Have to drive from Phitsanulok to KK in March and thought I might stop off to explore Chum Phae. I was looking at a thread from last year but it is very short on specifics (and locations). I see there are quite a few hotels including the Srisupan Grand and the new Major Grand, which is said to be good. It seems the farang-style bar the Linden Tree is now Griffs bar, but there was nothing much about how to find it except that it is near the fire station. As somebody who likes a bit of a crawl around the bars, I'd also be interested in the location of the reported coyote bars. All my ESRI satnav map is showing is two or three local karaoke bars.

Hi ! Coming in from Pitsanulok,at Traffic lights at Hospital/Police Stn,turn RIGHTpassing Fire Stn on right,Carry on down to a big Bycycle shop on LEFT>TURN RIGHT.Griffs is about 50 M on left (Closed on Mondays) Great Grub,special Roasts in Sundays. All info on other places of interest (?) available in the bar.(wont take long !) Cheero

Griffs is at the end of the small road where the Land Office and other government offices are located.

The Major Grand was really nice, I was pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for the information. It sounds like I should try to move my visit from Monday to Sunday so as to sample Griffs.

In case anybody is interested, I spent a couple of very pleasant nights in Chum Phae. The Major Grand Hotel still has the special offer of room and breakfast at B680. Griffs is still open at the location mentioned above, and on my visit had some friendly farang around the pool table. The coyote bars exist but I only had time to visit the nearest of three in the area. The bar in question - X-Zeed - is the best of its type I've seen in the NE. I had two great evenings chatting with charming company. Drinks are not cheap though.This bar is easy to find from the Major Grand. You just turn right back towards town and Highway 12, and then right again at the first lights, when you'll see it on the right. This bar doesn't warm up until at least 10.00pm, but there is an acceptable karaoke bar in the next parallel street towards town which is okay from about 8.00pm. I was impressed.

SSSShhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!