Soi Cowboy

Soi Cowboy is a red-light district in Bangkok, Thailand. A short (400 meter long) street with some 40 bars, it is similar to Nana Plaza and Patpong and caters mainly to tourists and expatriates.

It is located near Sukhumvit Road, between Sukhumvit Soi 21 (also called Soi Asoke) and Soi 23, within walking distance from the BTS Skytrain's Asok Station and the Bangkok Metro's Sukhumvit Station. The Grand Millennium Hotel is nearby.

The go-go bars follow the pattern common in Thailand: alcoholic drinks are served and women in bikinis dance on a stage. Topless or even nude dancing occurs in some bars, even though illegal. (The police are paid to look the other way.) Most of the dancers are also prostitutes and will go with a customer if he pays a "bar fine" to the bar and a separate fee to the woman. Sexual services take place in the tourist's hotel room.

The soi was given its name by longtime nightlife columnist Bernard Trink, after the late T. G. "Cowboy" Edwards, a retired American airman who opened one of the first bars there in 1977. A tall African-American, Edwards got his nickname because he often wore a cowboy hat.

When Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was elected in 2001, his government instituted a "social order" campaign. As part of this, all bars, nightclubs and restaurants had to close by 2am, later changed to 1am for all areas not officially designated as "entertainment zones". (Unlike Patpong, Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza were not so designated). A mandatory midnight closing time was even discussed. Soi Cowboy's reputation suffered a temporary blow when, as part of the social order campaign, police closed off the street one Friday night in November 2003 and required all workers and patrons to submit to urine testing for drugs.

Over the years this policy has eased, and as of 2012, some Soi Cowboy bars stay open as late as 2:30am.

At their entrance, all go-go bars carry government-mandated signs in Thai and English. The sign reads{

NO-ONE INSIDE
UNDER 20 YEARS
DRUG-FREE

During the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, a bead sculpture made in Soi Cowboy was displayed as part of the cultural program.