I read about the Suthisan or Sutthisan Road go go bars online and wanted to give them a try. Bangkok is all about trying new places while they last, right? So, last Saturday I decided to go and check it out.
It’s a long way from Sukhumvit to Saphan Kwai BTS Station. Then the next challenge is to find the Big C. Once this is done, the rest is easy.
Walking alone on the main road, with no farang in sight, I was wondering how I would be treated in the bars. Would they be happy to see a farang out of the beaten path or would they ask me to go to hell and leave them alone.
As soon as I saw the first gogo bars neon signs I had my answer: as every where else, they need customers and farangs are welcome. As soon as they saw me, the touts sitting outside of T DED 99 go go bar, which seems to be the largest one on the strip, started to call out to me and asked me to come in.
I started with this go go bar and was rather pleased by the welcome, the interior and the girls. I thought I had found another Soi Cowboy hidden in this part of the city. But then I checked the other places and realized that T DED 99 was by far the best place around and probably the only one really worth a visit in the area.
Harlem Nights is ok. The others including RCA, RCA 2 and For U were almost empty and not appealing at all. Music VDO was packed, but the crowd was not exactly the kind I would be comfortable to sit with.
It was a Saturday evening, around 11pm, and the least I can say is that most places were dead empty. It’s true that even Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza are pretty slow these days, but they never look like this.
Back to T DED 99: this is the first go go bar you see when arriving to the area. This go go bar is huge. It’s probably the largest go go bar I’ve ever seen on a single floor. Most of the space is for seating though and only 2 small stages share the central part of the bar.
Suthisan go go bars are to go go bars what Thai clubs are to farang clubs: Thai and Asian customers order a bottle of whisky and spend the night in the place. Some of them even eat there. They come in numbers, invite a few girls to join their table, and organize their own little parties.
Few girls are on the stage. Most of them are waiting for their turn sitting on a couch. What is very different from the other go go bars is that in Suthisan most go go bars have also a selection of girls waiting at the entrance of the bar like sideliners in a massage parlor. From what I understand they are also available for a drink or for short time and long time sessions, but they don’t dance.
As you have probably read before, the good thing about Suthisan go go bars is the price. A large bottle of Singha costs only 110 Baht! Note that you will have to pay for the ice and for the wet towel, but this costs a mere 150 Baht more and the waitress makes sure that your glass is always full.
A lady drink costs 100 Baht and entitles you to 30 minutes of company. That means that if a girl stays with you for 60 minutes, even on the same drink, you will pay 200 Baht. The prices for short time and long time are 1500 Baht and 2500 Baht including the barfine!
Considering that some of the women in these bars are as pretty as your average girl from Nana or Cowboy, this can be a very good deal.
There are however a few drawbacks:
- The area is far from Sukhumvit
- Most of the bars have few girls and fewer customers
- A lot of papasans and mamasans keep on asking you if you want a lady if you are alone. At T DED 99 they kept on coming every 5 minutes.
- the girls don’t speak English. If you don’t know any word of Thai, it’s going to be tough!
Suthisan is definitely not the hidden gem I thought I found when first entering T DED 99, but it may be worth the trip if you want to change from the farang gogo bars.
