Green Shirts Take Over Bangkok!

If you've been following the news lately, it'll come as no surprise to find out that Bangkok finally surrended to the groundswell of popular pressure last night. That's right: it was St Patrick's Day and people just wanted to go out and party.

And party they did! By the time I had arrived in The Dubliner (Soi 22, 440 Sukhumvit Rd) around 10pm they'd run out of Guinness. Run out? On St Patrick's Day! Just as I was thinking we should round up all the Green Shirts in town and blockade the airport in protest, I was swiftly offered a pint of Kilkenny instead. That did the job. So did the next one and the next one. Especially at 125 baht a pint, who's complaining?

The Dubliner was jumping. Literally. The live band were Thais who seemed to specialise in punk rock versions of Irish ditties. The Chieftains meet the Sex Pistols, Van Morrison meets The Ramones, or something like that. They fiddled up an absolute storm. There were spontaneous outbreaks of the River Dance throughout the crowd. Many were Irish. Others just had red hair. Some were Thairish. Some sported flourescent green wigs. Many were face-painted with shamrocks. And others were just along for the hell of it.

And these scenes were no doubt replayed at many of Bangkok's million other Irish pubs too. (I often wonder, since there are so many Irish pubs in Bangkok whether there was some sort of trade agreement whereby you'll find the same amount of Thai-style go-go bars if you  visit Dublin? And instead of craic they, well, nevermind ...)

Here's a list of Oirish pubs you can check out in Bangkok next time you need a fix of Guinness:

O'Reilly's -- 64/1-4 Silom Road.
Molly Malone's -- Convent Rd Silom.
Jameson's -- 981 Silom Road.
Hanrahans -- Sukhumvit Soi 4.

(If you want to check out opening times, and exactly what they offer each night, etc, I suggest picking up a copy of Bangkok 101 magazine. It is the best magazine for visitors to Bangkok by a country mile.)

I never thought I'd come to Bangkok and visit a green light district, but it certainly made for a fun and refreshing change to be sure, to be sure. Er, I mean Jing jing!