Bangkok Nightlife - Soi Cowboy

Located off Soi 23, or Asoke depending on which way you arrive, Soi Cowboy is one of the ex-pats favourite hangouts. More laid back than either Nana Plaza or Patpong and still with a good enough choice of girls to keep everybody happy.

Basically one long Soi lined on both sides by bars and Go-Gos you may get the occasional girl trying to lure you into their premises but certainly no touts, the bane of the Bangkok Nightlife scene in other areas, hassling you.

Soi Cowboy is home of the most famous show bar in Thailand Long Gun, apart from the normal shows you associate with the Thai Nightlife the girls here are taught how to dance and that means really dance. The sight of the Long Gun girls jumping down into the splits for the third time combined with the "biker chicks" costumes they wear is guaranteed to make you an addict to this highlight of the Soi Cowboy go-go bars. Thai Nightlife wouldn't be complete without the girls from Long Gun.

Across the Road is Tilac, another very good Go-Go bar, this place is fairly traditional in the way that the girls dance in Bikini's, no showing at all here. What Tilac bar does have however is some really good looking girls and more than that the attitude of most of the girls here is a lesson to other go-gos in Thailand. Some of these girls are so charming that it's no wonder there are more than a few guys who returns time after time. The journals of Soi Cowboy Nightlife wouldn't be complete without the chapters that Tilac Bar has written into it.

For those of you with an adventurous nature try out either Toy bar or Moonshine bar, in both of these establishments try buying the girls a couple of Tequila's and then see how long you can keep your trousers on, not for the weak willed. We won't go into any further detail here, go and try for yourselves.

Baccara Bar further up the Soi is now famous for its glass floor on the second floor, sitting downstairs you can get some interesting views, since its renovation Baccara has also got nice Short time rooms and 2 Vip rooms which are free to use, you just need to book them with the mamasan.

Finally we have to mention some of the newcomers that have recently just moved onto Soi Cowboy. Bringing their winning formula from Clinton Plaza (now closed for re-development) and Pattaya The Dollhouse Cowboy has become one of the top bars in Cowboy. Great girls, good service and a huge sports TV screen to boot, what more could you need?

Suzie Wong bar changed ownership a while ago, and was completely gutted and refurbished. What nobody had expected however was how much of an instant success the new owners would make of it. When you consider that the new owners are Pete and Al from Play Skool in Nana Plaza then we shouldn't have been surprised, Play Skool has always been one of the top go-gos in Nana and now they are repeating the success on Soi Cowboy. More recently they have opened the upstairs as a pub with pool tables. An excellent place to just chill out and chat or have a game of pool with your newly acquired friend from downstairs.

We are now waiting for Pete and Al's latest venture to open on Soi Cowboy. Their most exciting project to date, and with an Egyptian theme, we all eagerly await the opening of Sheba's.

Anybody who knows will tell you that the Thai Nightlife scene is constantly moving, Soi Cowboy has gone through some Dramatic changes over the last two years. It is still known as the ex-pats favourite but it has become more than that, the bars are busier than they ever were and there is no longer any perceivable difference between the quality of girls here than in Nana Plaza. What the girls haven't started doing yet is copying the Nana Plaza "I only go short-time disease", we can only hope that this is the way it stays.

Piccolo Beer Bar
Your average beer bar with 2 pool tables.

Hare & Hound
This is probably the best known bar in the area if you like to watch sport as it has a huge screen television. Traditional British pub style bar - other than that not much to say.

Irish Pub
Small bar that has a pool table. Quite dark inside.

Old Dutch
This is a restaurant bar at the Soi 23 end of Cowboy. Apparently good food here. This finishes the non GoGo's part of Soi Cowboy.

Pam's Bar
Well how can you describe Pam's Bar? A nice touch here is that they bring you the ice cold towels to cool yourself off while having a beer. A really friendly bar, no hassles and a laid back (horizontal) attitude.

Our Place
This is a medium sized bar that is severely lacking in quality girls, with the possible exception of one serving girl. The girls that are there though are extremely pushy in asking for lady drinks.

Baccara
Straight across the road to the famous Baccara complete with its glass ceiling. This recently refurbished gogo was sadly lacking in customers. The girls were not pushy at all.

Joy's Bar
As entered we thought that this was a dump of a small bar, but how wrong could we be. It is one of those rare bars where the girls actually dance instead of the two shoe shuffle. Great attitude with the girls as well, some of which were quite cute. We soon had a crowd of girls around us but none were actually pushing us to buy them drinks.

Joe's Bar
Next door to Joy's bar - another small bar. But sadly lacking in the attitude of its neighbour. The girl's in this bar are extremely pushy!

Jukes Bar
Back across the Soi to Jukes bar. The least said about this bar the better. It is a fairly large bar with big stage but it sadly lacks something ….. oh that's right, cute girls and customers!

Midnite Bar
Largish bar with many many girls. Great bar, good attitudes with girls and a short time room upstairs - what more can you ask for!

Tony's bar
Onto Angel's bar and what a strange bar. When we arrived there were no dancers at all on the small stage. The girls here were very pushy trying to get us to buy drinks.

Moonshine Joint
Welcome to the pushiest bar on Soi Cowboy. Within nano-seconds of entering we were surrounded by 12 girls! The best thing about this bar is the Mamasan - reputedly the best looking Mamasan in Bangkok. Girls were extremely pushy here. Also, count your check bin as maybe (not 100% sure) the tab was padded.

Jungle Jims
As you enter Jungle Jim's it is like walking into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Fake plants, trees, you name it give the appropriate décor for a bar of its name. Girls again were pushy here but not to the same extent as Moonshine.

Suzie Wong
This bar is the pits - no good looking girls - no really good dancing. Girls were not pushy (thank god) and nothing really going for this bar.

Shirtz
Across the Soi to Shirtz bar. Girls were quite aggressive in seeking out Lady Drinks.

Cowboy One
The bar was fairly empty of customers leaving us open to be attacked by the girls chasing Lady Drinks and a potential relationship. Again another bar where the girls were pushy.

After School
Next door to the famous After School bar. This is the bar where you can go and sit in the Naughty Boys corner and indulge in extra curricular activities. Not been brave enough to do that, and as we were on a tight schedule, we sat in the middle of the bar. The girls are dressed in school like uniforms (which school I don't know because they didn't dress like that when I was in school) and have good attitudes.

Las Vegas Bar
Across the road to Las Vegas bar ( formerly known as JB Bar). I believe this bar has recently been bought by the owners of Cowboy One. Just a few girls appear to be working here, and no one really special.

Nice Bar
The split is about 50/50 between first and second generation girls. One important thing about this bar is that it plays good techno music if you are into that sort of thing.

Wet Lips Bar
Across the road to Wet Lips bar. Small and very dark bar again but for a change this was quite busy, with us having to stand near the entrance.

Tilac Bar
For some reason we decided to go out of sequence and we headed over to Tilac Bar. This is a large bar packed with 2 stages of girls. Along with Long Gun, this bar must have the highest percentage of good looking girls in Cowboy. Great bar, great attitude of the girls.

Sam 2000
Now this isn't a GoGo bar. This place must surely be in the Top 3 places where you can get a burger in Bangkok.

Black and White
Now this is another largish bar with a fair number of girls.

Dandy Bar
Back across the Soi to Dandy Bar. No pressure from the girls to buy drinks for them. This is a genuine bar where they show you the bill before putting it in your check bin. Girls have good attitude.

Rawhide
Sister bar of Long Gun. Big Bar, but strangely lacking in numbers of girls unlike Long Gun. The showgirls split between the 2 bars so the quality of the show is excellent. Yes it is not as popular as Long Gun, but that's ok because it's not as crowded.

Apache Bar
From Rawhide and onto Apache. Poor selection of girls and those that were there were quite pushy.

Five Star
Onto 5 Star : Good small bar near the Soi 19 end of Cowboy. They have live music in this bar even though it is quite cramped. 5 dancers on stage 2 of which were quite cute. All in all a good bar and something a little different i.e. live band alongside the gogo format.

Five Star II
Next door to 5 Star II - another good small bar - girls have good attitude whilst not being overly pushy. Infact when we were in there the girls were dancing on the tables.

Crazy Cats
Next we go to Crazy Cats for what turned out to be a very quick drink. When we entered this small bar there was only 1 girl dancing and the place was deserted.

Toy Bar
As this bar is part of the moonshine, Jungle Jims group then it is no surprise how pushy it is, actually an understatement as you are fighting to keep your clothes on.

Shadow Bar
The Shadow bar is now undergoing a major renovation.

Mylady Bar
Onto MyLady Bar. This bar has been recently renovated and as yet is struggling to find an identity. There are quite a few girls working here, although not the most attractive in Soi Cowboy. No real hassles from the girls.

Country Road
A non GoGo bar that has live music. Good for a change of pace and good music.

Long Gun
Great Girls, Great Show, Great Attitude No room to sit - nuff said!! This bar is a must visit place for any visitor.