From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nana Plaza in May 2004

Kathoeys (or "ladyboys") in front of the bar Cascade

Nana Plaza (officially Nana Entertainment Plaza; shortened NEP) is a red-light district in Bangkok, which is rumoured to be the largest sex complex in the world. It is located on Sukhumvit Road Soi 4 across from the Nana Hotel, within walking distance of the BTS Skytrain's "Nana Station". The name originates from the Nana family (with Lek Nana the most prominent member) who owns many properties in the area and has much influence in Thailand.

Along with Soi Cowboy and Patpong, Nana Plaza is one of the Bangkok red-light districts which serve primarily European and American customers^{[citation needed]}. However, in recent years more Japanese men have found their way here due to the extremely high prices in the Japanese-oriented nightclubs in Bangkok^{[citation needed]}.

The Plaza is in the shape of a square, with a single opening on the western side, and consists of a ground floor and two additional floors. It started out as a restaurant area in the late 1970s. During the early 1980s go-go bars began to appear and gradually replaced the restaurants. The composition of those bars has changed over the past few years; the last non-go-go bar in the enclosed area, the Woodstock Pub was sold in 2005 to the Rainbow Group and reopened as "Rainbow 4." A few bars have offered a more pub-like or beer bar format without dancing; as of late-2009 only the Cathouse remained. Three short-time hotels operate on the top floor.

The open centre of the ground floor, once simply a car park, is now occupied by beer bars.

Most bargirls working at bars in Nana Plaza are willing to leave with customers upon payment of a bar fine. While many bars in Nana Plaza do not employ kathoeys at all, a few do so exclusively. As of early-2010 these venues are Obsession (ground floor), Casanova, Temptations (middle floor), Carnival and Cascade (top floor). The "female" staff at these bars are almost all pre-operative, as opposed to the kathoey bars in Patpong. The top floor Cascades Bar is a typical "ladyboy" bar - a long dark space staffed by men dresses as women. A real freak show not for a faint of heart. Majority of male-to-male commercial sex workers in Thailand are believed to be HIV positive. Use of yabba (Thai meth) is also common among this group of population. The use of yabba and lack of police enforcement make these freaks very aggressive. They do not hesitate to assault and rob an unsuspected visitor, and will attack 'en masse'. The local police rarely investigate reports of crimes against tourists. Nana Plaza has only one narrow exit and is a real firetrap. Chances for escaping fire from any upper floor joint will be minimal at best.

A number of post-operative kathoeys can be found at other bars in Nana, largely at the bars managed by the Crown Group, namely Lollipop, Voodoo, Hollywood Rock, Fantasia, and G-Spot as well as the independently run Erotica.

Nana Plaza is a common setting of the crime novels by John Burdett.

External links

• Nana Plaza Area Photo Guide

Coordinates: 13°44′28.9″N 100°33′11.4″E / 13.741361°N 100.553167°E / 13.741361; 100.553167