Bar etiquette

[aliroth]

Hey everyone - Once this whole travel lockdown wraps up, looking to do a solo trip to Bangkok for the first time. Curious as to the bar etiquette. What should I expect? What can you do once you've bought a ladyboy a drink? Is OK to simply hang out buy drinks and socialize with the ladies or is it in bad form - do they expect to be taken out for a short/long time?
Thanks for this amazing forum!

[Rockheart]

It is all up to you as the customer.
You can sit there and drink with as many ladyboys as you want.
Some may give you pressure to take them out, but there is no obligation to take them ever.

Once you sit with one or two, it may be harder to request other ladyboys due to feigned jealousy.
Still you have the right to sit with whomever you want. If you are sitting with some and the ladyboy of your dreams comes out of the back, go for it.
There may be some squawks and comments but it is your fun.

If you do spend much time in the bar and get good hospitality from the ladyboys, be sure to tip them well.
Often you will get 'free' kissing, groping and more.....

[P&G]

When you sit in a bar or a gogo, the first step is you must order a drink for yourself.
Then ladyboys will try to catch your attention. Sometimes, they keep on dancing (in gogos) and expect you show them interest. If you wanna invite her to sit next to you, you've got to make the sign of scuba divers for "OK". You have to pay for a lady's drink to keep her sitting next to you. In ordinary bars, ladyboys will ask you to pay her a drink. So the lady's drink is the second stage. It costs twice to thrice as much as you drink.
Next stage depends a lot on the style of the bar and what you expect. In some gogos, ladyboys hardly speak English. she will snuggle against you and answer mainly to your questions about bar fine and short time. In other bars, you can stay hours chatting and paying drinks. In goo bars I visited, ladyboys would seat order a drink then gibe BF and ST prices then drink their LD without being able to chat. Once the LD is empty, she asked to order another one or she has to go back and dance. In a gogo, (New Obsession if I remember well) ladyboys would push to go for a ST rapidly.
You should also ask how long she can stay for a ST and where you can go ST. In some areas like NEP, she will tell you she knows a ST hotel near the bar or in the neighborhood, otherwise she can accept to go to your room.

So, the lowest budget would be : your drink (maybe 80THB) one LD (150), BF (500/700) and ST (1,500), not including the ST hotel (300/400). So, you should anticipate a minimum of 2,400 THB for a ST.
If you don't enjoy a ladyboy, you will need to get several LDs.

You should know about a few bad tricks.
Ladyboys not pushing to have a ST with you. They will make you pay LDs after LDs.
Ladyboys making you confuse price with ST and BF included or not. This how prices increased in the 2010s.
Another trick consists in bargaining a 1 hour and half short time in a nearby ST hotel. It's past 11 PM but you are told (after having paid the BF) that the hotel will close at midnight, so you must make the ST last shorter.

The prices I gave are not very accurate. Hopefully, someone will give you an update. In Pattaya, prices are 500 THB for the BF and 1,000 for the ST. A few years earlier, that was 200+500 (=700). Then prices became 700+300 (=1,000), then 1,000+500.


You also want to behave with other customers. A new trend consists in trying to pick up a ladyboy sitting with another customer. It's not correct and you are likely to have a fight with some guys if you do so. You'd probably wouldn't enjoy to pay for a LD and see the gurl go with someone else.

You need to be careful with the bar too. Don't try to bargain to get the ladyboy after work (without paying a BF). You'd think you're a smart motherfucker, but they will make you pay a higher price and you might be disappointed by the ladyboy.

[Rattmaster]

You can sit and drink as long as you want, you don't have to barefine any ladyboy if you don't want too. They will not give you any problem for that. But while you're in there watching the go go dancers, they will want to sit with you and have a drink. Sometimes a girl may invite herself and sit next to you, sometimes they will line up in front of you and wait for you to pick. No matter the case, if you're gonna have a companion, just make sure you are with the girl you want to be with. Find one, make eye contact, and wave her over.

After that, just make yourself comfortable. Sit and chat with each other, feel each other, see how far things will go. Normally you should be able to touch them, feel their tits, and maybe kiss if the vibe is right between you and her. Take things nice and slow, enjoy the atmosphere. Don't feel forced to drink you drink quickly, if you know you'll get another anyway, just take your time. I would also say try keeping your girl busy so that she doesn't finish her drink to quickly. Normally if things get stale, and she starts looking around, they drink faster. So keep her busy before getting them a 2nd drink. But if your not feeling vibe, just pay the bill and try another place.

Normally I have 2 beers, and buy 2 lady drinks. I never stay in the bar more than 1 hour, before I either barefine my girl or go elsewhere. It all depends on your goals. Are you there to find a girl to take back, or just have drinks and bar hop? Up to you.

In Nana Plaza the barefines vary from bar to bar, normally they go between 700 to 900 baht. A small beer can be around 160 to 180, and a standard lady drink is about 200. For the ladyboys service, the prices are negotiable, but in general 1500 to 2000 baht. A short time room in Nana Plaza will be 350 for 1 hour.

So at minimum, you're paying about 3000 baht. That's for a couple drinks for yourself and her, barefine and ladyboy tip. If you have your own hotel room then you save 350 on the short time room. But I generally spend about 3000 at the end of my night. I don't normally bar hop, I just commit to one place.

[aliroth]

Thanks everyone for the sage advice!

[rxpharm]

Watch out for bars that give you an "all in one" package price. That is bar fine and lady's fee all in one. This was becoming a more common practice and poor as there will be no negotiation between you and your companion of choice about her price. Try to find out ahead of time if the bar has this policy and I would recommend avoiding it if it does. Also watch out for bars that package the short time hotel fee in with the "all in one". If you ask how much if you want to take the lady back to your hotel, they will increase the price. If the bar does that most definitely avoid it.

[Rattmaster]

Watch out for bars that give you an "all in one" package price. That is bar fine and lady's fee all in one. This was becoming a more common practice and poor as there will be no negotiation between you and your companion of choice about her price. Try to find out ahead of time if the bar has this policy and I would recommend avoiding it if it does. Also watch out for bars that package the short time hotel fee in with the "all in one". If you ask how much if you want to take the lady back to your hotel, they will increase the price. If the bar does that most definitely avoid it.

This happened to me at Temptations. The barefine and room was included in my bill, I paid everything in Temptations. When we went to the front desk of the ST hotel, the ladyboy showed the woman a piece of paper (my receipt?) to confirm my payment and we went to the room. I did not get forced into paying any extra fee. Only the ladyboys tip afterward of course. I have heard stories of guys having to pay the room fee again, which is unfortunate. But for me everything seemed professional, no problem.

[Aaron S. Young]

Ladyboys are not paying to get ST with you. They'll make you pay LDs after the LDs.
Ladyboys make you confuse the price with the ST and the BF included or not. This is how prices rose in 2010.
Another trick is to bargain for an hour and a half at a nearby ST hotel. It's past 11pm but you have been told (after paying the BF) that the hotel will close at midnight, so you should finally make ST shorter.