Rainbow Two Bar

Rainbow Two Bar, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Unlike most of Nana’s bars, by ten o’clock, Rainbow Two is full.  The hundred or so girls are young and active, the guys old hands.  They grab a beer, look around and find the girl they want.  She comes over and orders a ladies drink.  They check each other out.  If everything’s OK and both are willing, a few minutes later they’re gone.  By eleven, the bar’s half empty.

G-Spot Agogo

G-Spot Agogo, water color on paper, 18x24 inch

On the second floor of this dense three story nest of gogo bars, G-Spot’s owned by an eccentric and wacky English guy named David.  About fifty dancers and another ten service girls.  Ten foot long Bose woofers blasting out the latest disco.  A sleazy mix of seasoned Expats and tourist guys from most of the Western world and Japan.  Not as easygoing as Soi Cowboy or as raw and nasty as Patpong, it is a hardened battleground for the ongoing transactional war between the sexes.

Late Night Rainbow Agogo

Late Night Rainbow Agogo, water color on paper, 18x24 inch

By one AM, Rainbow Agogo is blurry from loud music, blinding strobe lights and the ongoing river of man-woman interaction.  Too much beer, too much flesh and too many Expats out of control.

Party Time Voodoo Bar

Party Time Voodoo Bar, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Voodoo Bar is a mix of ladyboys and one hundred percent ladies, it is difficult to tell.  Some say Thai ladyboys are sometimes so perfectly feminine, only their hands can give them away.  With too many beers, multi-colored lights, pounding music and so many bodies moving, the only way to avoid a mistake for sure is to not go there at all.  On the other hand, for whatever reason, ignorance or desire, some guys do.

Hollywood Bar Nana

Hollywood Bar Nana, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

On a Friday or Saturday night, Hollywood Bar at Nana is usually rocking out, hundreds of Expats and girls, lots of beer and raunchy shows.  Except when the police close it down for showing too much.  Or not paying enough, no one’s ever sure.  Sometimes the police make the Expats and girls go pee pee in a little cup which is really hard when everyone’s been drinking so much, the cups are so small.  And the little cups always get all mixed up on the table where they’re doing the tests.  The poor police technicians try to keep track even though they know it’s only for show.  In the end, no one’s going to be arrested and no charges are going to be filed.  This is Hollywood, Thailand, not California, after all.

Closing Time Nana Plaza

Closing Time Nana Plaza, water color on paper, 18x24 inch

The end of another night at Nana Plaza, the Expats all regulars and the leftover girls drifting through a haze of indifference.

Tall Blue Dancer

Tall Blue Dancer, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Tall and slim, is she a girl or a lady boy….how to tell when everything’s been altered from top to bottom and back to front………..

Beer Bar Soi 22

Beer Bar Soi 22, water color on paper, 18x24 inch

The beer bars and KTV’s opposite Queens Park on Soi 22 are pretty low-key, only one stop above Soi Zero.  The girls are either straight off the farm and barely dressed for the city or in shabby retirement from a ten year stint at Nana or Soi Cowboy.  The guys are nothing special, staying in the hotels or cheap apartments nearby.  They’re usually there for the beer, a little chat, and to fill out their day.  No one has any expectations and it is impossible to be let down.

Lek at Pretty Lady

Lek at Pretty Lady, watercolor on paper, 5x7 inch

Almost thirty, Lek’s body is still slender and supple.  But she has seen too much, known too many men, danced too many nights.  Her only desire is to go back to her hometown, take care of her ten year old son and live out the rest of this life in quiet, hoping the next cycle will be better.

Two Dancers

Two Dancers, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

They’re watching him.  Is he a player or just someone passing through.

Blond Gogo Girl

Blond Gogo Girl, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

                                       

She has a power beyond herself, a dancer in the Bangkok Night…..dark brown skin, dyed blond hair, blue lenses in her eyes, she’s more mythic than real and the guys are there to worship and adore………..

Pretty Lady Bar

Pretty Lady Bar, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Up on stage, she has a power beyond herself, a dancer in the Bangkok Night.  Dark brown skin, dyed blond hair, blue strobe lights in each eye, she’s more mythic than real and the guys are there to worship and adore.

G-Spot Girl

G-Spot Girl, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Working at G-Spot on the 2^nd floor of Nana Plaza, she has learned to watch men very carefully.  Even though she only understands a little English, she listens to them talk with great attention, closely following their cadence and intonation.  She notices each hand gesture, detail of their clothing, fingernails and hair.  There is so much you can learn about a man  without saying anything at all.

Number 26

Number 26, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Number 26 has a magic about her as she floats through the Bangkok Night.  A commodity for sale, holding onto her pole, she retains her smile and sense of humor as she constantly examines her world.  She likes the men who understand her distance, her value beyond herself, who know that knowing her for a night or two can change their lives and point of view.  No matter who and where we are in life, we are all holding onto a pole and we are all for sale and we must all examine our lives.  And we must still be able to smile.

What Your Name

What Your Name, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

What your name, where you from, first time in Bangkok?  The girls are like police, checking out the guys.  Sometimes the abbreviated English makes the guys forget how complex these girls are in Thai.  They let their guard down and become easy marks.  But why not, the girls need the money and they guys have way too much.

Lighting Up

Lighting Up, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

At what moment does a guy’s brain click?  What button does she need to push.  He’s young, looks pretty good and has a wallet full of cash.  How does she stand out, get his attention, focus him on her.  There are so many girls.

Dancer Agogo

Dancer Agogo, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

For a thousand nights, she’s danced in a daze of smoke, sparkling disco balls and the thumping beat from gigantic Bose woofers.  She has seen the faces of a hundred thousand men, their eyes caressing every inch of her flesh.  Tall, short, handsome, ugly, dark, tan, yellow and white, obese and thin, some of them in wheelchairs, others with stutters,  old and young, every kind of man, from every country on earth.  What are they thinking and what do they want, why are they there, in the Bangkok bar where she works and lives and dreams?

Happy Happy

Happy Happy, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Thais are taught to smile as kids, in a hundred different ways.  No matter how happy, afraid, angry or sad, they always know a smile costs nothing and will lubricate their path.  The world is so full of trouble and the power of a smile can light up someone’s day.  In Bangkok, a city full of smiles, it is hard not to smile back.

Jackpot

Jackpot, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Tonight she’s hit the jackpot.  Next month’s rent, school fees for her son and daughter, money to send to her mother, a chance to pay off the Indian loan shark.  Her guy’s from Australia, in Bangkok for the first time, fresh, excited by what he sees.  He’s come to the bar every night for four nights, paid the bar fine and taken her to his room.  He may be an awkward lover but she loves him just the same.

Beer Garden Girl

Beer Garden Girl, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

She works in a beer garden off Soi Nana, the early shift from eleven AM until nine PM. For two weeks, every day, a German man has come to see her.  He buys her a few drinks and they go to a nearby hotel. He gives her more than she asks. He talks to her in broken English, almost the same as hers. He’s over 50 and kind, also nice to her friends. Tonight he’s flying back to Germany and gave her some flowers when he said goodbye.  He promised to come back, he’s not sure when.  She smiled and wished him good luck. Inside she’s crying.