Red Lights & Hot Nights Bangkok

It's nearly time for me to leave Bangkok and explore the rest of the country, however no visit would be complete without a visit to the notorious red light ditrict of the city, Soi Cowboy, in Suhkimvit down near China town.

Bangkok is (in several ways) hot and steamy, 32 degrees and about 80% humidity so to avoid the heat and the hassle of haggling with taxi drivers I'm going to take the skytrain.

Skytrain (left) really is excellent. For 1.20 GBP you can travel all day in pristine, air conditioned comfort. It makes the London Underground and DLR look like a very sad old joke. The platforms are even marked to show exactly where the doors to each carriage will open, and a traffic policeman on every platform to ensure best behaviour, safety and a litter free environment.








Soi Cowboy is a smear of exhuberant neon in the south centre of the citys heart. A concentration of bustling markets of cut price knock off gear and brazen but awkward, naive kind of sleaze that's hard to feel anything but a sense of pity for. Like much of Thailand it's effective in a brutally cheap way.
























It's an overpowering experience in this district from the hawkers to the Go Go bar touts to the bar girls who almost literally drag you into the bar front. For a shy chap like myself it's an ordeal to be immersed in a land of neon etched mini skirts and bikini tops just to get a few bottles of Chang.

And what better after a night in the fleshpots of Soi Cowboy than a traditional Thai fast food fix to fight off the munchies:

Yum, fried locusts, ooh and a small portion of grubs please, chilli sauce?

Trust me it's on of the few things I've eaten that DOESN'T taste like chicken.

Ok, on last post from Bankok then it's off to the jungle. Ta ta.

Mr C