Tuesday 15 April 2008

Nightlife in Nakon Nayok

Nakon Nayok is a fairly typical provincial Thai town. Pleasant and charming enough but without any real points of interest. It is not the biggest town and is pretty quiet but there are a few nightlife options. I do like to watch my English football and there is nowhere out in the sticks where we are that has it. It is a 15-minute drive from the countryside where we are staying into Nakon Nayok town.

We have found a couple of live music bars that also have the football on a big screen. This is ideal for us as I don't care about the commentary and Pon loves her 'Peua Cheewit' Thai music bands. 'Peua Cheewit' roughly translates as 'for life' so I guess we would categorise this music as folk or country. These music bars can be found everywhere in Thailand. They are usually rustic style buildings with solid wood furnishings and a relaxed atmosphere. If the band is good then they are popular and the bands usually are good. Thais love their music and seem to have plenty of playing ability. I remember once going to a party where someone pulled out a guitar and started playing a few songs. She was good but then she passed the guitar to another friend and he was also good. In the end, as they passed the guitar around, it seemed like half the Thais there could strum out a decent song.

After satisfying my demand to see the football, we decided to finish the night by checking out the local nightclub. There is only one nightclub in Nakon Nayok and it was busy. As usual, they had a live band. this time it was the typical Thai club band doing a selection of covers of Thai and western classics. These bands tend to be very simlar across the country, they are very energetic, usually switch singers regularly and inevitably do 'Hotel California' and 'Zombie'. Still they are usually technically good and this band was no exception.

The club itself was also a typical Thai style nightclub. No dance floor, they just dance around their tables and in the aisles. Everyone was very friendly and of course lots of them wanted to say hello to the only farang guy in the club. One thing I just cannot help commenting on - just how many stunningly beautiful Thai women are there in this country? Wherever you go out in Thailand, there will be beautiful young women. They like to dress up glamorous for a night out and yet they still know how to look stylish and classy. Some of these young women make a few of today's hollywood actresses look plain. There are beautiful women everywhere in the world but there cannot be many countries where such a high percentage of the women are so stunning. Anyway, I'm married with kids so I shouldn't be dwelling on such things.

Interesting to note that out here in the sticks, the local cops are still very strict on opening hours. At 01:15, just fiftenn minutes beyond the allotted closing time, they raided the club and ushered everybody out for after hours drinking. No big deal, they just made is plain it was time to go home.

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