As some of you may or may not know, Bangkok had a fairly big shakeup in the last 12 months in regards to closing times of nightclubs etc. At one point, pretty much every club was being shut at 2, this was following a pretty brutal shakeup of the police force and serious threat of penalty for any clubs/bars that breach the 'official' closing time.
Safe to say, since then, things have been relaxed somewhat and nightlife is pretty much back to normal.
So what places are going off this year in Bangkok? Where are you likely to find non-pro, decent looking girls and what time?
For more specific info about other things in Bangkok, check out Afarangs Bangkok Datasheet
Time to go out
The later it gets, the higher the probability gets you are going to be talking to Semi-Pros or overall ambiguous women. Get out there early, Thais pre-drink in adjacent bars and it's always fun to go out and talk earlier. Gets you in a good vibe for later on as well.
Thai Clubs
There will be some debate here, but if you don't have a Thai social circle in BKK, walking into a Thai Club is not going to win you a lot of fanfare. Girls won't want to be seen talking to you by the Thai Guys. Thai Guys, while not as bad as Koreans, can be cockblockers or on the other end very aggressive when their drunk/on drugs. So uness you're going with Thai friends, stick to the places that cater to both Farang and Thai.
After hours clubs
Generally two types of girls come here.
First is the Freelancers, enough said and the second is the Hospitality workers/late finishers. I'll often meet girls who work in hotels / restuarants and bars here. They might actually freelance as well but I never paid and I never got that vibe, but as is the nature of this city you will have guys just offering to throw money at them. Gutless fuckers.
Style
Dress well. The Farangs and Thais in Bangkok are stylish on par with any other World City, so nice shirt, pants and nice shoes and watch will take you a long way.
The clubs take off at around 12.30 - 2.30am on the weekends a little bit earlier in the week. Though groups of girls will actually head out earlier and if you can beat the hordes of thirsty motherfuckers that get in at around 1, then you can introduce yourself a bit and make yourself a warm acquaintance and come back to them later, even if there is 10 idiots dancing around them.
Where to go
Thursday - Saturday, RCA is going to be packed and ready to explode every night. Though it is fucking hot between March and October. Demographics are middle class Thais 18-30
More and more foreigners, specifically non-Thai Asians are starting to come, especially to Route 66. They are generally on package tours and hard to approach.
The place tends to get busy at 12.30, messy at 1.30 and shuts around 2.30.
Levels Everyday 12-3.30ish. Wed-Fri-Sat
Once the crown jewel in Bangkok's nightlife, the joint has turned into a glorified freelancer venue. Where you used to be able to be sure that no ladyboys and minimal working ladies were there now it is not the case. They changed their door policy quite a bit as well, so you will find plenty of South Asians (I'm talking the fobby, completely unsocialised kind) and old Farangs with their Thai 'dates'.
With that being said, the crowd will still be good on Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays after 1. And you will always be able to find a 'few' people that won't be freelance hookers.
Khao San Rd Every night between 10-2am.
Khao San Rd has a bad rep, mainly because it's the stinky moronic backpacker base of the universe. It is a different world to what you will find in BKK's upper echelon nightlife districts, however, it is also for a magnet for Thais who want to 'dress down' for the night. Stay the fuck away from Golf Bar firstly, unless you want permanent hearing loss. Look for mixed sets of Thais drinking beer on the street. Dress well, introduce yourself and they will be impressed. 'The Club' is the biggest club in the area, but it is a shithole and you won't find quality there. Head down to brick bar or even Mulligans the Irish Pub and you will find mostly Thai people that are receptive to meeting a stylishly dressed foreigner. Behind Khao San Rd you will find soi Rambutree. Lots of bars, music and Thai Style clubs. In regards to the latter, it's the usual table service deal there and you will find yourself with very little traction because these aren't the type of people that really want to be seen mingling with Farangs. When you get to Khao San Rd, start early (8-10) as people come here for after work drinks. Great place to go in the lull of the week Sunday-Tuesday.
Ku De Ta 11-2am Wed - Saturday
IMO the new gem in Bangkok's nightlife. Very fancy, somewhat expensive (though beers are about normal at 200B) and a little bit douchey. Lots of model types hang out there, boys and girls, but I find the former to be moronic and game really works a treat here as most girls will speak good English and a good sense of humour will help mitigate the douchey vibe of the place. Worth mentioning is there are alot of Non-Thais coming through this place as well, Europeans and a surprising amount of Singaporean/Indonesians. Name recognition I guess. It has good DJ and the guy that runs the club is cool too. Worth mentioning is the ladies night every Wednesday, absolute best in BKK bar none. It goes from 9-1am after which most head off to Bed/Mixx/Levels. Get in early though, as after about 11.30-12.00, the ratio fucks out quite significantly (2:1 favouring dudes) and girls attitudes change quite significantly.
Mixx 2-4am
The official 'cool' after hours joint in BKK. Many working girls, but you can weed them out and find the 'good girls', if you try hard enough. It gets packed with all the freelancers after Levels shuts about 3.15-3.30. The girls standing by the wall ogling everything with a dick (See: wallet) are going to be freelancers. Hit the dancefloor up and check ratios, if you see plenty of dudes out there it's probably not a good night. A lot of hospitality girls go there as well.
For the sake of hilarity, check out the guy who owns the club and all of his fake memorabilia on the wall in the bathroom. The guy is a nobody, but in the club he is 'Asia's greatest DJ'. Motherfucker wouldn't even play good hip hop. Be careful here, the Taxi drivers are very aggressive especially at 5am. Lots on drugs. When you leave, exit to the right and go around to the Intercontinental and get a taxi there. Fuck getting bashed or dying in a car crash.
Sugar Club 2-5am.
Owned by the same mob who run Levels. Sugar is a hip hop club that in my mind is pretty damn cool. IT has dancers most nights (seemed open to game too) but it is a very, very small club. 50-60 people max. Many will be hookers. If you're black, this place might be up your alley as there are girls here that are come specifically to meet black guys. Not too many freelancers, not many ladyboys.
Glow
Cool club, never had a chance to really check it out too much.
Thonglor
Demo is loud, too many Thai guys and they can be quite violent as cockblockers. Funky Villa is cool, you will get some mad props if you know some words to the Thai songs and Muse is nice as well. Seen Space is cool for a pre-drinks / hangout spot. Nice Korean Fried Chicken, lots of eye candy but lots of Thai dudes so cockblocking.
Swing
After Mixx and Sugar shuts there is usually only one option and that is... Swing! shuts usually at 8-10am and, while I used to hate it, I pulled there three nights in a row. It's pitch black, everyone is smashed as fuck (worse than booze) but this is where a lot of the 'hospitality' girls go. Some are trying their hand at freelancing to subsidise their 10,000THB a month wage but many will just go home with you. Be prepared for a drunken dish of noodles in awkward sunlight before the bang though.
Avoid
Climax
Insanity
Sukhimvit Soi 4
Silom/Patpong
Spicy
Shock
Beer bars / gogos
Go to Soi Cowboy one time.
Any bars between Sukhimvit soi 1 and 7/1.
Anything I missed? Feel free to correct me or chime in.
Safe to say, since then, things have been relaxed somewhat and nightlife is pretty much back to normal.
So what places are going off this year in Bangkok? Where are you likely to find non-pro, decent looking girls and what time?
For more specific info about other things in Bangkok, check out Afarangs Bangkok Datasheet
Time to go out
The later it gets, the higher the probability gets you are going to be talking to Semi-Pros or overall ambiguous women. Get out there early, Thais pre-drink in adjacent bars and it's always fun to go out and talk earlier. Gets you in a good vibe for later on as well.
Thai Clubs
There will be some debate here, but if you don't have a Thai social circle in BKK, walking into a Thai Club is not going to win you a lot of fanfare. Girls won't want to be seen talking to you by the Thai Guys. Thai Guys, while not as bad as Koreans, can be cockblockers or on the other end very aggressive when their drunk/on drugs. So uness you're going with Thai friends, stick to the places that cater to both Farang and Thai.
After hours clubs
Generally two types of girls come here.
First is the Freelancers, enough said and the second is the Hospitality workers/late finishers. I'll often meet girls who work in hotels / restuarants and bars here. They might actually freelance as well but I never paid and I never got that vibe, but as is the nature of this city you will have guys just offering to throw money at them. Gutless fuckers.
Style
Dress well. The Farangs and Thais in Bangkok are stylish on par with any other World City, so nice shirt, pants and nice shoes and watch will take you a long way.
The clubs take off at around 12.30 - 2.30am on the weekends a little bit earlier in the week. Though groups of girls will actually head out earlier and if you can beat the hordes of thirsty motherfuckers that get in at around 1, then you can introduce yourself a bit and make yourself a warm acquaintance and come back to them later, even if there is 10 idiots dancing around them.
Where to go
Thursday - Saturday, RCA is going to be packed and ready to explode every night. Though it is fucking hot between March and October. Demographics are middle class Thais 18-30
More and more foreigners, specifically non-Thai Asians are starting to come, especially to Route 66. They are generally on package tours and hard to approach.
The place tends to get busy at 12.30, messy at 1.30 and shuts around 2.30.
Levels Everyday 12-3.30ish. Wed-Fri-Sat
Once the crown jewel in Bangkok's nightlife, the joint has turned into a glorified freelancer venue. Where you used to be able to be sure that no ladyboys and minimal working ladies were there now it is not the case. They changed their door policy quite a bit as well, so you will find plenty of South Asians (I'm talking the fobby, completely unsocialised kind) and old Farangs with their Thai 'dates'.
With that being said, the crowd will still be good on Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays after 1. And you will always be able to find a 'few' people that won't be freelance hookers.
Khao San Rd Every night between 10-2am.
Khao San Rd has a bad rep, mainly because it's the stinky moronic backpacker base of the universe. It is a different world to what you will find in BKK's upper echelon nightlife districts, however, it is also for a magnet for Thais who want to 'dress down' for the night. Stay the fuck away from Golf Bar firstly, unless you want permanent hearing loss. Look for mixed sets of Thais drinking beer on the street. Dress well, introduce yourself and they will be impressed. 'The Club' is the biggest club in the area, but it is a shithole and you won't find quality there. Head down to brick bar or even Mulligans the Irish Pub and you will find mostly Thai people that are receptive to meeting a stylishly dressed foreigner. Behind Khao San Rd you will find soi Rambutree. Lots of bars, music and Thai Style clubs. In regards to the latter, it's the usual table service deal there and you will find yourself with very little traction because these aren't the type of people that really want to be seen mingling with Farangs. When you get to Khao San Rd, start early (8-10) as people come here for after work drinks. Great place to go in the lull of the week Sunday-Tuesday.
Ku De Ta 11-2am Wed - Saturday
IMO the new gem in Bangkok's nightlife. Very fancy, somewhat expensive (though beers are about normal at 200B) and a little bit douchey. Lots of model types hang out there, boys and girls, but I find the former to be moronic and game really works a treat here as most girls will speak good English and a good sense of humour will help mitigate the douchey vibe of the place. Worth mentioning is there are alot of Non-Thais coming through this place as well, Europeans and a surprising amount of Singaporean/Indonesians. Name recognition I guess. It has good DJ and the guy that runs the club is cool too. Worth mentioning is the ladies night every Wednesday, absolute best in BKK bar none. It goes from 9-1am after which most head off to Bed/Mixx/Levels. Get in early though, as after about 11.30-12.00, the ratio fucks out quite significantly (2:1 favouring dudes) and girls attitudes change quite significantly.
Mixx 2-4am
The official 'cool' after hours joint in BKK. Many working girls, but you can weed them out and find the 'good girls', if you try hard enough. It gets packed with all the freelancers after Levels shuts about 3.15-3.30. The girls standing by the wall ogling everything with a dick (See: wallet) are going to be freelancers. Hit the dancefloor up and check ratios, if you see plenty of dudes out there it's probably not a good night. A lot of hospitality girls go there as well.
For the sake of hilarity, check out the guy who owns the club and all of his fake memorabilia on the wall in the bathroom. The guy is a nobody, but in the club he is 'Asia's greatest DJ'. Motherfucker wouldn't even play good hip hop. Be careful here, the Taxi drivers are very aggressive especially at 5am. Lots on drugs. When you leave, exit to the right and go around to the Intercontinental and get a taxi there. Fuck getting bashed or dying in a car crash.
Sugar Club 2-5am.
Owned by the same mob who run Levels. Sugar is a hip hop club that in my mind is pretty damn cool. IT has dancers most nights (seemed open to game too) but it is a very, very small club. 50-60 people max. Many will be hookers. If you're black, this place might be up your alley as there are girls here that are come specifically to meet black guys. Not too many freelancers, not many ladyboys.
Glow
Cool club, never had a chance to really check it out too much.
Thonglor
Demo is loud, too many Thai guys and they can be quite violent as cockblockers. Funky Villa is cool, you will get some mad props if you know some words to the Thai songs and Muse is nice as well. Seen Space is cool for a pre-drinks / hangout spot. Nice Korean Fried Chicken, lots of eye candy but lots of Thai dudes so cockblocking.
Swing
After Mixx and Sugar shuts there is usually only one option and that is... Swing! shuts usually at 8-10am and, while I used to hate it, I pulled there three nights in a row. It's pitch black, everyone is smashed as fuck (worse than booze) but this is where a lot of the 'hospitality' girls go. Some are trying their hand at freelancing to subsidise their 10,000THB a month wage but many will just go home with you. Be prepared for a drunken dish of noodles in awkward sunlight before the bang though.
Avoid
Climax
Insanity
Sukhimvit Soi 4
Silom/Patpong
Spicy
Shock
Beer bars / gogos
Go to Soi Cowboy one time.
Any bars between Sukhimvit soi 1 and 7/1.
Anything I missed? Feel free to correct me or chime in.