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It's time for me to do something interesting and adventurous. I plan to come back Thailand end of March and this trip, i decide to step on southern provinces and "explore" boys there :)). Been in Hat Yai one time while on the way to Penang years ago so ican't say i'm completely new to the south. However, this time, i want to spend 10 days for Songkla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Like other newbie to new land, i'm most concerned of safety and gay venues that are worth to visit. As far as i know, those are considered "Islamic places" so gay things shouldn't be visible there but how serious is it, i dont know. That's why i need your wisdom, guys. Any info, sharings...appreciated.

Orange shirt? really????????????????

What exactly got them shocked? Hot men in underwear or they did not sell Chang beer?

That totally nightmare for tourists. Fun night turned to very bad experience. I gave up such touristy saunas like this. 4 years ago, my friends and i visited Singapore and the sauna we visited on the first night in Sing got raided by police. We're all handcuffed and roughly pushed on police cars (even they could not find drugs among 50 p customers in there). At the police station, they did urine test on us, took pictures and asked several questions. We were only removed out of there at 04:00 AM. and we had to spend the rest of that night OUTSIDE of police office. One of my friends got so shocked as it was his first overseas trip We all cancelled 5-day trip right then (cancelled hotels and visit trip to Universal Studio Sing) and flew back home. Then we all never visit Singapore again. Bye Sing forever. It seems to happen here, in Thailand P/S: should we do like in Manila to visit sauna: men must wear shirt and underwear entering in sauna? Does costume like this help in case of police raid?

Yeap, i got it properly right. Anyway, skip it while in Thailand.

I saw them all the time in Mania, 39 underground, on Grindr, facebook, twitter of Thai boys but i didn't know it's illegal in Thailand. Google search showed some very old info and troubling-joking comments, not serious info i need. But i think poppers illegality seems true when considering their e-cigarettes ban. I dont want to risk my year-end short break for them (though poppers give so much fun). To be honest, i did consider to purchase it from a Thai's web (meaning not bring them from outside to Thai) but to warrant my vacation, i gave that idea up. Anyway, without poppers, boys still good =))

Thanks Jasper, That's bad news. Anyway, skip them for few days in Pattaya not cost arms and legs. Again, thanks for info

I plan to bring some poppers for personal use on my coming trip to Bangkok. I saw poppers been sold a lot in Bangkok but not sure if i can bring them from outside to Thailand. That's a serious question as i dont want to be in trouble under Thai's drugs law :D:D:D:D:D:D:D. Please help as my flight coming very soon. TIA, all nice guys

OMG, i should have known you all such helpful guys. Just finished my trip to Thailand and now in Vietnam for few days. Of course, i knew Pattaya and went there several times and as usual, it's a great place for fun and relax. But to be honest, after some trips to Thailand ("Thailand" herein is inclusive word referring to most of big touristy cities in Thailand ) , i feel i little much of commercial gay activities. Pubs, gogo bars, take boys to hotel and have fun..., all do great to me but more and more, i want to see more local gay things (assume that local gay life differs from what they show to tourists). Just visited Phahol Yothin theatre near Saphan Khwai =))) last Thursday and you know what, so muchhhh fun in there =))). One guy did cum-control to me and Jesus, that was my best 20 minutes ever in my life =))

It'si my fifth visit to Bangkok and frankly i feel a little bit too much of the city gay scene. Are there any places near Bangkok i can visit and "explore" gay scene there? Max for 2 hour travel by bus or train pls. I plan to spend one day to visit Suk Ta Bridge (quite a distance from BTS Kheha) so any gay scene around that area?

Long ago, i read an article saying that Bali Hai Pier and Pattaya train station (not sure which one) being cruisy place at the midnight. Can anyone confirm if they're still now? I'll be back Pattaya early of November and stay for 4 nights. To be honest, I'm done with Boys Town and Sunee Plaza, also dont want waste time on gay apps. On my last visit to Pattaya (in 2017), i did some jogging at midnight around Bali Hai Pier and saw some boys walking around near parking lot. Not sure if they were on hunting or just taking some rest before driving home. I stayed there for one hour but nothing happened so i went back hotel. Not know if i had been there right time.

If you mean bus terminal in North Pattaya i dont think there's action there. I stayed in hostels next to terminal months ago and saw nothing at late night.

Thanks guys for your comments and below is my trip early this week. 1. There's no gay scene in Chanthaburi. The nearest guy on my Grindr was about...27km away from my hostel. Tried to chat to him but then gave up as his slow response. Anyway, the town's nice and i enjoyed good food there. 2. Minibus info mentioned in this page is still active ( https://www.travelfish.org/transport/thailand/eastern_thailand/chanthaburi/chanthaburi/all). Coz i want to go border as soon possible so i took minivan behind Robinson at 9:00AM. Note that, there is no sign boards saying minivan services (a little bit weird to other places i experienced in Thailand) so just simply ask around and people will point you the place. It took 1,5 hour to Ban Parkard border. Customs work in Thailand side was nice and smooth. The nightmare began in Cambodia side. Cambodian officers passed my passport around, said something in their language and finally they told me to pay 200 bath for "entry fee" :D:D:D:D:D:D:d. I politely replied to them I had entered Cambodia several times and i never heard of that fee.They yelled at me that this was "new regulation" and i had to pay for entry (i guessed they yelled to suppress me). Again, I kept cold mind politely explaining i never heard of it. After few minutes of verbal exchange, i decided to ask them if i could get receipt for that fee and amazingly, it worked. They discussed to each other few words and stamped on my passport and let me go, with zero response. Right after i got out of customs booth, several motobike touts approached to offer their services to Pailin town. They offered 10 USD to Pailin by motobike and 15 USD shared taxi to Battambang. I ignored offer to Battambang as i didn't know when taxi got full load. After some negotiation, the tout ok with 6 usd to Pailin town. I reached Pailin around 12:00 AM and took last bus of the day to Battambang (Rith Mony). As i was confirmed by Rith Mony, currently, they run only one bus a day from Battambang to Pailin at 01:00 PM. I could not ask for more info as poor exchange in English. In conclusion, this route is slow and not smooth in minibus/bus connection. The only good point of it is zero waiting for customs work. If you want to Phnom Penh from Bangkok, Koh Kong now seems good route (in terms of waiting time , fairly smooth bus connecion...)

Thank you, Christian. That's great report. The picture of Olongpich bus said "night bus" to Koh Kong. Do they actually run it????

Thank Pong for details. I crossed Aran/Poipet border last year and that was horrible experience. I wasted more than 2 hours queuing for customs work and additionally half of hour for minibus full load. That totally nightmare. That's why i definitely want to skip it this time. I thought Ban Packard could be easy as a lot of people doing visa run there. But now it seems harder when not many buses running that route. Koh Kong may be an only option.