RCA / Bangkok

ok, i went clubbing last night, i can't really remember if i've done a
report on RCA bangkok yet but anyway... RCA is sort of the ultimate
thai nightclub complex - it's short for Royal City Avenue but everyone
knows it as RCA.there are about 10 nightclubs right next to each other,
they're all super done up with big neon signs, multi-million watt sound
systems and video systems and trndy chrome decor. the biggest one,
route 66, has an american retro feel to it, with cherry antique
50's-mobiles hanging in the air over the bars and stuff. the music is
mostly thai disco (for example the 170 bpm 4 on the floor meth-disco
remix of "jump around" by house of pain, with full rap vocals at normal
pitch but chipmink speed. or the "hwa chi ngo bai RCA!" club anthem,
heard all over thailand) mixed with occasional medeys of the popiest
american pop, and 1 thai ballad an hour.

so are london nightclubs full of infrared video cameras shooting the
crowd and plastering the live footage on huge megascreens dotting the
club? it seems to be the thing to do here, and i have to admit i found
them pretty mesmerizing... moving from one pretty thai girl to the
next... jesus it's one after the other, every one of the girls looks
like a model... they cant *all* look that good? a quick look around
confirms that, well, actually the club is pretty much wall to wall
modelesque college-age thai girls... at the lobby is a "route 66"
paraphanalia shop, except you can't buy anything, it's run on a ticket
system. apparently every time you buy a bottle of whisky you get a
ticket. it's a bit like and alcoholic version of skee-ball or one of
those fairgrounds things where you save up tickets to win crappy prizes,
except the prizes are pretty flash, big plush 2 meter tall route 66
teddy bears (35 bottles of whisky) lamps (15 bottles of whisky) blinky
light things, ashtrays and a bunch of other stuff. the girl working
behind the counter gave me her ticket, so i got an ashtray, rad!

umm, what else to say about RCA? oh yeah, it's all based around tables,
you basically have a nightclub full or people sitting on stools and
standing around these small little tables. which are just big enough to
keep your bottle of whisky and mixers and glasses on, though they're
also suitable for holding yourself up on when you're too drunk to stand.
if you feel like dancing you just climb down from the stool and dance
at the table till you dont feel like dancing any more, at which point
you simply stop danceing and pour yourself another whisky, and talk to
the girls at the table next to you. it's a pretty good system, actually.

-messiah