khagai

Another one you might give a try is the Madrid Bar in Patpong 1. It's up towards the Silom side, and on the left hand side of Patpong I as you are walking from Silom to Suriwong. Very good pizza, and large other menu. Pizza has real sausage, not that "hot dog crap" that the various places refer to as sausage.

Yes there is, it is called Holland Beer. It is on Rama II, so go over the bridge on Rama II (Palam Song for the taxi) and you will see it on the right hand side of the road. It is across from a Big C, and make sure you make a u-turn there at the Big C, because if you don't it is a long, long way before you can reverse your direction and come back. It is on the other side of Chao Praya. I went there in late June. It is huge, at least as large as Tawan Daeng German Beer Hall or possibly bigger and using an escalator to to up to the entrance. Anyway, the place had the same show premise as the German Beer Tawandaeng--big band, lots of dancing girls and guys, and changing singers virtually every song doing covers of Thai hits with a few English songs thrown in every once and awhile. Holland brews its own beer (three varieties, a lager, a dunkel, and a wheat beer, if I remember correctly) and has a large menu similar to Tawan Daeng, and priced about the same. Contact Info: 129/9 moo 6 Rama 2 Road Bangkhuntian Bangkok 10150 Telephone: +66 2-4531101-10 As for a review--I went there on a Thursday night (usually a big night out), Holland had only 8 tables full at about 11:00 PM in a place that had 100's of tables. The show was well choreographed, the singers were good, and quite frankly there were more singers and dancers than any of TD's, and they were younger and better looking. The band large band (guitars, piano, horns, etc.) was good. On the downside, the home-brewed beer there was not as good as TD (IMHO), nor was the food we tried. I certainly will give it another try, since the entertainment was good. But, I just don't understand how they can stay open if what I saw was indicative of their general attendance. Maybe, they pick up a lot on the weekend, or maybe the day I saw was an anomaly, but TD (almost all of them) are pretty crowded any day of the week, and have some major queues on Friday and Saturday.

Actually, there are four (4) Tawan Daeng's in the BKK area. There is the Issan one you mentioned, there is another, very close by on the other side of the street (Music sometimes phua cheewit, sometimes more "wailoon" type covers). There is also the two German ones, one on Rama III, which has been there for years and provides good entertainment, good food, and great beer (IMHO the best beer in LOS, but I don't tend to like Thai beer). The other Tawan Daeng (German)is relatively new (about 2 years old) and out by Ram Intra, off the tollway, just before you get to Ram Intra Road -- so it is out in suburbs. It is set up like the one on Rama III, is about the same size or larger and has the same menu, the same style entertainment, and home-brewed beer. The one main difference is that it is licensed as as a restaurant, not a bar, which means, for those of you that have kids or teenagers, they can stay in the place until it closes, and not leave by 10 PM. This probably doesn't appeal to you mongers, but it important if you or your GF have teenagers and want to show them some fun. But then again, as mongers you might have a BG under 21 and she can get into this place and stay and enjoy the show. Anyway, 4 Tawan Daengs, each with a little different premise, different music, different crowd. All fun and give you some variety. Your Thai wife, GF, BG, freelancer will all love these places and most likely you will too. I only wish that all four had the home-brewed beer, as only the 2 "German" Tawan Daengs offer the home-brew. Sometimes they have big name bands playing there, last year I saw Carabao at Ram Intra, cover charge 50 baht (yes fifty), but tough to get in, a queue of about 3,000 people outside. Jintara has played at the Issan Tawan Daeng. Many of the working girls go to these places for their birthday party. An example, a good friend of a friend of mine used to work at the Star of Light (SOL) BJ bar, for her birthday she went and BF'd all her old cohorts there and even the new ladies, the owner/mamasan closed the bar and they were off to Tawan Daeng to party all night.

It's an OK amusement park, not as good as 6 Flags, etc. that you see in USA. Ticket prices: there are different packages, go to the web site and click on "tickets" in the small print on the bottom and then look at all the different packages. Remember, Thai idea of "safety" is not farang idea of safety. A couple of people were killed on one of the rides in 2008. There is also another park you didn't mention, Safari World. It's a good place to go for entertainment. Lots of animal shows, dolphins and whales. A ride through an area where all the animals are not caged. Single price gets you in with no extras except food. Rides are not as thrilling or as dangerous as Siam Park, but it is all built around animals. About 150 - 200 baht taxi fare from Sukhimvit. Double pricing of course, but look it up at the website: http://www.safariworld.com/ Yes there is a zoo, also OK to spend a day walking around. Just ask any cab driver to take you to the "suan saat" (zoo).