Pattaya Soi 6 bars are taking in cash from more than just online videos now that they can stay open until midnight, but trade on the infamous brothel street remains dire.
More than half the beer bars on the soi remain closed with trade only ticking up at night. A survey of those pubs that were open Saturday afternoon found most with no customers.
Samorn Boonpukde, manager of the Where Angels Play bar, maintained that hostesses are earning some money from customer-bought drinks again, which supplements their salaries of 9,000-12,000 baht a month and accommodations.
Yet even in some bars where a customer or two stumbled in, the bargirls seemed more interested in soliciting drinks from foreigners watching their YouTube livestreams than attending to the living, breathing men sitting nearby.
Many bars turned to livestreams during the pandemic, discovering that lonely farangs stuck in their home countries craved dancing shows and interaction with bar hostesses. Viewers can buy the women on camera drinks, often at higher prices than “lady drinks” cost in the bar.
