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Legendary nightlife columnist Bernard Trink dead at 89


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13 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I met Bernard often when I was a regular in Patpong and Soi Cowboy in the 90's and 00's. He was always interesting company and his wife Aree was always polite and pleasant. 

 

He was a throwback but those were the days when Bangkok really was the wild, 24 hour party city that it had the reputation for. 

 

Now? A shadow of its former self. Most of the characters are dead or gone and they have managed to rid the city of most of the bars that were worth visiting.

 

RIP Bernard and RIP Bangkok. 

They wanted to get rid of the farang nite scene- well they got their wish 555555555555555555555555.

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13 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

If I had a time machine I would travel back to the old Thermae and to when Patpong was at its best. I miss those times so very much, nothing today will come close to that period. I meet Bernard many times in the bars and I also stopped buying Bangkok post when his weekly column was not more there.

Yeah, nothing like those wild west in the east times of Bangkok and never will be ever ever again. Old Thermae was off the hook, same as Patpong and Nana.

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I started to enjoy his column from the first time I opened the Bangkok post the early days I came here. I learned so much of it, As English was not my first language I learned so much more English and the meaning of Sarcasm from "Night Owl" . Thank you for the pleasure you gave me reading it . I hope you enjoyed your life as much as you seemed to. Rest In Peace Night Owl !!!

Edited by off road pat
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On 10/14/2020 at 10:57 AM, holy cow cm said:

Yes it was quite the life of 24hr go crazy fun of the funnest city back then. There is nothing to compare with those times. Thermae certainly was nicknamed the cop shop and if the Go Go bar I was at over at Nana didn't close late like 3 or 4 then I was over at Thermae doing the scene. I also hung out a lot over at Patpong as that too was a 24hr heaven of h-el-l. Easily part of the funnest unadulterated unleashed time of my life. During those times I would stay at the Crown hotel off of Soi 6, and that restaurant was wall to wall guys and gals still drinking at 6am getting some food before hitting the hay. Just amazing. I saw Bernard out and about many times doing his thing as we all seemed to be at one place or the other at times being in the scene. Still some fun now and then if I hav e friends come, but it never is like those days of out of control too much wild fun.

Hm,...I Stayed at the Crown Hotel many times as it was a short walking distance to Nana and not so far to Soi Cowboy,....But Thermae was for very late night,...mostly for people who where unsuccessful in pulling a girl for the night, which was really hard to do, as for Anybody with a bit of looks or enough money could go home with the girl of his dreams in Bangkok. All the girls who didn't had a customer or wanted more came to Thermae !!! This was really one of the wildest places I ever saw !,...The first thing that made it so special was that you came in the back way at the parking through the toilets and then the kitchen to end up the dance floor,..!?!?!

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2 hours ago, off road pat said:

Hm,...I Stayed at the Crown Hotel many times as it was a short walking distance to Nana and not so far to Soi Cowboy,....But Thermae was for very late night,...mostly for people who where unsuccessful in pulling a girl for the night, which was really hard to do, as for Anybody with a bit of looks or enough money could go home with the girl of his dreams in Bangkok. All the girls who didn't had a customer or wanted more came to Thermae !!! This was really one of the wildest places I ever saw !,...The first thing that made it so special was that you came in the back way at the parking through the toilets and then the kitchen to end up the dance floor,..!?!?!

Yep. The old Thermae. Only thing missing was a code word and secret handshake. And if you were back in those days at the Crown then you know how off the hook packed that place was early morning in the restaurant. Wall to wall guys with girls packed. Loved that place back then. BTW.  The old lady owner is still there but the business has even before cv19 dropped off. She is still way cool. 

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I had no issue with his writing about the night trade, but I have never understood the adulation of the man or his column.  The quality of his writing was extremely poor and his column was mainly a re-hashed selection of emailed chain "jokes" and pathetic one liners sent in by readers.  Nothing of interest, nothing of substance, just a load of copy and paste rubbish.

And let's not forget the real reason he was axed was because of his continued (almost weekly) pushing of his dangerous and irresponsible notion that HIV did not lead to AIDS and you therefore did not need to use condoms with prostitutes except to protect against pregnancy or minor irritating STDs.  He should have been sacked the very first time he stated this as fact in a national newspaper but they let it continue for a long long time for some strange reason.

The fact that grown adults on this forum still use his TIT and 'Nuff Said is pretty sad really in my opinion.  

I am sure he was a lovely man in person and may he rest in peace, but a great writer, a great columnist, a great talent he was not.  

 

Edited by josephbloggs
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On 10/12/2020 at 1:31 PM, TaoNow said:

I worked on HIV prevention in Thailand full-time in the late 1980s and 1990s. 

 

Bernard Trink couldn't understand why HIV wasn't "mowing down the bar girls in Patpong."

 

That led hiim to believe that commercial sex wasn't a serious risk for HIV, and that condoms were not needed for commercial sex or were not effective prevention.

 

Although the readership of Night Owl wasn't our "target poulation," it was still incredibly frustrating to have a columnist in Thailand's major English-language daily newspaper spout these untruths or myths about how HIV was spreading in the country.

 

The point is, Trink never had a good understanding of commercial sex in Thailand outside the ex-pat bar zones of Patpong, Pattaya, Nana, and Cowboy.  He probably didn't even understand the bar girl scene that well either since he didn't seem to know much Thai language, despite all his years here.

 

One Postbag contributer pointed out, accurately, that Trink as "Night Owl, was actually a pimp, since he made his living telling punters where to find commercial sex and how much to pay.

 

'Nuff said.

To say Bernard didn't know the scene is ludicrous. 

 

I knew more demimondaines that could spot him at Nana, Cowboy etc than expats. 

 

In fact when I met him it was at Nana (Roadhouse) and only because a gal pointed him out. 

 

They knew him, what he did and always vied for his attention. After all which demimondaines didn't want a mention? It was good for business. 

 

I myself was merely there for research purposes. 

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Back on the days I can't remember Nana closing. 

 

One night I has my drink spiked in one bar. Not sure what the effect wS supposed to be (apparently it was GHB) but actual results were an extended short time and back to a bar. At 8am on the way out I bumped into 3 expats that had pulled an all nighter and were on their way in. Of course they dragged me back in. Only real problem I had was calling in work to tell them I was sick. 

 

What a Tuesday night that was! 

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2 hours ago, pedro01 said:

Back on the days I can't remember Nana closing. 

 

One night I has my drink spiked in one bar. Not sure what the effect wS supposed to be (apparently it was GHB) but actual results were an extended short time and back to a bar. At 8am on the way out I bumped into 3 expats that had pulled an all nighter and were on their way in. Of course they dragged me back in. Only real problem I had was calling in work to tell them I was sick. 

 

What a Tuesday night that was! 

Yes there were a lot of drinks being spiked back then. All different additives and effects on people.

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19 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

Yep. The old Thermae. Only thing missing was a code word and secret handshake. And if you were back in those days at the Crown then you know how off the hook packed that place was early morning in the restaurant. Wall to wall guys with girls packed. Loved that place back then. BTW.  The old lady owner is still there but the business has even before cv19 dropped off. She is still way cool. 

Yep, The Crown, New name is (S6) it has lost most of it's charm/attraction,...But is still one of the cheapest places around. By the way Khun "Pachit" (The old Lady) is not the owner, she's the manager.

The owners (Family) are Chinese descendants and the man owner died a few years ago. His wife was running the restaurant, but I haven't seen her for a long time. There son is sometimes at the desk . But I think they have a other hotel in Pattaya as well.

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1 hour ago, off road pat said:

Yep, The Crown, New name is (S6) it has lost most of it's charm/attraction,...But is still one of the cheapest places around. By the way Khun "Pachit" (The old Lady) is not the owner, she's the manager.

The owners (Family) are Chinese descendants and the man owner died a few years ago. His wife was running the restaurant, but I haven't seen her for a long time. There son is sometimes at the desk . But I think they have a other hotel in Pattaya as well.

So sounds like you still stay there time to time.

Yes it is still the cheapest around, I think about 1000 baht per night. I stayed there a few and a couple of years ago with different friends from the US who were on a budget and who wanted to have fun in Bangkok. I always thought she was the owner and part of the family and the Mercedes parked outside was hers. Sweet old gal. Still worth a stay there if in the area and extreme comfort is not your quest. Anyway, her and I still remember each other, and I have seen the son. Now there is, or before CV 19 was a short time place almost directly right outside with gals you pick and take up for a bang if that is your thing. Just before it leads out to Soi 8. 

 

Yes, it was something back in the day there at the Crown and has lost some appeal as you said, but then again so has Bangkok over the years as well.

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