Sunee Plaza Nostalgia

[thaifarang]

Many visitors at that time had no idea what was going on or the types of customers attracted

Yes even customers I talked to and then was advised by friends why they came to Sunee. I spent a lot of time in Sunee back then and many times I was flabbergasted when others told me what was going on . Thai boys from Bars delivering underage boys to customers . At least 2 Bars that were known for having mostly pedophiles for customers and yes a Beer Bar I spent quite a bit of time in because of waiters I knew for years when they used to be GoGo Boys.

Ok, that clears it a bit up for me. I was under the impression - in the other thread - it was done in the open. That everyone visiting Sunee could see boys as young as 12 on stage and walking with their customers to their hotel. Now I understand it was at least a bit hidden. You had to be a regular visitor to notice something was going on? I also understand now the pedophile didn't walk with the boy to his hotel in the open, but the boys were send secretly to him. That explains then for me why it could last and many didn't call police, because apparently many didn't know. Correct?

But you knew. You even talked to these people back then. Why did you not contact their embassy? GB advised not to go to police only when you are not sure. That is a wise advice. But in the Sunee situation in 1995 it is not a: "I am not 100% sure, better not go police" situation, it was - for you at least - a situation like: "I am 100% sure, and still I not contact authorities in Thailand or the embassy of that Farang". Why? What held you back?

By the way I love the nostalgia, the pictures and videos. These pictures of GB looks like they could have been made today. I mean the scenery. Of course we now have other bars. But can you see by looking at these pictures that this are 10 year old photos (disregarding the bar signs).

Someone should write a book about the Pattaya gay scene from start to now.

[firecat69]

Evidently you have very little experience in Thailand. The police were paid off. Even now GoGo Bars have to pay the police because what they are doing is against the Law providing boys for sex whether now they are 18 does not change anything.

A visitor going to the police would have been lucky not to be locked up himself.

The reason more Beer Bars have survived then GoGo Bars is because they are hardly bothered by the police just much cheaper to run a Beer Bar.

[Gaybutton]

Why? What held you back?

Are you actually under the impression that the police, embassies, authorities, etc, didn't know exactly what was going on? One go-go bar, during that time period, asked me to take photos inside the bar, while it was open, so he could use the photos for ads. Of course, I was careful to make sure customers were not shown in any of the photos. While I was doing that, one very upset farang approached me and wanted to know if the faces of any of the customers would be identifiable. He was quite worried that if his own face was identifiable he would lose his job. He was a higher echelon official at his embassy.

Another reason - when a farang is arrested it can take up to a year, sometimes even more, before the case sees the first light of day in court. Do you think you would have been willing to either remain in Thailand until the case came up or return to Thailand to testify as a witness?

Add those to the reasons I already specified in my previous post and what firecat69 said in his post.

What was going on in those days would have been none of your business. You would have been an idiot to try to play hero and involve yourself. If you found yourself in a bar and saw such goings on, the only practical thing you could have done would have been to simply leave the bar and go elsewhere.

[thaifarang]

Thank you. I have now a good idea how it operated and why no one called.

I also understand now (which makes it for me easier to comprehend) that it was not 100% in the open. I got the impression everyone walking into a bar there could so kids on stage and could see older men offing them and walking with the child outside to their hotel. That is so totally incomprehensible that I just couldn't understand how did could last long. There must always be farang who will call the country of that farang (newbies for example will not hesitate I guess) to get him arrested and it would soon die out because if arrest upon arrival back home was a real possibility it would stop. Not everyone wouldn't call. I understand now it was thus not that in the open. You could notice it maybe if you paid attention, but the average visitor wouldn't notice a thing. This makes it for me comprehensible.

[Dodger]

I can tell from some of the comments on this thread that people who didn't experience Pattaya in the 90's (or before) simply don't know what it was like which is quite understandable. The kids running around trying to get in the act by selling their wares always seems to get a lot of attention in these discussions, but in all reality, that was just a very tiny fragment of the surrealistic environment back then that's so hard to explain to people.

They (the Thais) were all part of the act. From the grandmothers pushing their insect carts down the sois at night - to the hill tribe Indians trekking all the way down from the mountains in Chiang Rai to Pattaya to sell their handy crafts in the bars at night. You would walk in one gogo bar and witness naked dancers panted with luminescent water colors swallowing flames from the tips hot torches, to the bar next door where a 350 Lb. farang wearing a thong is singing Whats's New Pussy Cat and doing back flips off the stage simultaneously (Throb). There were hundreds if not thousands of working boys and girls cramming the sois at night dressed to kill adorned with gold bracelets and necklaces poised like the dream makers they were. Regardless if the visiting farang was str8 or gay he would find himself standing naked on the surface of another planet - a place that he never knew existed - a place where his dreams would came to life. Nothing seemed real and nowhere in the world was like this.

I remember being a new comer and sitting at the newly opened Memories Cafe in Sunee with my heart pumping, not knowing how the night would end up and feeling drunk before I even took my first sip of beer, when a drop-dead gorgeous boy walks in and immediately sits on the lap of an elderly farang sitting across from me and starts kissing him passionately. I just sat there with my mouth wide open. Then, a moment later, another boy who was so dam good looking he would be cast in a movie if they ever spotted him in Hollywood, comes and sits next to me, puts his hand on my thigh, flashes this smile that had me melting and asks me what my name was. Before I could even remember my name I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over to see an elephant staring at me with a young mahoot boy holding out a chunk of sugar cane. At that moment I knew I wasn't in Kansas any more. I was just a 40 year old guy from Chicago who never even came out of the closet let alone have a boy from my dreams openly saying he wanted to go to my hotel to have fun with me. And the only time I ever saw an elephant was in a Tarzan movie.

Some of the bars back then didn't even have licenses to operate which was an is against Thai law. The Thais pushing their food carts didn't either which was and is against Thai law. Prostitution which embodied the entire scene was and is against Thai law. And I'm quite sure that walking an elephant down a crowed city street may have been bending the law a bit too. So where would the first time visitor from Neptune begin. Would he raise himself from his bar stool and push his dream boy away for the sake of honoring his perception of the way things should be. Would he go screaming in the night for the police so he could get them to stop all of these things, or would he just simply be grateful for being provided the opportunity to experience his dreams? As they say in Thailand...Up to You.

[fountainhall]

I was very much the neophyte since I rarely visited Pattaya and did not even know where Sunee Plaza was until a friend took me about 12 years ago. Whenever it was, Krazy Dragon had just opened with the boys dancing on the tables in their very loose fitting short pants. An excellent group of boys and great fun on that first visit. I'm not sure when Happy Boys around the corner opened but it too was fun because the boys made it so. Their little open toga-type shorts resulted in lots of Bt. 20 notes passing as well as the red ones when they'd come and sit and hands would wander. If there is one bar I'd love to see reopen it would be that one.

But I have to admit there was one bar we wandered in to virtually by accident where there definitely were some underage boys sitting at the edge of the stage whilst older boys danced. Indeed, they were not only sitting but working their hands as well. Some might say they were just very young looking 18 year olds, but it was perfectly clear these few had not attained anything like that age. We found it so nauseating we immediately departed. Living in Bangkok I had heard about such goings on but assumed by then that it had been wiped out. Presumably it took another year or more to clean it all up - at least as far as casual visitors were concerned.

Dodger's comments all but mirror my own when I first discovered Bangkok and its nocturnal delights. Heart-pounding it certainly was and my first few visits were eagerly anticipated. Such gorgeous boys beaming at you with drop-dead smiles as though you were the only person in the world that mattered - until you made it clear that your eyes were on one of the others! Even then, there was no bitchiness amongst the boys, just a camaraderie that seemed to give all a lift when a boy was offed. GB has often noted that one of the key ingredients missing nowadays is the sense of fun that permeated all the bars. It may still be there to a certain extent in Pattaya. Sadly, not nearly as much in Bangkok.

[thaiworthy]

nostalgia
nɒˈstaldʒə
noun
a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.

Wistful about the past in Pattaya/Sunee, but excited about the present in utterly persistent Bangkok, despite the high prices. My nostalgia in retrospect is mostly mindful of money.

[Undaunted]

I agree with most of what Doger wrote and yes there is no way to explain to people that were not in Sunee during its hayday what it was like, G.B.'s pics did alot to bring back memories.

[Undaunted]

I have been here for nearly 14 yrs. I never saw a 12 yr. old working in a bar. That is just the kind of thing that Boystown would say to kill of the compitition.

[DavidJarrett]

I have some good photos of 2006 of Howard's Hotel at night, and some 2005 Pattaya photos. I have zero ideal how to post them. Is there an email address that I can send them to? Much easier for me to email them. I am not computer smart.