GAY BANGKOK

The Big Mango, City of Angels, Krung Thep - call it what you will, Bangkok is a wild place and the heart of gay Thailand, but more visitors lose their heart here than find "true love", still it's fun exploring and while money can't buy you love, it can buy you a close copy for a short time - if that is what you are looking for!

Gay facilities in Bangkok include hotels/guest houses and apartments, bars and pubs, discos, karaoke, cabaret, restaurants, saunas, commercial bars (go-go and host bars), and commercial sauna/massage places. There are also a number of escort services.

The main concentration of gay places in Bangkok is around the fashionable and trendy Silom/Suriwong/Patpong area, with Silom Soi 2 being the main focus for the dance crowd and Silom Soi 4 popular with the more relaxed bar crowd. Soi 4 also has many other non-gay music bars, but the mixed atmosphere is very friendly. The commercial go-go bars are more concentrated in Patpong and Suriwong. Most of the gay go-go bars feature sexy shows as well as go-go dancing.

There are some bars, commercial venues and saunas along Sukhumvit and in other areas, and the Saphan Kwai area has many commercial venues that are more popular with local Thais, but visitors are always welcome. Most of the commercial bars in these areas are lounge/host bars, often with karaoke, but some also have go-go and even shows. These areas tend to be quieter and the bars smaller, but many people consider these bars make a nice change from the high-pressure commercial scene around Patpong and Suriwong, but others consider them a bit too quiet - check it out for yourself and decide!

Pride Festival 2006 - Bangkok Together will be held 28 October - 5 November 2006.

GAY CHIANG MAI

The "Rose of the North" and the second largest city in Thailand, and a pleasant change of pace from Bangkok. The gay nightlife is not as prolific as that found in Bangkok or Pattaya, but there is an interesting variety of venues, and for many people it is the quality of venues not the quantity that counts the friendliness and charm of the locals more than makes up for the smaller scene size!

Gay facilities in Chiang Mai include hotels and guesthouses, restaurants, some mixed discos, a few bars and many semi-commercial bars (with freelancers or "off-able" waiters) and commercial bars (go-go and host bars). There are also two saunas and many venues offer massage.

The main concentration of gay places is in the north and north-west of the city, off Chang Puak Rd and Huay Kaew Rd, but there are also gay venues in the centre and east of the city within the wall or just outside the east wall (near the Night Bazaar) and a few in more remote areas.

The new social order crackdown that started in Bangkok mid 2001 spread to Chiang Mai in October/November 2001, with many of the go-go bars abandoning go-go and no shows were allowed. A few of the go-go bars were starting to feature shows again but this has again been curtailed mid 2003, and many go-go bars have reverted to host bars or have go-go only occasionally or have other types of shows.

There used to be a row of small open-air gay bars in the right side of the Night Bazaar building, and at various times some of these bars were known to have underage freelancers hanging around. This row of bars has now closed, but new open-air bars have open in two nearby locations - one just across from the rear of the Night Bazaar building, and one around the Peak climbing wall just to the right of the rear of the Night Bazaar. These new bars have attracted many of the bar owners, patrons and (legal age) freelancers from the old Night Bazaar bars, but not the underage freelancers, and many people claim these bars are now the highlight of the Chiang Mai scene.

GAY PATTAYA

Home of the famous "Boyz Town" and the equally famous Jomtien Beach is just around the headland and you never know what you may find there, so it is definitely worth a visit if you can drag yourself out of bed before the bars open again!

Gay facilities in Pattaya include hotels/guest houses, a few general bars and mixed discos, restaurants, and commercial venues (go-go bars, bar beers and sauna/massages).

Boyz Town in Pattayaland Soi 3 continues to be the international gay heart of Pattaya, with venues offering known quality and service and this reputation spills over (sometimes undeservedly) into Pattayaland area generally - Soi 13/3 (Pattayaland Soi 1), Soi 13/4 (Pattayaland Soi 2) and the connecting part of Pattaya 2 Road, making these few blocks the main focus of the scene in Pattaya. There is a reasonable turnover of bars in Pattayaland Soi 1, and it is sometimes easy not to notice that a bar has changed hands, or even that you have changed bars!

Sunee Plaza is still trying to position itself as a major gay area and the few responsible bars there are trying to lift the tone of this area, but there is still a long way to go. While some of the open bar beers there actually make an effort and are seen by many as an alternative to the go-go scene, many of the rest of the venues in the area (and some of the customers) seem determined to keep the area down market, unappealing and unsafe. Hopefully continued effort by the police will keep the area on the upswing, but in the mean time only the major venues are listed here.

The Day Night area also was trying to reposition itself, but there are still only a handful of venues worth visiting (or listing), and these are scattered along deserted, derelict looking streets. Given the changes required to lift the area to a reasonable level, it will be interesting to see if the area comes to much.

The Walking Street, while popular with tourists and full of successful girlie bars, seems to be an unsuccessful area for gay venues - they seem to appear and disappear before too many people even notice. The exception seems the be the little oasis at the junction of Soi 14 and 15 with one or two venues that tend to attract a small dedicated following.

There is a motley collection of massage and other venues in North Pattaya and other more remote areas, but again, apart from a few exceptions, these places seem to come and go fairly quickly or limp along forever with few customers and are often not worth the effort of listing here, let alone trekking out to.

Jomtien however does seem to be coming along - it is not just the beach and a handful of after beach bars any more, there is an increasing selection of accommodation and venues in the area, most in or close to Jomtien Complex. The up and coming place to have fun!

GAY PHUKET

If Phuket Island (Koh Phuket) is the "Pearl of the Andaman Sea", then the Patong Beach area is where it really shines if you are looking for nightlife.

Gay facilities in Phuket include gay and mixed accommodation and restaurants, the (semi-commercial) bars, bar-beers and saunas, and the go-go bars . Most of the bars and bar beers are very friendly places but are not really bars in the usual western sense - expect to be taking one the waiters "off" rather than pairing up with another customer, and expect to "tip" someone you take home, even sometimes from the saunas. Many places also offer "massage", including the saunas and some of the karaoke/bar-beers.

The main concentration of gay venues is in the area in front of the Royal Paradise Hotel in Patong, commonly referred to as the Paradise Complex, but there are some venues in other areas in Patong and elsewhere in Phuket.

The 8th Annual Phuket Pride Celebration will be held 29 March - 1 April 2007.

GAY SAMUI

Koh Samui, or Samui island is a popular tourist destination, once described as the straightest place on earth, but there is an increasing number of gay and gay-friendly venues there and of course the "scenery" is spectacular!

Gay facilities in Samui include hotels/guest houses, bars and pubs, discos, and restaurants.

The main concentration of gay places in Samui is around the fashionable and trendy Chaweng Beach area, but there is also some life in some of the other areas on the island.

source: www.dreadedned.com