Cleo Bar, Patong, Bangkok

Patpong, in Bangkok, is where the Thailand reputation began. In the 1960s these two privately owned parallel streets opened as a series of R&R bars for visiting American GIs, who were serving in Vietnam. Patpong soon became the premier nightlife area in Bangkok for foreigners,  famous for its sexually explicit shows and bars.  

By the early 1990s its heyday was over.  Areas like Soi Cowboy had usurped it, and it became a tourist attraction. The owners cashed in on this, opening  a daily night market for the tourists, here Bangkok fakes (or "Same -Same's") could be bought.  

The photo shows the stalls being set up at dusk. Soon the area will be packed with families and tourists. 
But the bars still remain, and still do good business. 

The upstairs bars are the more raunchy, and are renowned for ripping off tourists with charges and drinks.  The street level ones are quite tame by Bangkok standards. 

Personally I enjoy finding the old historic corners like the Cleo Beer Bar.  The bar doesn't seem to have changed since those Vietnam era days, the old barmaid is probably the same, the bar girls are not pushy and are happy to accept a drink and share a joke or story, and the prices are reasonable. 

I have a soft spot for Patong. One of my favorite shows Miss Saigon, has its final scene set in the bars of  Patong in 1978.   At times I think of all of the Kims, sitting alone at the bar waiting for Chris.....