It is a known fact that tourists are often treated as fresh meat in just about any country. Taxi drivers will try to charge you more, you pay more at pasar malam, and even some restaurants will have 2 different menus, one for the locals, another for foreigners. This is a story on how we got conned at Patpong, the red light district of Bangkok.
So after a long day chilling around the city, the three of us (including Terence & Dree) decided that a visit to Thailand is never complete without going to Patpong. We boarded the train and headed to the station nearest to the red light district.
all these go-go clubs and ping pong bars
The place has more flashy neons and interesting sign boards than the whole of downtown KL. Thai girl, Thai boy, lady boy, go-go bars, you name it, they have it. There is also a lot of street stores selling “I love Bangkok” T-shirts and imitation Bell & Ross watches. As we were walking along the shops, we were ushered by many pimps asking if we wanted girls, beer, ping pong shows, etc. We kept rejecting them.
look at the 2 guys in black and yellow shirts, dodgy?
And then one particular pimp told us “You wan watch ping pong show? 1 minute no pay, you no like you go, free. If you like, just stay and buy drinks. 200 baht per beer, that’s all!” (10 baht is roughly 1 Malaysian Ringgit)
Wanting to experience everything Bangkok has to offer (sans the STD activities), we reluctantly said yes. The guy then led us to a bar a level on top of the popular shops/restaurants/bars.
We sensed something wrong as we went in, there were no customer in that place. A group of not-so-great looking girls were on the stage, dancing half naked, trying to be seductive but failing miserably.
We ordered our drinks, 2 beers and a coke, and then the show started. A chunky lady stripped and started shooting darts on balloons. It was done in such mechanical precision and ease, dart in hole, squeeze, dart flies, pops balloon. I was as impressed as worried about her aiming as we were only a couple meters away from the stage.
ping pong balls love Terence
Then came the ping pong show, same thing: ping pong in the hole, squeeze, ping pong flying at Terence. Poor guy had to swat away all the incoming missiles lest having them landing on his face. It was a lot more scary than funny, I kid you not.
In between, the girls kept cajoling us to buy them drinks, 100 baht per coke. We kept saying no, but goddamn dree finally agreed to one coke per girl after the shemale kept pestering him, dude is weak. He didn’t even realize that was 100 baht x 10 girls!
Only 10 minutes into the whole thing, we decided to make a move and called for the bill. It was 3,900 baht!!!
We were like WTF, and started arguing with the lady boss (who was as big as Terence) saying the other guy told us it was 200 bath per beer and the show is free. She said she didn’t know who that was, and this is her bar. I put down a 1,000 baht bill and prepared to walk away, but our good friend dree kept saying “dude just pay just pay I’ll pay you guys back” in a very emo and worried voice. We kept arguing for a bit and decided to give them 3,000 baht as there were about 10 of them surrounding us already..
1,000 baht per person for a lesson to be smarter tourists. Lucky I didn’t have to touch any ping pong ball.
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- KY photos - Streets of Bangkok in B&W
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By davidlian on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
Lol! Good lesson learnt. When I was in Phuket, I refused to enter these joints. My friends who did came back with horrific memories.
By Yatz on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
wtf?!?! i thought there are some famous ones for ping pong show? pity u guys..
some are like a bit open air or something..lots of people one..my fren once kene called up stage then stripped whole body naked..kene played by the strippers on stage..LOL
By joshuaongys on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
what a good experience with “ping pong” well thats wat happening everywhere…
By KY on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
davidlian,
Why refuse? You gotta try everything!
Yatz,
I wouldn’t want that. hahaha
joshuaongys,
Where is “everywhere”?
By David on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
Teaches you to never go to these joints. Stick to clubs to pick up chicks hahaha
By sotong on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
no tennis show ar? hehe
By KY on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
David,
Hahhaa, we weren’t there to pick up chicks.
sotong,
You are sick! yuck. lol
By shag on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
Let this be a lesson to you. Next time when visiting these entertainment places, bring a ping pong bat!
By twosuperheroes on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
eh..ok what. At least you came back with some unforgettable moments in Thailand! haha. I bet you’ll never see ping pong balls in the same light again eh. :p
By pablopabla on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
Hope you didn’t get nightmares from the ping pong balls flying across the room!
By cumidanciki(mei) on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
a pingpong demonstration got the better of ya… poor guys !
By KY on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
shag,
Good suggestion! Hahahaha
twosuperheroes,
Hahahah, that’s true. Now got phobia :S
pablopabla,
Don’t remind me!
cumidanciki(mei),
Hahahaha, yeah.
By power8003 on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
I also got it once in bangkok. The downstair ppl said that the show is only 100 baht person with a drink. However, after serving the drink, they demanded 500 baht person. If you do not want to pay, 5-6 person will surround you. I think this is their usual tactic to make ppl come in to watch the show.
By suanie on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
lol dree nub
By Simon Seow on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
Lucky it’s not tiger show, it might be more expensive lol.
By saikua on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
ky…a lady as huge as T? damn scary looking right?
By Terenceg on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
SUCKS TO BE ME !!!!!
i can totally connect with those buggers during Vietnam wars when the missile or grenade was flying up and all over the skies……the FEAR !! FEAR of getting hit !! OMG
By adry azad on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
yala i noob.. what to do..
By yung . on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
I guess, if you aren’t being conned in Bangkok, you weren’t in bangkok. LOL!
By Jeff on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
My god..I thought ping pong was such a nice game b4 I read this hehe. Interesting story anyway.
By KY on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
power8003,
Hahaha, that’s 1/2 of what we had to pay! You’re a lucky man.
suanie,
lol
saikua,
Exactly!
Terenceg,
Hahahahhaa
adry azad,
Be more steady next time ok.
yung,
LOL, true, true.
Jeff,
It’s a scary game!
By elaine on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
I had the same experiences too, but they called it Tiger show instead of Ping Pong show.
Fortunately, we paid as promised, but the girls tends to give us a massage, and end up asking money from us. Even asked for more,after paid for the 1st time. So scary!
By yahui on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
that’s why it’s best to blend in with the locals.
HK, good place to travel.
*bleh i’m promoting without benefits* 
anyhoo, gotta be careful of these places. i felt super safe in HK and the place wasn’t biased to treating tourists like shit. so kudos for them and boogies for Bangkok.
By JL on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
hahaha…
By KY on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
elaine,
I believe it is Thai Girl show instead.
yahui,
I guess the more developed countries are usually safer.
JL,
By Rachel on Apr 27, 2008 | Reply
hahaha … this is a funny post… thinking about the ping pong balls… speechless!! Okay, learnt something and i shall be aware of this when i go to BKK!
By Mama BoK on Apr 27, 2008 | Reply
Wow..!! that’s an expensive lesson..!! what a bummer man..!!
By KY on Apr 27, 2008 | Reply
Rachel,
Hahaha, lesson learned.
Mama Bok,
What to do?
By pinkpau on Apr 28, 2008 | Reply
KY THE SAME BLOODY THING JUST HAPPENED TO ME 4 HOURS AGO
I AM SO LIVID
IS IT THAT STUPID PINK COLOR BAR
By KY on Apr 28, 2008 | Reply
pinkpau,
HAHAHAH, why you never learn, Su Ann?? There are many pink color bars!
By pinkpau on Apr 28, 2008 | Reply
first time it happened to me ok =( then kim says the same thing happened to you too, so i came here and read your blog.. and… =(
sigh. my bill was 4100 baht. they charged us rm30 for each of our drinks (coke light and vodka lime??) and subsequently rm30 for each of the the ‘ladies drinks’. there were 4 of those = rm120. then another rm230 for the ’show’. cheebai.
By KY on Apr 28, 2008 | Reply
pinkpau,
Hahaha, that’s why you need to read this blog everyday, Su Ann!
By skyler on Apr 28, 2008 | Reply
Haha I came to see after pinkpau told me. Viral marketing, KY, viral marketing.
How ah I very scared of bangkok already =(
By KY on Apr 28, 2008 | Reply
skyler,
Hahaha, just be careful of those deals that are too good to be true. Cos they are.
By Jayelle on Apr 29, 2008 | Reply
LOL LOL i can’t stop laughing at the terence part. hahahaha.
My three friends kena con in almost every single thing they did in thailand.
He said that the next time they go back to Bangkok, there would probably be a banner hanging outside the entrance of Bangkok saying, “Welcome back Scamboy. - banner sponsored by Scamboy”.
By KY on Apr 29, 2008 | Reply
Jayelle,
LOL, teruk.
By TBG on Apr 29, 2008 | Reply
you know what’s the REAL lesson behind this incident?
It’s to ajak Thai Boxing Girl along the next time you go on a trip like this HAHAHAHAHA
At least Dree would act more like a ‘macho’ man if I was around
By KY on Apr 29, 2008 | Reply
TBG,
You mean DupREE? hahahaha
By vialentino on May 3, 2008 | Reply
my friend told me the same story…he went there with his wife….kena charged 2900 baht.
luckily me, went there , and walk off safely with just buying a heineken beer.
i like go-go bars…imagine dozens of young girls dancing around u….
By KY on May 4, 2008 | Reply
violentino,
Hahah, you ARE lucky. Go-go bars.. well, I think I’m through that.