Erstellt am: 29. 5. 2011 - 10:08 Uhr
Overview of The Overstay
When I first came to Asia in early January, I fully expected to spend most of my nights sleeping in hot rooms with malfunctioning fans and ripped mosquito nets. The stories I had heard led me to believe I would be roughing it like never before, facing not only the risk of tropical illness but also spiders, snakes, and bedbugs. So you can imagine my surprise when I found that nearly every hotel room everywhere had AC by default, mosquito nets were almost unheard of and unnecessary, and nearly every room possessed a TV, all for usually well and less than €10 per night.
Even in off-the-beaten-track places like Borneo, where the cheapest rooms were perhaps a bit filthier, an upgrade of €5 (so let's say total price €15) was the maximum it would cost to suddenly have a first-class suite, with all of the comforts of home, including a western toilet with toilet paper.
All of this was a bit disappointing.
So you can imagine my joy upon learning that in the heart of Bangkok (well... OK, the suburbs) there was an honest-to-God squat-style hostel with dorm rooms coming as cheap as 70 Baht, or €1,50.
Ladies and gentlemen... The Overstay.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
The concept? According to Israeli-born Yuval Schwok (the founder and owner of the Overstay), this is not a hotel at all but a hostel, and in spirit, though the building is still formally rented, it is closer to a European squat.
"Squatting is not possible here but I think the culture is more important than just living for free, you know?" he told me when I thrust a microphone into his face, on my third evening as a resident. "It's more like having a community that builds something, you know, urban territory. Underground culture doesn't happen in the countryside, it happens in the city."
But it hasn't really happened much in Bangkok, no?
Johnny Bliss, 2011
"Thailand is very nice in the beginning, I mean lots of parties and things like that, but eventually you realize that listening to shitty hiphop is not your thing anymore. Like actually it's not your scene, and you start to look for the underground… and after a while you don't find it, and you get a bit upset, you know? So I kinda made this space to have more underground indie artists performing here… honestly there's like 5 to 6 places in the whole Bangkok playing alternative music."
The night I arrived was one of these legendary party nights. Until at least five or six in the morning (I didn't stay conscious until the bitter end), reggae and drum'n'bass DJs played for a crowded dance floor.
Apparently this was tame for the venue.
The Scene.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
"Two weeks ago, there were a hundred people here, the whole downstairs looked like Hell's Angels or something. We gave the space to some hardcore metal kids who don't have anywhere else to play. And the shittiest part was the air conditioning was broken, and they had twenty bands playing, but they still played all night, sweating like crazy.
"[One of our recent parties] was the Kinky Chaos, pushing the boundary of sexuality kind of thing. Not necessarily gay - although there are some gay people there - but just like, dressing up really crazy. Like special kinky aliens from another dimension or something like this.
"In the last couple of months here, we also had the Deck Packers, sort of famous German DJs. But we're not at the point where we can afford to pay so much to get international names, you know? I think it's more interesting to get the local DJ to show what they're doing, than to get a big name. I'm not so much about the big space but more like the intimate space."
Johnny Bliss, 2011
So in a sense one can almost forget that this is a place to sleep at all, hey? It's more a venue than a hostel.
Me asking this is almost tongue-in-cheek. At the time of my making this interview, I had slept quite comfortably in a dormitory bunk bed for three nights, including the night of the party. The dormitory is located on the fourth floor, meaning one can sleep even during a party without hearing the slightest reverberation from the bass.
Meanwhile, loud and drunken party people rarely make the journey up to disturb an introverted (or very tired) guest, unless it is just to say good night and go to sleep. Perhaps this comes down to location. Because they are so winded by the time they've gone up four flights of stairs, by the time they get here they merely collapse into a deep sleep.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
"I think it's mostly about creating family," answers Yuval. "If you're a little bit open-minded, in two days you know everybody's name. Every now and again we have a 'Generation', which is a group of travellers who just meet in the same time, and stay in the house for two or three months. Just like, OK we're a group of friends now, and they all know each other from here, and you don't get that in a regular guesthouse, I think."
An Overview of the Overstay
The venue has six floors. The mezzanine level is the main, proper venue, complete with a bar, DJ booth, pool table, and dance floor / chill-out space. In times to come, silent films from the 1930s will be projected onto these walls at night, but in the meantime one must be satisfied with an art gallery made up of graffiti murals, smaller paintings, and a constantly-fluctuating art and photography exhibition.
There's a kitchen in the back, but I must admit it's a bit messy, and shared by both cockroaches and humans alike; I didn't dare use it. Cats are also everywhere on this level, including the kitchen. While they are sweet and very affectionate, they are also formerly stray, and hence rather dirty. Those with allergies take note.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Second floor apparently is sometimes an arthouse cinema. While I was there, it was a darker, quieter chill-out place complete with a neglected drum set in the corner, and the perfect layout for a paranoiac film set.
Third floor and fifth floor seem both to be committed sleeping levels; all of the higher-end private rooms seem to be here. When I say 'higher-end', in fact I simply mean the rooms are private and reasonably large. The beds come with clean sheets and there are some pretty impressive graffiti murals on nearly every wall. However, there is obviously no TV.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Fourth floor, as I mentioned, is the dormitory. This is where I slept. It comes with a fan and usually some pretty friendly people. One of the bunk beds has a mosquito net, the others don't. Here mosquitoes are actually a problem, as are (sadly) bed bugs- there weren't, to my knowledge, any in my bed, but some of my nearest neighbours weren't so lucky.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Finally, there is a rooftop bar / laundry room and hang-out area. During the day, assuming there isn't a massive thunderstorm going on, it's a nice and relaxed place to sit and write or read.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
So, to sum up: the venue has parties, artsy projects including films and graffiti artwork, reasonably functional high speed wireless internet, fairly comfortable beds, and usually very funky alternative people.
On the downside, if you're allergic, it has cats, and the bedbug problem is not entirely solved (although, to be fair, that is not a problem exclusive to the Overstay, and they are working on it). The lack of AC is one you do end up noticing because it does get Very Hot sometimes.
The Overstay also has some very harsh negative criticism written about it on the internet (in addition to some positive reviews), complaining about the filthiness, the parties, and the laidback unprofessional atmosphere.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
I asked Yuval what he thinks of all this.
"Yeah, people like to focus on dirtiness and things like that. But I usually just point out: what is your favourite pub? Have you seen the toilet of your favourite pub? Because it's usually not that nice! You don't go to a bar because of the toilet, you know? People like to focus on this, and we've been working on that, but… at the end of the day, this place is only for certain people and not for others, and there's nothing I can do about it."
Johnny Bliss, 2011
How can we find you?
"We have a website called theoverstay.com, as it goes… you can also find us on Facebook and shit like that, but I think the best is to just come around and say Hi, you know?"
Well, that worked for me.
Listen to the Morning Show review I made of the Overstay Bangkok here: