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Balcony 5th Birthday
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Sphinx 10th Birthday
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Sweet 16 at Telephone
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Old Maps and Prints exhibit at Dick's Cafe Bangkok
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scene & heard - may/june
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Even with SARS, terrorism scares and the war conspiring to produce the "slowest of the slow" slow season's in Thailand there has been lots going on around the traps with birthdays, festival happenings and the usual ups and downs with the new social order!
While official figures show tourist arrivals over the last few months have been significantly down compared to the same period last year, the impact has been very variable. Phuket seems to have been particularly hard hit, followed by Pattaya but in Bangkok the more popular venues with a loyal expat crowd have proved to be fairly resilient. But things are starting to pick up, and all the signs are pointing to a busy "busy" season!
The ever-popular Silom Soi 4 has been in birthday mode - starting with Balcony celebrating their 5th birthday on 6 May, with the bar and the soi packed for the shows, lucky draws and general fun. Sphinx followed with a private party for more than 80 of their regular customers to celebrate their 10th birthday on 23 May. Next up was Telephone with their "Sweet 16" party to celebrate their 16th birthday on 16 June. Pictures from all three events are in the gallery.
But Soi 4 was not the only birthday destination - Boys Bangkok in Soi Twilight celebrated their 6th birthday 4 June, and down Pattaya way, Throb/Splash celebrated 4 years on 31 May - pictures on the boxertravels website.
And this was not just fun either - the Sphinx bash raised 84,000 Baht for Bangkok Pride, Telephone raised funds for Bangkok AIDS charities, and Throb/Splash raised more than 40,000 Baht for Thais4Life/Somphorn fund and they have more fundraisers planned for July! Od's Spot bar also held a BBQ on May 25 and raised almost 90,000 for the Somphorn fund! And the Pattaya Gay Festival has been continuing their fundraising efforts with their dinner at Mata Hari on 26 May, the next dinner is at Amor Restaurant on 20 July. See the festival website for all the details.
Back in Bangkok, Bangkok Pride 2003 officially kicks off with a Pink Party in Silom Soi 4 on 31 July and a Colourful Bangkok party at G-Host Pub on 3 August. The main celebrations have been confirmed for November, starting with Pride in the Park on 9 November and the final parade and party on 16 November - keep on eye on the Bangkok Pride website for all the latest details.
In the comings and goings department, in Bangkok, Samsara, which did its soft opening in April, has now closed its doors until the grand opening in November. In Pattaya ICON announced that the showbar there will close permanently, with a new showbar and restaurant to open in Phuket in October under the Sphinx name. And the popular Dick's Cafe in Bangkok announced the opening of the new Dick's Cafe Jomtien - construction is starting at the site in the Jomtien Complex this week and the official opening is September 13.
The Bangkok sauna scene still seems to be in focus with the new social order crowd - with the usual two steps forward, one step back. Crusing Sauna was raided two weeks ago and ther "naked zone" has reverted to a regular zone, but on the up side, Babylon has restarted their popular foam and underwear parties!
See the calendar for details of what else is coming up next month and the directory listings for the latest venue changes!
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