White Cat Bar, Bangkok, is open

[Keithambrose]

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

Another point to support social media trustworthiness. 

You are right about people having different tastes so criticizing it laughing at at any bar offering is at best premature. On daily basis I see people dressed in stuff I never would, eating food looking awful and siting/walking with boys I'd never look at. And no doubt there are those who think the same about my choices. 

Variety is the spice of life!

[Keithambrose]

1 hour ago, spoon said:

So its wild cat, not white cat. Lol

Surely this is a differe place?

[Kiwi306]

1 hour ago, spoon said:

So its wild cat, not white cat. Lol

No, Wild Cat was a bar for men to ogle at women, but has since closed.

So White Cat, now in the same venue, needs to get its act together and at least change the signage before doing anything else.

[macaroni21]

I'm sure I am not the only person scratching my head as to why they're not keeping the Atlas name. I don't know the answer, but surely, after a year in business, there must be some goodwill and name recognition attached to it.

Maybe there's a trademark challenge from other similarly named entertainment businesses, or maybe it's just plain superstition after an unsuccessful year under that name.

 

[vinapu]

Whatever it is , I have news for you. Half an hour ago when dining in Foodland I spotted Arthur, Atlas manager , dining in another corner and who  also so recognized me. Upon shaking hands I got a confirmation that bar is opened indeed so expect some report between now and Christmas

[mauRICE]

47 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

I'm sure I am not the only person scratching my head as to why they're not keeping the Atlas name. I don't know the answer, but surely, after a year in business, there must be some goodwill and name recognition attached to it.

There's a huge, upmarket "super club" by that name which opened in December last year in Huay Kwang, Bangkok.

[macaroni21]

Officially opened. Announced on Youtube. To @vinapu's face-to-face question, re-confirmed it is open. But signboard still not changed.

This reminds me of an experience from maybe 20 years back. I'm not saying that the story behind the White Cat (now more like Schrödinger's Cat) is like in my story... I am just reminded of that particular case, and maybe it's as good an opportunity as any to regale you with that story.

I was at the time attached to the Bangkok head office of a Thai company, consulting on a project. One day I was implored (more like expected/obliged) to fly up to Khon Kaen for a ceremony. I never knew why it was so important that I should go since whatever it was had nothing to do with the project I was working on with them. 

Anyway, go I did. It was the opening ceremony of their new distribution centre. But when the busload of dignitaries (of which I was supposed to be one) arrived at the site, it became quite obvious that the warehouse was not quite ready. The building looked complete from the outside, but once inside, it was totally bare. No shelving, no furniture in the warehouse office, no phone or data connection, though at least there was electricity and lights. No stock either except for one lonely pallet of goods in the centre of the vast empty floor. I vaguely remember that the company had not even begun to hire staff for the Khon Kaen depot. Nor had delivery vehicles been purchased for this site.

Monks came in soon after and a blessing ceremony was held. Apparently, the astrologer had fixed this day as the most auspicious day for the inauguration of the distribution centre. It might have been realistic if the building contractor had been on schedule, but clearly he was not.

Anyway, the auspicious date had to be kept, and so the warehouse was officially opened. And to"prove" that it had become operational, a pallet was trucked in all the way from another distribution centre (I vaguely remember it was Ubon but I could be wrong) to sit majestically in the new warehouse. After the monks' ceremony, that pallet was loaded onto a lorry and delivered to a customer, apparently also somewhere in the Ubon area, so basically the pallet was driven 300km to sit in the warehouse overnight, and then driven back the same 300km to a customer in the Ubon area -- this was whispered to me cheekily by another "dignitary" on the bus who knew more than I did about the distribution centre.

The long and short of it was that after that delivery was made "proving" that the distribution centre was open and operational, it must have fallen back into a phantom state for several months more before a second delivery was made from its doors.

That day I had to put on my best behaviour and was extremely diplomatic about everything I saw (or rather, everything I should be seeing, shelves, goods, staff, trucks, customer orders... but did not). I was so well behaved (most uncharacteristic of me) that I must have treated myself to an ice-cream once back in Bangkok.

I think some readers in the forum who have Thai boyfriends would understand the "logic" behind all this.

[vinapu]

Confirmed. Around 10 P. M. last night forum deputation Kiwi306 and me approached bar to be greeted at the entrance by Tae, former Tawan hunk, and invited upstairs where we were informed we are officially first two customers, of the new venue. 

Bar looks good, no beam obstructing view. There were two twinks on the stage  soon joined by the said Tae. Duly tipped all three 100 baht each for new beginning. Soon two other Oriental looking, but in fact American, customers joined us. We were treated to short show with two lips syncing numbers, complete strip off and candle show by masked performer who promptly left after finishing his part. May revisit tonight to check if promised " more boys tomorrow" will materialize. 

Drinks 400. In short we have new venue and hope is it will survive and succeed. 

[PeterRS]

The exterior photos make it look pretty depressing.

[vinapu]

3 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

The exterior photos make it look pretty depressing.

To tell the truth, during day whole Patpong looks  depressing and like on the last legs. But as, soon as, sun gets down and lights are up it starts shining as always. So let's focus on the tight side. 

[floridarob]

22 minutes ago, vinapu said:

In short we have new venue and hope is I will survive and succeed. 

I have faith you will... the bar, not so much.

[vinapu]

1 minute ago, floridarob said:

I have faith you will... the bar, not so much.

Thanks for catching it up. I corrected post already. Another overlooked auto corrector change. I hate this  tablet I use when travel. 

[mauRICE]

9 minutes ago, vinapu said:

Thanks for catching it up. I corrected post already. 

Well, not quite...

16 minutes ago, vinapu said:

To tell the truth, during day whole Patpong looks  depressing and like on the last legs. But as, soon as, sun gets down and lights are up it starts shining as always. So let's focus on the tight side. 

Whose tight side should we be focussing on? I can't imagine any of our forum members having a tight side left. 😏

[macaroni21]

8 minutes ago, mauRICE said:

I can't imagine any of our forum members having a tight side left. 😏

Not true 😂. Some are tight-fisted.

[mauRICE]

2 hours ago, vinapu said:

Confirmed. Around 10 P. M. last night forum deputation Kiwi306 and me approached bar to be greeted at the entrance by Tae, former Tawan hunk, and invited upstairs where we were informed we are officially first two customers, of the new venue. 

Bar looks good, no beam obstructing view. There were two twinks on the stage  soon joined by the said Tae. Duly tipped all three 100 baht each for new beginning. Soon two other Oriental looking, but in fact American, customers joined us. We were treated to short show with two lips syncing numbers, complete strip off and candle show by masked performer who promptly left after finishing his part. May revisit tonight to check if promised " more boys tomorrow" will materialize. 

Drinks 400. In short we have new venue and hope is it will survive and succeed. 

Thanks for the quick and positive report, vin. I hope to see this new venue survive and succeed too. I hadn't been to the old Atlas but I'll drop by the White Cat when I'm in Bangkok next month.

I don't understand why some people seem determined to trash and mock new venues even before they're open or are facing teething problems if they already are. Pay them a visit at least before making some kind of assessment. There may be problems which we, as outsiders, cannot see or fathom in the unique Thai nightlife business, legal and social culture and upon which applying western business models as a framework for analysis may not be the most instructive or constructive. Until I read forums like this one, I've barely felt the changes in the nightlife industry. I know there've been plenty but I've always gone with the flow and adapted to the changes bit by bit not only in the nightlife industry but more importantly in the wider Thai society itself, as I myself have changed in the last twenty years. I think this ability and willingness to acknowledge that I'm no longer the naive, non-Thai-speaking twentysomething who first visited "gay Thailand" two decades ago is why I rarely have anything to gripe or pontificate about. Even if all the bars and massage parlours were to close tomorrow, I'd still go to Thailand knowing that I'm going to feel, if not very happy, then at the very least very much contented. 🙏🏻

[jason1975]

I will visit this new bar to support Arthur. Really nice guy. I hope the bar succeeds.

[Keithambrose]

3 hours ago, PeterRS said:

The exterior photos make it look pretty depressing.

They do indeed. Weird that they can't even change the old name.