Bangkok History Highlight: The Surprising History of Patpong [Season 4, Episode 17]

Bangkok History Highlight: The Surprising History of Patpong [Season 4, Episode 17]

Greg and Ed interview Michael Messner, long time expat, Patpong bar entrepreneur, and the founder and curator of the Patpong Museum. Opened this year, the Patpong Museum is meant to educate the public on the entire history of the Patpong area, stretching from its earliest development more than 100 years ago until today - and there's way more to it than just go-go bars!

Michael exemplifies the 'interesting expat,' having first come to Thailand to expand his art business only to meet a Thai woman and begin to plant roots in Bangkok. Through a chance encounter he found a mentor close to the Patpong family, and this gave Michael the opportunity to enter the hectic world of Bangkok bar and restaurant ownership. Many years later and after much (eventual) success, he decided to open the Patpong Museum. Why does Bangkok's most famous red light district deserve a museum? Well, you need to hear Michael tell the story but suffice it to say that the Patpong area has a long and fascinating history much before the modern era of the night market and go-go bars, involving family drama, CIA intrigue, and straight old-fashioned corporate commercialization.

And in a nice twist, Michael offers listeners of the Bangkok Podcast a 20% discount on admission. Just mention BP when you arrive to cash in!

As always, the podcast will continue to be 100% funded by listeners just like you who get some special swag from us. And we'll keep our Facebook, Twitter, and LINE accounts active so you can send us comments, questions, or whatever you want to share.

Episoder(561)

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Authors Paul & Yuangrat Wedel Discuss the History of Radicalism in Thailand - Part 2 [S6.E32]

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This is the second part of a two part interview with Paul and Yuangrat Wedel, longtime scholars and writers on Thai history and society. The first part of the interview focused on the roots of radical...

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Authors Paul & Yuangrat Wedel Discuss the History of Radicalism in Thailand - Part 1 [S6.E31]

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Greg and Ed interview a fascinating and very erudite couple, Paul and Yuangrat Wedel. Paul, a native of New Jersey, met Yuangrat, a native of Nakhon Si Thammarat, in Bangkok in the late 1970s and thro...

14 Mar 202354min

Bangkok vs the World: Reading the Data to See How We Stack Up [S6.E30]

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Greg and Ed look at a few recent world rankings to see where Thailand fits into a world with nearly two hundred different countries. First, Greg brings up the 'Global Power City Index,' a comprehensiv...

7 Mar 202336min

Richard Barrow on Twitter Trolls, Upset Officials & Train Guides [S6.E29]

Richard Barrow on Twitter Trolls, Upset Officials & Train Guides [S6.E29]

This is Part 2 of our epic interview with Richard Barrow, giant among expats in Thailand. In the second half of the discussion, Richard continues with explaining his slow rise as a 'citizen journalist...

28 Feb 202359min

Richard Barrow on Life in Samut Prakan and Finding a Niche Online [S6.E28]

Richard Barrow on Life in Samut Prakan and Finding a Niche Online [S6.E28]

Greg and Ed meet the icon Richard Barrow in Samut Prakan and interview him about his unusual life in Thailand. Richard begins by explaining his life roaming Asia as a young man on his way to Australia...

21 Feb 20231h 3min

What Does ChatGPT's Artificial Intelligence Make of Bangkok? [S6.E27]

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Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you've probably heard of ChatGPT, a brand new AI writing tool that produces some shockingly advanced stuff. It's only a few months old but it's already t...

14 Feb 202336min

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7 Feb 202345min

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