Saphan Kwai

[Nikom]

Any updated info on the Saphan Kwai area?

 

Gogo, restaurants, beer bars?

 

 

 

[pong]

passed by there the other week or so.

1.NO more gogo-that was only BeHigh has closed. Sign is still there at that soi.

2.in that soi are 6 remaining all KaraOK bars-all offering beer when Thai law allows it (=not buddist days etc.) and guys to sing with+more. All 99,98% all Thai and most now struggling to keep alive. And there is still the ages old CharmMing a little beyond-and thats it.

3.Evenings SK is packed with eating options, but I DK about any specific aiming the gay market.

 Note that general gentrification is also strongly prevalent here. There is now a bekpek-style hoStel in that gay soi and there must be at least 5-6 money exchanges and various flashy and expensive tourist-aiming (all english in etc) places. For farang/gay new to TH and not well versed in things TH: no need to go there. For old TH hands likely more of a disappointment compared to what it was.

[Alexx]

Thanks for the update, pong, I had kind of hoped Be High would only be closed temporarily, but apparently that's not the case. I've never been a fan of the karaoke bars there, so I guess I don't need to bother to return.

[Guest]

1.NO more gogo-that was only BeHigh has closed. Sign is still there at that soi.

2.in that soi are 6 remaining all KaraOK bars-all offering beer when Thai law allows it (=not buddist days etc.) and guys to sing with+more.

 

Unavailable fully dressed boys are everywhere.     The idea I might need to listen to Karaoke is not a big selling point.

[Guest ryanasia]

I was there a few nights ago, it is okay for a relaxing drink and better if you can speak Thai or Lao. I am afraid you won't find any chicken there but there are some old broilers. The annoying mama-san from Classic was there if you need any further deterrent. 

 

All in all it is okay if you are sick of Twilight and live here. If you are looking to get your fuck on it isn't the place. Also the karaoke if you are into that sucks because they have very little other than Thai. I like karaoke from my days in Japan but they have nothing to offer a foreign guest in this regard. The stall on the corner of the soi does a very nice basil chicken.

 

The couple of karaoke bars there that cater to Thais look like they do an okay business. Whether or not you speak Thai you will quickly come to the conclusion that the only people that value your presence are the over the hill mama-sans that sponge drinks off of you. Everybody else wishes you were somewhere else. I can understand that, this is their place.

[Alexx]

"If you are sick of Twilight and live here". Interesting statement. How many people living in Bangkok actually rely on Soi Twilight for their sexual encounters? Not too many, I would hope?! Unless you are Quasimodo's twin brother or have zero social skills, there are just so many other/better options. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always assumed Soi Twilight is for tourists in the first place.

[ChristianPFC]

How many people living in Bangkok actually rely on Soi Twilight for their sexual encounters?

 

I know two: one is rich and doesn't care, the other is trapped in the the tourism bubble, but now mainly takes his business to Pattaya.

 

I have long passed that stage where I look forward to a trip to Soi Twilight.

[vinapu]

 Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always assumed Soi Twilight is for tourists in the first place.

and tourists say 'thanks God for that"

[Guest abang1961]

As I pay my quarterly pilgrimage To Thailand, I could not help but noticed the interest in Soi Twilight has diminished/decreased with each visit.  Granted I'm an Anglophile, I simply cannot write off the cute and sometimes hunky Thai guys.  To me, Soi 4 seems more the place to be..for a drink and a chat...no loud music, no obligations to off boys etc. 

 

My next visit is just 3 weeks away and I can't wait for another bowl of ka-moo...Aroi mak mak..khun like..

[ChristianPFC]

Soi 4 seems more the place to be..for a drink and a chat...no loud music...

 

I disagree. One of the reasons I rarely go to Soi 4 is the loud music. Not just loud music, a real cacophony of loud music, different songs from each bar, and noise from other customers (who have to shout at each other, just as I have to shout). And on top of that, someone might smoke on next table.

[reader]

Used to enjoy sitting at outside tables at Telephone but the overhead fans are directed downward, forcing the smoke to spread to tables under the canopy instead of dispersing it. So I move across the street to a bar stool at Balcony for relief.

 

But since I travel 10k miles to get there, I find that I over look most annoyances that would drive me batty at home. I regularly remind myself to keep my trip priorities in order.

[Guest ryanasia]

"If you are sick of Twilight and live here". Interesting statement. How many people living in Bangkok actually rely on Soi Twilight for their sexual encounters? Not too many, I would hope?! Unless you are Quasimodo's twin brother or have zero social skills, there are just so many other/better options. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always assumed Soi Twilight is for tourists in the first place.

Anybdy that doesn't "live" here has no fucking idea of where Saphan Kwai is. Sex aside it is an okay place to drink. So once you live here for awhile Telephone and Twilight become too predictable and if you want to just simply drink, you look for places that do not charge 400 Baht for watered down crap in small glasses. It is more to do with alcohol content than sex. 

 

If you live here I guess you use Grindr or go to Twilight. Unless you know an area that sex is free and drinks are cheap that I am unaware of?

[reader]

I don't live in LOS but I've known where Saphan Kwai is for 15+ years now. It's simple to get to by Skytrain and found it a worthwhile alternative to Silom venues.  However, time--and gentrification--has taken its toll. Haven't been there for about five years but it once had ample bars and two huge porn cinemas.  One was torn down and I'm unsure if the other is still open. 

 

Christian recently gave a pretty good review to a massage place there.

[steveboy]

My exclusive interest in the Saphan Kwai area is the sauna "39 Underground" located there.

 

Their Friday events are fun enough to justify the trip there by BTS.

[Alexx]

If you live here I guess you use Grindr or go to Twilight. Unless you know an area that sex is free and drinks are cheap that I am unaware of?

I think the beauty when you live in Bangkok is that you don't have to limit yourself to any specific areas. Cheap drinks are available all over the city, so once you've made friends with some guys from a particular area, you just visit their favorite hangouts with them. Given the size of Bangkok, that never gets boring, or at least it hasn't gotten boring for me, having done that for more than 10 years.

 

As for the sex, free or otherwise, some of my encounters are the result of such a night out and others are arranged using the apps (Hornet, Grindr and GayRomeo in my case). For me that's fun, I like the chase and shooting fish in a barrel really isn't my style.

[Guest ryanasia]

Let me simplify my answer. Saphan Kwai is boring by anybodies standards but especially if you don't live here,

[DivineMadman]

Like so much else, it just depends on you.  I've certainly had fun several times in Saphan Kwai.  It's not quite the gay destination it was up until a few years ago, but still it's a perfectly ok neighborhood to hang out in with friends.  I guess I'm rather easily amused.  I enjoy just hanging out.  For karaoke I always bring earplugs or I end up wadding paper napkins in my ears.  Better than sitting at home watching TV, and as is the case for me with some other places around BKK, an occasional nice break from Soi 4/Soi Twilight.  But in my particular case, I only hang out there with local friends, so I pretty much bring my fun with me, or have a quick drink if I'm on a walkabout in that neighborhood.  (There's a pad thai shop I like there.)

[Guest ryanasia]

Like so much else, it just depends on you.  I've certainly had fun several times in Saphan Kwai.  It's not quite the gay destination it was up until a few years ago, but still it's a perfectly ok neighborhood to hang out in with friends.  I guess I'm rather easily amused.  I enjoy just hanging out.  For karaoke I always bring earplugs or I end up wadding paper napkins in my ears.  Better than sitting at home watching TV, and as is the case for me with some other places around BKK, an occasional nice break from Soi 4/Soi Twilight.  But in my particular case, I only hang out there with local friends, so I pretty much bring my fun with me, or have a quick drink if I'm on a walkabout in that neighborhood.  (There's a pad thai shop I like there.)

 

You can't seriously suggest that  you could duplicate that for a tourist.

[firecat69]

Anybdy that doesn't "live" here has no fucking idea of where Saphan Kwai is. Sex aside it is an okay place to drink. So once you live here for awhile Telephone and Twilight become too predictable and if you want to just simply drink, you look for places that do not charge 400 Baht for watered down crap in small glasses. It is more to do with alcohol content than sex. 

 

If you live here I guess you use Grindr or go to Twilight. Unless you know an area that sex is free and drinks are cheap that I am unaware of?

You have not lived there long enough to know what you are talking about. When I visited BKK for the first time , Saphan Kwai was well known and visited by any gay visitor for the first time.  Unfortunately it is not any longer what it used to be, but once it was on most Gay Visitors list and was certainly on mine!