Thank goodness we’re not a sexually segregated society, because our idea of a fun night out is with lots of girls and lots of boys. But sometimes you want to try something different, ditch the gig or the fan and indulge in the kind of stuff that would only draw reproachful stares from the opposite sex. Here’s are some tried and tested plans for a perfect girls’ or boys’ nights out.
GIRLS' NIGHTS
There’s something about a hard-drinking (and flirting) night accompanied by juicy gossip that makes us want to leave our boys at home as we kick up our heels with the gals. From girly restaurants to indulgent spas and hip clubs, here are some destinations for a fabulous girls’ night out in town.
Have a Carrie Bradshaw Moment
With beautiful crowds, stylish red-and-black interior and one of the best girly martinis in town, Koi (26 Sukhumvit Soi 20, 02-258-1590, www.koirestaurantbkk.com. Open daily 6pm-midnight) would win an approving nod from Carrie and co. Slippers aren’t allowed here, so it’s time to slip into the beloved Manolo stilettos you spent your whole life savings on and strut your stuff. Order yourself a Koi Peach Cosmo (B250) and if you spot your Mr. Big, it wouldn’t hurt to get him a Flaming Lamborghini (B200). A tip: for male eye-candy, drop by Koi’s model nights on Tue, Thu, Fri or Sat. But if you’re afraid skinny Kate Moss wannabes will steal your spotlight, then go for Ladies’ Night on Wednesday, when you can bitch about them over one free standard cocktail.
Have a Tata Young Moment
Planning a dinner with your posse? Choose a really really girly restaurant. Pandanus (50 Soi Nanta, South Sathorn Rd., 02-287-4021. Open daily 11:30am-midnight) is owned by two girls—and it shows. The bistro is gorgeously feminine with a kind of Hampton Beach home look, while the bar upstairs has a darker and more urban feel, where you can roll around the velvet sofa beds while sipping martinis (B210) and flirting with young Thais and moneyed expats. Need more reasons to go? From our recent interview with Tata Young, the pop princess confessed Pandanus is her favorite hangout. So follow her lead and don’t forget to book in advance.
Bare It All
Facials, scrubs, massages—the paths to female pleasure are many and don’t necessarily involve guys. Lie down and relax under the able hands of a masseuse at Devarana (The Dusit Thani Bangkok, 946 Rama 1 Rd., 02-636-3596, www.devaranaspa.com. Open daily 9am-10pm). Pronounced “te-wa-run,” the downtown oasis is known for their inventive scrubs, so strip down and opt for a Living Radiance package (B3,700), which treats you to a 30-minute body scrub (choose your favorite from rose petal, green tea, mangosteen and seaweed) and a 90-minute body massage. Desperate for a much-needed beauty nap? The Power Nap Ritual (B4,900/2hrs 30mins) might just be your prescription. The sleep-inducing quick fix covers a soothing lavender body scrub, a hot milk bath and a lavender and chamomile oil massage, followed by a 30-minute nap, which allows you and your gals to wake up refreshed, ready to party the night away.
Divana Divine Spa (103 Thonglor Soi 17, 02-712-8986, www.divana-dvn.com. Open Mon-Fri 11am-11pm, Sat-Sun 10am-11pm) also caters to girls with its “aesthetic” facial series, which include beauty-boosting treatments like Divine Eye Soother (B900/40mins) and Collagen-Oxygenating Facial (B2,800/80mins). But for an ultimate girl time, go for the Fleur de Feminine (B3,300/165mins), comprising of: fresh homemade body scrub, aromatic massage, hair purifying treatment and milky bath.
On the verge of a cash flow crisis? At Health Land (96/1 near Ekkamai Soi 10, 02-392-2233, www.healthlandspa.com. Open daily 9am-11pm), pampering massages come with pocket-friendly price tags. For B450, you will get to enjoy a two-hour traditional Thai massage in a comfy private room, which can also host up to seven of your best friends.
Dance with 15 Men
Looking for a hot, sweaty night? Look no further than La Rueda Latin Dance Club (23 Sukhumvit Soi 18, 02-261-9669, www.salsadancebangkok.com. Open Mon-Sat 6pm-1am). The night usually begins at 7pm with a dance class (B150, including one soft drink), then after 9pm, it’s time to hit the dance floor and get down to the grooves. You get to change partners often—usually after every song—so by the end of the night, you get to dance with at least 15 different guys. Think of it as speed dating with a swing!
A well-kept secret among oldie dancers, Galaxy (19 Rama 4 Rd., 02-235-5006. Open daily 5pm-9pm) will definitely suit your penchant for old-school tackiness. This long-standing nightclub is positively gigantic with a spacious dance floor, which is packed with up to 100 couples on Friday nights. Go alone and you’ll want to shoot yourself. Take some girlfriends and you’re in for a laugh. Filling up the large stage is a live band and a big-breasted diva crooning against the painted backdrop of a snowed-under Swiss lodge. On the dance floor, ageing khunying and their gigolos—pardon us—dance partners glide about executing perfect cha cha cha and tango routines.
Ogle Half-Naked Men
Reasons to love gay bars: 1. You don’t get harassed by sleaze balls as you dance like a slut. 2. Those guys spend half their life working out in the gym. 3. They like to take their clothes off. Well at least at Silom Soi 2 they do. The temple of gay clubbing remains DJ Station (02-266-4029, but don’t bother calling). Get there before 11:30pm and you also get to enjoy the glittering stage show. But if you prefer to skip the sleazy rice/potato queens scene and want to be surrounded by cute, well-dressed gays in their late 20s, go to 70’s Bar (231/6 Sarasin Rd., 02-253-4433. Open daily 6pm-1am) or Kluen Saek (297 Sarasin Rd., 02-254-2962. Open daily 7pm-1am) instead.
Eat the Stuff You Can’t Eat on a Date
However poorly this reflects on men, ordering seven-courses of pig leg topped off with a banana sundae float is a no-no unless you’ve married the poor bastard. But on a girl’s night, you can forget the boring salad with balsamic dressing. Tuck into extremely rich, waistline-unfriendly, unhealthy food. At Outback Steak House (2/F, Siam Discovery Center, Rama 1 Rd., 02-658-0201. Open daily 10am-10pm), you can binge on enormous Aussie Cheese Fries (B229), loaded with cheddar cheese, bacon and spicy ranch dressing. And guess what, this 2,900-calorie weapon of mass destruction is just an appetizer here! When you’re done, exclaim, “Now, what’s for dinner, girls?”
Where Girls Get Smashed For Less
Bangkok is generous to drinking women, so why not take advantage of the many ladies’ night deals? Some of our mid-week favorites are Coyote on Convent (1/2 Convent Rd., 02-631-2325, www.coyoteonconvent.com. Open daily 11pm-1am), which hands out free margaritas on Wednesdays, 6-8pm, and Ibiza (InterContinental Hotel, 973 Ploenchit Rd., 02-656-0382/-4. Open daily 8pm-2am), where on Wednesdays, ladies get four free shots each, or if you go in groups of four, you can guzzle an entire bottle of whisky. Alternatively, drop by Witch’s Tavern (between Thonglor Soi 8 and 10, 02-391-9791. Open daily 11am-1am) on Wed, when favorite poisons like gin, vodka and tequila are on the house for three hours, 5-9pm.
Meet Mr. Right (Now)
Over your ex and now looking for your coming-up-next? We, girls (and girl-wannabes) at BK, have voted and the following are some of the best places for guy gazing. For young eligible bachelors, there’s probably no place more happening than Jet Metropolitan (90 Ekkamai Soi 10, near Big C, 02-382-3393/4, 087-055-6879. Open daily 7pm-1am). The best spot to scorecard men unobserved is Mist, Jet’s glass-wrapped wine bar, where you can check out the guys from distance. Y50 (Ekkamai Soi 21, 02-715-0703. Open daily 6pm-late) can get cramped as hell, but it’s always a reliable choice if university guys are what you seek.
Boys’ Nights
Though we might hate to admit it, isn’t Bangkok designed solely for the purpose of boys’ nights out? From high-end gentlemen clubs (Exotica and The Resort) to the gutter (ping pong shows in Soi Patpong), it’s all out there. But, there are also less seedy options for a spot of male bonding. Here are some cool places to hang out with your chums. Oh, and if you’re worried, we did cover the member clubs as well.
Beer and Ball
What would be a better combo for a guys’ night out than beer and football? If you’re planning a guy get-together for the Euro 2008 final on Jun 29 and want to feel the atmosphere of a real football match, root for your team with hundreds of other fans at CentralWorld, where the match will be projected on a massive screen almost the size of a football pitch. As well as the obligatory beer bars, there’ll also be games to entertain you at half time. Other worthy sports bars to check out for the next sporting event are Down Under Sports Bistro (Sukhumvit Soi 23, 08-6807-1384, www.downundersportsbistro.com), equipped with 15 flat screens, and The Pickled Liver (Sukhumvit Soi 11, 02-254-3484), where you can pop in for a pint and live English Premier League matches.
Bend It Like Beckham
Has the Euro inspired you to test your own ball skills rather than just watching from the couch? The 7 Shoot Football Club (26/84 Soi Ramindra 34 [Soi Youyen], 08-9488-4080, 08-6514-7795, www.7shoot.com. Open Mon-Fri 3-11pm, Sat-Sun 8am-midnight) is a 7-aside football pitch (B2,200/2hrs), equipped with showers, free water and free wifi. Premier Football Club (Soi Lasalle, Bangna, 08-9783-8798, www.premierfootballclub.com. Open daily 8am-midnight) offers two pitches for rent. The full size pitch is B3,000 for 90mins, while the 7-aside option costs B2,000/90min. If you’re really confident in your ability (and number of friends), sign up for the annual Weekend Evening League at Nawamin Football Club and Green Field (10/5 Moo 5, Sukhunsawat Rd., Ladprao, 02-907-8067, 08-6700-5207, www.nfc-nawamin.com. Open daily 8am-10pm). Three pitches are also available for rent: 7-aside (B2,800), 9-aside (B3,800) and a full 11-aside pitch (B4,600) for a 90-min game.
Pub Sports
Even when drinking, men need to have something else to distract them. It’s so they don’t have to have any deep conversations—hence the invention of pub games. Get your cue chalked at Rack’em Up (RCA, 02-641-5223. Open daily 5pm-2am), where you can drink and socialize over a game of pool (B200/hour). They also have TVs installed for you to catch live football. You can also test your hand-eye coordination after a beer or two at Roadhouse (942/1-4, Rama 4 Rd., 02-236-8010, www.roadhousebarbecue.com. Open daily 10am-1am), where you’ll find a pool table, a 7-meter long shuffle board, a foosball table and dart board, as well as TVs broadcasting live sports. B@S (Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square, Siam Square Soi 6, Rama 1 Rd., 02-209-8888) is another that provides plenty of sporting distractions with air hockey and darts available alongside the pool tables and big screen tellies. It also serves that other steadfast of a boys night out: pizza.
Need for Speed
If a game of darts isn’t enough of an energy rush then embrace your inner Speed Racer and head to PTT Speed Way (2/F, UMG RCA, 02-203-1205/-7, www.easykart.net, www.kartingstadium.com. Open Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri 4pm-midnight, Sat-Sun 1pm-midnight), an indoor go-kart track where you can race on a 166CC car for B390/8mins. If you can get enough friends together then you can get the track for yourself. Behave yourself and they’ll let you have a go on the 270cc beasts. If you don’t fancy choking on exhaust fumes all night then check out the outdoor and more spacious Motor Sports Land (1096/1 Phaholyothin Rd., 02-939-2498, www.motorsportsland.com. Open daily 1-9pm). The rate here is B350/10mins.
Stay at Home
This whole going out and doing stuff is so overrated anyway. All you want is to watch TV, play Winning Eleven on your PS3 and eat pizza and beer. And you certainly don’t want to break your concentration by wandering down to the nearest 7-eleven. Help is at hand thanks to two doorstep delivery services, Food by Phone (02-662-4662 or www.foodbyphone.com. Open daily 10:30am-10:30pm) and ChefsXP (02-664-0100 or www.chefsxp.com. Open daily 10:30am-10:30pm). Between them, they offer you a choice of nearly 160 restaurants so you don’t have to argue over what to eat. Plus, Food by Phone goes one step further as they can also deliver other essentials: beers, spirits and cigarettes to smooth the way to an all night gaming session.
Drunk for Less
It’s not fair, ladies’ nights drinks deals are almost everywhere, but guys’ nights are just a thing of legend. Well, Party House One (Siam @ Siam Design Hotel and Spa, 865 Rama 1 Rd., 02-217-3000. Open daily 6pm-2am) has done something about this. On Wednesday nights, 6-11:30pm, it’s Metro Men Night. When you order one main course, you’ll get two drinks for free. Choose from gin, vodka or draught beer. No, honestly we promise that it’s not a gay night in disguise.
Meet Mrs. Right (Now)
In addition to football and beer, babes seem to be third in order of priority for a guys’ night out. And here in Bangkok, almost every bar in Thonglor and Ekkamai is filled with female eye candy. Jet Metropolitan (90 Ekkamai Soi 10, near Big C, 02-382-3393/4, 087-055-6879. Open daily 7pm-1am), once again, ranks high when it comes to girls galore, followed closely by Curve (59/9 Ekkamai Soi 1, 02-714-2323. Open daily 7pm-late). Need a change of scene? Drive a little further to Route 66 (29/33-48 RCA, Rama 9 Rd., 02-203-0834, www.route66club.com. Open 7pm-2am) and you’ll also find a great many ladies in attendance.
Smooth Strokes
Girls love a guy who knows how to take care of himself. So get in touch with your inner metrosexual and get ready to be pampered. For a luxurious indulgence, book a Tony Chi-designed spa cottage at i.sawan (5/F, Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, 494 Ratchadamri Rd., 02-254-6310, www.bangkok.grand.hyatt.com. Open daily 9am-11pm) and lay down for a de-stressing Man Space Tranquility massage (B2,900/hour). Their facial won the best men’s facial treatment award at Spa Asia Award 2007.
Shortened from “masculine room,” M Room (39/1 Soi Ruamrudee 2, Ploenchit Rd., 02-253-8140. Open daily 11am-11pm) knows what guys want. The therapists here are young and pretty and will rub you down with a ligit aromatic oil for B1,350/hour.
Walk on the Wild Side
Sometimes boys just have to be boys and despite the moral debate it’s a fact that a lot of men just can’t help but be entranced by the female form.
As much as we tried to ignore them, talking to a lot of the guys in the office it seems we just can’t avoid the ‘delights’ of the many Members Clubs in Bangkok. After all, these men-only destinations and their super-friendly staff are just tailor-made for lads who will happily pay the mega-prices for membership and drinks just for the pleasure of staring at some beautiful dancers. There are plenty to choose from but it seems that The Resort (202/1 Ratchadaphisek Soi 13, 02-642-5311/2. www.theresortclub.com), with its big central stage and plentiful eye candy and Exotica (119/1-2 Thonglor Soi 5-7, 02-712-6940/-3. Open daily 8pm-2am), which boasts a palatial interior and its own swimming pool, are particular favorites with the younger crowd. Just remember to keep your chin from dragging on the floor as you max out your credit card.
bk asks: “If I was a guy for one night, I would…?”
Gwen, 23, student
Go to the corporate gentlemen-only clubs to listen to the actual things they say about women. Then I would expose their sexist asses.
Khwanjai, 26, marketing officer
Go check out the arb-ob-nuad massage parlors. I’d like to know what’s it like in there.
Sai, 24, looking for a job
Go practice soccer with Beckham.
Diana, 26, UN officer
Explore my masculinity.
Pissa, 20, student
Hit on girls to see how good I am as a guy.
bk asks: “If I was a girl for one night, I would…”
First, 24, singer
Does masturbating sound too obscene? Well, I’d just try to pee standing then. I want to see if girls can do it.
Sirip-pakorn, 30-something, director
Go to my girlfriend and say, “Hey, I’m even more beautiful than you.”
Nattapong, 20, graphic designer intern
Take a lot of pictures of myself. Go bald. Walk around naked.
Gag, 23, bassist
Dress up and go to Tor Saksit’s concert. I like his music, but it’s kinda embarrassing for a guy like me to go to his concert, which is usually packed with screaming girls.
Nils, 34, marketing manager
Girls love shopping so I want to go shopping.
Hangover Cures
Alka Seltzer
Manao Soda
Bloody Mary
Greasy fry up
Run
Guess what?
