Full Service
The dance club next door to my hotel gets going around 1 am every night, with bass thumping loud enough I can almost hear it in my room. Friday some of my classmates and I decided to give it a go. Everything was as expected more or less except for one unique service I’ll get to later. We arrived at about 12:30 to be sure we’d get a table. Other bars close around 1, and by 2 o’clock the place was quite lively. We were the only Westerners in the club.
My initial surprise was the way drinks are sold – we paid about 3,000 baht ($100) for a bottle of black label whisky and mixers. After getting you set up, which includes opening all bottles, pouring drinks and wrapping napkins onto your drink glasses, the servers return repeatedly to pour you more drinks, refill the ice bin (100 bah) and bring more mixers.
There is no dance floor in this dance club, just space between the varied tables – which from couches with low tables, high tables with high chairs, round beds surrounded by tables and chares – but that doesn’t stop people from dancing once the place gets packed.
More servers than I’ve ever seen anywhere work at this place. Probably two dozen in the main area. Despite the clear emphasis on service, I never would have expected that the bathroom would be full of masseurs! That’s right, masseurs in the men’s bathroom. While you pee, they give you a very nice shoulder rub. They then escort you to the sink and provide a hot towel wo wash your hands with, and give your neck a good crack while you do it. A small tip of 10 baht is standard. I’ve been in bathrooms with an attendant before, but this bathroom had at least a DOZEN bathroom masseurs. All clad in all white, in contrast to the floor servers in black and red.
Alexander M. Tinker said,
April 30, 2008 at 7:48 am
My mom read this and said “do you really think all they had to offer was shoulder rubs?” The answer is yes, they only offer shoulder rubs. The masseurs in the bathroom are definitely NOT prostitutes. However, some of the girls on the dance floor most certainly were, at this club, and from what I here, are at most clubs. I knew to stop dancing with one girl in particular when she asked “You live alone? You have money?” Goodbye!