Nana Plaza Blues

Nana Entertainment Plaza is one of the well-known red-light districts in Bangkok. We had a chance to visit this hub of nightly activity last night. It is supposed to be shaped like a square, but it seemed more like a single street with some active alleys to my first-timers eyes. The place was crowded. I knew what we were getting into - my friend did not. However, it didn't take him long to find out.

The first bar (I forget the name - maybe Hillary's Bar?) we sat at for a beer and a chance to watch a game on tv had very friendly service. In fact the waitress who took our order was so friendly and chatty she decided to sit with us at our table and brought her more quiet friend along with the beer we ordered. My friend was puzzled, which was amusing to watch, as I had not informed him of the wonders of Nana Plaza. We talked with the girls for a short moment and I explained to my friend what was going on, after which I told the chatty waitress that we were just going to have the beer and watch the game. She nodded, smiled politely and left with her friend.

My experience of Nana Plaza is that it's mostly good-spirited fun, perhaps to a lesser extent at the go-go bars that I am not too fond of. Nothing is forced on you (except higher prices for drinks) or the people who work at these places, though the atmosphere is definitely suggestive and you should stay clear of the rip-off joints. The place, instead, seems to give out a message that once again the Asian people have understood something the westerners haven't: That desire is a basic need to be tended to, just like hunger. Here there is no prejudiced shame about it - just more options for those who wish to use them.