'Turnover' at bars in Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy

Historical background and explanation :

Girls at the bars of Patpong, Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy dance on stage in shifts. The girls are divided in two or three groups who alternatively dance for 3 to 5 consecutive 'songs'. Up to a few years (there were less bars, and the bars possibly had more girls on average) there were always three shifts. In between dancing, the girls had ample time to go and sit with the customers, get some lady drinks, and get acquainted.

The last few years the three-shift system all but has disappeared. Most likely the bars employ less girls on average, and they try to make the most out of them and out of the customers. As a result, the girls have less time to get acquainted with the customers. When coming off stage, they typically linger around a bit, go to the bathroom, chat with their friends, before walking around trying to catch the eye of a customer, and sit down with him. After a minute or two, the customer might buy a lady drink, she has to get it (another few minutes), and before you know she is back up on stage dancing. The customer may wait for her, she may come back to finish her drink with you, but more likely than not, by the time she comes back off stage, the customer has moved on to another bar.
All in all, this is a great way to increase the number of lady drinks, but once the customers have picked up on this, it is kind of a turndown.

Now some bars have gone to some extremes, limited the number of songs per shift to only four, and having two shifts of girls overlapping on stage for one song. Girls may be off stage only for the duration of 3 songs (about 10 minutes), so you can calculate how much time you can spend with them. The bars who have this kind of rather offputting policy, we list as 'fast-turnover' bars.

On the other hand, some bars still have girls dancing in three shifts (the really busy bars usually), have shows in between shifts, keep the girls longer on stage, on still have girls entering the dancing stage, one after another, and not in groups. These bars we would classify as 'slow-turnover' bars, and might be more enticing to visit. Though they are not all fully described on this website, a lot of the very small bars at Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza fall into this category, and therefore may be more attractive to visitors who want to interact and chat with the girls.

More Articles :

• Which bars to avoid in 2010?
• Which bars to go to in 2010?
• Expensive Drinks at Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy : Update
• The Rise of Soi Cowboy
• Thugs and the Entrance to the Bars
• What about the Show Girls at Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy
• Where to see the Shows?
• A review of the competition : Other Websites covering the Nightlife in Bangkok
• Common Rip Offs and Minor Dangers
• Happy Hours at Soi Cowboy
• About Lady Boys (Katoeys)
• More : The Return of the Lady Boys (Katoeys)
• Sukhumvit : Museum of Horrors
• Sukhumvit : Street Prostitution
• Cost of living in Thailand
• Is there a need for Nudity (and where can you see the girls?)
• About getting some Water, and about the Noise Levels in the Bars
• The Invasion of the Arabs and Indians along Sukhumvit Road
• Our preferred Bars at Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy
• The Japanese and the Bars
• Rapid and slow Turnover Bars - What is that?
• Stephen Leather : The Private Dancer, the ultimate Novel about the Bar Scene
• Escort Services in Bangkok and Thailand
• List of Escort Services (websites)

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