MIDNITE HOUR - 01 August 2026

A 'NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN'

"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN"

(From A.I. Sources)

   READER :
Hello,
       Keep up the great work, I really appreciate the monthly updates/articles!
Looking at the map of Soi 33 from the July 2026 news column, it looks like majority massage parlors.
Now while techically one could spend an entire evening bouncing around to different massage shops, I'm not sure that is something people seeking night entertainment for an entire evening actually do, no?   Sure people may go there pre, post or for a pitstop during the evening, but how many people go to a massage for an hour or two and then go get another one in the same area right after?
Are there at least a combination of 6-8 bars and/or restaurants in the same continguous location so after exiting a massage one has a choice of places to go to eat and/or drink and/or listen to music to hang out for longer than ~2 hours vs. leaving Soi 33 for such after a massage?
"The MIDNITE HOUR criteria for such is that there are enough Night Entertainment Venues within to have reached "critical mass" - enough venues to become a 'draw' on their own; a location where one could comfortably spend an entire evening at the various venues.   The second criterion is that the Night Entertainment Area be in a contiguous location -each venue easily accessible from any other."
From the map, it seems Soi 33 is a place to go for a couple of hours for a massage with a very large selection of shops, but therefore this could also be a daytime entertainment area just as much as a night, but I would argue it would be more of a part of a night time stop if massage was one's thing vs where one would stay exclusively for an entire evening.
I see a coffee shop, a lounge, a hotel (which may or may not have a bar or lounge), a disco, and maybe a couple of bars (Demonia and Hideaway?), but from the map alone it doesn't seem like a place I would visit to spend an entire evening, maybe a place for a massage pitstop, and then I would leave or go back to Soi 22, Cowboy, 11 etc... I know 33 doesn't compare to 11, but am I missing from the map that it can be considered somewhat equal to a Soi 22, lots of massage shops, but plenty of bars and restaurants too?
Comparing the Soi 22 map, I see a lot more for sure non-massage shops and personally speaking I've never gone past the Marriot Marquis and have spent full fun nights around the top of Soi 22 and/or 20 and that is also after Queen's Park Plaza bar complex closed for the Makro.   One could argue we could now include the 5th floor of EMSphere at night now with just the tops of Soi 22 and Soi 20 and that area being walkable could be considered continguous too, but I know the way you all count NEA's Soi 20 and EMSphere 5th flr would just be considered complementary to Soi 22.
Thanks,

MIDNITE HOUR:

      Greetings,
      Many thanks for a most insightful analysis, I am often too close, seeing the trees, not the forest.   On the other side of the coin, I have been in, and out, of Bangkok's (and Thailand's) bars since 1967, resulting in a certain 'perspective' on ' The Scene'.
First, a typical example of a night out at Soi 33.   One starts out with a friend or two at the Pan Pan restaurant, a good meal and a couple of glasses of wine, and of course, conversation.   Say 1 to 1.5 hours.   Then off to, say, Propaganda for some 'pubbing', and/or Hideaway and a beer or two while playing pool for however long.   Then off to a 2 hour massage at an ambiguous massage parlor.   Depending on the individual elelments of this scenario, this could take from 7 in the evening until 01:00 hrs.   (This is just one of a number of Soi 33 examples.)
The Japanese have a similar smorgasbord - they would eat at one of the Japanese restaurants on Soi 33, then off to, say a " snack" (short for snackbar) which is actually a lounge with hostesses.   They could head over to Citadel, or similar, where Japanese patrons have their own 'bottles' on the shelves behind the bar. ( The way the Patpongs used to do things.)   They will spend hours jeeping the hostesses, nursing their bottle, and may or may not leave with a young lady.
But here's the surprise (to many) - a " night out on the town" is, very generally, age-dependent.   " Bar hopping" is a young man's game (now often called ' clubbing').   Younger men will spend an entire evening - until 'late-late', where older men will go for something to eat, a one-hour massage, then go to a pub (or similar) for a couple, then home.   At the far end of the spectrum, the ' dirty old men' among us will while away the afternoon hours on the veranda of a pub or a bar beer. Then get a burger at Prime Burger, then seek out an 'oral services' massage parlor, then home - in about an hour.   (This will often transpire entirely in the afternoons.)
Therefore, based on your comment of spending many happy hours in the bars atop Soi 22, this would place you in the late 30's - 40's age bracket.   (I happen to like the atmosphere at the bars there, although Otto can get too noisy).   On the other hand, Soi 20 hasn't reached " critical mass", although like many areas and sois, it has some good bars. (Impossible for one person -me- to report the entire BKK scene).
Continuing on, young vs. old, in my early days, I would hit a restaurant, then off to Thai Heaven on Petchburi's Golden mile, or Mosquito Bar in Khlong Toey, or the Grace Hotel 'Coffee Shop' (all freelancer bars), usually for a number of hours.   If I didn't find something interesting, I would end up in the Thermae (the old Thermae) -also a freelancer bar- and often stay until dawn. - Again, ' no country for old men'.
As I have noted earlier, I have had to draw lines, make working definitions, (what is a Night Entertainment Area, what is 'critical mass", what is a Night Entertainment Venue, etc.).   Others will draw their own lines, and I enthusiastically urge them to share their thoughts, and, if so inclined, start their own websites - the more the better.