the third sex

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.Taking out-of-town friends around Patpong last week, and seeing the place through the eyes of visitors, I suddenly realised how little it has changed since I first went there, when I was a schoolboy in short trousers (nearly).

The most obvious change since those far off days has been the coming of the street market. I can remember when, before the market, the street was open all night to taxis and tuk-tuks, which would cruise through looking for customers to come out of the bars with their girls.

Looking through the market the other evening, I realised that it probably earns as much for the Patpong family as the bars themselves, because I don’t think you could physically fit any more stalls into the area.

But although bars may come and bars may go, overall there never really seems to be a major change. Safari has not changed one bit in 25 years, and it has always had the best music of any of the Patpong go-go bars. I can remember back to the days when there was only one King’s Castle, rather than the three there are now.

The present-day King’s Castle 3, which of course is now ladyboys-only, was actually the first King’s Castle and was a girlie go-go bar. I used to go in there for happy hour, when I would be almost the only customer present, and I would watch the girls come in and get changed, which because of lack of space most of them had to do in the bar. It was the best free show in town.

Interestingly, the mamasan of the present-day King’s Castle 1 girlie go-go bar, just across the street from the original, is herself a ladyboy and I can remember when she was just a cashier working in the bar. I took her home and had my evil way with her and her deliciously hairy little bottom.

That was a quarter-century ago, and she has never forgotten it. Well, she wouldn’t, would she? But I always get a big smile and a wai when I see her, and although she has transformed over the years from a shy little ladyboy into a ferocious mamasan who scares all the GGs working in the bar, I’m sure she still has a heart of gold.

I’m not exactly certain when KC3 was changed from being a girlie bar into a ladyboy bar, but it would have been some time in the early 1990s. I’m also not sure if it was the first ladyboy bar, because there was another named Limelight, not far away and on the same side of the strip, which flourished during the same period. Limelite started with go-go girls but quickly ladyboy go-go dancers took over. Limelite however disappeared while KC3 flourished.

Elsewhere, many of the restaurants remain unchanged. Mizo, the Japanese-American outlet that was the first ever restaurant to open in Patpong way back in the 1950s, probably hasn’t even been decorated since that time. Tip-Top, the Thai restaurant where the go-go dancers and bar workers often go for a late meal, has recently had its interior changed but still serves good Thai food at very cheap prices.

The Derby King no longer serves the meatloaf that was my mainstay when I used to eat there regularly, but a couple of the staff are there from the early days and they remember me. Likewise at the Thai Room, where I always order Mexican Meal D, and the staff don’t even bother to ask me what I want because I have never had anything else there.

The Patpong Bookshop disappeared a decade ago and has become a music bar, which changed the appearance of that corner of the strip, but otherwise there have been no big changes on that side except for another music bar on the corner of the alley that cuts through to the multi-storey carpark.

On the other side, the pesky luggage shops have taken over some of the bars, notably the Blue Sky Boxing Bar of fond repute. But otherwise, really, it is all still recognisable. There are still a number of smaller bars, one of which offers a small short-time room just above the bar, and which I used to use frequently. You could actually look out into the street while you were on top of the lady of your choice, and see if any of your friends were walking past.

On Patpong 2, there have been very little changes. A slight rejigging of the restaurants where Bobby used to have the monopoly, but that is about all. King’s Garden, which used to be a great unofficial ladyboy venue, has become a rather more sedate music bar.

Foodland, one of Bangkok’s first ever Western-style supermarkets, is completely unchanged in appearance and layout since I first knew it. The Chinese manager has been there ever since I can remember, and greets me cordially whenever he sees me.

This is one of the great things about Patpong. To so many people, it is a big, throbbing red-light district. But underneath all the razzmatazz, it is just a village, and a friendly one at that.