Soi Cowboy
Encyclopedia
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. A short (400 meter long) street with some 40 bars, it is similar to Nana Plaza
Nana Plaza
Nana Plaza is a 3 storey red-light district in Bangkok, which is rumoured to be the largest sex complex in the world. It is located on Sukhumvit Road Soi 4 across from the Nana Hotel, within walking distance of the BTS Skytrain's "Nana Station"...
and Patpong
Patpong
Patpong is an entertainment district in Bangkok, Thailand, catering mainly, though not exclusively, to foreign tourists and expatriates. While Patpong is internationally known as a red light district at the heart of Bangkok's sex industry, it is in fact only one of numerous red-light districts...
and caters mainly to tourists and expatriates.
It is located near Sukhumvit Road
Sukhumvit Road
Sukhumvit Road , or Thailand Route 3 , is a major road in Thailand, and a major surface road of Bangkok and other cities it winds through. It follows a coastal route from Bangkok to Trat and is just over in length....
, between Sukhumvit Soi
Soi
Soi is the term used in Thailand for a side-street branching off a major street . An alley is called a Trok .Sois are usually numbered, and are referred to by the name of the major street and the number, as in "Soi Sukhumvit 4", "Sukhumvit Soi 4", or "Sukhumvit 4", all referring to the fourth soi...
21 (also called Soi Asoke) and Soi 23, within walking distance from the BTS Skytrain's Asok Station
Asok Station
Asok station is a BTS skytrain station, on the in Watthana and Khlong Toei District, Bangkok, Thailand. The station is located on Sukhumvit Road at Asok Montri Road , with interchange to at Sukhumvit Station....
and the Bangkok Metro
Bangkok Metro
The MRT , sometimes referred to as the Bangkok Metro, is Bangkok's underground metro system in Thailand. It was constructed under a concession concept...
's Sukhumvit Station
Sukhumvit Station
Sukhumvit Station located on Asok Intersection between Sukhumvit Road and Asokmontri Road.- Station Map :-Exits:* 1 Siam Society, and Asok Montri Road* 2 Interchange Building* 3 Asok Market, Robinson, and escalators to Asok Station...
. The Grand Millennium Hotel is nearby.
The go go bars follow the pattern common in Thailand: alcoholic drinks are served and women in bikini
Bikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
s dance on a stage. Topless or even nude dancing occasionally occurs in some bars, but remains technically illegal. Most of the dancers are also prostitutes and will join a customer if he pays a "bar fine" to the bar and a separate fee to the woman. Sexual services usually take place in the tourist's hotel room.
The area is named after T. G. "Cowboy" Edwards, a retired American airman who opened one of the first bars there in 1977. A tall African-American, Edwards got his nickname because he often wore a cowboy hat
Cowboy hat
The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with...
.
Prime Minister of Thailand
The Prime Minister of Thailand is the head of government of Thailand. The Prime Minister is also the chairman of the Cabinet of Thailand. The post has existed since the Revolution of 1932, when the country became a constitutional monarchy....
Thaksin Shinawatra
Thaksin Shinawatra
Thaksin Shinawatra is a Thai businessman and politician, who was Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was overthrown in a military coup....
was elected in 2001, his government instituted a "social order" campaign. As part of this campaign, all bars and nightclubs had to close by 2 am, later changed to 1 am for all areas not officially designated as "entertainment zones". (Unlike Patpong
Patpong
Patpong is an entertainment district in Bangkok, Thailand, catering mainly, though not exclusively, to foreign tourists and expatriates. While Patpong is internationally known as a red light district at the heart of Bangkok's sex industry, it is in fact only one of numerous red-light districts...
, Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza
Nana Plaza
Nana Plaza is a 3 storey red-light district in Bangkok, which is rumoured to be the largest sex complex in the world. It is located on Sukhumvit Road Soi 4 across from the Nana Hotel, within walking distance of the BTS Skytrain's "Nana Station"...
were not so designated). A mandatory midnight closing time was even discussed. As of 2006, the Soi Cowboy bars switch off their outside neon lights by 1 am and usually close at 2 am.
Soi Cowboy's reputation suffered a temporary blow when, as part of the same social order campaign, the area was closed off by police one Friday night in November 2003 and all workers and patrons were required to submit to urine testing for drugs
Drug test
A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen – for example urine, hair, blood, sweat, or oral fluid / saliva – to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites...
.
Near their entrances, all go go bars carry government-mandated signs in Thai and English; the text reads,
NO-ONE INSIDE
UNDER 20 YEARS
DRUG-FREE
During the 2004 International AIDS Conference
XV International AIDS Conference, 2004
The XV International AIDS Conference was held in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, from July 11 to July 16, 2004. The main venue for the conference was the IMPACT Muang Thong Thani convention centre at Nonthaburi, north-east of downtown Bangkok. It was the first international AIDS conference...
in Bangkok, a bead sculpture made in Soi Cowboy was displayed as part of the cultural program.
Films and songs
In 2000, the NorwegianNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
group Getaway People released a song called "Soi Cowboy" about this area.
The American rock band Sun City Girls
Sun City Girls
The Sun City Girls were an American experimental rock band, formed in 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona. From 1981 the group consisted of Alan Bishop , his brother Richard Bishop , and the late Charles Gocher . Their name was inspired by Sun City, Arizona, an Arizona retirement community...
also have a song called "Soi Cowboy" on their 1996 album 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
. In the albums booklet it is said to be based on a traditional melody.
Actor Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
and his entourage visited Soi Cowboy in December 2003, while shooting the movie Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)
# Will Young - "Your Love Is King"# Jamelia - "Stop"# Kylie Minogue - "Can't Get You Out of My Head"# Joss Stone - "Super Duper Love Pt. 1"# Mary J...
. The Tilac Bar and several Soi Cowboy bar girls are seen in the film. The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, wrote on 23 December 2003 that Grant was chased by bar girls and had to flee, but that appears to be false.
Two 1-hour episodes of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy/drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven English migrant construction workers. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf....
were shot in the Summer of 2004 in Bangkok, partly in Soi Cowboy.
The bars Moonshine Joint and Dollhouse appear in Jordan Clark
Jordan Clark
Jordan Clark is an English cricketer. Clark is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm medium pace and who occasionally fields as a wicket-keeper. He was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria and was educated at Sedbergh School....
's 2005 documentary Falang: Behind Bangkok's Smile (known as Bangkok Girl in the US) which takes a rather critical view of sex tourism
Sex tourism
Sex tourism is travel to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes.The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as "trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary...
.
In August 2006, scenes for the film Bangkok Dangerous were shot in Soi Cowboy.
External links
- Soi Cowboy Bars Photo Guide
- Videos of Soi Cowboy: Google Video, YouTube
- Soi Cowboy Bars Reviews