cases originating from a Thong Lor (Central Bangkok) cluster spread rapidly across the nation. The rapid contagion is blamed on the UK Kent variant.

Closure decisions in the other provinces are delegated to provincial authorities.

New cases linked to pubs, bars and clubs in Thong Lor area have leapt from Wednesday's report of 291 in 15 provinces to 504 cases in 20 provinces on Thursday, according to CCSA figures.

The latest outbreak has already prompted two provinces, Buri Ram and Bung Kan, to issue orders that people coming from Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Nakhon Pathom must observe self-quarantine after arrival in the province.

When asked if the proposals to reopen Phuket to foreign tourists without quarantine in July will be affected by the new cluster, the CCSA spokesperson said only that the issue may be discussed again by the CCSA and the cabinet.

The 41 provinces are Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Buri Ram, Chachoengsao, Chaiyaphum, Chanthaburi, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Chon Buri (including Pattaya), Chumphon, Kanchanaburi, Khon Kaen, Lampang, Loei, Lop Buri, Nakhon Nayok, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Pathum Thani, Phetchabun, Phetchaburi, Phuket, Prachin Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan (including Hua Hin), Ratchaburi, Ranong, Rayong, Sa Kaeo, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkram, Saraburi, Songkhla Suphan Buri, Surat Thani (including Samui and Pha Ngan), Tak, Udon Thani, Yala

During pre-covid times the Dollhouse group consisted of 4 parts, The Dollhouse downstairs, The Dollhouse XXX upstairs at the same venue, Beavers, and Club Electric Blue across the street.

The group responded to a decimated post covid lockdown customer base by reducing the 4 teams to 2, one operating from The Dollhouse downstairs, and the other team taking turns between Beavers and Club Electric Blue.

Now the group has further rationalised to reduce rent commitments. The Beavers and Club Electric Blue venues have closed. The Dollhouse team is continuing at The Dollhouse downstairs, whilst the old Beavers/Club Electric Blue team is now operating from the upstairs bar at The Dollhouse.

Touch A-GoGo on Soi LK Metro has become catch Me A-GoGo. Presumably the bar is under new management.

Meanwhile Pulse A-GoGo opposite has also re-opened after the end of lockdown with reports that the bar is targeting a more hands on approach to entertainment.

The average price of beer costs more in Bangkok than in Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin, a new study has revealed.

According to the World Beer Index 2021 , the average price of a 330ml bottle of beer in Bangkok is US$4.82, or approximately 149 THB. Thailand was ranked in 37th place overall with beer prices ranging from 29 Baht in supermarkets to 269 Baht in hotel bars.

The World Beer Index calculated the average price of a bottle of beer in 58 countries bought from either a supermarket or a hotel bar. Out of the other ASEAN countries to feature in the study, only Singapore was found to be more expensive than Thailand.

Pattaya is in a bit of lull at the moment with fewer bars opening after the second lockdown than the first.

However there are a few planned openings on the way.

Another gentlemen's club, Club Fate, will be coming to the up 'n' coming bar street, Soi Boomerang. Presumably the bar is targeting Japanese customers.

On Soi LK Metro Pulse A-GoGo has re-opened and Touch A-GoGo across the street seems set to follow. There's also building work at the old Ninja A-GoGo but it is not yet clear what will be happening there.

Pattaya bar owners are hoping that if Chonburi is determined to be a green zone in terms of Covid-19 risk rankings given by the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) that the current strict midnight closure rule will go away.

A meeting with the CCSA Prime Minister Prayut Chan O'Cha will determine new rankings for each province. Chonburi has had no cases of Covid-19 in two weeks and so is hoping for a change in ranking from yellow to green.

Green would mean the province is low surveillance but would not guarantee the current despised midnight closure for bars and nightclubs would go away, that is another hurdle to cross.

Technically even a green zone means midnight closing, but such technicalities have rarely held sway in Pattaya.