Soi 4 in BangkokToday I was finally able to get out and about a bit, and to learn more about this country. Thailand is actually a kingdom, a constitutional monarchy, and the only Asian power that was never colonized by the West. Located just 15 degrees north of the equator, it is warm and humid all year without much seasonal variation, and it rains almost every day. In fact yesterday it rained and thundered so hard the television and Internet were knocked out.

My hotel overlooks the major river that runs through Bangkok, the Mae Nam Chao Phraya. There have been heavy rains for quite a while, and I can see floating down river huge swathes of leaves, branches and turf”mini islands, really”that I can only assume signals serious erosion upstream. The Bangkok Post reports today that flooding now seriously threatens the old northern capital of Ayutthaya (which was sacked by the Burmese in 1767, after which the capital moved south). The King is offering to divert excess water onto his private property, sparing a flood downstream for Bangkok, but it’s not clear this will work. When’s my flight out?

Although outsiders often think of Bangkok as the center of Asia’s sex trade, in fact prostitution is illegal in Thailand, and the industry that does exist mostly caters for Japanese ex-pats and Thai police officials, not the few white men who make their way here. Soi 4 is different, however, in that it seems specifically aimed at gay Western tourists.

Soi 4 is just “Lane number 4” off Silom Street in downtown “new Bangkok” near Lumphini Park. I have to say that if you were a straight person not looking for gay sex, it wouldn’t overwhelm you. There are a number of restaurants and bars with seating outside, and I imagine that a lot of the young Thai men I saw were rent boys. But me and my friends (a lesbian couple, living here in Bangkok) were able to have a nice dinner at the famous Balcony bar and restaurant (inside, with the air conditioning!) and then some drinks a few doors down (outside, to take in the sights) without being propositioned or even stared at.

The other famous gay bar on Soi 4 is Telephone, which I poked my head in, but they too had plenty of straight couples hanging out. One street over, Soi 2, are other famous gay hangouts, namely DJ Station, Expresso, Freeman, and JJ Park, among many others. (Don’t ask me what happened to Soi 3, apparently it doesn’t exist).

So the gay men’s scene seems pretty focused on Soi 2 and Soi 4. I asked my friends about where lesbians hang out for fun, but apparently there’s no epicenter for the women. It’s all over the downtown (Silom) area. One hotspot near Soi 4 is another street, Phra Athit, which has another whole slew of bars and massage parlors, and I was told it’s friendly to gay women, too.

The street markets in the daytime kind of surprised me”they were busy but hardly the riotous scenes I expected. Well all that changed after dark, when apparently the Thai people who work all day go out to shop, along with all the tourists who must have been sleeping all day. The stalls seemed to grow larger (or maybe they multiplied) but between them and the bajillions of people trying to shop, it was hard to stand, let alone move anywhere. I, being the somewhat retiring type, plan to get my shopping done later this week”during the day.