Well guys, I took an unplanned 4-day detour into LOS last week, while on a business in Tokyo. Funny how LOS does this to a person. I’ll just highlight the good and the bad and point out some interesting ways I earned frequent flyer points for my hobbying activities.

UNITED AIRLINES

I flew United to Tokyo and BKK on their Economy Plus Section (5 inches more legroom) for Frequent Flyers, near the front of the plane. The stewardesses were less than attractive Asian women, but the service was average to be honest, especially compared with the pampering on the Asian airlines. But the extra legroom made it worthwhile and comfortable. You can get into this section by being a frequent flyer on United or a Star Alliance (i.e. 25k or more miles per year). United gets in to BKK at around 11:30 pm, with a 2 hour layover in Tokyo. The UA flight has a 7am outbound flight from BKK to Tokyo.

NANA HOTEL

The old maxim in real estate holds true – location, location, location. NANA hotel was not as bad as I thought it would be. It is an older hotel and NANA wasn’t as nice or clean or modern as OMNI or Grand Presidente, but it was decent enough to warrant a serious look by Hobbyists (especially when I paid 1070 bhat ($26) per night)). I found no roaches, but did find “roach motels” traps in the rooms. The rooms were large, decently furnished with old furniture, but with HUGE beds. The higher rooms have a good view of the city. I didn’t see any pools or workout areas, but who has time for that when in BKK. The staff is kind of cold, but they are efficient.
As many posters have noted, NANA hotel is literally in the middle of everything. YOU have the most lively disco downstairs and a decent café with agreeable food. In the lobby area, there are dozens of freelancers walking around at night. The skytrain station is about a 5 minute walk, and from there you can easily access a lot of places in BKK. It is across the street from the NANA PLAZA and 10 -15 minutes away from SOI Cowboy by taxi. Clinton Plaza and Sukhumvit Ave (main tourist drag) is walking distance. Patpong is about a 15-20 minutes by Taxi.

MASSAGE

Spent some more time at the massage and soapys this time --- to accrue frequent flyer points (really, see below for details).

POSEIDEN: This was my favorite place in terms of the quality of the girls. Went there 2x and each time there were about 20 girls in the fishbowl. There is one superstar here who has the body and face of a playboy model. Forgot her number, but her name was “NO” or something. This girl is absolutely gorgeous – tall, curvy and nice firm tits. I did her 2x this trip. Went to the famous 3rd floor lounge and found a “model” who did a full-spread pose for a playboy type magazine called “CUTE”. Great body, nice face, and nice tits, but had an attitude and tended to rush things. Only time I did not tip a gal – I hate being rushed. They charged 3600 bhat for the “privilege”. The 3rd floor is literally a fancy lounge where these “model” type gals walk around or lounge around until they are chosen. As you sit down, the Mamasan will come over to you to ask if an intro is in order. She’ll sit there and, like a waitress, take down your order --- i.e. what kind of girl you want. Once you describe her, she will bring gals over every 15 minutes unit you choose. Alternatively, you can just point out a girl you see walking around.

CPII -- literally had about 100 gals, most of them 6s and 7s, but about a dozen “superstars” worth a look. Some girls did soapys here but not the 2 that I had, some of the rooms did not even have the tiled off area for soapys. You should check this out first before partaking. The cost was about 2000 bhat.

ATAMI: No girls in the fishbowl, just a dozen or so girls outside. These girls were not dressed up like in other places and not many worthwhile, especially when the Mamasan wanted 3300 for a supposed “superstar”. Got out of there quick and did not return.

EDEN. Well, no trip is complete without a trip to EDEN. A great sessions as usual. The girls are really into it, although they are not as good looking as I would like. The more I come here, the more I realize that there may be a “routine” in the sense that the girls wash you, blow you, rim you, fuck you, and then fuck each other. But regardless, the 2-somes are awesome. The price is 3600 bhat for the service and I tipped the gals 500 bhat each.

GO GOS

SOI COWBOY

The only places I thought worthwhile was LONG GUN and RAWHIDE. LONG GUN is a fun place just to hang out and watch the girls and the other Punters. Very lively and good shows. But the prices are steep, 500 bar fine and 1500 for the girl. The same set of KATOEY’s at these bars, a couple of them very hard to distinguish from actual girls – be careful. Did a lot of looking but did not take out.

NANA PLAZA

I again greatly enjoyed the RAINBOW 1 and 2 go-gos on the ground floor along with Carousel on the 3rd floor. Plenty of good looking gals and these go-gos were packed with about 40 girls each. This time around, I also hung out at the beer bars on the 1st level, it was interesting just to watch the people.

PATPONG

This place is just crowded. Only decent go-go is the Kings and the Queens. But honestly, even at these good bars, it seemed that 1/3 of the “gals’ were Katoeys. The quality of the gals was not as good as NANA or SOI Cowboy. Getting there was a pain due to all the traffic. There are a couple of clubs here that are all KATOEYS -- I mean all of them were KATOEYS and flaunting it – went in to research the place. I did find a great nightclub called LUCIFERS on the second floor. This is just a disco, but the set up is incredible (décor is of hell) and the pulsating beats and the music are amazing. This is a small disco located on the 2nd floor, but there were a few good looking gals up there.


PATTAYA Action

This time around, Pattaya was noticeably slower, and calmer. Specifically, No Marines, No crazy soccer fans as was the case during June, 2002, during the midst of the World CUP and the winding down of COBRA GOLD, the U.S.-Thai Military exercises. The COBRA Gold takes place in late May to early June each year. This absence of all the crowds was very refreshing, but there was a noticeable slowdown at the go-go’s as well (5-10 punters for 30-40 gals). Some places like Classroom a go-go had 3 or 4 Punters and 30 gals just sitting around .

RESIDENCE GARDEN

On this trip, I stayed at the RESIDENCE GARDEN at the suggestion of some posters here and the FREELANCERS.com website. I paid 1300 bhat per night (kind of high for Pattaya) This was an extremely clean and nice place to stay (something akin to a smaller version of the OMNI hotel). The rooms were big, there was a large living room, large bathroom, classy furniture and all very nicely decorated. The lobby area is clean and reminiscent of a 4 star hotel (that nice). Service was excellent and the staff very efficient and professional. It is European owned and managed, and many of the guests were European.

Only drawback is that it is in South Pattaya, a little bit out of the way (5-10 minute) by taxi-truck, towards Jomtien, which is away from the main action. Also, some of the taxi-trucks did not know about his place and a few times we passed it by. If you go here, get their business card and take it with you always. It’s easy to get to the action, its just when you want to get back that’s the problem. All in all, this was a very luxurious place and I wouldn’t mind staying there again.

GO-GO & & NIGHTLIFE

Without a doubt, PATTAYA is tops for the go-gos. As I noted before, the sheer volume of girls at the beer bars and go-go bars was humbling. This time around, I spent more time at the beer bars right near the entrance of WALKING Street. This place has a Thai Boxing ring, and there are fights at 10 pm each night. The fights looked staged. Some real “diamonds” in the rough here, but I did not take out. Headed to the discos and go-gos’.

Again, I went into all the go-gos- near Walking street and Pattayland 1 and 2. I’ll only mention the ones worth noting.

HAPPY a GO-GO, SUPERBABY and SUPERGIRL were again my favorites places in terms of just hanging out and taking out the talent. Both places were packed and had about 50 girls, a good number in the 7s and 8s, but a few nines.

TONY’s disco is also guaranteed fun. Great live bands, lots of fancy lights, and hundreds of good looking freelancer gals. Hooked with a couple of cuties this time around from Tony’s that did not disappoint.

MASSAGE

This time around I got to check out the better known massages, SABAI DEE, SABAI LAND, SABAI ROOM, HAPPYLAND, SUSIE’s. Sorry to say, but after checking these places out, the quality of the girls just could not compare with the girls in BKK – mostly 6s and 7s to be charitable. I finally took a gal from Susie’s massage and paid 1700 bhat. The soapy was average and the sex subpar, apparently a new girl. She was sweet, so I tipped her 300 bhat.

MISC.

Here’s one recommendation. I found a taxi-service (reliable, used them 2x) that will take
you from Pattaya to Bangkok or the airport for 850 bhat. For some reason, they don’t have rides to Pattaya from BKK. These guys speak passable English and were punctual and reliable. Their Number is 038-710847 09-2466295 (cell). I lucked out because a German couple wanted to share the cab ride (a lot of people want to go to BKK), so I actually paid 500 bhat with tip included. It took 1 ½ hours.

I took the 300 bhat private bus to Pattaya on both my trips there, but it took 3 + hours. They stop at several hotels and sometimes wait. This is valuable Mongering time wasted and I will take a taxi the next time around. I hear the taxi fee to BKK is 1200 bhat on average. There are Hobbyist out there who will share a cab, just ask around.

GETTING FREQUENT FLYER POINTS FOR MASSAGES

Here’s how it goes. I’m a Mexicana Frequenta Member (STAR ALLIANCE which includes United, Thai, Singapore, All Nippon, etc.) and also a member of American Express’ Membership Rewards program. The beauty of this is that you can transfer MEMBERSHIP REWARDS POINTS from American Express to your Mexicana Frequent Flyer account (1$ = 1 FF point) or to Continental, Southwest or other airlines. In other words, you accrue 1 MRP for every dollar spent on your American Express, and there are numerous ways to earn bonuses. Check out AmericanExpress.com for details.

During my 2 trips to THAiland and my trips to Costa Rica, the charges that accrued on my AMEX got me point 1 point for each dollar spent (restaurants, hotels, massages, etc). ON top of that, certain hotels, like the MARRIOT or the PRESIDENTE (COSTA RICA) give you additional points on the MEXICANA frequent flyer program on top of the actual dollar charges you spend. This is also true for rental cars on HERTZ etc.

An Example AMEX POINTS FREQ. FLYER POINTS

UNITED AIRLINES 802 MRP Points ($spent) + 16,4000 Frequent flyer points
HERTZ Rental 250 MRP ($ spent) + 500 FF Points

In BKK, all the obvious places (hotels, etc) took the AMEX, and I also discovered that many massage places accepted AMEX, such as POSEIDEN (2nd and 3rd floor), CPII, JAYONE (CPI), etc. So get this, the 2400 bhats charged for the massage and fuck sessions at these places got me MRPs for each session. All in all, why not get “rewarded” for all the monger activities instead of just spending money for naught?

The awesome part is that if you are member of a star alliance airlines, they can use your frequent flyer points towards flights on other star alliance carriers such as THAI AIRWAYS, Singapore Airlines, etc. The STAR ALLIANCE can take you to all the favorite Mongering areas such as THAILAND, COSTA RICA, RIO, ARGENTINA etc. Each time you fly you accrue miles and MRP points if you purchase with your AMEX.

Additionally, after 32K miles, you get upgraded to Silver Status and then after 50K, you get upgraded to Gold status. The best thing about these status levels is the extra perks and the use of the lounge, and an additional 25-50% bonus for actual miles traveled. But what sets Star Alliance apart from others is that they have 4 outstanding airlines to take you to BKK -- United, Thai, Singapore, All Nippon. I’ve tried all of them except Singapore, but I’ll tell you that all were excellent (even United).

On United, once you get to at least SILVER STATUS, you can qualify to be moved up to UNITED’s ECONOMY PLUS section (the 1st six rows) have 5 inches more legroom, but are essentially economy seats and economy service. But this 5 extra inches makes a heck of a difference. Moreover, you are still paying the normal Economy fares to BKK, which can be as low as $780-$880.

Obviously, the above system may not be appropriate for everyone, especially if your bills are scrutinized by your company or your spouse.

Great report Merlin. I think you and I are one of the few who like Nana. Central location, 24 hr restaurant, abundance of freelancers and a disco for a low price...good enough for me!

At Poseidon you can ask for "the book", it has model quality photos of all the girls. Check out my Pompet photos, she was a model for 3300.

Did you let a taxi driver bring you to Atami? They'll jack up the price a lot if so. You need to be dropped of near by and walk in, make sure the cab driver doesn't follow you. Unless prices have risen considerably, you shouldn't be paying more than 2500 for the superstars, 2000 for the fishbowl.

Carosel was my Nana Plaza favorite. I actually didn't have the best experiences there, but some girls I couldn't stop thinking about.

Merlin: A very good report.
Many affnity cards give you 1dollar=1mile CitiBank+AA, United+Visa, AMex+DL or AMEX+Hilton etc...

Thanks D'Art and Citydude.
D'Art, to answer your questions, I agree with you regarding NANA, the pluses outweight the minuses and the circus atmosphere is something to be experienced by all to appreciate Bangkok. I think I saved about 10 bucks a day on taxi by staying there, and besides, even if you get a nice room for $40+ dollars, you realy don't stay there much nor did I use the gym or pool much. As for Atami, I walked over to ATAMI from Cupidity after being dropped off at Prince Hotel (all walking distance) and they still tried to overcharge me -- go figure?

Citydude, thanks for the info on the affinitiy card and the other programs. Is the Affinity card a Visa? If so, it will probably be more widely accepted. The good thing about the Amex Membership Rewards is that they you can transfer points to about a 1/2 dozen different airlines, or purchase vacations or gifts.

Merlin: I agree about Amex rewards, most affinity cards are Visa /and/or MC. To find which back has teamed up with which airline or Hotel check out Flyertalk. Ask or do a search on the website.
http://www.flyertalk.com/milesfr.shtml

I think I was in Pattaya, the same time as you were...and I agree that Superbaby, SUpergirl and Happy are the quintissential go go bars in all of Thailand...BKK go go bars just do not compare.

Merlin,

Thanks for the FF tips. I'm a Premier member at United with Silver status. I've also got a RT ticket SEA-BKK for Nov 1 / Nov 22 in my desk drawer ... sounds like I need to make some phone calls and see if I can get the seating up grade.

I agree that Pattaya is tops for Go Go and Beer Bar action, but Bangkok is still king for Massage.

Thinking on hitting AC for a few days during my November trip. Any Bath House action in the Phillipines? Seems like all the reports only talk about the Bar scene.

McDIJJ