Night Life

The nightlife on Koh Samui was everything you might imagine, if you imagine it’s like Vegas. We went to a bar on the beach to get a beer just to enjoy drinking a beer on the beach. We noticed that all of the bars had a bunch of younger women, many more than was needed for the customers in the establishment, two customers, 6 girls. These girls weren’t dressed like working women (and you know what I mean) but they also weren’t heading to church either. It was interesting to see so many of these younger women just sitting together or playing pool, whatever while waiting for a paying customer (and I think they were pretty much planning on men but who really knows).

I have to set the scene here so bear with me. We weren’t staying near the hotspots for the nightlife on Koh Samui, those were along the beaches at Lamai and Chaweng. We’re in the family friendly section of the island (or so we believed). There were bars by the piers, so there were fishing boats in the water right up next to the bar’s patio area. The bar patio had two sections, one with tables that was close to the water (and therefore the boats) and one with these odd “beach chairs”. There were families sitting out on the decks of the boats so you had an odd mix of families working on their nets or just sitting about the boat talking and the bar customers all within mere meters of each other. Lingering over the area was the mixed smells of bad perfume, cigarette smoke and dead fish. Okay, on to the story.

When we arrived, we got to sit in the strangely uncomfortable beach chairs facing the water but also with a couple of tables between us and the water. At one of the tables was one Western male (seemed to be from the former Soviet Union, now one of the “stans” based on his accent), three Thai males and three Thai women. On the table was a bucket of ice, glasses and several bottles of whiskey, vodka, scotch, whatever. One young lady was the designated bartender and would almost continuously mix drinks and hand them out. We’re not certain where these were going because we never saw any of them drinking as fast as she was pouring but it didn’t seem to stop her from topping off the drinks. At first it seemed like the women were dates but it turns out that they worked at the bar. One would go sit on the arm of the chair for the Westerner and he would grab her butt and it seemed they were together. Then she would move and another girl would take her place and her butt would get “caressed” and soon she would leave and the first one would come back. It was odd to watch as we seemed to be in a moment of understanding. We recognized that these girls were there as bait and he would drink and then get stuck with a large bar bill. He wasn’t going home with any of them, at least not from what we could tell. They didn’t seem real interested in him but they had to play their part to ensure his group stayed and continued to drink. The other Thai males received little attention from the girls. In fact, one of the girls sat down on the armchair of the bartender and they were touching each other in odd ways that would indicate that perhaps they had no interest in men at all. It was kind of surreal but interesting to watch.

What made it even more interesting is that less than 10 feet away was the Thai fishing family sitting on their boat, mending nets, talking, eating and watching. For them this was like a night at the movies. They were only missing the popcorn to be sitting at the drive through. We watched them and the table and enjoyed the show. However, we received little attention from the staff at the bar. I guess a man with his wife kind of threw off their game plan and they didn’t know how to react. If the chairs were more comfortable, we would’ve had a second beer and continued to watch this odd interplay happening in front of us but the seats were so bad that we left after the first beer. We actually had to get up and go to the bar to pay the tab as opposed to them bringing the bill.

The game we saw is similar to what happens here in Suzhou at some bars but the bars here like that here offer a wider array of “services” if you are willing to pay (and if you like to take the risk that you might go home with something more than just fond memories from Suzhou).

Another night going to the 7-11, we also noticed one other aspect of the island life. Sitting outside the 7-11 in plain sight were two guys smoking something other than cigarettes (Hello Cheech and Chong). We hadn’t seen any of this before then but that night sitting out on the porch at the bungalow, we also detected the odor of the wacky weed (and by detected, I’m not talking about a faint odor, we were craving some cheetoos within minutes of stepping outside). We also noticed it several other times when we were outside in the evening. There were other villas around ours so it could have come from any one of them but it was like someone made a bonfire of the stuff. It was crazy.

The last thing I will mention is something called the Full Moon Party. Each month, when the moon was full (duh), there would be boats that would pick people up to take them to a nearby island of Koh Tao (and by nearby I mean about 90 minutes by speedboat). The people would begin arriving at the pickup areas and start drinking in preparation for the party. Then after dark you would begin to see the speedboats come in to shore and the people board them. These boats weren’t small but they weren’t very large either. Perhaps 14-20 passengers would fit on the boat without too much of an issue. We watched as they would pack these boats with people (already drinking) carrying their booze for the ride and head out into the night. All you could see were the blinking lights disappear into the blackness. No life vests, no safety involved as they filled the boats to capacity and then some. Then they headed out for several hours of partying and after 1:00am, they would start to being people home. Tan informed us that the departure from the island was very chaotic as the boats would indicate they were leaving and people would push and shove their way on a boat to avoid being left behind. Again, no body count, just fill the boat and take the 90 minute ride across open water to Koh Samui. Then it’s find a taxi and go back to your hotel to sleep it off. Crazy stuff, even for the younger generation. We saw many people arrive to buy the tickets to the party and as I indicated, we watched many of the boats fill up as the partygoers left to take the trip. We saw many young people on the island during our vacation and could not imagine being 22-25 years of age and being allowed to go out on our own to Koh Samui. All of the temptations that we saw (and knowing that we didn’t see half of the seedier side of life on the island) that were available. Aiya!

Now I say all this not to say that Thailand is the devil’s playground but just as an observation about what is available. This is probably true just about anywhere in the world where you go. Sometimes these “options” are more obvious and in your face and if you want to find it, it’s available if you know where to look. Although these things were there, it did not sour us on Koh Samui or Thailand. It was just more obvious here than what we are accustomed to seeing (or not seeing).