This article is about Thai Bar Girls, the ins and outs of the Thai women who, year after year, attract a significant number of single men from every corner of the world to Thailand, and for whom bar girls are what make Thailand tick.
There is no great mystery to Thai bar girls, but if you’re new to Thailand and the “bar girl scene,” it’s helpful to know who bar girls are, what they do, why, where they come from, and their mindset.
What is a Thai Bar Girl?
A typical Thai bar girl working in Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, or any of the famous nightlife and sex tourism hot spots in Thailand can best be defined as a woman who works in a bar and is also a sex worker.
That’s not to say that every girl working in every bar in Thailand’s nightlife and sex tourism destinations is a bar girl.
Bar girls are usually employed at adult entertainment and “naughty” nightlife venues, typically girlie bars such as beer bars, gogo bars, gentleman’s clubs, and short-time bars.
Thailand Bar Girls vs Freelance Girls
You come across freelance girls in Thailand online on dating apps, in nightclubs and discos, and in so-called “freelancer-friendly” bars. Unlike bar girls, freelance girls are not employed by any bar, so there is no bar fine to pay except when they have some sort of arrangement with the bar.
The Thai Bar Girl’s Job
Whether they are waitresses, hostesses, or dancers, bar girls are employed primarily to attract customers to the bar.
In the bar, bar girls are encouraged to keep customers entertained, so they spend more money on drinks for themselves and “lady drinks” for the bar girls. As an incentive, the girls earn a commission on any drinks a customer buys for them.
Bars pay the girls a basic salary, plus commission on lady drinks and a share of any tips. Most importantly, bars are a place to meet customers who pay the bar a “bar fine” so that they can take girls out for an agreed period, known as “long time” and “short time.”
Hiring Thai Bar Girls in Thailand
The formalities of buying lady drinks and paying bar fines for “long time” and “short time” with Thailand bar girls and the risks are explained in this guide to paying for bar girls in Pattaya.
What is it about Thai Bar Girls?
For many visitors to Thailand, especially Pattaya, bar girls are the face of Thailand. They are known for being friendly, welcoming, and fun-loving.
Whether it’s because it makes good business sense or they genuinely like a guy, they are often pampering. Some say to the extent that they treat you like a king.
The Thai girlfriend experience is a good description of what it’s coincidentally like with Thai bar girls if you’re with them for longer than a short time.
Being in the “customer relationships” business, they are often very perceptive and soon able to figure out what a guy is looking for, whether he is kind-hearted, a pushover, or a newbie in Thailand.
They can be party girls if that’s what you like, travel companions if that’s what you are looking for, or a stay-at-home girlfriend if that’s what you prefer.
Whether it concerns their marital status, sexual history, or how long they have worked in the bar, they don’t always tell the whole truth.
Why Be a Bar Girl in Thailand
Every Thai bar girl working in touristy destinations like Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket has her own story of how and why she became a bar girl.
Mainly, girls CHOOSE to become bar girls out of necessity and need.
For some girls, especially exceptionally attractive girls, being a bar girl is a way to make lots of money fast or find themselves a rich foreign husband.
The majority of Thai bar girls in Thailand’s most popular touristy nightlife destinations come from humble backgrounds in the more impoverished northeast (Isan) region of Thailand.
Isan is a mainly rural region. Much of the work is poorly paid farming, so a typical bar girl’s parents might be poorly paid rice farmers.
Most of them live hand-to-mouth in small village-like communities. The family home is often nothing more than a bare brick or wooden building with a tin roof.
In most cases, even if a girl is clever enough, her parents can’t afford to send her to university or college. That means getting a well-paying job is almost impossible. The only options are to follow in her parent’s footsteps or take a similar poorly paid job, such as in a factory.
For many of these poor, underprivileged girls from Isan, working as a bar girl is the best chance to earn potentially relatively large amounts of money. Or, if they are lucky and it’s what they are looking for—meet their Prince Charming—a wealthy foreign man.
Advantages of becoming a bar girl in Thailand
- No academic skills or qualifications are required.
- Opportunity to earn much more money than is possible doing other unskilled work.
- More spare money to send home and support the family.
- Perfect environment to meet Mr. Right, or Mr. Rich.
How much do Thai Bar Girls earn?
In beer bars, girls might only earn a small basic salary of around 6000–8000 baht per month, while gogo dancers can get up to 30,000+ baht per month.
Other ways bar girls make money are:
- Commission on lady drinks, 30–50 baht
- Payment from customers, 1000–3000+ baht
- Percentage of shared tips plus personal tips
- Sometimes a percentage of the bar fine
A Thai bar girl’s earning potential depends on her popularity, which in turn is usually reliant on her looks.
An attractive Thai bar girl working in a popular bar might have at least ten lady drinks bought for her every day and be “bar fined” by a customer once a day.
In the case of a dancer at a popular gogo bar, on a salary of 1000 baht per day, commission plus tips, and payment from a customer, her earnings could exceed 5000 baht per day, compared to a factory worker on 400–500 baht per day.
Thailand Bar Girls and The Law
Prostitution is technically illegal in Thailand under national law, but in practice consensual adult sex work is widely tolerated. Thai law strictly prohibits commercial sex with anyone under 18, and bar girls are usually 20 years and above due to drinking age and employment restrictions.
Where to Meet Bar Girls in Thailand
You will find Thai bar girls, girlie bars, and red light areas in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai, and most other touristy places in Thailand.
Towns and cities in Thailand where ex-pats work and live, such as Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Songkhla, and Ban Chang, also have areas where girlie bars and Thai bar girls can easily be found.
Thai Bar Girl Sponsors
Many of the cutest and smartest bar girls in Thailand have at least one sponsor, the sponsor being a customer she met previously who now thinks that the girl is his own beautiful Thai sweetheart and that they are in a relationship.
When the time comes for him to return to his home country, he will send his bar girl sweetheart money every month so that she can afford to live without working in the bar.
Many girls are serious about the relationship and cease working in the bar, or at least stop going with customers.
On the other hand, some become very efficient, even business-like, when it comes to foreign sponsors; they may accumulate several sponsors who each send their Thai sweetheart a monthly allowance until they can return.
Of course, that can take a lot of juggling on the girl’s part, and they often arrange for their sponsors to visit at a convenient time so as not to have 2 sponsors visiting simultaneously.
Summary of Thai Bar Girls
Don’t believe everything you hear about bar girls in Thailand, such as ALL bar girls are liars and cheats. They are not. Don’t believe everything a bar girl tells you; they often only tell you what they think you want to hear.