Cheap Charlie's

Cheap Charlie’s is so much more than a place for cheap beer. It is a Bangkok Icon, a classically famous and yet completely unkown corner of the city. Cheap Charlie’s represents all of Bangkok in a small, self contained expat bar on the side of building in downtown Bangkok. No really, I’m not kidding, although the list of things I am not kidding about is getting longer. It really is a bar that has been built onto the side of a building. I don’t mean ‘built’ in the way that one would make a house, or shed, or even a tent, no, Cheap Charlie’s is more like a pile of driftwood that has happened to accidentally form a bar as it washed up against the side of the building. And that really is what it is - the entire structure appears to be an accretion of Bangkok driftwood, with large phallus charms forming tables and discarded tree limbs holding up the ‘roof’. Every type of Thai charm and talisman is present, packed together haphazardly to form a sort of cage around the bar where the bar man serves his cheap beer.

Did I mention that this structure is on the side of a building? It’s not like its in the middle of traffic, although the occasional taxi does force the patrons to move their bar stools out of the way.

The clientèle is all expats and backpackers, looking for a cheap drink and some conversation in English (although I do know for a fact that a former US Ambassador to Thailand once patronized Charlies). There is no easy way to explain this place, you’ll just have to drop by. If I see you there I’ll buy you a Singha beer and introduce you to the locals, it’s a great way to get started in this town!