Soi Freedom on Bangla Road (Soi Eric)
Soi Freedom is a neat and relatively large alley lined with dozen colourful bars and a good live band at the end of it. Located in the middle of Bangla Road in Patong Beach Soi Freedom was long ago better known as the iconic Soi Eric. Soi Eric was once popular because it was the only street in Soi Bangla playing one single piece of music from each bar, while other streets around sounded like the battle of the bands. Technically not much has changed except for the name… as we say here, it’s ‘same same but different’.
Some bars are still there, Smiley, Kingdom Bar, Blue Shark Bar, Lucky Bar and Sunset Bar, and further down the old ‘Freedom Bar’ that might be at the origin of the new name, but what is new is the live band that replaced that old unfriendly gogo bar.
Soi Freedom gets busy later in the night. Each bar had roughly the same design and after a couple of drinks, you might not retrieve yours after a visit to the ‘Hongnam’ (which means ‘Toilet’, write it down, you’ll need it a lot). The ladies are nice and friendly and will always try to invite you to one of their bars, using all kinds of funny catchphrases; it’s actually quite entertaining.
Be a nice guy and have a drink toward the end of the lane, that’s where the bars have more difficulty getting customers so you’ll be doing a good thing, but that’s also where you will enjoy a great live band answering the cool name of ‘Barbie’s Army Band’. Singers and musicians are really talented so have a seat and enjoy, it’s worth it!
Soi Freedom Map
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