Thailand is very good at making an ordinary man feel unusually handsome.

Walk into the right Thai bar and the world can change surprisingly quickly. The drinks are cold, the smiles are warm, and within ten minutes you may feel younger, funnier and considerably more interesting than you did when you arrived.

Enjoy it. Just understand what is happening around you.

Thai Bar Girls: A Practical Guide for Men takes you inside Thailand’s famous nightlife scene and explains the people, payments, customs and relationships that newcomers often struggle to understand.

Who actually works in a bar? What is the difference between a hostess, PR girl, dancer, freelancer and sideline girl? Who receives the money from a lady drink? What does a bar fine really pay for? What do “short time” and “long time” mean? And what happens when a customer becomes a regular, a holiday boyfriend, a sponsor or something considerably more serious?

Angelicka Wallows looks beyond the neon to explore the business, culture and human relationships underneath it. The result is candid, witty and practical, without treating every woman as a scammer or every foreign man as a fool.

Because the most expensive mistakes in Thailand rarely begin with a price.

They begin with an assumption.

From the Author

Thailand’s nightlife has accumulated more myths than almost any other part of the country. Spend enough time listening to visitors and you will hear two completely different stories. In one, every woman is looking for a wealthy foreigner. In the other, every foreigner believes he has somehow met the one woman who is different.

Reality is much more interesting.

I wanted to write a guide that explains how this world actually works without judging the adults who participate in it. That means talking frankly about bars, money, sex work, relationships, family obligations, scams, affection, jealousy and the strange territory where business and genuine emotion sometimes overlap.

The aim is simple: enjoy the fantasy if you want to, but understand the room before the room understands you.

What to Expect from Thai Bar Girls

• A candid look inside Thailand’s adult nightlife scene, including beer bars, go-go bars, hostess venues, clubs and freelance arrangements.
• Clear explanations of PR girls, hostesses, dancers, sideline girls, freelancers, mamasans and the informal hierarchy inside many venues.
• Practical insight into lady drinks, bar fines, commissions, short time, long time, tips, gifts and the way money moves through the nightlife economy.
• A closer look at holiday girlfriends, regular customers, sponsors, long-distance relationships and the difficult line between professional attention and genuine affection.
• Thai cultural context, including saving face, family obligations, Isan backgrounds, language misunderstandings, jealousy and the famous “butterfly.”
• Straightforward discussion of scams, inflated bills, financial requests, personal safety, sexual health and the mistakes visitors repeatedly make.

A witty, adult perspective that respects both sides of the bar.

For adults only.