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Nana Entertainment Plaza in Bangkok

The Nana Entertainment Plaza is effectively at the epicenter of the Western oriented entertainment area of Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok (on the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 4). Situated directly opposite the Nana Hotel, the large entrance leads to a central courtyard, once open for car parking but now filled with beer bars. It consists of 3 levels of girlie bars in a big u-shape around the central beer bar area.

The Nana complex tends to periodically fall in and out of fashion with expatriates for various reasons. One year, you may go there and find every bar full to capacity but go the following year and it may be almost empty. Expatriates cite the reasons for this as being the fluctuating attitude of the staff and prices. There is tough competition from Soi Cowboy, a similar entertainment area just a short distance away on the Sky Train, by taxi, or a 15 minute walk.

It is famous for it's gogo bars, where scantily clothed girls dance along the bar and around poles. It is also famous for it's lady boy bars AKA Katoey bars. Many visitors to Thailand, unaware of this phenomenon, or inexperienced in spotting the difference, will often be fooled into thinking the Katoeys are the real thing and fall victim to an embarrassing, ahem, situation.

The Nana Entertainment Complex is firmly on the map with sex tourists and there is little disguising the fact that it is basically a place to go for prostitutes, although expatriates do use it for socialising with their friends. For a modest 'bar fine', you can take your pick of the girls who will then accompany you. There is even a 'short time' hotel within the complex itself, where customers can hire a room for just a couple of hours.

Sit yourself in one of the beer bars near the entrance of the plaza and observe a rich tapestry of people coming to this place... single men, curious tourists young and old, groups of Japanese tourists curiously snapping shots for the family album, the rich, the poor... all standing in the middle of a neon lit courtyard of beer and sex... a strange place indeed.

At the entrance, you will often see Missionaries holding a Bible, trying to convince patrons to change their ways. After the bars have closed, the area around the complex remains busy, with food stalls filled with working girls getting a meal and customers of the bars milling around, right through until almost sunrise. This is also compounded by the fact that the Nana Hotel restaurant, just a few yards away, is open 24 hours. The Nana Hotel car park is also full of working girls from 2 a.m. onwards with residents of the hotel fighting their way past them to get to reception.

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