Soi Nana

Soi Nana

Exciting Soi Nana – Sukhumvit Road

Published by Chalita Majang on 15 March 2023

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Image of the exciting Soi Nana – Sukhumvit Road
The exciting Soi Nana – Sukhumvit Road

Exploring Bangkok’s Notorious Red Light District

Thailand is famous for its vibrant nightlife, and the red light district on the exciting Soi Nana is no exception. It is one of the most infamous areas in Bangkok. Despite the fact that, it appears to be just a narrow street located in the heart of the Sukhumvit area. It attracts thousands of people every week, both tourists and locals alike, in search of entertainment of the adult variety.

Thailand: Red Light Sectors

Thailand is famous for its red light districts, where prostitution and sex work openly advertise and practice their trade. The country has a long history of sex tourism, with many visitors coming specifically to explore the sex industry.

The Thai government has been trying to crack down on prostitution in recent years. However, it remains a significant part of the country’s economy. Estimates suggest that as many as 250,000 women work in the sex industry in Thailand. Many of them work in Bangkok’s red light districts like the exciting Soi Nana.

Thailand: Red Light Area

The exciting Soi Nana is just one of the many red light areas in Bangkok. However, it is one of the most famous, thanks to its central location and the variety of services on offer.

The street is overflowing with bars, clubs, and massage parlours, with girls standing outside to entice customers inside. While many of the establishments offer straightforward prostitution services, others specialise in more niche offerings, such as “ladyboy” shows and BDSM experiences.

Red Light Street Girls

The girls working in the exciting Soi Nana come from all over Thailand and neighbouring countries, such as Laos and Cambodia. While some work voluntarily, others are forced into the industry due to poverty and lack of economic opportunities.

Many of the girls come from rural areas and are lured to Bangkok with promises of well-paid jobs. However, once they arrive, they find themselves in debt to the bar owners and forced to work long hours to pay off their loans.

Despite the difficult circumstances, the vast majority of the girls in Soi Nana are friendly and approachable, and many customers return regularly to visit their favourite “red light street girls.”

A Red Light Girl

While prostitution is illegal in Thailand, the law is often ignored in the red light districts, and police turn a blind eye to the industry. However, a red light girl working in Soi Nana still faces many risks, including violence, abuse, and disease.

The Thai government has taken steps in recent years to improve conditions for sex workers, such as introducing mandatory health checks and offering education and job training programs. However, progress has been slow, and many a red light girl continues to work in unsafe and exploitative conditions.

Bangkok’s Nightlife Scene

Soi Nana is a fascinating and controversial part of Bangkok’s nightlife scene. While it offers a unique and exciting experience for many visitors, it is important to remember that the red light street girls working there face significant challenges and risks.

As a responsible tourist, it is essential to approach the red light districts with an open mind and a respectful attitude. By supporting safe and ethical establishments and advocating the rights of sex workers, we can help to create a more positive and sustainable future for the industry.

If you want to understand the life of a typical bar girl better, try Behind The Smile by Owen Jones

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Soi Nana – Sukhumvit Soi 4 – Fun or Frightening?

Published by Chalita Majang on 16 November 2022

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A bar such as on Soi Nana
A bar such as on Soi Nana

Soi Nana is located in the heart of what most foreign tourists would call Bangkok’s Red Light District. It has a long history.

Sukhumvit Soi 4.

This famous street is well-known as Soi Nana, but it is officially Sukhumvit Soi 4, which means that it is the fourth side-street off Sukhumvit Road. Originally, it was just an alley, a shortcut between two main roads. It is in the old Chinatown of Bangkok

Soi Nana.

It has a rich history. For example, Thailand’s first ever gin bar is located there and still open. However, Soi Nana now has scores, if not hundreds, of bars, hotels and restaurants. The variety is stunning and is the main reason for its popularity.

Chinatown.

In fact, Nana has always been able to ‘move with the times’. The gangs that fought over the streets in Chinatown in the Fifties and Sixties probably still exist, but they have learned not to frighten the tourists. If the turf wars of that period still continue, then they are invisible to the average visitor.

The Sukhumvit Soi 4 that you see now took form during the first decade of the new millennium. Despite its new image, it is the same as any well-organised nightlife area in any major city. If you are the kind of person who causes trouble when drunk, you had better stick to country pubs, where landlords are typically more forgiving of troublemakers.

Tourist Attraction.

My wife, my daughter and I have stayed in Soi Nana many times, and have never witnessed any problems, but given how drunk many of the young tourists get, I am certain that this is because of the staff rather than that it does not occur. When I visit Soi Nana, I expect to have a great time, and trouble is never on my list of expectations. So, visit the area with confidence – I’m sure that you will have a lot of fun ?

Daddy’s Hobby – The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl

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Bangkok Red Light District

Published by Owen Jones on 22 July 2018

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Bangkok Red Light District - Girls in Soi Nana

Bangkok Red Light District

The Bangkok Red Light District is a magnet for visitors to Thailand, similar to Amsterdam of The Netherlands. However, I lived in Thailand for eighteen years, and have visited Bangkok scores of times. My wife has family there and most visa work is carried out In the capital too. However, I’m not completely sure that there is a designated Red Light District as such in Bangkok.

Bangkok Red Light District

To put it simply, tourists often ask: ‘Where is the Bangkok Red Light District?’

The point is though that there are sex bars and non-sex bars all over the city. Then there are the hybrids – ie, those which are respectable by day, but turn into sex bars after dark. Lots of these bars have a microphone stand in a corner, so they can play Karaoke songs later on. Many of the girls who come to sing will be on stage to draw attention to themselves. However, they are not hoping that a talent scout will spot them for a career in music.

If there is such a thing as a dedicated Red Light District in the capital, then I suppose that it is around Sukhumvit Soi 4. This area is more popularly known as Soi Nana, after the first and largest hotel in the street. However, many of the most popular sex venues are around, not necessarily in, that street

Great Nightlife

I know that many tourists to Bangkok head for the famous sex bars and nightclubs in Soi Nana. Nevertheless, if you are staying in Bangkok for more than one night, check out the bars around your hotel first. You will find some pleasant surprises that are not overfull and not overpriced. Thais, other Asians and foreign residents use these places. They are more typical of Bangkok than what you probably think of as a dedicated Red Light District.

One thing to remember when looking for typical examples of Bangkok sex bars, is that it is not like what you have seen on the films of American soldiers in Saigon, Tokyo, or even Bangkok. In general, the signs are not so flashy, and the girls promoting the bar on the street will be wearing more modest clothing, although schoolgirl uniform is popular.

If the Bangkok Red Light District is on your list of sights to see, don’t worry about checking it out. You are not obliged to do anything you don’t want to, and you will probably have a lot of fun. Millions of visitors to Bangkok have tremendous fun in the popular girly bars. So, don’t allow preconceived Western ideas of morality to spoil your adventure.

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All the best,

Owen.

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Swan Inn II, Bangkok

Published by Owen Jones on 30 May 2016
Swan Inn II
Swan Inn II, Soi Nana, Bangkok

Swan Inn II, Bangkok

I booked the Swan Inn II, Soi Nana, on Agoda from seven hundred kilometres away. I stopped the taxi two hundred yards short at Swan Inn I, and we walked the rest of the way after my error had been pointed out to us.

Our room was ready, clean and larger than I had expected, but when i asked where the balcony was that I had booked (and paid for), the owner told us that we didn’t want a balcony because they only attracted dust!

Lovely Room

The balcony had actually been a free incentive to book, and i wasn’t that bothered, but two hours later, we were offered a ‘larger room’ – presumably one with a balcony. My wife and daughter turned it down.

However, she decided to stay with us, so we ordered an extra bed. It was a surprise to see a thin mattress on the floor when we got in that night and even worse, the owner hassled us all the next day for the extra, even though we were booked in for three more nights.

Decent Western Fast Food

That first night, I had a beef burger in the restaurant on the ground floor. It was all right, but not really to be called a beef burger. The second night, I ordered another, but it was not recognizable as a beef burger. It was wafer-thin and irregularly shaped.

Last night, I tried the third option, a hamburger with cheese. I would just love to witness the reaction of a dozen drunken Americans to what I was served – a cob (bun) with a slice of processed, cheese, a slice of pressed ham and a slice of onion. All raw – not even warned up! It was easily the worst burger i have ever had anywhere in the world.

My wife and daughter joined me last night and order two traditional Thai dishes, but they were too awful to eat, and my wife is pretty easy-going.

When we got in, the room had not been cleaned, although the towels had been changed and there were three small bottles of water outside the door.

Disaster!

I went down for a beer at three today. At four a waitress took my empty bottle away and i said ‘Yes, please’. An hour later, I was still waiting, so i spoke up. “The beer is finished”, said the girl. The charge to drink a large Chang in the hotel is 140 Baht; the 7/11, ten metres away, sells them chilled for fifty each, so why wouldn’t they just go and buy me two until the dray arrived?

Your guess is as good as mine, but my gut feeling is that they just don’t give a rat’s.

I might stay there again, if desperate, but the two ladies never would. In fact, we are moving to our daughter’s small flat tomorrow to sleep on the floor. I’m looking forward to it.

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+Owen Jones

Podcast: Swan Inn II, Bangkok

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Soi Nana: Bangkok’s Red Light District

Published by Owen Jones on 7 May 2016
Soi Nana: Bangkok's Red Light District
Soi Nana: Bangkok’s Red Light District

Soi Nana: Bangkok’s Red Light District

It is not only in, but Soi Nana is what most people call Bangkok’s Red Light District. However, not only sex tourists want to stay here. Thrill-seekers love it and so do those looking for visas, because many of the Embassies are within walking distance of it, including the British, American, Spanish and Swiss Embassies.

My wife and I have stayed here four times, three for visas and once for pleasure.

Swan Inn II

However, this is our first visit to the small Swan Inn II further down the street (soi), about fifteen minutes from the action. That may not sound far, but most visitors like to have it going on all around them.

This is the hottest year since 1958, and it will remain like this with temperatures around 45-50c – until the monsoon comes, which is traditionally in mid-May, although with the climate changes, it has been a month late. That would never have happened until the last decade. Thai weather has been predictable for centuries and more.

The natural heat, combined with the traffic fumes and omnipresent dust, half of which one presumes is powered dog crap, is becoming normal. Luckily, irascibility and road rage barely exist over here, except among the foreigners. Thais look on aloof, accustomed to bearing everything that comes their way, seeing it as part of their Karma. And that, as all Buddhists know, just has to be taken in one’s stride.

Karma

And Thais are good at doing that, if they are left to just get on with their lives.

Interrupt them in that occupation at your peril though, because there is a lot of pent-up rage born of frustration waiting to get out of most (poor) Thais. If you don’t believe me, look at the video of how they treated those Brits in Hua Hin, although from what I saw the Brits started it.

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Owen

Podcast: Soi Nana: Bangkok’s Red Light District

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Getting to Soi Nana Bangkok

Published by Owen Jones on 5 May 2016
Getting to Soi Nana Bangkok
Soi Nana Bangkok

Getting to Soi Nana, Bangkok.

It is somewhere between six and seven hundred kilometres from our village in the north of Thailand to Bangkok. One authoritative German once assured me that it is precisely 644 km to the sign that says the equivalent of ‘Bangkok welcomes careful drivers’.

Be that as it may, it took us six hours at 120kph where possible to get there in six hours including a few stops for refuelling, the toilets and dropping off passengers.

Getting to Soi Nana by Bus

The minibus was comfortable enough, but what annoyed me, besides the crappy music, was the fact that the driver spent at least three hours on the phone. One hand on the wheel and one hand holding his mobile. On three occasions, presumably when he was talking to his boss, he had an exercise book pinned to the wheel and he was reading from that.

However, on two other occasions, he had the phone in one hand and was scratching his head with the other. ‘He must be steadying the wheel with his knee, I thought’, and stood up to look. But, no, his knees were under the dashboard and the wheel was nine inches above his crotch.

So we were rudderless at 120kph on a busy motorway!

Anyway, we survived that, and arrived at the huge bus station pronounced somewhere between Munch It and Moon Shit, except that at this precise moment, it only exists as a memory, because it is being rebuilt. The site, the size of a football field is just dust and rubble.

By Taxi

We looked for a taxi, but he would only take us to the nearest taxi rank – a hundred yards or so away. The first twenty-odd taxi drivers refused to take us because it was ‘too far’, but the next one did.

He was on the phone when he stopped, didn’t get out to help us with our luggage and had not finished his conversation twenty minutes later when we arrived at our hotel. It was bad enough, but at least he had a hands-free set.

However, neither I, my wife nor our daughter had sat in a car before with a man seeming to talk to himself, we are still used to the incessant rabbiting of the driver to us.

Has it got like that where you live yet?

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All the best,

Owen

Podcast: Getting to Soi Nana, Bangkok

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