For those who are still interested in the going on of J&B Bar Patong Phuket we can now let you know that this entry, the first after 9 months, hehe, will aalso be the last!
We spend these last 9 months not only looking for a new and avordable location to continue business, but also dealing with lots of things in the private space of Kik and Rob. Like moving house (again), dealing with health problems (still on going), financial insecuriities due to the general economic/financial situation, etc etc etc
Now we hope to be able to return to regular reporting, BUT then that will be about The Backstage, purple meeting point, and everything related to it!
As such we, from now on, would like you to follow our new weblog: "Backstage Thailand" at www.backstagethailand.blogspot.com, !f ofcourse, you so desire!!
Also we like to point out the possibility to become "follower" of our new weblog. Is easy and you automatically get notification when a new entry is placed.
The first entry on our Backstage weblog will take place sometime today, First Day of Easter!
TO all of you who followed J&B Bar and or checked up on us regularly, we do like to thank you and we hope you will continue doing so now we changed into The Backstage!!
Hugs,
Rob & Kik
8/3/09
Just to remember you all of all the 3 weblogs you can visit:
Right: Last tones gone, Mr Nok finished the last little show on the last night of J&B, beautifull, dramatic and very funny all in one ...... and now we all wait patiently for the new lokation and a wonderfull openingshow as a kickoff ;-)
And so, for your pleasure, enjoyment, or what ever I hereby give the 3 weblogs again in which at least every week a contribution of my hand is entered in either one, two or all three of them ;-)
If you are interested in specefic entries in one or more weblogs, I learned that you can become a "follower" of that weblog, and so one will automatically get informed if an entry is made in that specefic weblog.
Every weblog allows me also to enter 10 persons who wil automatically get informed about an entry in that weblog. I tried to put some names, emaildresses in there of whom I tohught that they for sure would be interested. If emailadress If, when you are one of them, but prefer to find out yourself about new entries, please let me know and I will remove you from that very exclusive little list, hehe
www.mpgsadventures.blogspot.com
Which is about Robs adventures. Some entries though are in Dutch here... and if one is interested as non dutch speaking/reading person, then you can ask me about it ;-)
www.thaidutchmarriage.blogspot.com
Which is mainly about things having to do with the preparations, the weddings and the marriage of me with Kik... my entries here are somewhat irregular but nonetheless at times they give a good insight in some of the problems and joys we have to deal with ;-)
www.jbbarpatongphuket.blogspot.com
last but not least, this weblog is about our bar, which is temporary closed till we have found a new lokation. Hopefullly before the new high season starts (at least thats how it will be officially called but most sadly it will probably just be an improvement of the lowseason this year)
And please feel free to react or to ask me to enter stories about specific subject if and when you so like!
Okay, enjoy, have fun and above all stay healthy in every respect!!! ;-)
7/23/09
Two little, non related reviews...
These last 2 weeks, while constantly looking for the right location and oportunity to continue the J&B Bar way at a different location as before, I offcourse also run into a lot of different places. bars, gogo bars, cabarets but also restaurants etc.
Today I will write a little bit over two places I visited lately, though not at all ubknown with them from previous weeks/months/years, hehe
Earlier this week I went out for a meal and a little walk around with my dear friend RB, an australian from Perth and former regular guest of J&B, and who now lives here in Phuket.
I took him to the little restaurant I often pointed out to guests of J&B and which is situated next to C&N Hotel, in the little soi running left of the hotel aaand oposite the 'backentrance' of the hotels massage business.
Its called Sebai sebai, if I am correct and run by a couple of THai ladies.
The rpices of the food and drink is very resenable if not cheap compared to its quality. Its located on a little concrete raised floor with an iron canope over it and very wel lit (for me a big plus... not only because of my poor eyesight but also because I like to read and when alone I do that a lot, also during a meal).
The softdrinks are priced around 30/40 baht aaaaand shakes are all 30 baht. The average dish prices between 40/50 and 100 baht, with fish dishes as much as around 200 baht. Compared with most restaurants in and around Paradise thats more then reasonable I believe ;-)
IN the past I ate their chicken in yellow curry, duck in red chilly cury, their chicken sate,,,,, pad thai, their selection of omelettes, etc. And I can tell you, one gets not to much, but definitly also not to little ;-) The service is simple but eficient aaaaBUT one has to wait his turn when waiting for the food, because they have only a small kitchen and everything is prepared fresh. So when its busy one has to wait a little... but who cares (in general) because the food is simply good and one is often in no hurry as well. Haha, and with a book, time allways flies as well as in good company!
All the menioned dishes I can recommend easily, as well as Tom Ka Khai (though I prefer to eat that dish at 1st of Seafood, located in the little soi opposite C&N Hotel), their garlic bread, etc.... O, and do not be surprised that when you order something which you think of as an appetizer, that it arrives after your designed maindish ;-)
Just go with the flow and am sure when you visit the place you will leave happy and content........... as I am happy to say most of you guys did when I recommended the place to you ;-)
Afterwards my friend RB aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I made a walk around Bangla Road, Beachroad and back the other way in the direction of Paradise, because we wanted to see if it was so quite everywhere and not alone in Paradise. As we discovered it was, relativly ofocurse, because of the 100% tourist, only 5 up till 10 % is averagly gay (when one follows the statisics that is)... and qwe could not help to feel sorry for most of the smal business owners and all those hard working people who try to make an honest living in and around this bussing nightlife area of Phukets patong Beach.
When walking the last leg of our walkabout, we passed the sign if the to some wel know Superboys, and we dicided to have a look.. to see how they were doing, what changes might have taken place.
Well, happy to say, the place is not changed, hehe... its still that naughty place with boys who like to challenge the customer if the customer shows any interest at all (and one should, when one enters a place like that haha otherwise whats the use going there?). The music is like everywhere else but same time one feels a bit more private there and free to be a little bit more naughty then one would otherwise be.
Some of you I took there in the past, so they will know what I mean, hehe
The boys gave me and RB ofocurse all their attention and we had a hard time fighting ourselfs not to be too tempted to take one or more with us.... yea yea, I know......
2 weeks before, when feeling pretty lonely I took one of their boys with me to hang out inParadise and simply to accompany me to have a good time, and he did a most marvelous job ..... in the end both of us were surprised not only about the amount of people we both seemed to know but aklso that we had lot of them in common as well... haha, so much for wanting to have a night out without too many knowing about it..... but for most of oyu that will not be a problem, as it wasn't for me, I assure you ;-)
But it is good to bump into a guy who knows how to be a good, entertaining host, speaks decent english, knows his way around and is not shy!
In generla Superboys has more of these kind of guys working for them, and as such its a nice way to step out of the Paradise world for a change and jump in something else, though ofcourse: different but same same ;-)
O, price wise, Superboy, being of the beaten track, is not cheaper, though one can not help feeling better entertasined while there... at least, thast how my friend RB and I allways seem to fele when paying them the odd visit every so many weeks....
and to think, its just a few minutes walk from paradise soi ;-)
I will try to make a few pictures later so it will be more easy to recognise when you get back here in Patong!
And again, do not pay attenton to typing mistakes etc.... because I am simply too lasy to check everything on spelling, etc... otherwise nothing gets typed on this or one of my other weblogs ;-)
Today I will write a little bit over two places I visited lately, though not at all ubknown with them from previous weeks/months/years, hehe
Earlier this week I went out for a meal and a little walk around with my dear friend RB, an australian from Perth and former regular guest of J&B, and who now lives here in Phuket.
I took him to the little restaurant I often pointed out to guests of J&B and which is situated next to C&N Hotel, in the little soi running left of the hotel aaand oposite the 'backentrance' of the hotels massage business.
Its called Sebai sebai, if I am correct and run by a couple of THai ladies.
The rpices of the food and drink is very resenable if not cheap compared to its quality. Its located on a little concrete raised floor with an iron canope over it and very wel lit (for me a big plus... not only because of my poor eyesight but also because I like to read and when alone I do that a lot, also during a meal).
The softdrinks are priced around 30/40 baht aaaaand shakes are all 30 baht. The average dish prices between 40/50 and 100 baht, with fish dishes as much as around 200 baht. Compared with most restaurants in and around Paradise thats more then reasonable I believe ;-)
IN the past I ate their chicken in yellow curry, duck in red chilly cury, their chicken sate,,,,, pad thai, their selection of omelettes, etc. And I can tell you, one gets not to much, but definitly also not to little ;-) The service is simple but eficient aaaaBUT one has to wait his turn when waiting for the food, because they have only a small kitchen and everything is prepared fresh. So when its busy one has to wait a little... but who cares (in general) because the food is simply good and one is often in no hurry as well. Haha, and with a book, time allways flies as well as in good company!
All the menioned dishes I can recommend easily, as well as Tom Ka Khai (though I prefer to eat that dish at 1st of Seafood, located in the little soi opposite C&N Hotel), their garlic bread, etc.... O, and do not be surprised that when you order something which you think of as an appetizer, that it arrives after your designed maindish ;-)
Just go with the flow and am sure when you visit the place you will leave happy and content........... as I am happy to say most of you guys did when I recommended the place to you ;-)
Afterwards my friend RB aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I made a walk around Bangla Road, Beachroad and back the other way in the direction of Paradise, because we wanted to see if it was so quite everywhere and not alone in Paradise. As we discovered it was, relativly ofocurse, because of the 100% tourist, only 5 up till 10 % is averagly gay (when one follows the statisics that is)... and qwe could not help to feel sorry for most of the smal business owners and all those hard working people who try to make an honest living in and around this bussing nightlife area of Phukets patong Beach.
When walking the last leg of our walkabout, we passed the sign if the to some wel know Superboys, and we dicided to have a look.. to see how they were doing, what changes might have taken place.
Well, happy to say, the place is not changed, hehe... its still that naughty place with boys who like to challenge the customer if the customer shows any interest at all (and one should, when one enters a place like that haha otherwise whats the use going there?). The music is like everywhere else but same time one feels a bit more private there and free to be a little bit more naughty then one would otherwise be.
Some of you I took there in the past, so they will know what I mean, hehe
The boys gave me and RB ofocurse all their attention and we had a hard time fighting ourselfs not to be too tempted to take one or more with us.... yea yea, I know......
2 weeks before, when feeling pretty lonely I took one of their boys with me to hang out inParadise and simply to accompany me to have a good time, and he did a most marvelous job ..... in the end both of us were surprised not only about the amount of people we both seemed to know but aklso that we had lot of them in common as well... haha, so much for wanting to have a night out without too many knowing about it..... but for most of oyu that will not be a problem, as it wasn't for me, I assure you ;-)
But it is good to bump into a guy who knows how to be a good, entertaining host, speaks decent english, knows his way around and is not shy!
In generla Superboys has more of these kind of guys working for them, and as such its a nice way to step out of the Paradise world for a change and jump in something else, though ofcourse: different but same same ;-)
O, price wise, Superboy, being of the beaten track, is not cheaper, though one can not help feeling better entertasined while there... at least, thast how my friend RB and I allways seem to fele when paying them the odd visit every so many weeks....
and to think, its just a few minutes walk from paradise soi ;-)
I will try to make a few pictures later so it will be more easy to recognise when you get back here in Patong!
And again, do not pay attenton to typing mistakes etc.... because I am simply too lasy to check everything on spelling, etc... otherwise nothing gets typed on this or one of my other weblogs ;-)
7/15/09
The Search...
For a new location of J&B Bar or whatever name we might come up with, is in full swing!
For us here J&B stands for the way we like to work, the kind of bar/location we like to have aaand the kind of atmosphere we like to offer our customers when they come to Patong Beach Phuket.
It is still hard/ not easy to find the right location for that. We have been offered locations allready in the main gay soi. But while very tempting to do, it has a lot of risks and as such we decided that even when we would do/make a step into the main gay soi, it would not be the J&B way of working as you all have gotten accustomed to this last year. We would and will still be searching for the best location outsite the main gay soi.
Maybe if we go ahead with a location in the main soi as well, it would be more like a satelite then anything more, of whatever enterprise we like to run outsite of the main soi.
We also start to consider looking for location outsite Paradise as well, but also outsite Paradise location is very important: easy to reach, easy access to the gay businesses in Patong, ergo Paradise, easy access to the other main businesses and entertainment area's of Patong Beach, like JungCeylon, Bangla Road, Hotels, Beach, etc.... so our location can again be a good meeting point for gay tourists as well as local gay peple, also the ones who do not like to go into Paradise. More and more we encounter gays here who, though gay and knowing quite a few people here, do not like to go into pParadise.
Well, the search goes on, and becomes more serious by the day!
Also we do not want to pay any keymoney etc. just rent....why? You mighty think, if thats the custom...
Well, several reasons actually:
We do not like such a financial burden, specially with the economy being down and lot of you guys back home not bing sure if you can make it back to Phuket at all to start with... one cna only spend his euro, dollar, baht only once ;-)
Also we would like, for more or less same reasons, to be able to keep our prices reasonable, more affordable for when you come back to stay with us! Its no fun if you discover that all of a sudden you find out you pay actually same or more for the drinks as compared with home (as I discovered when I returned here after a 6 weeks stay in Hollland).
The governement has raised taxes on alcohol and sigarettes with 20% (!!), ssso thats quite an amount to take into consideration and we would like you to enjoy Patong Beach Phuket as much as possble in the same way as you have been used to.
Now for some of you this doesn't make too much of a difference, but for others among you it is important to know you have agreeable places to go to where one can enjoy and still feel one is not over spending at the same time...
Well, considerations maybe not to relevant for our guests who come down (orup) here for their hollidays, but of importance to our guestst who try to live here on Phuket and when one likes to atract the local gay community in the proces as well.
The economic downturn the world economy has taken is something which is not passing by the Thai, even though they like to have it look that way, it doesn't!
Take also into consideration the political turmoil of the last 8/10 months and the international reactions to the events as a result of that, as well as what might be expected.
We of J&B feel that we must do our utmost that whatever location we decide on to continue the formula of the way of work, as we started out on our old location, we can present a well run business with continuity. A place which one can call "home a way from home". A place where you like to start or end your day in Patong Phuket, a place where you know the service is up to standard, your hosts do all that they can do to give you a good time while here, and you find help to/easy access to the relaxing fun Patong also can offer you while we of J&B are still able to serve you with the best and most honest advice you can get in Gay Patong.
Ergo, maybe a tall order... the location doens't need to be big, but well placed.... and for the time being ofocurse we hope it will be in Paradise and otherwise we hope it will be well placed not far from Paradise.................. because not withstanding the economic crisis, Patong continues to develop.........
and also the gay community will develop with it, in and outsite Paradise.
We keep you informed and please, if you have any idears and thoughts about our quest for a new location, please do not keep it away from us, but let us know, so our little comunity can be a true soundboard.
"More" allwasy knows more then "one"!!
For us here J&B stands for the way we like to work, the kind of bar/location we like to have aaand the kind of atmosphere we like to offer our customers when they come to Patong Beach Phuket.
It is still hard/ not easy to find the right location for that. We have been offered locations allready in the main gay soi. But while very tempting to do, it has a lot of risks and as such we decided that even when we would do/make a step into the main gay soi, it would not be the J&B way of working as you all have gotten accustomed to this last year. We would and will still be searching for the best location outsite the main gay soi.
Maybe if we go ahead with a location in the main soi as well, it would be more like a satelite then anything more, of whatever enterprise we like to run outsite of the main soi.
We also start to consider looking for location outsite Paradise as well, but also outsite Paradise location is very important: easy to reach, easy access to the gay businesses in Patong, ergo Paradise, easy access to the other main businesses and entertainment area's of Patong Beach, like JungCeylon, Bangla Road, Hotels, Beach, etc.... so our location can again be a good meeting point for gay tourists as well as local gay peple, also the ones who do not like to go into Paradise. More and more we encounter gays here who, though gay and knowing quite a few people here, do not like to go into pParadise.
Well, the search goes on, and becomes more serious by the day!
Also we do not want to pay any keymoney etc. just rent....why? You mighty think, if thats the custom...
Well, several reasons actually:
We do not like such a financial burden, specially with the economy being down and lot of you guys back home not bing sure if you can make it back to Phuket at all to start with... one cna only spend his euro, dollar, baht only once ;-)
Also we would like, for more or less same reasons, to be able to keep our prices reasonable, more affordable for when you come back to stay with us! Its no fun if you discover that all of a sudden you find out you pay actually same or more for the drinks as compared with home (as I discovered when I returned here after a 6 weeks stay in Hollland).
The governement has raised taxes on alcohol and sigarettes with 20% (!!), ssso thats quite an amount to take into consideration and we would like you to enjoy Patong Beach Phuket as much as possble in the same way as you have been used to.
Now for some of you this doesn't make too much of a difference, but for others among you it is important to know you have agreeable places to go to where one can enjoy and still feel one is not over spending at the same time...
Well, considerations maybe not to relevant for our guests who come down (orup) here for their hollidays, but of importance to our guestst who try to live here on Phuket and when one likes to atract the local gay community in the proces as well.
The economic downturn the world economy has taken is something which is not passing by the Thai, even though they like to have it look that way, it doesn't!
Take also into consideration the political turmoil of the last 8/10 months and the international reactions to the events as a result of that, as well as what might be expected.
We of J&B feel that we must do our utmost that whatever location we decide on to continue the formula of the way of work, as we started out on our old location, we can present a well run business with continuity. A place which one can call "home a way from home". A place where you like to start or end your day in Patong Phuket, a place where you know the service is up to standard, your hosts do all that they can do to give you a good time while here, and you find help to/easy access to the relaxing fun Patong also can offer you while we of J&B are still able to serve you with the best and most honest advice you can get in Gay Patong.
Ergo, maybe a tall order... the location doens't need to be big, but well placed.... and for the time being ofocurse we hope it will be in Paradise and otherwise we hope it will be well placed not far from Paradise.................. because not withstanding the economic crisis, Patong continues to develop.........
and also the gay community will develop with it, in and outsite Paradise.
We keep you informed and please, if you have any idears and thoughts about our quest for a new location, please do not keep it away from us, but let us know, so our little comunity can be a true soundboard.
"More" allwasy knows more then "one"!!
7/2/09
Behold
Back in Phuket and as such back on the road on behalf of J&B. The real surch for a new location will start next week and already feel some vibes... now the only thing is to discover which are real and which are a lot of hot air (of which we have a lot here ofcourse, haha).
But the surch wil be boring ofcourse except when we get close to some kind of deal... so in the maintime I think it might be good/handy to write some reviews and other things about businesses here in Patong and then mainly the gay orientated ones.
AND if you have any requests for me of places you like me to scout for you or to right a coment on, or persons for that matter you are interested in, don't hesitate to ask... if I can it wil be my pleasure to oblidge you!!
So, thats what you can expect of me these comming days/weks/months and hope to se all, of at least most of you sometime during this year ahead of us... and ofocurse hoping that all of you are not being hit too hard by this economic downturn we all seem to find ourself into.
Okay, see uyou all soon ;-)
But the surch wil be boring ofcourse except when we get close to some kind of deal... so in the maintime I think it might be good/handy to write some reviews and other things about businesses here in Patong and then mainly the gay orientated ones.
AND if you have any requests for me of places you like me to scout for you or to right a coment on, or persons for that matter you are interested in, don't hesitate to ask... if I can it wil be my pleasure to oblidge you!!
So, thats what you can expect of me these comming days/weks/months and hope to se all, of at least most of you sometime during this year ahead of us... and ofocurse hoping that all of you are not being hit too hard by this economic downturn we all seem to find ourself into.
Okay, see uyou all soon ;-)
5/2/09
Free BBQ and snacks on Queensnight at J&B's
Not only did we serve typical Dutch snacks as mentioned in the previous entry, but also we prepared delicious chicken sate and fruit. On this pic a few of our staff is visible preparing the food for our guests in plenty, because we at J&B hate to run short of anything.... though in the end it was, as we should have known from previous occasions, the Dutch snacks we ran out of due to its high demand by farang and Thai a like ;-) (Except ofcourse the "frites" or french fries as they are called everywhere else in the world).
ON the left we can see Cid keeping a watchfull eye on the BBQ-tables if all goes as well as we liked it to go!
Queensnight & J&B's last couple of hours on its 'present' location !
Picture left: Though low season is allready hitting Patong full in everybodies face, we at J&B's didn't complain about the amount of people who joined us in celebrating Queensnight on the eve of Queensday in The Netherlands...
But first a few words about
Black Queensday
Read entry in www.mpgsadventures.blogspot.com about Black Queensday.
A foul exception of what has allways been such a happy and unity bringing day for our Dutch people and whomever took the trouble celebrating it with, on this day, happy crazy Dutch people will know what I mean when saying these words!
Read my little entry on my other weblog if you like. Much appreciated though!!
Queensnight at J&B bar
At J&B's we decided to celebrate not only the Dutch Queensnight but same time the end of the High Season here in Phuket Thailand and........ yea yea, as some of you heard allready from me earlier while visiting our bar, the closing of J&B at its present location for the low season and using this period the find and create a new and better J&B!! Ready latest to open its doors well before the start of the next High Season.... whatever that might hold for all of us here in Phuket!
And we would not be J&B if we wouldn't close our season with a cool and pleasing party for all who enjoyed participating in it!
The Queensnight celebration started at 2300 hours and lasted till well after 2 am this time, but by then it had also turned into a small wake because J&B was, after al, closing its doors at its present location so some tears were spend on that as well. As it should be! We have a lot of god memories attached to J&B of which Cid and Kik hold the most and lucky me had the opportunity to share many of those these last 6 months! Ofcourse we also hope that most or all of you readers will share same sentiments.
Because our celebration was more or less a "3 in 1" party, we served typical Dutch snacks like "bitterballen" and "vlammetjes", "frites" or french fries as they are called all over the world, and for a toast on the Dutch Queen we used "jenever", a typical Dutch drink which one can not get in Thailand and as such one is not allowed to sell. Instead we gave a glass to every customer and friend who came to J&B's after midnight to toast with me/us on the good health HM Queen Beatrix. It was funny though how in general the Thai reacted on tasting jenever, even when receiving just one little glass of the stuff, haha... and to think they are used to drink (Thai) whiskey, tequila and all that stuff combined in one evening of regular drinking. jenever proved to be somewhat different for them and we all had the more fun because of that ;-)
After the last performance I, Rob, announced that we woulkd shut down J&B latest 1st of May on its present location and were looking forward to move to a better location within paradise Complex before latest september or as soon as we can manage to secure the right place for J&B to continue better then it had till now. I was happy that this announcement was greeted by chears and applause by our customers and friends.
We wil keep you all informed via this weblog about our progress in this repect and we all hope we can me good on our promiss to return better then we have ben sofar!!
Next to updates about the search for a new location I will also enter little reviews of new places (re)opening in Paradise, some restaurants nearby etc.!
I hereby like to thank not only our staff for all their loyalty to J&B, but specially also to Cid and Kik. Cid as the previous owner of J&B who stayed very much involved with J&B and Kik who helped him these past years and who managed J&B after we took over last November. But most of all we like to thank our customers who made it all so worthwhile and fun to do.
I am still surprised of all these interesting people I had the honor of talking too while they visited J&B.. may htye be farang/tourists or Thai...I thak you all for a wonderfull experience and look forward to welcome you with Kik and our staff at our new location, where ever that might be, latest sometime september!
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