BANGKOK'S Old Backpacker Ghetto | Drugs | Scammers | Hippies | US Military | with KARL 

🌞VITAL INFO: Karl's Channel: www.youtube.com/@karlsthailand Karl's Website: www.meetmeinthailand.com/ WALKING TOUR INFO: Email: djpat2000@hotmail.com Line ID: pat.mck facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076442733368 PLEASE SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL! www.buymeacoffee.com/bangkokpat Paypal: djpat2000@hotmail.com

First time in BKK in 1967. I was 13 on an around the world with my family. The place was flooded with loud and happy GI’s each with a beautiful girl on their arm. As a 13 year old boy I was bug-eyed and thought the place was amazing. (Retired now in Chiang Mai).

That was great! The first hotel I ever stayed at was the Malaysia Hotel back in December 1987. Back in the days before smartphones and internet seems unimaginable now but Bangkok felt so exciting and mysterious. I feel so fortunate that I experienced those Wild West days, and all the usual suspects like Thermae’s, Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy & Patpong which were going strong back then. A different world indeed.

Best Thailand channel on You Tube - thanks Pat for all your hard work. Look forward to this channel getting the recognition it deserves.

Wow! This is a great post that brings back a lot of memories. In the fall of 1978 I arrived at Don Muang from Kathmandu and taxied directly to Soi Ngam Duphli. Checked into the Boston Inn, but it was terrible. No AC and the walls between the rooms didn’t reach the ceiling. Checked into the Malaysia the next day and it was like moving into the Ritz. Lovely pool, excellent coffee shop, great AC. After 10 months of staying in youth hostels and fleabags across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the Malaysia seemed the pinnacle of luxury. First memory of the Blue Fox: a bar girl was eating chilies out of a jar. Put the whole chili in her mouth bit it off at the stem and chewed. She offered one to a farang at the bar who’d been ogling her. He attempted to eat it the same way and immediately fell to the ground screaming and clutching his throat. My first morning in the area I went to a small open front restaurant where, to my amazement, they made me a bowl of corn flakes with cold milk and sliced bananas. It was one of the most memorable meals of my life. You got 20 baht to the dollar. A big plate of shrimp fried rice was 7 baht ($0.35) and the Malaysia was 100 baht a night ($5.00). Spent several evenings at the nearby Lumphini boxing stadium, which was just on the other side of Rama IV. Went back for a visit to the area in the early 1990’s and it had indeed gone to seed. The Malaysia had become very shabby but there was a lively Issan-style nightclub in their banquet room where I managed to have a fun time.

Wow, five minutes into this video and I know it's gonna be another good one!

Best Bangkok content by a million miles... another great video. Thanks Pat and hope to bump in to you at some point in Bangers.

Good video..... i like to hear stories of Bangkok's past, these days the city authorities seem to want to sanitise everything and become another bland western style city......

Great video Pat, Im envious of Karl seeing Bangkok in the 80's ...I stayed at Soi Duphli in 1998 called "; Miggi house, something like that. Good fun. crazy characters and everyone was skint

Back when I was 23 and lived in the area for quite some time during 1974-5 you couldn't really call Soi Ngam Duphlii a 'backpacker ghetto' by any stretch of the imagination (for one thing I recall there were no guest houses there then). Although you could use the phrase to describe some of the funky old Chinese hotels near Hualamphong Railway Station - the infamous Thai Song Greet (ไทยทรงกิจ), the even more notorious Pepsi, just over the small khlong that runs parallel to the rail lines, and a few others. Elsewhere the Atlanta down Soi 2 was pretty out there - among other things you could see pink splotches on the ceilings in some of the rooms, the handiwork of people spraying water up in the air when cleaning their syringes after having a shot. When I originally came to Bkk I stayed in the Thai Song Greet, where the walls of the rooms and the mattresses seemed to 'sweat'. It was a classic dive with its fair share of 'skanky hos' looking to unzip your fly for a pittance, although the restaurant downstairs wasn't too bad. I met someone there who suggested the Malaysia was a far better option - aircon rooms, baths, hot water etc. etc. room service and pretty reasonable - I think it was 80 baht a night (when the exchange rate was 20 baht to the US dollar). And he was right. A great place for travelers ('backpacker', incidentally, was a term of abuse back in those days - almost the equivalent of those quaint old terms 'straight' or 'square') with too many incredible memories to even begin to relate. However it was subject to police raids from time to time so you had to be rather careful. No mention in this clip of the other major hotel nearby - over the road from the Malaysia, just up from the Blue Fox on the corner - The Privacy Hotel (or Rong-raem Thungmahamek - โรงแรมทุ่งมหาเมฆ) which, in fact, was a rather nice 'short time', or 'Love' hotel - a classic Thai 'marn ruut' ม่านรูด - which refers to the 'curtains' to conceal the vehicle of a guy involved in some illicit 'hanky panky'. It was much more low key than the Malaysia - but still got occasionally raided by the police (those mofos presented the only real danger in Bkk which is generally a pretty safe city). As for the Blue Fox I only went in there a couple of times and found it totally underwhelming - indeed, it verged on being a nothingburger in my opinion. For a lot more fun the 'coffee shops' in the Grace Hotel in Soi 3 and Thermae down on Sukhumvit were much more like it especially very early in the morning. Patpong by comparison was shit, just a money scene - and many of the women who worked there would show up at the Grace or Thermae when the go-go bars closed for the night (Nana, as I remember, didn't really get going until around the mid 80s). Or if you liked hanging around with Scandinavian sailors and drink piss you could always head down to the Mosquito Bar in Khlong Toey (the Bangkok docks). Being much more of a weed man myself I never went there, although the mate I came to Bkk with, a 19 year old fellow Aussie, did and ended up living with one of the women working down there for a while - right on the Chaophraya River. He said he'd look out through a hole in the wall at night and see great big freighters moored only metres away. Said it was great and not as rough as I'd frequently heard. Right next to the Blue Fox was a Chinese dry goods store which also had a restaurant. The middle aged guy who ran it was a really cantankerous bastard, but the food they served was excellent. I was a vegetarian at the. time and only later discovered many Thai dishes back in the day were stir-fried with pig fat. Oops! There was also a fabulous Chinese restaurant down towards the mouth of Soi Ngam Duphlii, on the lefthand side just before Rama 4. It was quite a grand place, with high ceilings and an army of waiters all attired in white (often just a tad grubby, along with the table cloths) - it felt like being on some enormous ocean liner back in the 1930s. Anyway, probably the best Chinese food I've ever eaten in Bkk. Finally, only stayed in Khao Sarn once, either in '80 or '81 - there were only a couple of guesthouses then - very, very low key - nothing remotely like what it would become in later years. But as we all know nothing remains the same forever, or even for that long. Cheers

I did spend my very first night in Thailand, 1980 in the Malaysia. The jukebox in the Blue Fox hit it's high 1985 when Madonna joined the box with: "I am a virgin."

Very interesting...... I never heard about this area.

You could be making serious money on Telly doing this Pat. Excellent stuff.

Hope there's a part 2,3 and 4 ! Fascinating stuff 😅

Great vlog Pat. Very enjoyable to hear Karl’s recollections. Beautifully shot as always. Fantastic old photographs.Thank you!

Great video Pat. Thanks again for showing me round Bangkok couple of weeks ago. Karl, I met at Le Pub, awesome guy. Fountains of knowledge these two.

The best one yet Pat! Well done. Great look back on BKK’s past. Really interesting walk around.

Bloody awesome vid Pat. Well researched, well executed as per normal. Karl is an added bonus! Such a great storytelling master. By the way, wtf is in your backpack??? I never saw you take anything out of it on our walking trip!😂😂😂

My partner and I stayed at the Malaysia Hotel in 1975, plenty of drugs, luckily no meeting with the Serpent.

my old haunt! i lived on Yen Agat and Nanglinchee areas for several years. the original wong’s, kenny bar, etc. weird dives. Sam was not the original owner, his brother nicknamed Wong-person in the photo on the wall-was the original owner). Sam is his brother that took it over after he died. i went to Wong’s funeral. Boston Inn, dark and dank and ODs. So many stories, but so long ago (20 years) i stayed at a guest house next to Madam for $5/night last i was there. totally gentrified now.

That was excellent Pat. Cheers

Malaysia hotel probably had an overdose weekly in the late 80's, stayed there once.. Boston Inn had a swimming pool. air con and cheap as. We found hidden Gangja in the room and made a bong from a small broom handle as a stem and an orange juice container, 1988. Love this stuff Pat. YFKM.

On my first trip to Thailand back in 1979 we stayed at the Malaysia for our first night. What a dump. Blood stained nylon sheets in every room !! Our first meal that night was at a place called The Lisboa , down the road from The Blue Fox. We had Pizza , which predated Wongs by a number of years. Gone by the time Karl was there. I used to know Mr. Blue Fox quite well as I used to sell him smuggled porn mags from the UK !! Nice bloke. When I decided to stay several months I got a very small apartment around the corner at Pitak Court where Charles Sobhraj had once done his dirty deeds , but he had a 1 bedroom apartment which was a lot bigger. What a long long time ago but the memories are still fresh. Great video, Thanks for reminding me how it used to be.

When you told me you have endless stories to tell about Bangkok, you weren't kidding - nice episode Sir!

Bangkok the only place to live. Get what you want at what price your willing to pay. I love the city. Never bored every time I think I've seen it all Bangkok changes. Bangkok's in my blood after 35 years. I'm not going anywhere.

Stayed at the Malaysian a couple of times in 84-85, when I had enough cash. The coffee shop/restaurant was quite a scene in the evenings.

The backpackers on Khao San road were sitting around drinking 40 baht bottles of Mekong whiskey in the 80s. The shot of Bangladesh Biman airways at Don Muang also brought back memories of the cheapest flights to Rangoon and onward to Kathmandu after the seven day visa in Burma.

Great informative piece... Nice collaboration... thanks guys...

What you what you woudnt give for a time machine

Another great video. Finally a reason to feel good about being home, seeing your videos. Thanks

18:19 .... wow, very hypnotic and what a very nice color for a pair of cat eyes !!! Nice !!!

Fantastic pictures.Very interesting 😀👍

I thought I “pulled” in Taiwan, China, and Bangkok. I guess I'm pretty naive… Great video, I've never heard of that area.

Yet another brilliant video you’ve knowledge is incredible?

Karl has some great videos about this area on his channel.

Very interesting. I l love the old photos and footage

Great vlog and Karl came trumps taking back into memories of his early days in that area.Thanks Pat for showing the old and the new of that area😊😊😊

Hey Pat, I'm the Soi Sri Bumphen 'old hand' (into my 34th year here now) that accosted you lol... while you were taking pics of the infamous Soi! FANTASTIC video! - You really are a natural for this type of documentary filming, professionally done, But...MOST IMPORTANT... down to earth! Okay a bit of info so On-wards... In the spring of 1990 I had decided i wanted to see a bit of the world, so quit my permanent job and started contract work, the first contract job was in Holland, anyways...at this company...during the lunch breaks all the Brits used to sit at the same table, there was an eccentric old chap from London (he lived in BKK during the UK winter since mid-80's) that used to tell stories about Bangers... ...one time he mentioned all the nefarious activities that went on in the soi that he lived, when he walked off back to work, all the other Brits would pipe up and say he was talking BS! Well...I went to Thailand for the first time back-packing in the winter of 1990, met up with the old eccentric chap, that Soi turned out to be: *Soi Sri Bumphen* and YES it was all TRUE what he had said! I loved it there so much, ended up staying every winter for 6 mths,(including 4 years full-time) used to stay at Soi Ngam Dupli APT's, that guy in his 1970's attire crossing the soi in your elephant pic, he stayed at those APT's...I stayed right up until the APT's got sold & knocked down and the ibis Hotel was built there. YOU had to have lived in *Soi Sri Bumphen* in those early years to experience the ENIGMA, YOU had to have BREATHED it... SEE it...they were VIBRANT Times, and sometimes totally insane...unreal times with equally mental characters!😂 Remember Karl's mate Mike (RIP) walking down the soi regularly, always seemed to have a small bottle of Mekong in his back pocket lol, the soi was action central as you had Patpong, Nana, the old thermae, Cowboy... all close by. You & Karl didn't mention the "Cambodian restaurant" (now gone) which is a surprise cos this place was paradise during the late/early hours with all sorts of ODDBALL characters!!! In ya video at 10:06 that farag lady is Eva aka cat woman (takes care of stray cats) shes been their since about 94 & to my knowledge never left lol! A film/book should be made about this by gone "dodgy street"...spilling the beans about its scams/nefarious activities and the colorful characters who participated, but hey... most probably wouldn't believe it, cos if you walk down there today, its one BORING street! BTW, You just got another subscriber, Cheers, Robert.

My very first experience of BKK was 1981 I stayed at the Malaysian hotel. I remember walking to Patpong almost every night. I had many a coffee in the Blue fox coffee. Oh the memories are flooding back

Hi Pat you should do one on the pole wires in Bangkok always wondered why it is so how does a trades man work out which one is which

I Love that area, Blue fox Cafe, Lee Guesthouses, Malaysia Hotel and our Fav, Boston Inn. Stayed upstairs at tabletop when the rooms were double the size. I could walk home from Patpong, cheap taxi to NaNa, Soi Cowoy and Tharmae.

Amazing you found so much original footage from decades ago in the same places //// well done 👍 🎥 📸

Definitely need more collabs with Karl...you both have excellent channels.

Another great video. I arrived too late for all of this. Probably a good thing. How Bangkok has changed.....!

That was great. Karl is one of the best story tellers on RU-vid. I first arrived in Bangkok in 1993, stayed at Uncle Ray's Guest House on Soi Nana, good times.

stayed at the malaysia hotel in 1993, my mates and I use to call the area Soi 'JUNKY" for obvious reasons, Im pretty sure the Blue Fox was still open in 1993, great vid, great memories.

Awesome Pat, you really are the best consistently. Looking forward to your feature film on the big screen

Malaysia Hotel back in the early 70’s was full of very stoned people I remember … getting in the lift and peoples eyes hanging out 😂 you could get anything ( drugs) from the bell boys at the hotel or tuk tuk drivers … I remember thinking wow where else in the world could you do this !! 😂

I lived on the old Soi in 1987 and worked as an "English teacher. " At the time the best heroin was sold by the police at the Malaysia Hotel coffee shop. 4 hours a day of English teaching kept me in a small room, bought food and cigarettes and paid for those long trips by train every 90 days to pay for a new visa. Good times!

Quality video. Thank you both.

Nostalgic, fun stories and marvelously evocative cinematography of yet another time and place In my favorite city. I can see you making a big time Oscar Winner movie in a dark "Bangkok Dangerous" / "Chinatown" theme with the stories you have to tell ! Thank you again Pat. And thank you too Karl !

10 of the best years of my life spent in that area.

My Japanese friends had their room raided by the police back in the 1980s. They had to pay the “Fine”. When they asked what to do with the gear, the police told them they could keep it. An hour later, another policeman came and they had to pay the “Fine” again 🤣 It’s insane how Bangkok has changed, now it’s as boring as Singapore

dam the early 90's were great as i remembered thailand, glad to have seen it back then times have changed like everything

I went with some expats to Wong’s Place back in 2014, and it was so good that I returned the next night with my friend. We played Tic Tac Toe with Johnny, the lively bartender, and the place was bustling.

Madam Guest House! - that brought back some memories. I stayed there for my few weeks in Thailand 23 years ago. Lovely old wooden building with nice staff. I had a few crazy times there :)

Great pair up- Pat & Karl! Triggered good memories, went into the Boston Inn in 1981, they were full but the desk girl said to checkout the bulletin board… found a note looking to share room cost and had the desk call up to the room. Ended up bunking in with an English girl on her way the Oz.

The 2 best vloggers on you tube My only excitement was staying in the Rose Hotel surawong road 1992 Krap Pom

The colab with Karl just took it to another level 😎 Thailand vlogging royalty 💙🇹🇭 great work guys 👏🏼👏🏼

I really liked that video. Bangkok is losing it's flavor .

Oh, my neighborhood. I can even see my home from some of the shots. It's only a minute's walk from Wong's Place. I've lived here all my life (almost 60 years) but I never feel unsafe around here. Maybe it is dangerous for someone who seek dangerous stuffs/activities.

Top collaboration here. Great to see. Now for Pat to go hiking with Karl

Two of my favourite RU-vidrs coming together, both of you always have a great story to tell.

Koa san road was for the frugals 😂. Sri bumpen for the adventurer's 😂

That title is BOUND to ruffle some feathers. Good show mate!

Another easy to watch and interesting video

Charles Sobraj lived in in Bang Rak in the early 70s. Believed to have murdered as many as 14 backpackers while he was in Bangkok

Awesome video Pat! Karl was very interesting and I loved learning about this! 👍.

I used to live in the Soi Ngam Duphli area in the early 90's. One of my best friends was Naughty Nigel who became Thailand's first internet pornstar a few years later. There was Wong's Bar and the infamous 7am drinking sessions at the Malaysia Hotel: half wasted and still off our heads on over-the-counter 'pinks n whites' (Adderall). Thanx for the vid Pat... your vids are a trip down memory lane. Those were the hey-days!

Pat and Karl making content together is a match made in Thailand 🇹🇭 Historical Heaven 😇

Excellent stuff, great collaboration chaps. Thanks for sharing 🙂

2x very good vloggers.. always interesting.

Enjoyed watching this. Soi Ngam Duphli was the area where my wife & i always stayed in BKK back in the day. We put up in the Malaysia Hotel our 1st night but the next day moved to the Boston Inn which became our hotel of choice for the next years. The Boston was an interesting but fine place in our opinion. On the wall at reception was an large US Army unit crest from the Vietnam days. The rooms were large, the water out of the tap was brown and the pool was a nice touch in the heat. Our last year at the Boston was 1986 and from then on we moved to the newly rising backpacker ghetto at KSR. I'm not sure why the Boston had such a bad reputation considering other places were equally bad with drugs and whatever. Anyway it was nice to see the area nowadays and how it's changed.

This guy “Karl” is a real professional! A real pro

Great video Pat, nice to see you and Karl together

You’re My favourite Thai based RU-vidr. Always putting out interesting stuff Pat 👍🏻 Your channels a massive difference from other Thai RU-vidrs . All their videos seem the same as each other. Most channels consist of Walking around a busy Soi, show a bit of b-roll of the traffic, eat some food and waffle nonsense for 5 minutes😂 Karl’s channel is decent as well, he gets about different places I’d never bother to visit

It's a good evening on the sofa when a new @BangkokPat video lands 👍

Love Karl. I could listen to him all day.

Soi ngam du phli in the mid 70'S - Malaysia Hotel, huge travellers notice board, great juke box in the restaurant overlooking the pool(the sign stated no bar girls allowed in the pool). Teams of workers carrying on weird businesses in the hallways (such as putting together ballpoint pens). Good food in a couple of open fronted places around the corner, lots of dodgy characters. hanging around. J Travel down a nearby laneway for cheap air tickets, fake student cards and press passes. Late on moved to the Tungmahaamek Privacy Hotel further down the road, parking spots enclosed by heavy curtains. Police came and drank whiskey in the foyer every night. Chinese owner, I think that stopped them from raiding the rooms. Lots of funny stories from that time. Met some great people at the Malaysia.

Another great researched vid Pat. Interesting stuff.

What a nice guy. 30 years later and still doenst want to speak ill about anybody from those days. Great video. Thanks.

I had a blast in Thailand but like an idiot, I took my ex with me. Apart from that horrible witch, I have fond memories. The people are really quite incredible, their ingenuity and warmth. I know it's kind of cultural and religious and they feel the pressure to be nice, some snap of course, but it's undeniably pleasant to inhabit a land where it's nice to be nice.

Pat really enjoyable vlog Karl is back he has great stories . Maybe more vlogs featuring you both very good chemistry. 🍻

Very interesting. Thank you both.

Love the video Pat! It was sweet of Karl to come along and walk with you throughout the old places he used to stay at! Karl’s stories are awesome! Thanks for taking us along 😊

i stayed at the malaysia in 1978, 1982, 2020, 2023. it is still cheap and feels the same. in the 70's the other side of the street was lined with cheap airline travel agencies. big posters with prices and destinations. bought my ticket to bali and perth. lots of cheap eats around. you could receive mail at the malaysia and it had a great travel board.

The new Khao San Road is a corporate, gentrified area which is full of mass tourism...Just sad.

Interesting! A lot of work, all the editing and captions. Super entertaining for almost 30 minutes. Anyways, fun to read the comments, too 🙂

Really cool and interesting video Mr. Pat! It's fun to have guests share their memories where they happened!

2 very interesting RU-vidrs top vid!

Many thanks for a really interesting and informative video

Could watch you and Karl chatting all day.

Great video. The old retro photos and stories are great. Karl has a great channel too.

Cheers Pat, always an interesting journey. Karl obviously has some fond memories and appreciate your effort in allowing the story / stories to unfold. Thanks. 🙏

Really interesting video. Never stayed there as I only ever heard talk of addicts when the place was brought up in conversation.

I always used to stay at the Malaysia hotel , with its 24 hour restaurant/bar. In fact it was the first hotel I ever stay in, in Thailand, 1986. Lots of memories, lots of stories about the Malaysia and surrounding areas. P.S watching this has also reminded me of other places, i.e the blue fox . There's so much I've forgotten or more than likely I was so off my face I didn't know wtf was going on anyway 😂😂

I'd be interested to know if UK expats who have been in Thailand for decades, since their late 20s say, have worked out how they will meet eligibility requirements for a UK pension (assuming they will live out their lives in Thailand) - with 10 years of National Insurance contributions being the minimum requirement, and 35 years for full pension.

that was brilliant i real history story told by a man who was there i sure wish i would have discovered the place back then, good effort pat

Bloody Brilliant as always, thank you x

You used my Wong's quote! Nice one. :)