The market stretches along Patpong and in some places becomes several rows thick. However, walking into any of the sois will result in offers of a different kind. For example, within 5 minutes, I was offered drugs and a ping-pong show! I can only imagine an innocent mid-western family thinking a ping-pong show would be great family fun! Anyway, this should come as no surprise as Patpong is a long-standing red-light district.

Patpong is one of those places you have to see if you're in Bangkok, like the Grand Palace. It's a fixture that every tourist sees, and it's somewhat fun to wander around the stalls, pushing through hoards of tourists and locals alike.

Other stalls had crafts, but seemed to be manufactured rather than a unique article.

You have to be quite open minded at the things you get offered on the streets. The live shows in some bars located in dingy alleyways are not for the faint hearted and it's quite sad to see some of the teenage girls making a living that way.

Contrary to what I had read, I did not see any "small girls with old men." Instead, I would describe these few blocks as an oversupply of strip clubs with cheesy "shows" in which the girls looked rather silly and bored.

The area itself seemed rather clean and modern. Nice restaurants and a lot of shopping. The market on these streets is a great place to pick up a few final souvenirs.

There seemed to be a mix of legit and questionable "massage parlors" and the girls in the strip clubs are not shy about cozying up to you, regardless of your gender. Most annoying is the guys on the sidewalk trying to get you into their club. Harmless, but annoying.

I still felt safe being in this more seedy district, and would go back, but probably not by myself.

We left there and went to a disco. We had problems because most discos don’t start until 2am and it was only 11pm, so after a couple of tries we found a place that had a Japanese band that covered American music.

We found that this area was pretty much geared toward single male clientele. If you are into the sex shows, there's a pretty amazing variety, but aside from satisfying our idle curiosity, my wife and I did not enjoy the experience much.

Be careful in this area: lots of pickpockets and lots of guys dressed up like girls (some of them were very difficult to tell from real girls).

This market mostly features men's stuff, but there is an abundance of fake branded products, like Gucci handbags, some of which actually look convincing. But remember to bargain because they tend to set a higher price in Patpong and the vendors can a bit arrogant. But don't be fooled. Be firm and you'll probably get your item at the price you want. Just like the rest of Bangkok,this place is open nightly.