I’ve occasionally linked to articles from Stickman’s weekly column even though the Stick covers the breeder version of Bangkok and seldom mentions gay venues. Unless you consider ladyboys gay. His site is listed on my blog roll too. I’ve always enjoyed his photography and while the minutia of the straight gogo bar scene in Bangkok doesn’t do much for me, the occasional overview of that world is still of interest. If for no better reason than to see how pricey it is to get laid when only one dick is involved.

But my interest in Thailand has always been about more than just satisfying an itch, no matter how frequently I may scratch it. Stickman often writes about events beyond the bar world of general interest as well as covering places to go and things to do in and around Bangkok. His column is a great addition for those looking for news and information about Bangkok. Even when he writes about Patpong it’s still of interest to me; it’s difficult to spend much time on Soi Twilight and/or Soi 4 without touching on Patpong 1 & 2 so those areas are still familiar though not where my main focus lays. As nice as it is having Stickman’s column to discover more about the Kingdom, I’d be just as happy having a site to visit that ignores the rest and just covers Bangkok’s bar world. The gay one.

It’s a shame there is no Bangkok-based pundit specifically covering the gay bar scene. A few guys occasionally post on the message boards but seldom in detail. There are never pictures and descriptions of nights out at best include useless comments like, “Classic Boys has the cutest guys on Soi Twilight.” That leads those not in the know to think Classic is the hot spot, the place to visit. When what it really means is that particular punter likes ugly little scrawny kids who couldn’t land a job at any of the better bars on the soi. And when something big happens in town – like the Red Shirts decide to take over the downtown area for a massive barbecue for a few weeks, or mother nature decides the city needs a good washing from the ground up – there is no record from a gay man’s perspective, there is no insight into how whatever is going on impacts the areas we tend to flock to.

I’m not in Thailand often enough to serve that need. Being on holiday when I am, it’s more about me enjoying myself than about hitting every bar in town to provide an update on what’s hot and what’s not, even though when I do those articles are always the most read on this blog (except for the worldwide interest in Channing Tatum’s penis). Boo Hoo makes an attempt, as scandalous as it is for his soul to do so, but his perspective is about standing outside the window looking in. The result, while more detailed, is even more useless than the ‘Classic Boys has the cutest guys on Soi Twilight’ type of comment found on the boards. And just as misleading. Shameless Mac once covered the massage scene and occasionally the bars on a regular basis though his blog is no longer with us. Its popularity proved there is a need for a regularly published internet site dealing with Bangkok’s gay establishments. There are a lot of us who don’t live in Thailand who still want to stay in touch in between visits.

Which brings me to William R. Morledge’s Bangkok Eyes website and its monthly Midnite Hour review of Bangkok’s night scene. Like Stickman’s Weekly, Bangkok Eyes is a website for our straight brethren. Unlike the Stick he includes info on both Soi 4 and Soi Twilight. It’s not heavy on detail, but he does cover bar openings and closings and includes photos of the venues. And like the Stick, when something big happens in town – whether it’s another anniversary of the King or a series of bombings to ring in the new year – he covers those events too. Usually from the perspective of the night owl and bar crawler.

The monthly Midnite Hour column is heavy on photos with lots of pix of neon signs. Those of street scenes in and around Bangkok’s more famous entertainment districts are often as familiar to me as they probably are to breeders. Funny how a picture of a small, dark, congested soi of little fame can bring a smile to my face for no better reason than its familiarity. I’m not sure how it fits in with the rest of the column, but there is regular coverage of graffiti (as art) too, which, personally, I like all most as much as neon. Go figure.

Bangkok Eyes has been covering Bangkok’s bar scene since 2001. Soi Twilight began making its regular appearance on the site in 2006 (Soi 4 even before that, but since it took me awhile to figure out that’s what is referred to as Soi Katoey on the site it didn’t click at first). The old Twilight Bar was around way before 2006, but it was the soi’s growth into a full blown entertainment area that caught Bangkok Eyes’ attention that year, covered in an article you may find of interest called The Twilight Zone: Gay Bar Area Hits Critical Mass.

I first ran across the site some time ago when I was trying to pin down the name of the bar my friend Dave and I used to hang out at in Patpong when we first started visiting Bangkok back in the ‘90s. The monthly column incudes a historical look at the city’s entertainment nightlife from 10 to 15 years ago, so even though its archives of columns only goes back a dozen years, there’s info from decades before that too. It’s that historical record that got me thinking about the need for a similar site for the rainbow crowd.

Even as scant as Bangkok Eyes’ coverage of the gay scene is, perusing the site’s archives brought up photos of several bars that I’d forgotten about, a few almost as soon as they had closed. I enjoyed looking through the pictures of the changing scene on Soi Twilight and Silom Soi 4 too. It’s nice to have a photographic record somewhere on-line that tickles long forgotten memories of enjoyable visits to Bangkok from trips so long ago they are but a blur lost amidst memories from more recent visits. Remember the upstairs Tom Boy gogo bar on Soi 4? Yeah, I didn’t either until I saw a photo of it on the Bangkok Eyes’ website.

Even Stickman doesn’t look backward often, so Bangkok Eyes has that niche to itself and goes as far as taking a specific look at the history of Bangkok’s bar world in special articles like this one on the history of ladyboy bars in Nana from March of last year. There has been an article about the more popular hotels from the Vietnam era too (which for the record was before my time). An article from 2008 reviews the history of nudity in Bangkok Bars, and several from the Thaskin era reminds you of the morale brigade crackdown of those days too.

As enjoyable as using the site to refresh memories is, I will make it a point to read the column monthly from now on too; seeing the changes Soi Twilight is going through – either yet again or still – keeps me in touch with on of my favorite spots in Bangkok and gets me excited to be planning my next visit too.

For the current column of Bangkok Eyes, click here. Their list of archives are at the bottom of the page.

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