Chiang Mai, Loi Kroh Road

[IanForbes]

Yup, that is the neighbourhood that I live in... and love it.

I'm shocked! You are joking are you not IanForbes??? I mean seriously, some of the old farangs I see living in those shacks along the road look as though they could easily be getting by on 7-10K per month. Most of those places don't even have doors, let alone locks on them.

There are more than a few very nice Thai hotels in that district. I haven't seen too many squalid shacks. It's just the little kareoke bars that are sort of seedy and only Thai males on a drinking binge seem to go there.

Of course if you want an STD then they even advertise for it and actually CHARGE you...

[elektrified]

Yup, that is the neighbourhood that I live in... and love it.

I'm shocked! You are joking are you not IanForbes??? I mean seriously, some of the old farangs I see living in those shacks along the road look as though they could easily be getting by on 7-10K per month. Most of those places don't even have doors, let alone locks on them.

There are more than a few very nice Thai hotels in that district. I haven't seen too many squalid shacks. It's just the little kareoke bars that are sort of seedy and only Thai males on a drinking binge seem to go there.

Of course if you want an STD then they even advertise for it and actually CHARGE you...

LOL that's funny. I've seen that sign but I think it's actually on a different road right near or around the corner from the road with all the karaoke's. The squalid shacks are on the same road as the karaokes further down in the opposite direction going towards the government children's hospital. Many, many farang do patronize the bars/karaokes and used clothing stores along there and many do live there. So many that I was very surprised.

I didn't think you actually lived on that road. WTK is right. When it rains, every establishment there is completely filled with mud.

Edited February 3, 2012 by elektrified

[IanForbes]

Fits my style perfectly. I'm like the Garth Brooks song... "I've got friends in low places."

As Iong as I have a comfortable room and friendly people surrounding me I'm happy. I can only sit on one chair at a time or sleep in one bed at a time. I actually shun any place with too much show off pomp and splendour. I travel for months at a time in Canada with just my truck and camper and I couldn't be happier.

[warfie]

It is what it is... if you don't like it, don't go there... simple...

[saroq]

I'm so late to the discussion but sure level the whole area and build more sterile western restaurants and shopping malls then Chiang Mai can be as boring and characterless as Singapore. If you don't like the area don't go there. I don't go there for the girls but very occasionally I'll visit to have a few beers. When I'm not there my mind is not troubled with the knowledge that Loi Kroh exists. You should adopt the same attitude especially as you yourself said that you hardly venture into that area.

[beautifulthailand99]

It is what it is - nor more no less. Ive met some nice people and girls down there everybody is a bit broken but sometimes I think jai dee a bit broken people more interesting - more humble often to be sure. Loy Kroh Road the post that will never die unlike some of the posters.

[rene123]

I've heard rumours that some wealthy Thai wants the area where the boxing complex is located, for an upscale hotel, and occasionally pays the local police to harass the owners like they did on Christmas eve. There is little question that Chiang Mai needs an area for the seedy bars to locate and the punters to have some place to call home. But not like the kareoke bars along Chiang Klan road that are scam joints that fleece unsuspecting customers and charge them outrageous prices for things they didn't order. The local police and a group of tuk tuk drivers are all in on the scam.

[uptheos]

I don't go there for the girls

Yeah, right .......we get the picture.

[kaobang]

if a regular thai lady who has nothing to do with the world of hookers will see me walking in Loi Kroh road,will she assume i am looking for hookers?

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

same question for the club "spicy"

Edited December 29, 2012 by kaobang

[OldeBellPedr]

Loi Kroh rd remains what it always was: a gentle melange of girlie bars, legitimate hotels, guest houses, restaurants, pubs and bars. Many Farang like it, but for many respectable Thais it has a reputation as being a den of vice and iniquity.

[Ulysses G.]

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

You could, but you would be wrong more often than not.

[smokie36]

Well....squalid or not I'm off to Loi Kroh to watch the Spurs game.

COYS!

[charlie1968]

i arrive on the 31st from manchester with the wife will be down there and will call in the old bell

charlie

[Rancid]

I've heard rumours that some wealthy Thai wants the area where the boxing complex is located, for an upscale hotel, and occasionally pays the local police to harass the owners like they did on Christmas eve. There is little question that Chiang Mai needs an area for the seedy bars to locate and the punters to have some place to call home. But not like the kareoke bars along Chiang Klan road that are scam joints that fleece unsuspecting customers and charge them outrageous prices for things they didn't order. The local police and a group of tuk tuk drivers are all in on the scam.

The coppers pull a nice dollar out of there, they may go through the motions of harassment but can't see them keen to close it down.

[rene123]

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

You could, but you would be wrong more often than not.

Ulysses speaks the truth.

I enjoy Loi Kroh, but call me a hooker and I'll deck you with a mean right hook. That is the biggest problem with foreigners visiting Thailand for the first time... they jump to conclusions that are totally false. The same could be said even for places like Pattaya. There is an infrastructure of honest, hard working people to support the small red light district.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

if a regular thai lady who has nothing to do with the world of hookers will see me walking in Loi Kroh road,will she assume i am looking for hookers?

LOL, no. Some very good restaurants, hotels and shops are there; it's dead center tourist area, stretching from the moat to the Night Bazar. Some of the bars and pubs are okay too.

same question for the club "spicy"

Yes, if you're at Spicy you're a sleazeball. But then the bigger point to ponder would be what SHE would be doing there.

Edited December 29, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[tinfoilhat]

i agree with BJ whole heatedly, It is offensive when shit actually stinks

[rene123]

Not entirely true, Winnie. People visit bars for different reasons. Sometimes it's just a fascination about what is happening. Not everyone wants to get drunk or even get picked up. It helps to experience all walks of life just to understand the mentality of people. Even a visit to a hospital can be an interesting experience.

[kaobang]

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

You could, but you would be wrong more often than not.

Ulysses speaks the truth.

I enjoy Loi Kroh, but call me a hooker and I'll deck you with a mean right hook. That is the biggest problem with foreigners visiting Thailand for the first time... they jump to conclusions that are totally false. The same could be said even for places like Pattaya. There is an infrastructure of honest, hard working people to support the small red light district.

i dont like to jump to conclusions.thats why i did the question.you look straight and proud.thats the type i like...call me maybe?

i am joking,thanks for the answers

Edited December 29, 2012 by kaobang

[beautifulthailand99]

In fact spend an hour at a front of bar on Loy Kroh Road and watch the world go by - in fact I can think of few better places where the pace of life is slow the traffic relatively constant and every character a story unto themselves - from the hawkers and hustlers to the girls and the fake girls , falang kee noks and all the rest who stroll down the road looking for something and probably more often than not losing it or forgetting why they came. This is samsara at a slow pace and behind the desperate smiles and boredom distracting games and falangs that come from half around the world looking for fleeting happiness the world turns and life moves slowly on. Fair to say that currently I find the distraction and engagement of Loy Kroh Road to have something profound to say about us all and our short journey from mother to grave. This is the way it is and when we open our eyes and let the world in we see it. There is a certain nobility in those that have fallen from grace and survive at the periphery of society - as Oscar Wilde said We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

[rene123]

And thanks for the video, Kaobang. On Loi Kroh that might be more real than you imagine.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Not entirely true, Winnie. People visit bars for different reasons. Sometimes it's just a fascination about what is happening. Not everyone wants to get drunk or even get picked up. It helps to experience all walks of life just to understand the mentality of people. Even a visit to a hospital can be an interesting experience.

I don't disagree with any of that.

Separate point though: maybe it's the high season but I notice a big increase in nasty drunk behavior in Farangs. Hope it's just a temporary peak that will subside.

[TommoPhysicist]

if a regular thai lady who has nothing to do with the world of hookers will see me walking in Loi Kroh road,will she assume i am looking for hookers?

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

same question for the club "spicy"

Respectable Thai ladies don't walk along roads where hookers work.

Respectable Thai ladies don't enter clubs or bars where hookers work.

If any Thai lady sees you enter Loi Kroh or Spicy, she will assume you are looking for hookers.

If you say 'Pattaya' out loud, any Thai lady that hears you will assume you are a monger and treat you accordingly.

Edited December 29, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[DiamondKing]

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

You could, but you would be wrong more often than not.

Ulysses speaks the truth.

I enjoy Loi Kroh, but call me a hooker and I'll deck you with a mean right hook. That is the biggest problem with foreigners visiting Thailand for the first time... they jump to conclusions that are totally false. The same could be said even for places like Pattaya. There is an infrastructure of honest, hard working people to support the small red light district.

Whats wrong with Hookers

[kaobang]

if a regular thai lady who has nothing to do with the world of hookers will see me walking in Loi Kroh road,will she assume i am looking for hookers?

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

same question for the club "spicy"

Respectable Thai ladies don't walk along roads where hookers work.

Respectable Thai ladies don't enter clubs or bars where hookers work.

If any Thai lady sees you enter Loi Kroh or Spicy, she will assume you are looking for hookers.

respectable thai lady is different from regular thai lady...the isan village is far,the cosmopolitan fever is all around,the young thai society is not so much conservative in the biggest towns

anyway this answer is different from the ones above,and looks like its a subjective matter

Edited December 29, 2012 by kaobang

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Respectable Thai ladies don't walk along roads where hookers work.

Respectable Thai ladies don't enter clubs or bars where hookers work.

If any Thai lady sees you enter Loi Kroh or Spicy, she will assume you are looking for hookers.

If you say 'Pattaya' out loud, any Thai lady that hears you will assume you are a monger and treat you accordingly.

None of that is accurate. In fact the only people who seem to think Pattaya is only hookers, are other hookers (and most mongers, apparently). Everyone else has been there for day- or weekend trips, or company hotel conferences and the like, and got very little of the seedy stuff. Mine didn't anyway, and I've been successful in keeping it that way.

Edited December 29, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[bitewhentested]

i used to live in rhyl in north walse years ago and was woken by the sound sea gulls and drug addicts throwing up as they walked to the pharmacy

for there methadone there is more ugly old hookers there than any road in chiang mai and probably cheaper a bag of smack 10 pounds or 500 bat

so dont over react to this almost comical road its about as dangerous and scary as a conker fight

yes its dirty and tatty but i often see family's walking down there at night and as far as i know they all seam to make it to the other end

as for being offered a hand job in a massage shop if the lady is under 50 and works in a shop down that road the chances are she will

be after a tip for the emptying of your mushroom tip your friend must be a nerves Nelly indeed to feel scared by such an offer a quick smile a polite no thanks would of taken care of it

[bitewhentested]

as for lady boys one used to say to me i know you every time i walked past her this went on for ages no harm never felt scared

until one night she said i love you for fun i said i love you back then she giggled like a kid and stared to run after me i thought she had given up as the click clop of her high stopped but the sneaky bitch took her shoes off so she could run faster lol

being offended by such things in thailand is like being offended by rice its everywhere

[elektrified]

Respectable Thai ladies don't walk along roads where hookers work.

Respectable Thai ladies don't enter clubs or bars where hookers work.

If any Thai lady sees you enter Loi Kroh or Spicy, she will assume you are looking for hookers.

If you say 'Pattaya' out loud, any Thai lady that hears you will assume you are a monger and treat you accordingly.

None of that is accurate. In fact the only people who seem to think Pattaya is only hookers, are other hookers (and most mongers, apparently). Everyone else has been there for day- or weekend trips, or company hotel conferences and the like, and got very little of the seedy stuff. Mine didn't anyway, and I've been successful in keeping it that way.

Right. Not accurate.

Pattaya is a popular destination for conferences, seminars, etc. Dozens and dozens of buses arrive there each day, loaded with conservative Thais attending conferences; both government and private sector.

Plenty of respectable Thai women visit Loy Kroh daily. Allianz main office which employs thousands is located right on Loy Kroh.

Edited December 29, 2012 by elektrified

[OldeBellPedr]

if a regular thai lady who has nothing to do with the world of hookers will see me walking in Loi Kroh road,will she assume i am looking for hookers?

if i will see a thai lady in Loi kroh road,should i assume she is a hooker?

same question for the club "spicy"

Respectable Thai ladies don't walk along roads where hookers work.

Respectable Thai ladies don't enter clubs or bars where hookers work.

If any Thai lady sees you enter Loi Kroh or Spicy, she will assume you are looking for hookers.

If you say 'Pattaya' out loud, any Thai lady that hears you will assume you are a monger and treat you accordingly.

what a load of tosh! as one would expect from a woman whose avatar suggests she is masquerading as a man! You make lot of meaningless assumptions about 'respectable' Thai Ladies which for someone who maintains they are a professionally qualified woman is disingenuous.