Old VW buses rigged out as mobile bars in Bangkok

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Old VW buses rigged out as mobile bars in Bangkok
Dave Stamboulis
December 30, 2013


In Bangkok, brick and mortar bars are making way for a new nightlife trend - mobile bars on wheels.
DAVE STAMBOULIS

One of Bangkok's most unique features is its abundance of mobile cocktail bars. Usually in the form of rigged-out Volkswagen buses, these bars on wheels show off the Thai entrepreneurial spirit. They certainly appeal to counterculture lovers and also to those who want to have a cheap party out on the town.

VW bars have been around Bangkok for more than a decade, but only in the past few years have they proliferated and become wildly popular drinking destinations. All things retro are in vogue in Bangkok, and the Volkswagen bars not only fit this profile, but also offer one of the only spots in town for a reasonably priced cocktail, alcohol taxes and prices having spiraled upward in the past year.

While many of the mobile bars are run by young men who prefer nighttime hours and a constantly changing environment as a 9-to-5 alternative, some are manned by older bartenders (who also mix a pretty stiff drink).

Everything from mojitos to Singapore Slings can be had, and the best value drinks are those four to five times the normal size, and aptly named "buckets."

The best places to find Bangkok's eye-popping mobile bars are in Sukhumvit Soi 11 (VW bar central, with the entire street lined with vans); the small lanes around Khao San Road (popular with the backpacking crowd); and the recently relocated Retro Market (moved from its former home of the Train Market in Chatuchak to an area behind Seacon Square in northeastern Bangkok).

usatoday.com

[stickmansucks]

My friends always like them when visiting here.

[klong toey]

Good for the tourist.

[navynine]

Great idea, would sure slow down the DUI's ................

[NickA]

......

[Seekingasylum]

This sort of gimcrack, bottom-feeding pandering to the lower end tourist trash is typically Thai in that for no dividend to the state the so-called entrepreneurs peddle shite to clueless morons, adding to the detritus of litter strewn, rat infested streets, and further clog up already stupidly congested roads too narrow to allow pedestrians to walk safely. The only beneficiaries are the corrupted local police and mafia.

Soi 11 is nothing but a bloody nightmare now with absolutely nowhere to walk except in the middle of the road because these fucking spastic vans are parked up bumper to bumper along what sidewalk isn't taken up by the shite infested street food stalls.

And for what? To take in the ambience of a third world filthy street whilst drinking un-provenanced alcohol out of glasses swilled "clean " in dirty, bacteria-ridden, tepid water some rat has pissed in? Most of the punters I see sat there remind me of cattle recently poleaxed but still haven't had the sense to fall down.

[Satonic]

^ Bet you're a fun guy to hang out with

[Seekingasylum]

I have my moments but prefer to spend them amid comfort in the company of decent folk unhampered by a need to loll about in squalour and filth in the mistaken belief they are thereby communing with the "real" Bangkok.

Frankly, Soi 11 as a street experience is a ghastly place only fit for Indians, pimps and their bandy legged merchandise, rats, soi dogs and Lonely Planeteers down on their luck.

[klong toey]

^I like the Villa Market down Soi 11 so its not all bad.

[neemo]

Gotta check this out next time, sounds like fun... maybe I'll even meet the gent. lol

[unclesiberia]

This sort of gimcrack, bottom-feeding pandering to the lower end tourist trash is typically Thai in that for no dividend to the state the so-called entrepreneurs peddle shite to clueless morons, adding to the detritus of litter strewn, rat infested streets, and further clog up already stupidly congested roads too narrow to allow pedestrians to walk safely. The only beneficiaries are the corrupted local police and mafia.

Soi 11 is nothing but a bloody nightmare now with absolutely nowhere to walk except in the middle of the road because these fucking spastic vans are parked up bumper to bumper along what sidewalk isn't taken up by the shite infested street food stalls.

And for what? To take in the ambience of a third world filthy street whilst drinking un-provenanced alcohol out of glasses swilled "clean " in dirty, bacteria-ridden, tepid water some rat has pissed in? Most of the punters I see sat there remind me of cattle recently poleaxed but still haven't had the sense to fall down.

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