mgb

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

Poppers are illegal in Thailand.
You can buy them in Thailand just like  e-cigarettes are widely sold but it doesn’t mean they are legal.
I strongly recommend not to bring them.
 
 
 
https://www.travelgay.com/essential-guide-to-thailand/

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 =))
 

Mekhin is very thick, but only average in length,  due to  enhancement surgery many years ago.  However, it is certainly not unsightly and always remains rock hard.

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 =))
 

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...)

Have been there once for overnight stay (long ago, I think even before that border opened) and many more times in Trat-60 kms onward and gateway for Cambodia and islands.
In short; @1.there is no recognised place, use apps/fone. Chances in a Hostel are like the lotteree, not for staff, but for other customers. The genral advice for Th is to avoid hoStels-most charge more for less as thai-style HTls. In the local HTL I certainly got offers for msg. Plus reserving such places week ahead is also pretty daft un-Thai, but seems to be the general norm for todays younger travelling generation.
2.no of course not. and also not even from that border point. the ONLY direct (that mans you leave bus at border for checks but reboard it after) are via the infamous PoiPet from BKK (Mochit and/or Khao sarn) to SReap and even an odd one to PnPn. But there is internet now and plenty of sites like lonelyplanet or .. or blogs on movingtocambodia.blogspot. Gay sites would be the very last ones to ask such details from hi-so bisniscl travellers used to 5* HTLs. (except here der christian).
I highly doubt you can even do it in 1 day along the route described. Far better would be to go via Aran/Poipet-faster, better roads and much more offers. But then an overnight in Battambang is well worth it-again BYO or try apps for any contacts.

Apps all great but cruising in the park has its own fun. To be honest, am into public fun (and am not exhibitionism).

and more deadly but less comfortable

so, are all of those spycam videos floating around the internet really old? :-)

Some massage places around there, for example
IND Massage & Spa for Men - Ratanathibeth 28, Pilin Park, Bangkok, Thailandwhich is listed on the travelgaysia website :  https://www.travelgayasia.com/venue/ind-massage-for-men/
 
Many places come and go, and I do not know of any website in english language which would give regularly updated information.

I think you missed one thing for dorm room: socializing.
 
I am solo traveller and dorm room is great for me (of course, according to my experience). As spoon said, staying in dorm room, you can talk to others, make friends with them, sometimes, doing crazy things together and that's fun. For me, at the age of 27 and travelling alone, i found dorm room great for socializing purposes (or at least, better than one time i stayed in Parc Citrus Hotel in South Pattaya. The hotel was great, the facilities were great but it lacked of "friendly asmosphere"). 
 
One more thing,i dont think dorm room only for 'poor myanmar boy coming to work illegally" because i met a lot of guys from all over the world.

I have few friends who do solo travel and prefer to stay in dorms, nice way to meet people and chat, though, as a sex tourist, weird choice of accommodation lol and vinapu alrrady mentioned, its the cheapest type of accommodation, and still have access to full bath and kitchen/common area.

I live in Seoul..Korean Men are not shy at all...they do not care who is looking at them in the shower/dressing room. IF you think he knows your gay, well maybe he was giving you the chance to try something with him..maybe you should have said something.  Also, if he has a great body,,they love to show it off....In Japan, in a bath house/sauna, shower room, I noticed they tend to "cover" up private parts with small wash cloth all the time in shower room..(at least the several times I was in one they did)..

What they should put their effort to instead is getting more bahtbuses to actually pick up passengers between Jomtien and Pattaya. 2 of 3, if not more, are driving that distance empty - probably just looking for groups of indians and chineese to take excessive payment from as "taxi". The few bahtbuses that actually stops along Thappraya and pick up passengers for 10 baht each as they should do, are often very crowded and it is difficult to get a seat.

I didn’t go to the Sansuck during my February trip despite having some good experiences there in the past and having stayed in the guesthouse a couple of times. I went once during my September 2017 trip and was disappointed for the reasons mentioned by z909.
There is certainly a need to attract young local boys there - that would certainly bring in the older gay farangs like myself. But not many are going to come if there is no money available and anyway the owner does not want to go down that route. I think a 20 year old money boy would not gain admittance at present. The facilities are fine: pool, jacuzzi, restaurant, sauna/steam room, but the maze & dark rooms were not dark enough for me.
Having said that a common theme with the Sansuck is that it does seem to vary quite a lot - month to month and evening to evening.