Update Thread For Expat-Accessible Gay Venues

[Ijustwannateach]

It has been noted from time to time that the pinned thread on gay venues is getting out of date. We gay subforum mods would like to update the list in a 'moderate' fashion without making the actual pinned topic a long discussion or free-for-all- we just want that topic to have the useful information in summary form. Ideally, we are looking for venues which are relatively welcoming or prepared for foreign customers who may not speak much, if any, Thai- as this site is primarily for English language access. If your Thai is very good, there are already plenty of Thai language listings available online and elsewhere.

So we are opening THIS thread to ask for our members to submit and discuss at length any additions, changes, and corrections to the original list. Closed venues are fairly straightforward to mention, but it would nice to get a confirmation from 2 or 3 posters in the case that a poster is mistaken.

Ideally, if you are recommending a venue to add, it would be nice for a start to have as much of the following information as possible:

Name (of course)

Location (City, Street address or area, other contact info such as ph or website)

Type of Venue (Bar, Disco, Restaurant, Store, Organisation, Sauna, Gogo, 'Massage', Karaoke, well-known hangouts/cruisy spots, etc.)

Hours if known

Typical services/prices/charges if known

Transport & Accessibility Issues- how to get there, how to find the place, English spoken or not, etc.

General description, review, recommendation, experience, etc.

It would be helpful to get your feelings about the atmosphere, clientele, and quality of food/drink/management/other in the last bit. The venues do not necessarily have to be exclusively gay if they are of significant interest.

Additionally, to conform with forum rules, please do not be any more specific about the details of access to prostitution or other potentially grey area points (for example, we are especially not looking for reviews of 'what Number 39 at Bar X will do', details of off-fees or 'going rates', or detailed descriptions of 'shows'). We also don't really want this to turn into something like 'Penthouse Letters'.

While negative comments may be included, this isn't going to be a 'name and shame' thread- it's enough to indicate if you, personally, have had any 'issues' (staff problems, overcharging or incorrect charging, etc.)

If you feel like writing a long story, go ahead, but the pinned thread will mostly contain factual details with a few descriptive paragraphs that may be copied or derived from member submissions in this thread.

Many thanks in advance for your assistance, and I'll try to give credit in the pinned thread to the members who provided the information.

If there are other aspects you feel should go in the pinned thread, please do mention those as well.

[LeCharivari]

Updates and corrections first:

All three venues listed as in "Phuket" are (or at least were, as two of the three are closed) located in Pattaya.

The one venue listed in "Pattaya" has been closed for over ten years.

"other aspects":

I'd suggest that as gay host/go-go bars change hands/names so frequently in Pattaya, as they are nearly all not only "commercial" but also located in a few specific and very easily located gay areas, and as "reviews" of these bars are easily available (in very specific detail) on other sites, that listed venues in Pattaya be limited here to gay/gay friendly hotels, restaurants, saunas, beaches, etc and that updates or reviews of gay host/go-go bars are excluded.

This isn't a question of disliking the commercial side or avoiding "details of access to prostitution" and "grey areas" so much as one of balance, as details,listings and updates of all these bars would be likely to outweigh and outbalance listings of the other gay friendly venues in Pattaya that may be less well known and harder to find.

I'd also suggest that there may be a case for listing the few "gay un-friendly" venues that there are in Pattaya (and probably elsewhere), as there are still a few (fortunately a very few) restaurants, bars and hotels where gays, while not barred, have been made to feel distinctly un-welcome.

[isanbirder]

http://www.radchada.com/ChiangMaiGayBars.html

This site has a list of Chiangmai venues which is constantly being updated.

[Ijustwannateach]

Thanks!

We'll probably wait until there are a page or so of updates to do it all en masse, so don't be worried if you don't see them right away.

LCV, re. 'gay unfriendly venues', it is an interesting point- though one which could have negative legal feedback; that's why the whole forum is generally discouraging to 'name & shame'. One way that we got around this in the Teacher's forum is with a thread where teachers could simply post names of places they 'wouldn't recommend to a friend' for employment- no other details or reasons- because it would be factually true and very hard to challenge. People could PM for details or draw their own conclusions based on the frequency with which a name appeared. Perhaps we could try a parallel thread of that sort here.

Also, I can imagine what you are saying about certain 'zones' in Pattaya, especially. Perhaps one entry and description per 'zone', with perhaps a list of the names of venues therein updated from time to time. Then posters can search on the detailed descriptions of individual places, as you say, elsewhere.

Thanks for the link, IB- but I am hoping for member's individual opinions on places, too.

[Scott]

I like the idea of listing all the venues in certain zones. I agree that detailed descriptions of all the go-go bars is unnecessary, but it's nice to know how comprehensive services in an area are--number of bars, hotels, restaurants etc.

[JayBangkok]

Sadly @Richard's has closed.

It has been replaced by Diamonds which is nowhere near as nice in my opinion.

[Ijustwannateach]

Thanks for the update, Jay, I was wondering if this thread was going to get any more business. And I'm sorry to hear about @Richard's, it had a loyal following and was a good hangout for quite some time there.

[Paagai]

Given the rate at which businesses come and go here I think you've set your self a difficult and thankless challenge, But happy to help nevertheless. I would suggest including some links to non-commercial sites with comprehensive listings at the start would be a useful service to readers when the list maybe out of date.

For Chiang Mai, from a quick examination of the original thread, the following is a list of venues already closed, AFAIK (actually most of them!):

• 2 Style Bar
  
• Art of massage
  
• Barai Male Massage
  
• Bee Beez Male Massage
  
• Chez Nous
  
• Climax Male Massage
  
• Coffee Boy
  
• Cream
  
• Cruise
  
• Cupid Bar
  
• Doi Boy
  
• Dragon King
  
• Dragon Pub (now straight karaoke)
  
• Fan Club
  
• Friendship Bar
  
• HEUAN AI BAU/Golden Ball (now Sabai Di Santitham)
  
• His Club (The Coyote bar - the Massage is still open)
  
• Jackpot
  
• Ken's Male Massage
  
• Kudos
  
• Mai Paeng
  
• Maple Massage
  
• MTV Bar
  
• MUNRO'S
  
• Naga across from Big C (Proper name Nagaraj)
  
• Paradise Bar
  
• Simon Cabaret
  
• SpaRoma
  
• TGB
  
• Wood Bar
  

As Isanbirder mentioned www.radchada.com is a good resource. Also, Chiang Mai gay News has a couple of articles about what happened to some of the gay venues here: Whatever happened To...

When time permits I'll try to add some more details of current venues here.

[Ijustwannateach]

Thanks for the updates!