Torture in Boyztown

[Nathan_B]

What on earth is going on with outside karaoke at the BBB terrace? I was sitting at the Serene bar with my off for the evening from A-Bomb, enjoying people watching and the comings and goings at the corner of the Boyztown soi, when a middle aged falang picked up a microphone and proceeded to murder "My Way" while prancing around the corner of the terrace. It was mildy amusing at first but soon became very annoying, especially when he started a second song. We drank up and left. It takes a special sort of ego to inflict your mediocre singing voice on an unwilling audience. Bring back the BBoys outside show, at least they're cute and talented.  

[abidismaili]

I agree. I think such behavior is very asocial in my moral landscape.

[paborn]

Good God, do you mean there is a Karaoke outside???

[NIrishGuy]

And ( perhaps NOT) more surprisingly do you mean that farang are STILL hammering out "My Way" as out go to standard karaoke song !??   

 

I mean COME ON guys. get with the times, it was funny when the boys were laughing at us 10 and 15 years ago as "my way" was apparently the only song they thought farang knew, but hell it's 2018 we're STILL at it it seems, it's just embarrassing  !  

 

I mean surely come on as ....now.......the end is near and so we face the final curtain......    SHIT ! we're off again it seems !  :-)

[vinapu]

It must be going on for a while as I observed the same late at night in October.

 

But it was finished at reasonable time - my room was on 2nd floor of Ambiance and noise did not bother me ( or was it music , not just a noise?) 

[Travellerdave]

Is the karaoke” noise” is still blasting out in BT late at night ?. I had thoughts about staying at the Ambience for part of my forth-coming trip but the memory of ear shattering “My Way” at 3am makes me very cautious about making the reservation.

[hanan]

It was not long ago someone clever in city hall decided to paint car lanes in Boyztown and had all the bars there move away their tables and chairs from the street to not block car trafic. We all knew this was a thai ting that would soon go back to normal and wouldn't be upheld by the police. I was thinking about that when I saw that BBB reclaimed one lane with large loudspeakers etc.

[Guest]

Good God, do you mean there is a Karaoke outside???

That sums it up beautifully. A truly horrific & anti-social idea, but street music is one of the disadvantages of SE Asia.

 

With this kind of nonsense in the soi, I wouldn't even consider staying in the Ambience. Well maybe in one of the rooms at the back.

 

 

Reminds me of my stay in Madalay. There was a street party near my hotel. And it went on until 6:00 am with loud music.

I'm thinking well, thankfully that's over and they did exactly the same thing the next night !

[JackR]

I love My Way

[faranglaw]

At least it wasn't Hotel California. He'd be dead.

[vinapu]

I love My Way

# me too , but I like silence better

[Terry4]

And ( perhaps NOT) more surprisingly do you mean that farang are STILL hammering out "My Way" as out go to standard karaoke song !??

 

I mean COME ON guys. get with the times, it was funny when the boys were laughing at us 10 and 15 years ago as "my way" was apparently the only song they thought farang knew, but hell it's 2018 we're STILL at it it seems, it's just embarrassing !

 

I mean surely come on as ....now.......the end is near and so we face the final curtain...... SHIT ! we're off again it seems ! :-)

Lol...great post ....

Your right ,the older farang generation now should be singing Whitney Houston songs or something.

[Londoner]

The placing of huge loudspeakers on the corner, facing Panorama and Cupidol, was a disgrace. They are not for punters but for BBB staff and they make conversation in Panorama impossible. The noise even disturbs the top floors of Ambiance.

Meanwhile, the new Cafe Royal was warming-up its own contributions to noise pollution when I was In Boyztown three weeks ago. Deafening. In this case, the noise is aimed at those of us wishing to have drink and chat on the Ambiance terrace.

The word is that Boyztown managements are concerned that the the selfishness of one or two venues will drive away business. What's left of it. 

[Vessey]

I have heard 'My Way' murdered several times now in Pattaya. The first was at a late-night party in Soi 6 and I was up in a short-time room in the bar across the road that faced onto the soi, doing 'the business' with a then regular. It was so loud and so awful it completely put us off our shag as we were falling about laughing at his dire performance. No matter, he would finish soon and we could start again - but no, the bastard did an encore of the same song. We knew when the fates were against us and gave up on our short-time and went and had a drink instead.

 

Another memorable rendition was delivered at a party in BoyzTown a few years ago, where a stage had been set up in the soi facing into the party bar, and there were various Thai song and dance acts. Then this tall, late middle-aged, rather fleshy farang got up, helped to his unsteady feet by his boyfriend, and descended onto the stage and was dutifully handed the mike.

 

Nobody had really given him much thought until he started to sing, - loud and flat but with alcohol-fueled emotion oozing from every fleshy pore of his body as he 'sang'.

 

Talk about a conversation killer, we all sat there transfixed into a stunned silence as he proceed his unsteady performance, hand gestures  and tears of emotion starting to stream down this wretched man's face as he put his all into this bloody song.

 

There was some polite applause as he finished - more, I suspect, for the compare that quickly got up and took the microphone off him before he felt emboldened to start again, and also for the poor boyfriend who had to come and get him and hep him back to his seat as he self-depreciatingly  acknowledged the applause.

 

Having said all that, if you listen to drunk Thai boys singing karaoke, they are no better; their standards are not high!  They tend to 'go live' on facebook at some ungodly hour of the morning armed with a guitar and a bottle of Thai whiskey, then the next day, sobered up, they think better of it and quickly remove the post LOL

[Guest CaptainSwing]

At least it wasn't Hotel California. He'd be dead.

What is it with Hotel California?  I was dragged to a Karaoke with some Thai friends once and there was one page of songs in English; one friend asked me all excited: "Have California Hotel?"  And I think it's not just Thailand but other Asian countries too.  I read an interview with one of the Eagles, who wrote and sang the song, and he mentioned being bemused by its universal popularity in Asia.  It's almost a cliche.  It's not a bad song, (not one of my favorites), but why that one? 

[aussie_]

The same happens in Jomtien Complex on a regular basis except it is usually a bar boys birthday party with Thais singing the karaoke. The large speakers in the soi are not necessary but they don't care. A real killer for conversations and business in nearby bars.

 

I don't bother going go Boyztown bars anymore although i walk through sometimes. The band at Cafe Royale was practicing one night last week, very loud hip hop music, so maybe a hip hop version of My Way for customers enjoyment when they open

[Londoner]

And who will Le Cafe's customers be? How many of the readers of this site want to hear deafening music like this at 0200....and yes, we are told  the bar won't close until  then.

Meanwhile, huge amounts are being spent on a refurbishment at Ambiance. The hotel (like BBB and LCR) is now Chinese owned. Is the projected market Chinese? and do they want hip-hop at 0200? Who does? Apparently, BBB staff enjoy loud music but since when have the preferences of the staff out-weighed those of the punters?

Funnyboys, Prisma and Oscars have all gone- Prisma is to be part of the new, improved Ambiance. It looks as if Boyztown will no longer be gay....but who will replace us?  

[sglad]

I love My Way

 

I wanna have My Way with Ronan Sinatra Farrow.  So cute and smart.

[Guest]

The word is that Boyztown managements are concerned that the the selfishness of one or two venues will drive away business. What's left of it.

They are right to be concerned.

1 Anyone who likes to sleep before 2:00 am would not want to stay at the Ambience. Same for the Penthouse. Actually, I know one fellow gay who used to stay at the Penthouse for about 2 weeks every year, but when they had ONE all night event in Boyztown, he simply decided to go elsewhere next year.

2 I imagine the trade from Panorama will migrate if it's too loud to hold a conversation.

 

I suggest anyone planning to stay at a nearby hotel e-mails them first and asks if they have any plans to get the Karaoke stopped, as you have heard about it and don't want to be kept up.

 

Eventually Thailand might get it's act together and have some effective law enforcement for unreasonable noise. In the meantime, we just need to choose hotel locations carefully. Or some of the hotels might just bribe the brown shirts enough to deal with it.

[sglad]

 It takes a special sort of ego to inflict your mediocre singing voice on an unwilling audience.  

 

Ego, lack of shame, call it what you want.  Whether it's regaling us with explicit tales of their geronto-porn escapades, or dressing extremely inappropriately at night spots (there was a 60something farang who wore a sleeveless cut-out shirt showing off his manboobs and grossly overgrown underarm hair at DJ two weekends ago) or butting in on conversations which they're not a part of, it's probably part of the continuum of the "social rules no longer applying to them when in Thailand" kind of thinking.  After all, if they can get a cute or hunky 20-year-old to sleep with them for a couple of thousand Baht and a steak at Sizzlers, or even enter into some kind of make-believe relationship, then anything is possible.

[Travellerdave]

A few posts back I asked about the advisability of staying at the Ambiance. Well I’ve had all the information I needed from this thread and I’m disappointed to say that I will not be staying there during my trip. I say disappointed because I’ve had a few good experiences there when it was the hotel for gays in Pattaya.

[paborn]

I switched to the Poseidon in Jomtien after years at the Ambiance - many years. I not only want to sleep but if I'm with someone I want to concentrate on him.

[Travellerdave]

Yes I agree. My Way at full volume is a mega distraction when in bed with your boyfriend du jour.

[vinapu]

 It looks as if Boyztown will no longer be gay....but who will replace us?  

gays who like loud music

[vinapu]

A few posts back I asked about the advisability of staying at the Ambiance. Well I’ve had all the information I needed from this thread and I’m disappointed to say that I will not be staying there during my trip. I say disappointed because I’ve had a few good experiences there when it was the hotel for gays in Pattaya.

 

I switched to the Poseidon in Jomtien after years at the Ambiance - many years. I not only want to sleep but if I'm with someone I want to concentrate on him.

You both overreacting in my opinion based on my stay there just month ago to a day