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"The Rounds" December 22, 2001
Mekhong Kurt First, Seasons Greetings to all, and may the New Year find -- and keep -- you well. Since I last wrote, it seems the Interior Minister made a visit to Nana Entertainment Plaza about a week ago, along with his troops; in at least one a-go-go venue in which the dancers were wearing bikinis, the order was to put on more clothes. As Trink has already reported (Friday, December 21, 2001), a number of places are on 15-day closure orders for showing. One has to wonder if Interior Minister Purachai and his supporters really understand all the implications of their actions. No one halfway sane is opposed to the fundamental notions of keeping children out of inappropriate places, of reducing drug trafficking and addiction, and so on. Nor can anyone legitimately oppose fair enforcement of valid, reasonable laws, "valid and reasonable" as defined by the majority of the native populace. The question of the working ladies -- and I am *not* referring to children in the flesh trade, something I find totally abhorrent -- is altogether different, so long as the lady is voluntarily working. I'm not interested in the argument of "economic slavery" here. By "voluntarily" I mean someone who has made a decision on her own that given her circumstances and wishes to work in the flesh trade. It's sad indeed if her only other option is to stay on the farm and slave away for virtually nothing -- but that's another matter. Purachai, it can be argued, means well. But he sure seems to me to be going about things much as a bull in a china closet might. * * * * * * * * * * Cowboy Jon, my trusty right hand, has been taking pictures of establishments on Soi Thonglor [Sukhumvit Soi 55] of potential interest to foreign tourists and/or foreign residents. In the near future we will set up a handy online guide to Thonglor. (He even took an exterior shot of the Thonglor District Police Headquarters, so you'll know where you're en route to should you cross swords with the Thonglor police!) This area, like it's companion soi up the way, Soi Ekamai (Sukhumvit Soi 63) has flowered to some degree since I first arrived in 1994. More later on both Thonglor and Ekamai. * * * * * * * * * * Queen's Park Plaza on SUkhumvit Soi 22 is developing rapidly. As of last night there were 8 bars, 2 foot massage places, 2 restaurants, 1 travel agent, 1 pharmacy, and 1 leather-goods shop operational, with a several more bars scheduled to be coming up over the next few weeks. The most recent additions are the Moonshine Pub, owned by Khun Ott of Washington Square's Silver Dollar Bar, and Laguna Seafood Restaurant. It's difficult to guess if the venue can reach critical mass, even in what's supposed to be the touristy season. The cool season returned last night (and I hope for more than a day or two), making the outside bar-beer more attractive, which may help bring imbibers generally into the plaza. Moonshine Pub had its Grand Opening December 20th, an event well-attended for so small a place -- it can seat, inside, about 25-30 people. When I was there, early on around 7 o'clock, there were about 40 customers crammed inside. Food was served, and the baked ham came as close to the legendary late Bobby Toombs' as I've ever had -- and that's saying something, given that the common opinion is that Bobby was without peer when it came to smoking a ham! * * * * * * * * * * Made a sashay down to Clinton Plaza about a week ago, and noticed that only a few places remain closed. Tried The Living Room for the first time, and liked it a lot. Very comfortable, friendly staff, fronts onto Sukhumvit with an open front (and an air curtain) allowing one to watch the comic parade marching by. * * * * * * * * * * Perhaps unsurprisingly, the misnamed Asoke Corner (behind Soi Cowboy, fronting Sukhumvit Soi 23) appears to be doing relatively better than it's equally misnamed companion venue, Asoke Plaza -- "misnamed" because Asoke Plaza is on the corner of Asoke and Sukhumvit, while Asoke Corner is not. The Plaza suffers, it appears, from no obvious place to park -- one can hardly be expected to see the car park in Asoke Corner, which isn't visible from the intersection, nor, indeed, at all from a car except passing along Soi 23. On the other hand, while Asoke Plaza does have parking and might benefit more than the Corner from spillover out of Soi Cowboy (though that's debatable, at best), in my occasional walk-throughs it has been the case that only the bars directly along Sukhumvit Soi 23 were doing any real business -- and that only sometimes. Both are pleasant venues, especially for fans of outside beer bars. * * * * * * * * * * Some of you may have noticed atranslation feature on the site during the brief time I had it here -- only problem is that it didn't *work*! I tried it from various computers over different connections without success, so yanked it today. What IS working is the message and chat center I set up at Delphi.com. Try it out! Just click here to go directly to it. You'll need to register -- that's Delphi's doing, not mine -- but the process is fast, simple, and, most importantly, absolutely FREE. I've set up a number of areas for either posting messages or live "chatting," with the areas the same in both catagories. I'll be interested to see how this develops, as Nanapong.com hosts its simply superb message and chat service on Delphi.com, too. But I want the focus to be somewhat different from Nanapong's, if for no other reason than they already do it -- and do so well. In other words, not so much interest in "I got to pay a lower bar fine" etc. * * * * * * * * * * Glad the way things have developed in poor, wretched Afghanistan. It's hard to know just what I really do want for Osama -- but I know NONE of the scenarios that have played in my head is one he would choose. All involve exceeding . . . um . . . unpleasantry for that most inhuman and inhumane of humans. Of course, it remains to be seen if the Northern Alliance and the Eastern Alliance are going to be any more enlightened than the Stone Age Taleban. * * * * * * * * * * You just gotta have a little sympathy for Prime Minister Thaksin. There he up and went all the way to Washington, D.C., for a summit with U.S. President Bush, only to have major news outlets refer to his visit as a "photo-op." It reminds one of when the diminutive former P.M., Barnharn, gave the appearance of chasing all over Metro Manila just trying to get THAT much -- a photo-op -- with then-President Clinton! And I'm reasonably sure that during the plane ride over Prime Minister Thaksin had plenty to ponder, as he recalled His Majesty's words December 4th. * * * * * * * * * * Until next time -- Mekhong Kurt
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