[slarceSelia]

Where does the average working middle-class Thai go to hangout after a long working day? I mean ie.. happy hour or lounging at a regular bar/pub with friends for dinner and conversation. I mean after a hard day's work, one has to wind down some how. Is karoake still a big hit?

I'm looking for places away from the usual tourist and teen hangouts. I like to enjoy good wine(expensive import) and listening to jazz and relaxing music to end my day. A good website so far has been the Bangkok Recorder but I'm still sifting through it. I'm not as young and energetic as I used to be so the club scene is out.

Oops sorry to stereotype "middle-class"

[DownloadMan]

I mean after a hard day's work, one has to wind down some how. Is karoake still a big hit? After 12 hours bent over sticking rice plants in the ground it is not hard to relax without the saloon wind down, supper after a good nap and then to bed because you know if you are going to eat, then you better work..
Maybe you have been in America to long..

Thailand to a Thai is not the farang idea of LOS.

[ibiDb4uu]

congratulation's FIP on your 25 year's.

[MeatteCen]

The "middle-class" however, does not spend 12 hour days planting rice.

Karaoke is popular in groups with friends. My friend's boss used to take the team from work out to sing karaoke everyother month. Most people do go to bars, listen to music and drink. Wine isn't very popular. The àËÅéÒ mixer is usually the drink of choice: whiskey, water, soda water, and Coke/Pepsi.

[MeatteCen]

I also wanted to add that the Thai working class doesn't tend to do what people in some Western countries might. After work people get together with friends, versus going to bars or resturaunts alone.

If you are wanting to do what a local would after a long day of work, go wherever your friends are, then talk about how to spend the evening together.

[sessoorale]

Where does the average working middle-class Thai go to hangout after a long working day? I mean ie.. happy hour or lounging at a regular bar/pub with friends for dinner and conversation. I mean after a hard day's work, one has to wind down some how. Is karoake still a big hit?
I'm looking for places away from the usual tourist and teen hangouts. I like to enjoy good wine(expensive import) and listening to jazz and relaxing music to end my day.
Oops sorry to stereotype "middle-class"

The "middle-class" in Thailand don't really go for "good wine" and "listening to jazz"..... at least not the ones I know.
If you're talking about "middle-class" working adults, I don't think they usually "go out" during weekdays. Most will prefer to go home for their home cooked food or hang out with bfs/gfs. Some go to the gym....
Yes, karaoke is still big hit in Thailand...
Popular hangouts in Bangkok for these Thai yuppies I know are:
1)Thonglor
2)Ekkamai
3)RCA, etc.
They normally drink Johnny Walker Red/Black whiskey with coke/soda/water.

[slarceSelia]

Thanks for the feedback guys. No I'm not a farang, just lived here in the US most of my life and do know what it means to be working 12+hours at the fields.

I wouldn't expect many to go out everynight but maybe once or twice a week to catch up with friends and colleagues. I'm guessing Friday and Saturday nights are the normal busy nights in BKK like it is here in the US.

I'm expecting December and January will proably be busy with tourists since it's the high season for tourism.

[DownloadMan]

Sorry about mixing up the class's, But I always thought that middle class drank Johnny Walker Black or Chevas Regal, But most Thai I see drinking where we go drink cheap stuff with funny sounding names that could be confused with good booze.
Chevas and JW Black at 900 Baht a bottle and the stuff they drink is less than 200.

[slarceSelia]

Sorry about mixing up the class's, But I always thought that middle class drank Johnny Walker Black or Chevas Regal, But most Thai I see drinking where we go drink cheap stuff with funny sounding names that could be confused with good booze.
Chevas and JW Black at 900 Baht a bottle and the stuff they drink is less than 200.

The command drink in Thailand I've been reading is Johnny Walker Black and coke right?. Quite different from over here in the states due to the variety of choices between beer and liquor. I've only seen these bottles in the liquor collection cabinets of most homes.

I like to get a nice bottle for my uncle at our family reunion and he favors Johnny Walker and soda water, that's what I remembered drinking with him. Any recommendations? I believe it goes by age of the bottle.. like 10, 15, 30 years?

[DownloadMan]

More or less correct, JW BLACK and Chevas is the best, 12 or 15 years age.
But I have never seen anyone drinking it here, some stuff they buy looks like it but on inspection it is not.
I used to drink both when I drank, then as my disease got worse I went down to cheaper booze and ended up drinking fortified wine like MD 20-20.

You could buy what the Thai drink, for like I said, 200 or less a bottle,, but Black or Chevas will cost you over 900 [$27] in Tesco Lotus.

[Caursedus]

Well my friends in Thailand used to hang out at the internet cafe.

[ibiDb4uu]

Gee guys, what's this middle class thingee. Stratify yourself by income?, job, household items, who you hang with? Maybe how much free time you have. The car you drive, or the motorbike. Or maybe your middle class just because your not a farmer. .

[slarceSelia]

Gee guys, what's this middle class thingee. Stratify yourself by income?, job, household items, who you hang with? Maybe how much free time you have. The car you drive, or the motorbike. Or maybe your middle class just because your not a farmer. .

It was just a question I threw out there. Every society has different classes of people and their lifesystyles are different. We can compare and contrast all we want but that would end up being a very long thread.

[ibiDb4uu]

Devil's advocate on response's...Well, ever read books on sociology? Some author's recognize 15 different "classes" . and they do a great job of defining these classes.

[ephennaCypota]

It seems that a lot of people like to use skin colour as an indication of class.
Apparently the whiter you are, the higher up the ladder you can consider yourself, hence the immense market in whitening creams.
It doesn't seem to matter where you are in the world, people will always come up with ways to look down on other people. Pretty sad if you let it get to you I suppose.

[sessoorale]

It seems that a lot of people like to use skin colour as an indication of class.
Apparently the whiter you are, the higher up the ladder you can consider yourself, hence the immense market in whitening creams.

Eh..... I'm sorry, I didn't read anyone mentioning anything about skin colour in this particular thread! The only colour I read was the colour of Johnny Walker Whiskey!

[DownloadMan]

NO, but it has been stated a lot of places here in the forums that the reason for Thai wanting to be whiter and so use a lot of creams and skin whitners is "so they will not look like lower class field hands."

[AnypecekceS]

Popular hangouts in Bangkok for these Thai yuppies I know are:
1)Thonglor
2)Ekkamai
3)RCA, etc.
They normally drink Johnny Walker Red/Black whiskey with coke/soda/water.

Bucky's got most of the places right. Depends what you consider middle class. A lot of the young kids that go out who don't want to spend a lot will go to Ratchada Soi 4, Aw Dtaw Gaw near Jatujak, Khaosarn, and there are several areas around Pump Up and Hollywood. I know people that also go to restaurants to sing and hang out there the rest of the night around the Phahol Yothin area. Then others that like to go to restaurants and watch the live music/shows and just chit chat all night.

Johnnie Walker has crushed most of the whiskey competition in Thailand by out-advertising them. At areas like RCA, the majority of the bottles are Red, then closely followed by Black Label. Once in a while you'll see Green and Swing. Even rarer still you'll see Gold and Blue. Around the cheaper areas, they'll drink the Seagrams 100 Pipers (usually about 400 baht in the club) and there's a 5 year Johnnie Walker in a clear bottle that I forgot the name of but it's not called Johnnie Walker. Black Label is usually around 1000-1200 baht in a club. Green about 1600 & Swing is about the same. Swing is only made for parts of Asia and it comes in a unique bottle that rocks back and forth. Red I think is somewhere around 800 baht for the regular size and they have a larger size, I think 1.5L. The price of the bottle can largely depend on the type of club you are at and some don't serve anything less than Black label @ 4k baht or more.

I've ordered very expensive bottles of Vodka and Cognac and Thai people don't really like it too much. Johnnie Walker is really the drink of choice. My hiso friends always appreciate gifts of fine wines from the states though.

[Caursedus]

Well I prefer the light colour Thai too look at, but my best Thai friends are dark and they all have a lot of class. I find Thai's judge class on what they look like to much, there skin colour the car they drive.

[sessoorale]

But is the same in Korea,China, Viet Nam and most asian countrys, not just in Thailand where the women want to be light skinned and deplore dark skin.
I don't remember how it was in Sgn. as I haven't been there in years and I was drunk every time we were there, but Bucky knows for sure..

Singapore? My last S'porean gf was quite tanned.... but S'pore being multi-racial with Chinese, Malays, Indians and Caucasians I don't think the women mind much.... and water sports like wake boarding is popular among the flight attendants so I don't think they really mind getting tanned.... hanging around the beach, playing beach volleyball (in bikini) and in-line skating is popular too..... but of cos, they're also some who prefer just staying in-door...

I think in Japan, there're these group of 109 ladies who tanned themselves on purpose? Seen like quite popular sometimes back.......