Patpong (พัฒน์พงศ์ ), Bangkok

Patpong, Bangkok, Thailand (22 October, 2006)


Patpong (Thai: พัฒน์พงศ์ ) is a district in Bangkok, Thailand, that has become internationally renowned as a red light district. Although there are red light district in almost every town and city in Thailand catering to the locals, Patpong caters mostly to foreign tourists and expatriates. Lately however, a touristy night market has taken over much of Patpong.

Patpong comprises two parallel streets located between Thanon Silom (Silom Road) and Surawong Road, called Patpong 1 and Patpong 2. These two streets have a multitude of bars for heterosexual men. Next to Patpong 2 is Soi Jaruwan, often called Patpong 3 as well as Soi Kathoey (transexual's lane), but officially it is called Silom Soi 4. This street has mostly bars catering to gay men. Next to Silom Soi 4 is Soi Thaniya, which has expensive bars catering to Japanese men.

The name Patpong is derived from the name of the family that developed it, the Patpongpanich family who are ethnic Hainanese Chinese from Hainan Island, China. They developed the streets that is today known as Patpong 1 and Patpong 2. Both streets are on the family's private land, and are not officially part of Bangkok's city streets. Silom Soi 4 and Soi Thaniya however do not belong to the Patpongpanich family.

The sex industry in Patpong traces its roots to 1968 which a small number of bars catering to US Troops serving the Vietnam War that came to Bangkok for Rest & Recuperation. By the 1970's and 80's, Patpong had developed into a top nightspot in Bangkok and its seedy reputation threatened to overshadow that of Bangkok itself.

The night market that exists in Patpong began around the late 1980's, when the Patpongpanich family began to rent out small plots to stalls, to create a more wholesome image of the area. However, with the night market comes stalls selling pornographic DVDs. A lot of tourists and backpackers still go to Patpong for its reputation, although generally, the prices at the Patpong nightmarket is higher than at more traditional nightmarkets elsewhere in Bangkok.

Getting there

Patpong is served by both the BTS Skytrain Silom Line and the Metro MRT train systems. The nearest stations to Patpong are Sala Daeng (S2) BTS Station (Silom Line) on Thanon Silom (Silom Road) and the Si Lom (SIL) MRT station on Thanon Rama IV (Rama IV Road).

Map of Patpong

Patpong Road 1, Bangkok (22 October, 2006)


Thanon Patpong 1 roadsign (22 October, 2006)

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