Soi Thaniya is Bangkok's Little Tokyo. A small street in the downtown lined with 4-storey shophouses filled with a variety of businesses catering to an almost exculsively Japanese clientele.
The street comes alive in the evening as the many Japanese businessmen who call Bangkok home, and a lot of tourists come to Soi Thaniya. It has all the usual things you would expect; sushi bars, ramen vendors, money exchanges, and a wide variety of whiskey, karaoke and assorted bars. There is even a large Godzilla.
Most of the bars have a very strict policy of Japanese only. And so it is, the numerous sprukers stood outside trying to lure people in, fall silent as a westerner walks past. I have had it explained to me that Japanese only like be inebriated around other Japanese, its a combination of shyness and politeness. Anyway, Its never bothered me these places wouldn't allow me in.
However, I bumped into 2 other western ex-pat friends who told me they were going to "WoodBall", which is a Japanese Dive-bar located on the 3rd floor above 2 floors of Katsu restaurant, and they asked me if I'd like to join. So, it was with some trepidation that we entered the forbidden realm.
WOODBALL
The small bar was packed with people and I almost turned around and walked back out, except a young Japanese man who was already very drunk motioned for us to sit with him at the bar. The dimly-lit room was probably only 10 metres long and barely 4 metres across. Along one side ran the bar, well-stocked with Japanese whiskey, beer and Sake. Many of the bottles had a patron's name on them, as the custom is to buy a bottle and leave it at the bar. Above the bar were the tv screens showing the karaoke lyrics. Running the length of the other wall was a long sofa and tables, with couples and small groups sitting, drinking, smoking and singing their favourite songs. We were met with mixed stairs from various groups around the room, some welcoming, some less so.
Our new friend, Yoshi was doing his best to communicate and asked if we had tried Sake before, so we bought a bottle and a couple of Japanese beers. Cracking the code wasn't difficult, whenever somebody looked in our direction we poured them a shot of Sake, and before long some of the staring faces were smiling and trying to communicate with us. As we worked our way through the bottle I began to wonder if I could take some pics, so I asked nicely and nobody seemed to mind, so i snapped off a few without being intrusive.
We stayed til the bottle was finished, joined in a few songs, and were invited to come back by the owner anytime. I wandered back into the neon wasteland of Thaniya and was thankful for this unexpected experience.
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