News Forum - Woman working at karaoke bar in Thailand vanishes in suspicious circumstances

[Marc26]

5 hours ago, Soidog said:

It was my favourite Soi 4 bar for many years. However, back around 2017/18 they refurbished it and spoiled it in my opinion. It was also a bar where you could ask the girls to get you some of the lovely street food right outside the door. Now they say they can’t as the bar sells its own food. 
 

Much of what has happened to Big Dogs is a reflection of most of the Plaza and Soi 4. Removing the Golden Bar and building Hooters was the start of the decline.  The removal of the central bars in the Plaza replaced with a uniform boring set of bars was a mistake. Putting the roof on was even worse, making it feel like you were drinking in a sports hall. And finally, with the Landmark hotel claiming the roof (which they wanted apparently) was amplifying the music from the plaza and they have been told to stop playing music. You walk in the plaza now and all you hear are the sound of the many fans.  
 

Friends of mine from Australia come to visit each year and Soi 4 and Nana were always the go to place for a few nights. Last year they decided no more and we went straight to Phuket. 

I don't remember the music situation but I think that new big bar in the middle of the ground floor is a big improvement when I was there in June

 

And I like Hooters, just for Happy Hour, otherwise it's incredibly expensive 

 

But Golden Bar was awesome 

 

 

And I remember Nana disco way back as well was great

 

And the diner in Nana hotel as well

That was a great scene late night!

[Soidog]

1 minute ago, Marc26 said:

I don't remember the music situation but I think that new big bar in the middle of the ground floor is a big improvement when I was there in June

And I like Hooters, just for Happy Hour, otherwise it's incredibly expensive 

But Golden Bar was awesome 

And I remember Nana disco way back as well was great

And the diner in Nana hotel as well

That was a great scene late night!

The music situation may have been resolved. I was last there back in late October. I can’t recall who told me about the Landmark hotel being the source of complaint. There was talk that either the roof would be modified or removed and a new version installed? 
 

I prefer the shabby bars that were there in Nana. They seems to have more character and the odd dead rat on the floor only helped to increase the seediness of the place.
 

I can’t agree about Hooters I’m afraid. The girls are lovely and the food not too bad. The hourly dances the girls do are also worthy of a visit! But it’s just too much of an American brand and doesn’t suit the privately run bar theme around Soi 4. If we are not careful we will have a Starbucks, KFC and McDonalds along Soi 4. I like the individual dark and seedy bar scene. That probably says more about me than Soi 4 bars  

[Marc26]

4 minutes ago, Soidog said:

The music situation may have been resolved. I was last there back in late October. I can’t recall who told me about the Landmark hotel being the source of complaint. There was talk that either the roof would be modified or removed and a new version installed? 
 

I prefer the shabby bars that were there in Nana. They seems to have more character and the odd dead rat on the floor only helped to increase the seediness of the place.
 

I can’t agree about Hooters I’m afraid. The girls are lovely and the food not too bad. The hourly dances the girls do are also worthy of a visit! But it’s just too much of an American brand and doesn’t suit the privately run bar theme around Soi 4. If we are not careful we will have a Starbucks, KFC and McDonalds along Soi 4. I like the individual dark and seedy bar scene. That probably says more about me than Soi 4 bars  

If you want seedy and desperate (don't mean either in a bad way) 555

 

Soi 7 Beer Garden is still going

 

I took a stroll through there for old times sake in the summer and it was on death's door

 

But Covid restrictions just lifted 

So maybe it picked up 

[Soidog]

43 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

If you want seedy and desperate (don't mean either in a bad way) 555

Soi 7 Beer Garden is still going

I took a stroll through there for old times sake in the summer and it was on death's door

But Covid restrictions just lifted 

So maybe it picked up 

I checked out the Soi 7 beer garden. As you say, a desperate place. That said, whenever there’s a Buddha day, it’s one of the few places in the area that stays open. It’s called a “style of its own”!

There’s a new group of small bars that’s been open for just over a year which I think is either down 5 or 7 (200 metres on the left from Sukhumvit). Not a bad alternative if you want to get away from 4 for an hour or so. Increasingly, I like Soi 8. A couple of good restaurant bars along with a few normal bars just as you take the cut along Soi 6

[Marc26]

3 hours ago, Soidog said:

I checked out the Soi 7 beer garden. As you say, a desperate place. That said, whenever there’s a Buddha day, it’s one of the few places in the area that stays open. It’s called a “style of its own”!

There’s a new group of small bars that’s been open for just over a year which I think is either down 5 or 7 (200 metres on the left from Sukhumvit). Not a bad alternative if you want to get away from 4 for an hour or so. Increasingly, I like Soi 8. A couple of good restaurant bars along with a few normal bars just as you take the cut along Soi 6

Yes you can have a good laid back night on Soi 8

[Grumpish]

11 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I don't remember the music situation but I think that new big bar in the middle of the ground floor is a big improvement when I was there in June

And I like Hooters, just for Happy Hour, otherwise it's incredibly expensive 

But Golden Bar was awesome 

And I remember Nana disco way back as well was great

And the diner in Nana hotel as well

That was a great scene late night!

Getting all nostalgic now. Golden Bar was great for people watching early evening, as well, and the breakfast and lunch buffets at the Nana Hotel weren't bad,  you could pig out and not need to eat for the rest of the day. 

[Manu]

20 hours ago, Soidog said:

This behaviour isn’t cheating. It’s done with the full knowledge of the Thai “boyfriend”. He allows his girlfriend to go with other men for money which he takes more than a fair cut of. Does that sound like strange behaviour to you? It sure does to me. These women aren’t really girlfriends, they are the prostitutes of their pimp “boyfriend”.
 

If you sit at places like Big Dogs Bar on the edge of Nana Plaza around 6pm onwards, you will see many a boyfriend dropping his girlfriend off at work. Most times they may just get drinks off men and return home. If they get a customer who wants sex then they go with them and the “boyfriend” sleeps easier at night knowing money his coming to him in the morning. 

Yes, what you describe is strange and indeed exists, however on what do you base your assumption like it can be the only the truth in this story? She went for a drink with a guy and you assume without any shred of evidence that her Thai boyfriend allows her to prostitute herself??????? Even from you, that for sure I find indeed very strange.

If you go to dodgy places like Nana Plaza, then of course you will experience strange things like boyfriends droping their girlfriends. But there is a very wide real world out there. On the island where I live, it is a small community. Tourism being the main income, we also have prostituion, bar girls. I have never heard this happening here, like I said it is a small community in which these girls live too, at some point it would be known. However I know plenty of stories of cheating bf/gf, it is hard to keep this secret in a small community...like any community around the world, not more, not less.

Maybe she just went for a few free drinks, or even just for a drink with that guy and her colleagues. Maybe she wanted to to prostitute herself after that drink, maybe not, maybe without the knowledge of her bf maybe with the knowledge of her bf. But assuming that it is and can only be the latter is pure speculation and why this speculation in this thread is to me the strangest thing.

 

[HolyCowCm]

15 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I don't remember the music situation but I think that new big bar in the middle of the ground floor is a big improvement when I was there in June

And I like Hooters, just for Happy Hour, otherwise it's incredibly expensive 

But Golden Bar was awesome 

And I remember Nana disco way back as well was great

And the diner in Nana hotel as well

That was a great scene late night!

Was an era of great times in that period.

[HolyCowCm]

15 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I actually meant to say life in Thailand is "different " not "difficult "  when you have kids vs a single guy

As for comparison to kids in the US

I don't really know how you can make than statement when you've only been to the US 5x in 30 years

And I would say you are completely wrong 

Not that I feel Thai kids are bad

Most are really good

But kids in the US are awesome 

I have many nephews your kids age and you aren't finding better kids

Same goes for all my close friend's kids

And actually I see a lot of Thai boys go bad in their teens

Way more than any I know in the US

So I'd politely disagree on your take

My trips to the US in the over 30 years were a little more than that, it was in the last 23 years they were curtailed, but these trips were 2 weeks to 3 weeks with visting friends who have kids as well as my family there who have kids. I have seen enough to make my opinion based on my 3 kids and their friends and the general demeanor of the kids and how they behave in schools her from Kindergarden to Primary - High School to University. Most all are very well behaved ones more so than the US fro mwhat I have seen. But we can leave it at the kids from here and then the USA are both 2 different countries and act differently out in public and in schools and at home..

Anyway, I respect your opinion of feelings. For me raising 3 kids here was the best and I wouold not have traded it for the world having to have done it in the USA and have them be totally different from who they are right now. I know USA kids pretty well. I am not out of touch that much.

[Soidog]

1 hour ago, Manu said:

Yes, what you describe is strange and indeed exists, however on what do you base your assumption like it can be the only the truth in this story? She went for a drink with a guy and you assume without any shred of evidence that her Thai boyfriend allows her to prostitute herself??????? Even from you, that for sure I find indeed very strange.

If you go to dodgy places like Nana Plaza, then of course you will experience strange things like boyfriends droping their girlfriends. But there is a very wide real world out there. On the island where I live, it is a small community. Tourism being the main income, we also have prostituion, bar girls. I have never heard this happening here, like I said it is a small community in which these girls live too, at some point it would be known. However I know plenty of stories of cheating bf/gf, it is hard to keep this secret in a small community...like any community around the world, not more, not less.

Maybe she just went for a few free drinks, or even just for a drink with that guy and her colleagues. Maybe she wanted to to prostitute herself after that drink, maybe not, maybe without the knowledge of her bf maybe with the knowledge of her bf. But assuming that it is and can only be the latter is pure speculation and why this speculation in this thread is to me the strangest thing.

@Manu, you really must try to follow the thread better and stop trying to look for conflict in what people post.

I made no reference to this particular case or this particular person. My comment was made as a result of the progress in the conversation. @sanuk first made a comment about it being strange if she had a boyfriend. @Marc26 and @Grumpish then went on to say it wasn’t strange in bars and bar girls where foreigners were. It was a reference in support of the comments made by these people that I posted, as indeed it isn’t so strange.  
 

Try to put it in to context from the flow of the thread before jumping to conclusions. It’s hard to do when you have a prejudice about someone you haven’t even met, as demonstrated by your moralistic comment about Nana Plaza. Which I assume, like me, you have visited.
 

You live on an island and then tell me there’s a real world out there . I used Nana as an example. Believe me when I say, I have seen and heard many such cases of girls going with foreigners and Thai men for money in the full knowledge of their “boyfriends” in many parts of Thailand, rural as well as tourist. You should open your eyes more and understand some of the seedy things that go on all over this “very wide real world” you try to lecture me about.   

[Marc26]

11 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

My trips to the US in the over 30 years were a little more than that, it was in the last 23 years they were curtailed, but these trips were 2 weeks to 3 weeks with visting friends who have kids as well as my family there who have kids. I have seen enough to make my opinion based on my 3 kids and their friends and the general demeanor of the kids and how they behave in schools her from Kindergarden to Primary - High School to University. Most all are very well behaved ones more so than the US fro mwhat I have seen. But we can leave it at the kids from here and then the USA are both 2 different countries and act differently out in public and in schools and at home..

Anyway, I respect your opinion of feelings. For me raising 3 kids here was the best and I wouold not have traded it for the world having to have done it in the USA and have them be totally different from who they are right now. I know USA kids pretty well. I am not out of touch that much.

My opinion overall on it is young Thai kids are much more behaved and you don't see tantrums like you do and are basically accepted back in the US

 

But that a lot more Thai boys go bad in their teens than they do in the US

I think that is mainly because Thailand doesn't have the sports structure that the US does so the Thai boys aren't busy with sports/activities like they are in the US

So they get into trouble 

 

 

But that there isn't any real difference in comparing the young adults when they are late teens, early 20's

Both sets of kids are mostly respectful and good kids

[KaptainRob]

Thread closed as way off topic.  BTW The Loei woman has been home for days.