If you want to off boy for couple days you can pay the bar the off fee in advance for the number of days you're having the guy with you in this way you avoid the hassle to go every day to the bar and the guy is free from the obligation to show up for work for the period you hire him.

1 hour ago, Kiwi306 said:

It would be interesting to know that if you arranged for a meet-up with one of the guys, say, at 1pm, whether they would adhere to the same protocol.

Answer is no. How I know? On last trip I took  the same guy twice, once during day, once past opening hours. He told me no need to pay fee for daytime as bar is closed. But requested 500 for off fee for our evening meet. 

Keep in mind report to work time may be bit different than bar opening hours.

On 8/11/2023 at 5:25 PM, Kiwi306 said:

We arranged to meet at the nearby Mango Tree restaurant the next day at 6pm, then go to my hotel room. Surprisingly he took me to Tawan first, rather than going straight to the hotel, in order to pay the off fee, so that again reinforced his integrity.

Vinapu's explanation that it is the boy's interest to register his off with the bar (even if it was 6pm and the bar wouldn't be open yet) is credible. Even if that wasn't the guy's motivation, I think it speaks to his integrity as a sort-of- employee to make sure the bar got its cut. You appreciated his honesty earlier when he reminded you that he had already received his fee. There's no reason to think he is not honest with his boss.

Sounds like a really nice guy!

I found him to be genuine and caring.

In fact all of the guys there seemed amenable.

I had had only one previous experience with a Tawan bodybuilder, several years ago, but he seemed to be in it only for the money. I was much more satisfied this time round.

Before we put to bed our wonderful memories of Tawan bar at its long-time Soi Thantawan location, I have a question for those who were familiar with Bangkok even before I became a regular visitor.

(My pic above was taken in 2010)

I think my first visit to Tawan bar was in the late 1980s (possibly early 1990s), but I somehow remember it as being at a different address from the above picture, possibly facing Surawong Road rather than inside a soi. I don't even remember it as a muscle bar; more like a bar with average-looking boys. What I do remember with certainty is that it had an upstairs room which I used, since, as a newbie, I was too nervous to take boys back to my hotel.

Was I mistaken? Was Tawan at a different location before its heyday (at the location pictured above)? Or was I actually in that shop except that its interior looked different in the early days of the bar?

And while I am here, I should again give a shout-out to @Lotusleaf's post which contains a link to an entire show at Tawan.

 

37 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

Was Tawan at a different location before its heyday (at the location pictured above)? Or was I actually in that shop except that its interior looked different in the early days of the bar?

I have scans of maps from Thai Scene and The Men of Thailand dated 1994-1997, and they all show Tawan (aka Tawan Cocktail Lounge aka Tawan Club) at the same location on Soi Tantawan.

5 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Before we put to bed our wonderful memories of Tawan bar at its long-time Soi Thantawan location, I have a question for those who were familiar with Bangkok even before I became a regular visitor.

(My pic above was taken in 2010)

I think my first visit to Tawan bar was in the late 1980s (possibly early 1990s), but I somehow remember it as being at a different address from the above picture, possibly facing Surawong Road rather than inside a soi. I don't even remember it as a muscle bar; more like a bar with average-looking boys. What I do remember with certainty is that it had an upstairs room which I used, since, as a newbie, I was too nervous to take boys back to my hotel.

Was I mistaken? Was Tawan at a different location before its heyday (at the location pictured above)? Or was I actually in that shop except that its interior looked different in the early days of the bar?

And while I am here, I should again give a shout-out to @Lotusleaf's post which contains a link to an entire show at Tawan.

 

When Tawan first opened, which was either at the very end of 1986 or the beginning of 1987, it was located on Surawong Road, opposite the Tawana Hotel, which at that time was still the Tawana Sheraton. It was on the 1st floor, not the ground floor

It wasn't a muscle bar in the beginning, That only started a few years later. In the beginning it was just regular guys of the type you found in Bangkok bars in those days, including a few guys who would not meet the current minimum age for working in a bar. It was a couple of years before the bodybuilders first started appearing and, even then, it was a mixed crew of muscle men and regularly guys. It was a gradual shift to becoming a muscle man bar.

Tawan only moved to Soi Tarntawan at the beginning of the 90s - it was either in 1990 or 1991  - into that building in your picture , but it was quite a different place then - much smaller. Originally, it only occupied half of that building and it used to be very blue on the inside. It was some years before it expanded to take over the whole building.