First time in BKK in 1967. I was 13 on an around the world with my family. The place was flooded with loud and happy GI’s each with a beautiful girl on their arm. As a 13 year old boy I was bug-eyed and thought the place was amazing. (Retired now in Chiang Mai).
That was great! The first hotel I ever stayed at was the Malaysia Hotel back in December 1987. Back in the days before smartphones and internet seems unimaginable now but Bangkok felt so exciting and mysterious. I feel so fortunate that I experienced those Wild West days, and all the usual suspects like Thermae’s, Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy & Patpong which were going strong back then. A different world indeed.
Wow! This is a great post that brings back a lot of memories. In the fall of 1978 I arrived at Don Muang from Kathmandu and taxied directly to Soi Ngam Duphli. Checked into the Boston Inn, but it was terrible. No AC and the walls between the rooms didn’t reach the ceiling. Checked into the Malaysia the next day and it was like moving into the Ritz. Lovely pool, excellent coffee shop, great AC. After 10 months of staying in youth hostels and fleabags across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the Malaysia seemed the pinnacle of luxury. First memory of the Blue Fox: a bar girl was eating chilies out of a jar. Put the whole chili in her mouth bit it off at the stem and chewed. She offered one to a farang at the bar who’d been ogling her. He attempted to eat it the same way and immediately fell to the ground screaming and clutching his throat. My first morning in the area I went to a small open front restaurant where, to my amazement, they made me a bowl of corn flakes with cold milk and sliced bananas. It was one of the most memorable meals of my life. You got 20 baht to the dollar. A big plate of shrimp fried rice was 7 baht ($0.35) and the Malaysia was 100 baht a night ($5.00). Spent several evenings at the nearby Lumphini boxing stadium, which was just on the other side of Rama IV. Went back for a visit to the area in the early 1990’s and it had indeed gone to seed. The Malaysia had become very shabby but there was a lively Issan-style nightclub in their banquet room where I managed to have a fun time.
I did spend my very first night in Thailand, 1980 in the Malaysia. The jukebox in the Blue Fox hit it's high 1985 when Madonna joined the box with: "I am a virgin."
I wonder what happened to that juke box. I clearly remember the worn ‘Stairway’ 45 and some really obscure Thai made EP’s from The Beatles White Album on it
Thanks Karl, my trickiest editing job thus far, brilliant storytelling as usual mate. I'll be in Pattaya during February so we can film something down there too.
Great video Pat, Im envious of Karl seeing Bangkok in the 80's ...I stayed at Soi Duphli in 1998 called "; Miggi house, something like that. Good fun. crazy characters and everyone was skint
That was great. Karl is one of the best story tellers on TH-cam. I first arrived in Bangkok in 1993, stayed at Uncle Ray's Guest House on Soi Nana, good times.
@karlsthailand Remember seeing a couple of Uncle Ray's Ice Cream Shops around Bangkok about the same time. Yes, the guest house was in a super location & cheap
Hey Pat, I'm the Soi Sri Bumphen 'old hand' (into my 34th year here now) that accosted you lol... while you were taking pics of the infamous Soi! FANTASTIC video! - You really are a natural for this type of documentary filming, professionally done, But...MOST IMPORTANT... down to earth! Okay a bit of info so On-wards... In the spring of 1990 I had decided i wanted to see a bit of the world, so quit my permanent job and started contract work, the first contract job was in Holland, anyways...at this company...during the lunch breaks all the Brits used to sit at the same table, there was an eccentric old chap from London (he lived in BKK during the UK winter since mid-80's) that used to tell stories about Bangers... ...one time he mentioned all the nefarious activities that went on in the soi that he lived, when he walked off back to work, all the other Brits would pipe up and say he was talking BS! Well...I went to Thailand for the first time back-packing in the winter of 1990, met up with the old eccentric chap, that Soi turned out to be: *Soi Sri Bumphen* and YES it was all TRUE what he had said! I loved it there so much, ended up staying every winter for 6 mths,(including 4 years full-time) used to stay at Soi Ngam Dupli APT's, that guy in his 1970's attire crossing the soi in your elephant pic, he stayed at those APT's...I stayed right up until the APT's got sold & knocked down and the ibis Hotel was built there. YOU had to have lived in *Soi Sri Bumphen* in those early years to experience the ENIGMA, YOU had to have BREATHED it... SEE it...they were VIBRANT Times, and sometimes totally insane...unreal times with equally mental characters!😂 Remember Karl's mate Mike (RIP) walking down the soi regularly, always seemed to have a small bottle of Mekong in his back pocket lol, the soi was action central as you had Patpong, Nana, the old thermae, Cowboy... all close by. You & Karl didn't mention the "Cambodian restaurant" (now gone) which is a surprise cos this place was paradise during the late/early hours with all sorts of ODDBALL characters!!! In ya video at 10:06 that farag lady is Eva aka cat woman (takes care of stray cats) shes been their since about 94 & to my knowledge never left lol! A film/book should be made about this by gone "dodgy street"...spilling the beans about its scams/nefarious activities and the colorful characters who participated, but hey... most probably wouldn't believe it, cos if you walk down there today, its one BORING street! BTW, You just got another subscriber, Cheers, Robert.
Hi Robert, it was nice chatting to you that evening, none of what I filmed while we talked made it into the video as I wasn;t really concentrating, too nusy listening to your stories. I of course didn't know that was Eva the cat women walking out of Soi 2, it was just by chance that I was filming at that moment, which is rather interesting. Had I known of course I would have had a chat. She sounds like a legend. If only there were as many old pics and videos about as there are taken at Khao San Road, luckily we had Karl's fantastic memories to savour. Glad you found the channel mate!
The backpackers on Khao San road were sitting around drinking 40 baht bottles of Mekong whiskey in the 80s. The shot of Bangladesh Biman airways at Don Muang also brought back memories of the cheapest flights to Rangoon and onward to Kathmandu after the seven day visa in Burma.
I lived on the old Soi in 1987 and worked as an "English teacher. " At the time the best heroin was sold by the police at the Malaysia Hotel coffee shop. 4 hours a day of English teaching kept me in a small room, bought food and cigarettes and paid for those long trips by train every 90 days to pay for a new visa. Good times!
@@xxx777xxxrrrYeah, he’d bring the visa forms, help you fill them in, take them away and bring them back the next day complete with your visa. Very convenient
Nostalgic, fun stories and marvelously evocative cinematography of yet another time and place In my favorite city. I can see you making a big time Oscar Winner movie in a dark "Bangkok Dangerous" / "Chinatown" theme with the stories you have to tell ! Thank you again Pat. And thank you too Karl !
Agreed, but I think the tele is history. This is the modern telly. Best wishes to Pat, I hope his channel continues to thrive and grow. It deserves more attention.
Bloody awesome vid Pat. Well researched, well executed as per normal. Karl is an added bonus! Such a great storytelling master. By the way, wtf is in your backpack??? I never saw you take anything out of it on our walking trip!😂😂😂
My very first experience of BKK was 1981 I stayed at the Malaysian hotel. I remember walking to Patpong almost every night. I had many a coffee in the Blue fox coffee. Oh the memories are flooding back
I Love that area, Blue fox Cafe, Lee Guesthouses, Malaysia Hotel and our Fav, Boston Inn. Stayed upstairs at tabletop when the rooms were double the size. I could walk home from Patpong, cheap taxi to NaNa, Soi Cowoy and Tharmae.
Great pair up- Pat & Karl! Triggered good memories, went into the Boston Inn in 1981, they were full but the desk girl said to checkout the bulletin board… found a note looking to share room cost and had the desk call up to the room. Ended up bunking in with an English girl on her way the Oz.
I remember those message boards lol. People would decide they didn’t want to leave, sell their air tickets, literally just cross out their name and put yours in instead. Another time, another world!
I went with some expats to Wong’s Place back in 2014, and it was so good that I returned the next night with my friend. We played Tic Tac Toe with Johnny, the lively bartender, and the place was bustling.
Love the video Pat! It was sweet of Karl to come along and walk with you throughout the old places he used to stay at! Karl’s stories are awesome! Thanks for taking us along 😊
The comments here have said it all, Pat! But I just want to add that I consider yours to be one of the best channels on TH-cam, if not *THE* best! As I've said before on your other contributions, your film-making skills combined with painstaking research are outstanding. I love the nostalgic vibes I get from watching your videos, partly brought about by your skilful use of archive footage and stills from a past era, and also your evocative choice of mood music. Well done once again!
Thank you very much for the kind words, it's all part of the package of work that comes with each video! I love every part of it, but not so much the late nights editing!!!
Malaysia hotel probably had an overdose weekly in the late 80's, stayed there once.. Boston Inn had a swimming pool. air con and cheap as. We found hidden Gangja in the room and made a bong from a small broom handle as a stem and an orange juice container, 1988. Love this stuff Pat. YFKM.
my old haunt! i lived on Yen Agat and Nanglinchee areas for several years. the original wong’s, kenny bar, etc. weird dives. Sam was not the original owner, his brother nicknamed Wong-person in the photo on the wall-was the original owner). Sam is his brother that took it over after he died. i went to Wong’s funeral. Boston Inn, dark and dank and ODs. So many stories, but so long ago (20 years) i stayed at a guest house next to Madam for $5/night last i was there. totally gentrified now.
Madam Guest House! - that brought back some memories. I stayed there for my few weeks in Thailand 23 years ago. Lovely old wooden building with nice staff. I had a few crazy times there :)
stayed at the malaysia hotel in 1993, my mates and I use to call the area Soi 'JUNKY" for obvious reasons, Im pretty sure the Blue Fox was still open in 1993, great vid, great memories.
Back when I was 23 and lived in the area for quite some time during 1974-5 you couldn't really call Soi Ngam Duphlii a 'backpacker ghetto' by any stretch of the imagination (for one thing I recall there were no guest houses there then). Although you could use the phrase to describe some of the funky old Chinese hotels near Hualamphong Railway Station - the infamous Thai Song Greet (ไทยทรงกิจ), the even more notorious Pepsi, just over the small khlong that runs parallel to the rail lines, and a few others. Elsewhere the Atlanta down Soi 2 was pretty out there - among other things you could see pink splotches on the ceilings in some of the rooms, the handiwork of people spraying water up in the air when cleaning their syringes after having a shot. When I originally came to Bkk I stayed in the Thai Song Greet, where the walls of the rooms and the mattresses seemed to 'sweat'. It was a classic dive with its fair share of 'skanky hos' looking to unzip your fly for a pittance, although the restaurant downstairs wasn't too bad. I met someone there who suggested the Malaysia was a far better option - aircon rooms, baths, hot water etc. etc. room service and pretty reasonable - I think it was 80 baht a night (when the exchange rate was 20 baht to the US dollar). And he was right. A great place for travelers ('backpacker', incidentally, was a term of abuse back in those days - almost the equivalent of those quaint old terms 'straight' or 'square') with too many incredible memories to even begin to relate. However it was subject to police raids from time to time so you had to be rather careful. No mention in this clip of the other major hotel nearby - over the road from the Malaysia, just up from the Blue Fox on the corner - The Privacy Hotel (or Rong-raem Thungmahamek - โรงแรมทุ่งมหาเมฆ) which, in fact, was a rather nice 'short time', or 'Love' hotel - a classic Thai 'marn ruut' ม่านรูด - which refers to the 'curtains' to conceal the vehicle of a guy involved in some illicit 'hanky panky'. It was much more low key than the Malaysia - but still got occasionally raided by the police (those mofos presented the only real danger in Bkk which is generally a pretty safe city). As for the Blue Fox I only went in there a couple of times and found it totally underwhelming - indeed, it verged on being a nothingburger in my opinion. For a lot more fun the 'coffee shops' in the Grace Hotel in Soi 3 and Thermae down on Sukhumvit were much more like it especially very early in the morning. Patpong by comparison was shit, just a money scene - and many of the women who worked there would show up at the Grace or Thermae when the go-go bars closed for the night (Nana, as I remember, didn't really get going until around the mid 80s). Or if you liked hanging around with Scandinavian sailors and drink piss you could always head down to the Mosquito Bar in Khlong Toey (the Bangkok docks). Being much more of a weed man myself I never went there, although the mate I came to Bkk with, a 19 year old fellow Aussie, did and ended up living with one of the women working down there for a while - right on the Chaophraya River. He said he'd look out through a hole in the wall at night and see great big freighters moored only metres away. Said it was great and not as rough as I'd frequently heard. Right next to the Blue Fox was a Chinese dry goods store which also had a restaurant. The middle aged guy who ran it was a really cantankerous bastard, but the food they served was excellent. I was a vegetarian at the. time and only later discovered many Thai dishes back in the day were stir-fried with pig fat. Oops! There was also a fabulous Chinese restaurant down towards the mouth of Soi Ngam Duphlii, on the lefthand side just before Rama 4. It was quite a grand place, with high ceilings and an army of waiters all attired in white (often just a tad grubby, along with the table cloths) - it felt like being on some enormous ocean liner back in the 1930s. Anyway, probably the best Chinese food I've ever eaten in Bkk. Finally, only stayed in Khao Sarn once, either in '80 or '81 - there were only a couple of guesthouses then - very, very low key - nothing remotely like what it would become in later years. But as we all know nothing remains the same forever, or even for that long. Cheers
That’s great hearing about your experiences of Bangkok in the 70’s, it must have been another world back then to even what I remember in the 80’s. I was aware of the Privacy Hotel but never stayed there lol. I have many more memories of the original Thermae though. We used to call it the “Star Wars Bar” after the bar in the movie that was full of every imaginable life-form. The Blue Fox certainly wasn’t exciting but it grew on you in its convenience and simplicity and friendliness when you lived there. Cheers
Thanks Pat and Karl for the trip down memory lane. On the advice of Lonely Planet. I stayed at the Malaysia Hotel back in '94 on my first trip to Thailand. Hired a taxi driver stationed out of the hotel to show me around town (no SkyTrain yet). The fellow had been working out of the hotel since day one... at that point 27 years he said!
what a great video, thanks so much Pat. Karl sounds like a proper character, more documentaries from the two of you looking at back in the day would be a great addition. I really hope someone from the Thai or Bangkok government sees what you produce and commissions a series of episodes to tell some of the stories of the city. Cheers again
@@BangkokPat I’m a huge fan of Karl’s channel. He’s 100 percent authentic and is an amazing story teller. I go back to January of 1993. I believe Karl’s first trip was back in 1987. His Thai language ability is extremely impressive. Great work once again.
Really enjoyed this, Pat. I've subbed to Karl for about 4 years now -- he's got a breadth of knowledge and experience that translates into some great stories. Thanks for conducting this walkabout interview and tour. Excellent.
Cheers Pat, always an interesting journey. Karl obviously has some fond memories and appreciate your effort in allowing the story / stories to unfold. Thanks. 🙏
What a fascinating cultural history documentary. I really love the range of scenes, the stories, and different perspectives. I felt like I was transported back in time to another place.
Do you remember Wong when he had a light perm? In fact whenever he cusses my mind it’s with slightly curly hair, not like the picture Pat found of him. Cheers
@@karlsthailand not really. I only remember him as pictured, always smoking heavily and just totally chill behind the bar. He spoke English really well like he'd been educated overseas since a child. I suspect his family weren't too short of a quid.
Incredible pictures Pat. And i really enjoyed Karl and his stories, and he was like a big positive energy.. It's really a huge favour you're doing to all Bangkok residents with your filming, the demolished areas at least lives on here on youtube. My guess is that in 5-10 years time many of these old hostels will be gone..
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Where exactly was Washington Plaza? Anyone.
@@jonhenson5450 Washington Square
th-cam.com/video/NemX9bcfi1Y/w-d-xo.htmlsi=upqEEpy_DGSISLsr
Thanks for the great viewing!❤
First time in BKK in 1967. I was 13 on an around the world with my family. The place was flooded with loud and happy GI’s each with a beautiful girl on their arm. As a 13 year old boy I was bug-eyed and thought the place was amazing. (Retired now in Chiang Mai).
We’re the same age
Best Thailand channel on You Tube - thanks Pat for all your hard work. Look forward to this channel getting the recognition it deserves.
Thanks Tom👍 one day.....
That was great! The first hotel I ever stayed at was the Malaysia Hotel back in December 1987. Back in the days before smartphones and internet seems unimaginable now but Bangkok felt so exciting and mysterious. I feel so fortunate that I experienced those Wild West days, and all the usual suspects like Thermae’s, Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy & Patpong which were going strong back then. A different world indeed.
Great times
Wow! This is a great post that brings back a lot of memories. In the fall of 1978 I arrived at Don Muang from Kathmandu and taxied directly to Soi Ngam Duphli. Checked into the Boston Inn, but it was terrible. No AC and the walls between the rooms didn’t reach the ceiling. Checked into the Malaysia the next day and it was like moving into the Ritz. Lovely pool, excellent coffee shop, great AC. After 10 months of staying in youth hostels and fleabags across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the Malaysia seemed the pinnacle of luxury. First memory of the Blue Fox: a bar girl was eating chilies out of a jar. Put the whole chili in her mouth bit it off at the stem and chewed. She offered one to a farang at the bar who’d been ogling her. He attempted to eat it the same way and immediately fell to the ground screaming and clutching his throat. My first morning in the area I went to a small open front restaurant where, to my amazement, they made me a bowl of corn flakes with cold milk and sliced bananas. It was one of the most memorable meals of my life. You got 20 baht to the dollar. A big plate of shrimp fried rice was 7 baht ($0.35) and the Malaysia was 100 baht a night ($5.00). Spent several evenings at the nearby Lumphini boxing stadium, which was just on the other side of Rama IV. Went back for a visit to the area in the early 1990’s and it had indeed gone to seed. The Malaysia had become very shabby but there was a lively Issan-style nightclub in their banquet room where I managed to have a fun time.
Thanks for sharing a fantastic story, that would make a great video in itself😎
Wow, five minutes into this video and I know it's gonna be another good one!
Best Bangkok content by a million miles... another great video. Thanks Pat and hope to bump in to you at some point in Bangers.
Your correct Pat digs into Bangkok's under belly.
Very interesting...... I never heard about this area.
I love this area especially Soi Yennakard
18:19 .... wow, very hypnotic and what a very nice color for a pair of cat eyes !!! Nice !!!
The curious cat liked the camera!!
I did spend my very first night in Thailand, 1980 in the Malaysia. The jukebox in the Blue Fox hit it's high 1985 when Madonna joined the box with: "I am a virgin."
Sounds like a classic! And I hope you got up and danced!!
I wonder what happened to that juke box. I clearly remember the worn ‘Stairway’ 45 and some really obscure Thai made EP’s from The Beatles White Album on it
@@karlsthailand One is for sure, it would be a priceless collector item.
That was excellent Pat. Cheers
Thanks Karl, my trickiest editing job thus far, brilliant storytelling as usual mate. I'll be in Pattaya during February so we can film something down there too.
Great vlog Pat. Very enjoyable to hear Karl’s recollections. Beautifully shot as always. Fantastic old photographs.Thank you!
Great video Pat, Im envious of Karl seeing Bangkok in the 80's ...I stayed at Soi Duphli in 1998 called "; Miggi house, something like that. Good fun. crazy characters and everyone was skint
What a nice guy. 30 years later and still doenst want to speak ill about anybody from those days. Great video. Thanks.
Hope there's a part 2,3 and 4 ! Fascinating stuff 😅
The best one yet Pat! Well done. Great look back on BKK’s past. Really interesting walk around.
Great video Pat. Thanks again for showing me round Bangkok couple of weeks ago. Karl, I met at Le Pub, awesome guy. Fountains of knowledge these two.
That was great. Karl is one of the best story tellers on TH-cam. I first arrived in Bangkok in 1993, stayed at Uncle Ray's Guest House on Soi Nana, good times.
I remember Uncle Rei's (pretty sure it was spelt that way). Cheap and basic but unbeatable location
@karlsthailand Remember seeing a couple of Uncle Ray's Ice Cream Shops around Bangkok about the same time. Yes, the guest house was in a super location & cheap
When you told me you have endless stories to tell about Bangkok, you weren't kidding - nice episode Sir!
Thanks! 😃 Still so many more to come!
Hey Pat,
I'm the Soi Sri Bumphen 'old hand' (into my 34th year here now) that accosted you lol... while you were taking pics of the infamous Soi!
FANTASTIC video! - You really are a natural for this type of documentary filming, professionally done, But...MOST IMPORTANT... down to earth!
Okay a bit of info so On-wards...
In the spring of 1990 I had decided i wanted to see a bit of the world, so quit my permanent job and started contract work, the first contract job was in Holland, anyways...at this company...during the lunch breaks all the Brits used to sit at the same table, there was an eccentric old chap from London (he lived in BKK during the UK winter since mid-80's) that used to tell stories about Bangers...
...one time he mentioned all the nefarious activities that went on in the soi that he lived, when he walked off back to work, all the other Brits would pipe up and say he was talking BS!
Well...I went to Thailand for the first time back-packing in the winter of 1990, met up with the old eccentric chap, that Soi turned out to be: *Soi Sri Bumphen* and YES it was all TRUE what he had said!
I loved it there so much, ended up staying every winter for 6 mths,(including 4 years full-time) used to stay at Soi Ngam Dupli APT's, that guy in his 1970's attire crossing the soi in your elephant pic, he stayed at those APT's...I stayed right up until the APT's got sold & knocked down and the ibis Hotel was built there.
YOU had to have lived in *Soi Sri Bumphen* in those early years to experience the ENIGMA, YOU had to have BREATHED it... SEE it...they were VIBRANT Times, and sometimes totally insane...unreal times with equally mental characters!😂
Remember Karl's mate Mike (RIP) walking down the soi regularly, always seemed to have a small bottle of Mekong in his back pocket lol, the soi was action central as you had Patpong, Nana, the old thermae, Cowboy... all close by.
You & Karl didn't mention the "Cambodian restaurant" (now gone) which is a surprise cos this place was paradise during the late/early hours with all sorts of ODDBALL characters!!!
In ya video at 10:06 that farag lady is Eva aka cat woman (takes care of stray cats) shes been their since about 94 & to my knowledge never left lol!
A film/book should be made about this by gone "dodgy street"...spilling the beans about its scams/nefarious activities and the colorful characters who participated, but hey... most probably wouldn't believe it, cos if you walk down there today, its one BORING street!
BTW, You just got another subscriber, Cheers, Robert.
Hi Robert, it was nice chatting to you that evening, none of what I filmed while we talked made it into the video as I wasn;t really concentrating, too nusy listening to your stories. I of course didn't know that was Eva the cat women walking out of Soi 2, it was just by chance that I was filming at that moment, which is rather interesting. Had I known of course I would have had a chat. She sounds like a legend.
If only there were as many old pics and videos about as there are taken at Khao San Road, luckily we had Karl's fantastic memories to savour.
Glad you found the channel mate!
Wow, interesting comment. I have to go back and check out cat-lady. Thanks for the time stamp!
Pat and Karl making content together is a match made in Thailand 🇹🇭 Historical Heaven 😇
Cheers, exactly what you'd expect when you team up with TH-cam's best storyteller, he stands way up above the others who tell stories on YT
Very interesting. I l love the old photos and footage
Another great video. I arrived too late for all of this. Probably a good thing. How Bangkok has changed.....!
The backpackers on Khao San road were sitting around drinking 40 baht bottles of Mekong whiskey in the 80s.
The shot of Bangladesh Biman airways at Don Muang also brought back memories of the cheapest flights to Rangoon and onward to Kathmandu after the seven day visa in Burma.
Exactly ca,e on this flight too from Kathmandu via Rangoon on a 7 day visa ! Great to mention it
Great informative piece... Nice collaboration... thanks guys...
I lived on the old Soi in 1987 and worked as an "English teacher. " At the time the best heroin was sold by the police at the Malaysia Hotel coffee shop. 4 hours a day of English teaching kept me in a small room, bought food and cigarettes and paid for those long trips by train every 90 days to pay for a new visa. Good times!
Those “Butterworth Express” visa runs to Malaysia were legendary and a rare opportunity to get beer that wasn’t Singha or Kloster.
And in Georgetown....those indians guys for the visa...Great time👍cheers you both Men.
@@xxx777xxxrrrYeah, he’d bring the visa forms, help you fill them in, take them away and bring them back the next day complete with your visa. Very convenient
1969 my big head teaching English to bar girls while living for free in s monastery
Fantastic pictures.Very interesting 😀👍
Great vlog and Karl came trumps taking back into memories of his early days in that area.Thanks Pat for showing the old and the new of that area😊😊😊
Glad you enjoyed it, cheers mate😻😎
Top collaboration here. Great to see. Now for Pat to go hiking with Karl
Now there’s an idea
Nostalgic, fun stories and marvelously evocative cinematography of yet another time and place In my favorite city. I can see you making a big time Oscar Winner movie in a dark "Bangkok Dangerous" / "Chinatown" theme with the stories you have to tell ! Thank you again Pat. And thank you too Karl !
Thanks for the kind words Aaron, maybe one day.....
My pleasure Aaron. Cheers
Two of my favourite TH-camrs coming together, both of you always have a great story to tell.
The colab with Karl just took it to another level 😎 Thailand vlogging royalty 💙🇹🇭 great work guys 👏🏼👏🏼
Another easy to watch and interesting video
Definitely need more collabs with Karl...you both have excellent channels.
Yes, best storyteller on YT. Far better than any of the other so-called storytellers
You could be making serious money on Telly doing this Pat. Excellent stuff.
Agreed, but I think the tele is history. This is the modern telly. Best wishes to Pat, I hope his channel continues to thrive and grow. It deserves more attention.
@sackofrice13 correct, this is the new telly.
You did great research and background checks. Well done.
Exactly what I said a couple of years ago, top presenter
Are you a big TV exec then Terence?
Another great video. Finally a reason to feel good about being home, seeing your videos. Thanks
Excellent stuff, great collaboration chaps. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Mark, glad you enjoyed it mate.
The 2 best vloggers on you tube
My only excitement was staying in the Rose Hotel surawong road 1992
Krap Pom
Bloody awesome vid Pat.
Well researched, well executed as per normal.
Karl is an added bonus!
Such a great storytelling master.
By the way, wtf is in your backpack???
I never saw you take anything out of it on our walking trip!😂😂😂
My euipment goes with me everywhere in that backpack!
Awesome Pat, you really are the best consistently. Looking forward to your feature film on the big screen
My very first experience of BKK was 1981 I stayed at the Malaysian hotel. I remember walking to Patpong almost every night. I had many a coffee in the Blue fox coffee. Oh the memories are flooding back
Glad the video invoked a bit of nostalgia John, cheers!
Way back I was going to stay there after a friend recommended the Malaysia Hotel. I took one look at the place and thought no thanks.
I Love that area, Blue fox Cafe, Lee Guesthouses, Malaysia Hotel and our Fav, Boston Inn. Stayed upstairs at tabletop when the rooms were double the size. I could walk home from Patpong, cheap taxi to NaNa, Soi Cowoy and Tharmae.
That title is BOUND to ruffle some feathers. Good show mate!
Depends on who gets ruffled....maybe l'll get reported for copyright, wouldn't be a surprise at all 😇🐱
@@BangkokPat You aren't (badly) reading other peoples' stories in front a green screen, you should be fine. 🤩
Great pair up- Pat & Karl! Triggered good memories, went into the Boston Inn in 1981, they were full but the desk girl said to checkout the bulletin board… found a note looking to share room cost and had the desk call up to the room. Ended up bunking in with an English girl on her way the Oz.
I remember those message boards lol. People would decide they didn’t want to leave, sell their air tickets, literally just cross out their name and put yours in instead. Another time, another world!
🎉life was more simple then ,but at that time it wasn't 😅 crazy humans aren't we.🎉
Amazing you found so much original footage from decades ago in the same places //// well done 👍 🎥 📸
Had to hunt so deep in Google to find those clips
Great video Pat, nice to see you and Karl together
Thanks 👍 we gotta get on video too mate
@@BangkokPat definitely mate👍
Great video. The old retro photos and stories are great. Karl has a great channel too.
I went with some expats to Wong’s Place back in 2014, and it was so good that I returned the next night with my friend. We played Tic Tac Toe with Johnny, the lively bartender, and the place was bustling.
Interesting game after a few drinks😇
Quality video. Thank you both.
It's a good evening on the sofa when a new @BangkokPat video lands 👍
Love the video Pat! It was sweet of Karl to come along and walk with you throughout the old places he used to stay at! Karl’s stories are awesome! Thanks for taking us along 😊
The comments here have said it all, Pat! But I just want to add that I consider yours to be one of the best channels on TH-cam, if not *THE* best!
As I've said before on your other contributions, your film-making skills combined with painstaking research are outstanding.
I love the nostalgic vibes I get from watching your videos, partly brought about by your skilful use of archive footage and stills from a past era, and also your evocative choice of mood music.
Well done once again!
Thank you very much for the kind words, it's all part of the package of work that comes with each video! I love every part of it, but not so much the late nights editing!!!
Could watch you and Karl chatting all day.
Really cool and interesting video Mr. Pat! It's fun to have guests share their memories where they happened!
Malaysia hotel probably had an overdose weekly in the late 80's, stayed there once.. Boston Inn had a swimming pool. air con and cheap as. We found hidden Gangja in the room and made a bong from a small broom handle as a stem and an orange juice container, 1988. Love this stuff Pat. YFKM.
10 of the best years of my life spent in that area.
my old haunt! i lived on Yen Agat and Nanglinchee areas for several years. the original wong’s, kenny bar, etc. weird dives. Sam was not the original owner, his brother nicknamed Wong-person in the photo on the wall-was the original owner). Sam is his brother that took it over after he died. i went to Wong’s funeral.
Boston Inn, dark and dank and ODs.
So many stories, but so long ago (20 years)
i stayed at a guest house next to Madam for $5/night last i was there.
totally gentrified now.
2x very good vloggers.. always interesting.
This guy “Karl” is a real professional! A real pro
Definitely😎
Stayed at the Malaysian a couple of times in 84-85, when I had enough cash. The coffee shop/restaurant was quite a scene in the evenings.
That's for sure 😄
that was brilliant i real history story told by a man who was there i sure wish i would have discovered the place back then, good effort pat
Excellent production Pat, Karl is a legend and the icing on the cake! I hope your collaboration can continue into other areas.
Very interesting. Thank you both.
Madam Guest House! - that brought back some memories. I stayed there for my few weeks in Thailand 23 years ago. Lovely old wooden building with nice staff. I had a few crazy times there :)
Yet another brilliant video you’ve knowledge is incredible?
Many thanks for a really interesting and informative video
Pat really enjoyable vlog Karl is back he has great stories . Maybe more vlogs featuring you both very good chemistry.
🍻
Excellent pat 👏 thanks
Glad you enjoyed it Brian, thanks mate.
Pat - great historical stuff of this BKK hood. I'm Daniel, the dude u met while filming near the Pinnacle Hotel! Keep up good work! Cheers 🤙
Hi Daniel, it was nice to bump into you, and thanks for stopping by the comments!
stayed at the malaysia hotel in 1993, my mates and I use to call the area Soi 'JUNKY" for obvious reasons, Im pretty sure the Blue Fox was still open in 1993, great vid, great memories.
We used to call it ‘Needle Alley’ when we wanted to cast it in a bad light
Really interesting video. Never stayed there as I only ever heard talk of addicts when the place was brought up in conversation.
Bloody Brilliant as always, thank you x
Back when I was 23 and lived in the area for quite some time during 1974-5 you couldn't really call Soi Ngam Duphlii a 'backpacker ghetto' by any stretch of the imagination (for one thing I recall there were no guest houses there then). Although you could use the phrase to describe some of the funky old Chinese hotels near Hualamphong Railway Station - the infamous Thai Song Greet (ไทยทรงกิจ), the even more notorious Pepsi, just over the small khlong that runs parallel to the rail lines, and a few others. Elsewhere the Atlanta down Soi 2 was pretty out there - among other things you could see pink splotches on the ceilings in some of the rooms, the handiwork of people spraying water up in the air when cleaning their syringes after having a shot.
When I originally came to Bkk I stayed in the Thai Song Greet, where the walls of the rooms and the mattresses seemed to 'sweat'. It was a classic dive with its fair share of 'skanky hos' looking to unzip your fly for a pittance, although the restaurant downstairs wasn't too bad. I met someone there who suggested the Malaysia was a far better option - aircon rooms, baths, hot water etc. etc. room service and pretty reasonable - I think it was 80 baht a night (when the exchange rate was 20 baht to the US dollar). And he was right. A great place for travelers ('backpacker', incidentally, was a term of abuse back in those days - almost the equivalent of those quaint old terms 'straight' or 'square') with too many incredible memories to even begin to relate. However it was subject to police raids from time to time so you had to be rather careful.
No mention in this clip of the other major hotel nearby - over the road from the Malaysia, just up from the Blue Fox on the corner - The Privacy Hotel (or Rong-raem Thungmahamek - โรงแรมทุ่งมหาเมฆ) which, in fact, was a rather nice 'short time', or 'Love' hotel - a classic Thai 'marn ruut' ม่านรูด - which refers to the 'curtains' to conceal the vehicle of a guy involved in some illicit 'hanky panky'. It was much more low key than the Malaysia - but still got occasionally raided by the police (those mofos presented the only real danger in Bkk which is generally a pretty safe city). As for the Blue Fox I only went in there a couple of times and found it totally underwhelming - indeed, it verged on being a nothingburger in my opinion. For a lot more fun the 'coffee shops' in the Grace Hotel in Soi 3 and Thermae down on Sukhumvit were much more like it especially very early in the morning. Patpong by comparison was shit, just a money scene - and many of the women who worked there would show up at the Grace or Thermae when the go-go bars closed for the night (Nana, as I remember, didn't really get going until around the mid 80s). Or if you liked hanging around with Scandinavian sailors and drink piss you could always head down to the Mosquito Bar in Khlong Toey (the Bangkok docks). Being much more of a weed man myself I never went there, although the mate I came to Bkk with, a 19 year old fellow Aussie, did and ended up living with one of the women working down there for a while - right on the Chaophraya River. He said he'd look out through a hole in the wall at night and see great big freighters moored only metres away. Said it was great and not as rough as I'd frequently heard. Right next to the Blue Fox was a Chinese dry goods store which also had a restaurant. The middle aged guy who ran it was a really cantankerous bastard, but the food they served was excellent. I was a vegetarian at the. time and only later discovered many Thai dishes back in the day were stir-fried with pig fat. Oops! There was also a fabulous Chinese restaurant down towards the mouth of Soi Ngam Duphlii, on the lefthand side just before Rama 4. It was quite a grand place, with high ceilings and an army of waiters all attired in white (often just a tad grubby, along with the table cloths) - it felt like being on some enormous ocean liner back in the 1930s. Anyway, probably the best Chinese food I've ever eaten in Bkk.
Finally, only stayed in Khao Sarn once, either in '80 or '81 - there were only a couple of guesthouses then - very, very low key - nothing remotely like what it would become in later years. But as we all know nothing remains the same forever, or even for that long. Cheers
That’s great hearing about your experiences of Bangkok in the 70’s, it must have been another world back then to even what I remember in the 80’s. I was aware of the Privacy Hotel but never stayed there lol. I have many more memories of the original Thermae though. We used to call it the “Star Wars Bar” after the bar in the movie that was full of every imaginable life-form. The Blue Fox certainly wasn’t exciting but it grew on you in its convenience and simplicity and friendliness when you lived there. Cheers
The Chinese resto is Chanpen (จันทร์เพ็ญ).
Thanks for the great stories!
Love Karl. I could listen to him all day.
You've done it again Pat.... A super interesting trip down memory lane. Thank you 😊😊👍👍
2 very interesting TH-camrs top vid!
Great video Pat, Kwan and I will be back in March love to catch up again
Thanks Pat and Karl for the trip down memory lane. On the advice of Lonely Planet. I stayed at the Malaysia Hotel back in '94 on my first trip to Thailand. Hired a taxi driver stationed out of the hotel to show me around town (no SkyTrain yet). The fellow had been working out of the hotel since day one... at that point 27 years he said!
In the 80s and 90s I stay in Boston Inn and Malaysia Hotel... Thank you!! It brings back memories 😊
Interesting! A lot of work, all the editing and captions. Super entertaining for almost 30 minutes. Anyways, fun to read the comments, too 🙂
Cheers Marcus, glad you liked it mate😻
Great video pat 😊
what a great video, thanks so much Pat. Karl sounds like a proper character, more documentaries from the two of you looking at back in the day would be a great addition. I really hope someone from the Thai or Bangkok government sees what you produce and commissions a series of episodes to tell some of the stories of the city. Cheers again
Awesome cooking scene at 16:09! Great episode and collaboration between two legends.
Thanks Scott, great to hear you're also a Karl fan!
@@BangkokPat I’m a huge fan of Karl’s channel. He’s 100 percent authentic and is an amazing story teller. I go back to January of 1993. I believe Karl’s first trip was back in 1987. His Thai language ability is extremely impressive. Great work once again.
Enjoyable video 😊
I've lived down the street for a decade and had no idea. Thanks for the deep dive into this area Pat and Karl.
The sum is greater than its parts in this video. Pat and Karl with different takes on bkk's history.
Hi Pat you should do one on the pole wires in Bangkok always wondered why it is so how does a trades man work out which one is which
Really enjoyed this, Pat. I've subbed to Karl for about 4 years now -- he's got a breadth of knowledge and experience that translates into some great stories. Thanks for conducting this walkabout interview and tour. Excellent.
Thanks Jake😻
Another great researched vid Pat. Interesting stuff.
Awesome video Pat! Karl was very interesting and I loved learning about this! 👍.
Cheers Pat, always an interesting journey. Karl obviously has some fond memories and appreciate your effort in allowing the story / stories to unfold. Thanks. 🙏
Thanks Pat. Great vid. Great to have Karl on.
What a fascinating cultural history documentary. I really love the range of scenes, the stories, and different perspectives. I felt like I was transported back in time to another place.
Pat, this is gold! Thank you very big.
You used my Wong's quote! Nice one. :)
So glad you noticed! I was looking for old pics and vids but your quote was so fitting for that part! Cheers😻
Do you remember Wong when he had a light perm? In fact whenever he cusses my mind it’s with slightly curly hair, not like the picture Pat found of him. Cheers
most welcome!@@BangkokPat
@@karlsthailand not really. I only remember him as pictured, always smoking heavily and just totally chill behind the bar. He spoke English really well like he'd been educated overseas since a child. I suspect his family weren't too short of a quid.
That was super Interesting, Pat. Thank you guys for this cool journey to the Past. Will definitely subscribe to Karl's Channel.
Thanks mate! Hope you're well 😻
Incredible pictures Pat. And i really enjoyed Karl and his stories, and he was like a big positive energy.. It's really a huge favour you're doing to all Bangkok residents with your filming, the demolished areas at least lives on here on youtube.
My guess is that in 5-10 years time many of these old hostels will be gone..
Karl is awesome! and a great story teller too
Great video Pat! Good to see you also. Gary 🙏
Karl has some great videos about this area on his channel.