Go-Go Valentine’s Day

The balcony view of the alley behind our guesthouse overlooks a dirty Red-light/ Go-Go strip with a dozen or so neon bars and a handful of street-side ones. There are also a few lady-boy bars, but I haven’t had the desire to venture into any of those fine, well kept establishments. A quiet stroll through this neighborhood is only possible in theory, not actually in practice. Girls materialize from behind curtains, jump out of creaky folding chairs, call from bar stools, or in many cases block your passage and pull you in the direction of their bar.

People of every variety congregate in this little ghetto where I currently reside. Most of the patrons are older western men between the ages of 40 and 60, and there are also many old Thai men that cling to the shadows as they stroll the neighborhood.

In honor of Valentines day and having nothing better to do, Dano and I ventured to one of the street-side bars I had been photographing the previous night. The bar is at the end of the street opposite our Guesthouse and instead of heading directly down the alley (which is a much shorter distance) we walked all the way around the front to approach from the outside. We make our way to two open bar stools and order a beer. To my immediate left is a western male who had to be at least 70. He is hovering over the Thai girl, no older than 20. Their interaction is silent and from any perspective she doesn’t appear to be enjoying herself (can’t blame her).

Bar stools find visitors as the evening progresses, and some of the patrons periodically disappear down the alley with one of the girls. Valentine’s Day has attracted at least double the visitors of any of the previous nights this week. None of the girls seem to know what the Hallmark holiday is, nor was there any real interest in learning (not that I think the holiday is even worth dignifying by teaching other people about it). Most of the the older gentlemen surrounding Dano and I all have a reserved look that doesn’t welcome conversation. However, there are a few gentlemen that speak enough Thai to get by in conversation, and by the familiarity between the girls and them it’s apparent they are not first-time visitors.

Patrons and working girls alike disregard our presence, or at the bare minimum view us as seat fillers. It only took them a few moments to realize that we’re not going to purchase any of their “time,” so we were left alone.

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