Patpong is a notorious strip of go-go bars at the heart of one of the most
famous red light districts in the world catering mainly to foreigners attracted
by Thailand's huge sex industry.
The day after the military seized power market vendors could be seen unpacking
stalls loaded with fake Polo shirts, blackmarket DVDs and illegal pornography.
Bar staff slowly trickled back to work readying for the usual influx of sex
tourists, curious holidaymakers and expatriate regulars.
Joe Morrow, a 39-year-old tourist from England, was out enjoying Bangkok's
nightlife when news of the coup broke Tuesday night, but he said it had not
affected his holiday at all.
Plans for the following night included "night market, beer, drinks, women for
the ugly ones," he said, gesturing to his friends, and then "back to the
hotel."
"Seriously, we're not doing anything different, just normal," he told AFP.
Business owners and bar workers appeared to share the tourists' nonchalance
about the coup, which unfolded Tuesday night when tanks and armed soldiers
surrounded key government buildings in central Bangkok.
"Everything is open, we don't have concerns about this. It is the same as
before," said Noon, a waiter at Patty's Fiesta Mexican restaurant.
Naiyana Nongnuch, 32, a cashier at a Patpong bar, said that her customers
carried on drinking Tuesday night as if nothing had happened.
"They stayed until the bar closed," she said. "I don't think there will be less
customers as many are Bangkok-based foreigners and they know the situation
well."
But Noi, a hostess in a beer bar, said she thought the coup would leave people
reluctant to venture outside. "I think there will be less customers," she said.
"They may want to stay home and watch the news."
Sak, a 32-year-old waiter at Dick's Cafe, said the coup may have some effect on
tourism in Thailand, but was confident that his bar would be spared.
"We have regular customers and our location is far from the centre where there
was a lot of troops," he said.
Thailand was until last year the world's leading destination for sex tourists,
according to Interpol. It was bumped off the top spot by Brazil, but Patpong
still maintains a reputation for sleazy nightlife and lurid live sex shows.
Although prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, estimates for the
number of sex workers range from 80,000 to two million women and men.
