Bangla Road (The most famous
Hot Street in Patong)
Like all night owls, Soi Bangla awakens when the sun sets. That's
when Patong's liveliest party zone becomes closed to traffic and
ready for action!
Famous for its raunchy nightlife, Bangla goes all out to entertain
with girls, beers and music that increases in volume as the moon
rises. Jammed most nights year round, it's actually totally unthreatening
and lively place to walk around as bars compete for customers. The
girls aim to please - dancing around poles, engaging in banter,
or coaxing customers to play simple bar games like "Connect"
or "Hammer the nail" to break the ice. The objective is
to entice customers to buy drinks and hopefully, take them away
for the evening.
Almost all of the bars are outdoors so the music from each one
is deafening! Beers Bar occupy most of the street's length, with
several a-go-gos and a few pubs, restaurants, discos and shops rounding
out the attractions both on Bangla and down its side streets.
Soi Eric
Run by a professional and well-organized management team from Europe,
Soi Eric has done a good job of bringing order from chaos. The first
thing you notice is that Soi Eric doesn't sound like battle of the
bands. There is one DJ who plays the records for the entire street,
which cuts down on some of the noise and confusion of the other
sois.
Of course, some like the confusion and with six different
beats playing even the worst dancer is bound to find one by mistake.
Soi Eric has also tried to cover all the bases, with a pharmacy
and art gallery at the front, a restaurant at the back and a go-go
bar as the anchor, Soi Eric takes care of most of your needs (the
girls handle the rest).
Soi Easy
Best known for the upstairs Aussie Bar, which attracts a
faithful crowd of (drum roll, please) Australians, Soi Easy is the
bar soi closest to the beach on Bangla Road.
A two storey complex
of flashing neon and loud music, Soi Easy has about 25 different
bars to choose from but the aforementioned Aussie Bar and Dragon
Club are the main hotspots to check out.
Soi Gonzo
Next to Soi Easy you'll find Soi Gonzo, a cool little place that
often gets overlooked between the neon of Easy and the ladboys of
Soi Crocodile.
Soi Gonzo is the place to go to enjoy all the enticements
of Bangla Road without having to deal with the crowds. There are
maybe ten bars on Soi Gonzo, such as the interesting-looking Black
Cat, but the perennial favourite is The Wet Spot, the
friendliest bar on the soi.
You know the song about going "where
everybody knows your name?" Well, they might have been referring
to this welcoming little spot.
Soi Lion
Located between Soi Tiger and Soi Seadragon, Soi Lion is the new
kid on the block at Bangla Road.
With only ten bars, its compact
size makes it a perfect destination if you want to drink your way
from one end to the other, a practice that's almost guaranteed to
have you doing the 'Technicolor Yawn' on one of the larger sois. 69 and Pum Pui seem to be the main attractions here.
Soi Crocodile
Also known as 'Soi Katoey' for the prominent stage where ladyboys
shake everything they've got (and some things that were just recently
added). This is the most consistently busy of the bar sois and even
on a weeknight in low season there are plenty of punters around.
The Point Bar is always popular and The Rasta Bar at the back often has a large crowd of foreign ladies flirting with
the reggae boys behind the bar (see, it does work both ways).
The Crocodile Disco at the end of Soi Crocodile burned down in
early 2006 but there are plans to re-open it as a massive go-go
bar by high season of 2006. Check back here for more updates.
Soi Seadragon
Lined on both sides with go-go bars, Soi Seadragon is the place
to go to watch scantily clad maidens shake what they've got for
all they're worth. Places like Playschool A-Go-Go, Lolita
A-Go-Go and The Bang Bang Club offer plenty of eye candy,
while those who would rather have a beer and a chat will find a
home at Two Brothers, Crow's Nest and Mickey Mouse.
Scandinavian Bar is a perfect place to escape the bar girl
scene and has hosted such luminaries as Noel Gallagher and Liv Tyler.
Seadragon is one of the largest sois in Patong and has a guest house,
a tattoo shop and a couple of eateries, as well as the bars.
Soi Vegas
Soi Vegas,has thebrilliantly named Katoys' R
' Us - featuring flamboyant dancing on the bar counter, competing
with Big Spender and King Kong. On both sides several
new snooker rooms opened lately.
At the end of Soi Vegas is Sala
Muay Thai - a small Thai boxing stadium with nightly fights,
more a tourist attractions than a real fight, but at least you can
have a glimpse for tha price of a beer and decide you you want to
see the real thing at Bangla Boxing Stadium. |
