February 4th, 2010
Bangla Road
After a nice little kip, a good shower…and a very very healthy dose of aftersun i was ready to pop out and witness for myself what the bangla road was about! I saw 2 english couples in the bar at the guest house and they were chatting to this crazy looking american guy, bald head, handle bar moustache and a string vest, i don’t know, maybe the look works for him? They were going down there later on but were having a few drinks here first. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect….one of the things i had noticed whilst walking the streets or riding around on the moped was that there were a lot of ‘lone male travellers’ or to put it another way lots of guys eating on their own in the restaurants or drinking on their own in the bars, i guess kind of like i was but these guys didn’t tend to look like they were on their travels, more like this was somewhere they lived or visited regularly…
So i set off (the wrong way at first of course, but picked up my mistake quickly this time!) and walked up the hill, there are a few small bars on the way into town, and most of them are very quiet, with only maybe one or two people in them or a group at any one time. I came to one of the bars and noticed there were about 5 girls all sitting at tables just chatting, and as i approached i heard one say out loudy in a strong thai / english accent ….’hallo sexy meen’…what can i say she’s only human, and at first it came of a bit of a surprise, what was even more surprising was that the rest of them suddenly followed in chorus with EXACTLY the same phrase in pretty much the same accent!!! Maybe it’s not just me then…..:) lol!
Not put off but having a better idea of what to expect on the way up, this happened a couple more times at least, even when they were sitting with another guy or couple of guys (usually a little older) a chorus of ‘hello sexy man’ would come eminating from the bar! It got me thinking that this must be one of the phrases that are taught to all young thai women, that and ‘massage?’ where as the guys get taught ‘you want taxi / tuktuk?’ or anything along those lines!
As you get nearer to the bangla road it gets a little busier, and there are quite a few people milling around, but as you get nearer and nearer to the street though it becomes more obvious that there are more and more bars with more and more women outside them asking people to come in, and it’s not like they’re put off by refusals, they just compliment the next guy / group of guys and ask them if they want a drink instead!
I came up to some kind of rock bar, pumping loud rock music and neon red lights flashing on and off on the front of the building, i happened to look over to my right and there was a closed off street, with a load of moped / taxis etc parked up, and there it was…bangla road. If anyone’s been to the like of Ayia Napa or San Antonio or Falaraki or Laganas, it’s pretty much exactly the same as any one of those, only this time, it’s full (obviously) of south east asian / Thai people. Bar after bar after bar pumping out music with Thai girls outside dressed in not much more than hot pants and bikini tops doing their best to encourage people into their particular bar. You look down the road and it looks almost as if there are too many bars compared to people, especially if you add on all the bars there are just leading up to the road itself! There was one bar that was attracting a large crowd of onlookers outside, and the reason was…..the 6 or 7 thai girls all dancing on podiums at the front of it!!
Do you know those situations where you’re walking along and something…you’re not sure exactly what yet, but something just seems a little different? It happened to me once when i was doing the courier driving years ago, i was driving through a street somewhere in south west london, Fulham or somewhere like that, and i pulled up at some traffic lights. I took in my surroundings, it was a nice day, quite sunny, i had the window down, the music playing and of course the arm resting just outside….it was after about 30 seconds or so i thought that something just wasn’t quite right, and then it hit me, i looked over at a cafe and there were loads of couples sitting at the tables outside, lots of guy couples…..as in lots of guys together as couples, if you get where i’m going! And this was a very similar situation, as i walked down Bangla road something, i wasn’t quite sure what yet, but something was just a little bit odd….and then it hit me, there were hundreds (and i’m not exaggerating here!) of young thai girls, walking hand in hand with older, and slightly more portly western guys! Well, we’re in Thailand after all so what else was i expecting! Lol 
As i got down to the end of the road i came across another massage parlour with girls sitting outside, the huge sign attached to the building said “traditional Thai massage’….and then underneath that ‘NO SEX’…which got my thinking as to why they actually have to advertise the fact that they don’t offer sex, does that mean that all the others do?!?
Bangla road is good fun though, especially if you’re out for a few beers, it’s cheap and there’s plenty of music and people about. Down the road a little bit there were a few guys with huge lizards, you can stand there and have them pose with you while you get your picture taken and that kind of thing, they didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all, just chilling quite happily on people shoulders, the occasional girl screaming! There were street entertainers, fire breathers and all sorts going on, and of course the girls dancing around the podiums at the entrances to some of the bars!
It was on the walk back that i came across something else for the first time in my life too…..ladyboys! Now before anyone gets any ideas about being funny, no i didn’t try to chat one up by accident, i didn’t get chatted up by one, nobody touched anybody or anything like that, ok!…i’d had a few jokes from some mates before i came out here, like always remember to check the package before opening it, and always check the adams apple, etc. but there was one thing (about the ladyboys i saw anyway) that made them stand out a mile from the normal thai girls; they’re so much taller! Thai girls are really quite short, where as the ladyboys (who, i will be completely honest, do look quite like girs) are noticably taller….so i guess a few people might have woken up the next morning with a little more than they bargained for 
lol!
I took a nice stroll back without getting lost, i think i must have been some kind of homing pigeon in a previous life, making my way past the offers of massages and fun times, off to bed and ready for my day trip the next day to Ko Phi Phi….
