Instead of hanging out at the Red Light district, we tended to do our usual thing, restaurants and bars. We went out for a couple of very late nights with our Thai wedding friends who were in Bangkok, which of course was fun. I only remember a couple of the restaurants, and by far the best was the Supper Club. I think every city has some ripoff of this place (I saw one just opened in New York) but at the time it was completely unique. It's an all white, pretty nondescript place, but with two twists, only one of which works. First, you have to eat lying down in bed rather than sitting at a table. This is fun I guess and puts you out of your element, but it's also a drag, as it's extremely hard to eat and drink lying down, and balancing your glass while you're eating is just about impossible. But it works because of the second element, which is the party atmosphere to the place. There's a DJ, who gets progressively louder as the night goes on. Everyone has to arrive at the same time and is served the same menu, so it's easier to keep the party atmosphere building throughout the night. Depending on the evening, they may do a fashion show, drag show, bring in herds of animals and let them roam free, pretty much anything. We had something of a transvestite comedian, but in Dutch so it wasn't that funny. And then by the time dessert rolls around everyone gets up and dances like crazy for a few hours. Because the whole concept is so crazy everyone gets to know their neighbors, (weirdly, mine worked at the same bank as me!) making the transition to all-out partying very easy. The next day, I made the observation that that was the kind of place that Bangkok needed, and, needless to say Bed Supperclub opened in Bangkok a year later (completely unrelated but a very good ripoff of the original, and many people say it's better notwithstanding it's a copy).

As you can see from the photos, Blake's has a completely different atmosphere. The restaurant is in Blake's Hotel (which I think is now called the Dylan), which is where I wanted to stay but it was full. It's a couple of old merchant houses converted to a hotel with lots of Asian accents and a very cool vibe, and this carries through to the restaurant, which serves mostly Asian fusion food. Lounge music, moody candle lighting, you get the idea.