daydreamer

Next time you're in 7-Eleven, you may want to pick up a can or bottle of Birdy coffee. Birdy is another Japanese coffee brand, made by the multi-national Ajinomoto Co. They have many varieties, including some lower sugar types. The larger 7-Eleven stores will likely carry a wider variety.

@aaroninatl, I saw this recent post today on X, post is dated Sept 14. Was this the same Hug bar you had the poor experience in? If it's the same place, I wonder if you hit it on a bad day, or too early in the evening? It seems like they have a lot of boys working there. Name is Hug Phuchat. Posted by a Thai guy, X account name can be seen at top of photo. If it's the same place, sorry, but don't kill the messenger (please).

It's 1:30 A.M. in Thailand, so here's a cropped one for you @vinapu, to hold you over until @aaroninatl can respond later, after he wakes up. This guy has been posting very revealing (cock) pix of himself on X, and he has been showing up in my feed. Hint: He used to work at your favorite bar. I'll bet that just from this cropped image, you'll be able to identify him in 2.3 seconds or less.

Please stop trying to analyze my posts. Nowhere did I say that my Chiang Mai experience was based on a 3-day jaunt. How presumptive of you to make such an arrogant statement. On my most recent trip to Chiang Mai, I rented a car from the airport for two weeks, and I drove with my Lao friend to revisit places I first visited more than 30 years ago, along with some new locations. We drove to Chiang Rai, Doi Mae Salong, Chiang Saen, Doi Tung, Mae Kompong, etc. And I'm pleased to hear that your experience of Chiang Mai goes back at least a decade. My first visit to Thailand was in 1981. I have been to Chiang Mai numerous times, for extended stays over the decades. I have spent a considerable amount of time in northern Thailand, so I believe I have a fair amount of firsthand knowledge of the area. I spent New Year's Eve of the new millennium 26 years ago in Adam's Apple Club, as I was staying with a Shan boy who worked there in 1999. At midnight, when the clock ticked into the year 2000, Mohammed, the owner flickered the light switches, and comically announced on the speaker system "Y2K, Y2K". I do not intend to comment further about this. Especially, I do not wish to derail this excellent thread that @aaroninatl started about his experiences in the north. I was merely giving him a few suggestions for places to visit while in Chiang Mai. I think I am not alone in saying it would be appreciated if you would tone down your pompous remarks.

I misunderstood nothing. I made a post about a business, and you jumped in to refute what I posted. Had you been correct, I would graciously admit my mistake.

Yeah, even though it's called a boxing stadium, don't expect a large Muay Thai stadium as you see in Bangkok. But if you decide to pay to get a closer seat than the free seating at the beer bars, the tickets are also less expensive than the big stadiums in Bangkok. You are right, most of the fighters are very attractive.

Thank you for your critique of my post, but you are wrong. The bar in the photo is not a previous version in a different location, it is the exact bar my Lao friend and I visited several times this year, during our two visits to Chiang Mai. I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't just browse the internet to look up information to make posts about Chiang Mai on this thread, I was a customer several times at this bar recently. I am competent enough to identify the exact location. While your story about a previous location of the bar before the pandemic may be correct, the bar is not currently located on a floor in a dark tiny alley, and easy to miss, as you assert. It is at streetside level, facing the soi, exactly as shown in the photo, right next to the southern edge of the large Night Bazaar building. In order for it to be 20 meters north, that would place it north of the Night Bazaar building. The large building in the photo is the Night Bazaar building, and the bar is located as shown, not as you described. Below are two screenshots from Google Maps. As you can see at the bottom edge of the photos, the images were captured in June, 2024. Obviously the bar was closed when the Google car drove by, hence the fabric draped across the front of the bar, understandable, as the bar does not open until evening. The second photo below from Google, also dated June 2024 confirms the exact location across the soi from the new parking garage. Since the bar does not have a toilet, the owner told us we could either pay 10 baht to use the pay toilets a few feet away in the Night Bazaar building, or we could piss on the wall across the soi, just beyond the concrete electric pole in the second photo below, to save the 10 baht toilet fee. As far as the pandemic timing you mentioned, Thailand dropped all remaining COVID-19 entry requirements, and fully re-opened to tourism on October 1, 2022, well before the Google Maps photos were taken in 2024. Additionally, my friend and I spent parts of a few nights at this bar, some well beyond midnight. While we were there, the only customers were males, no bar girls, and nobody was smoking weed.

If you're looking for a small hidden gem of a local style gay bar, the Chiang Mai 19 Bar is located at the western side of the Night Bazaar building, on a small soi. It's maybe 100 yards from Loi Kroh Road, easy to find if you're in the Night Bazaar area. It's a small open air bar, staffed by the owner and one or two boys who work as waiters or bartenders. It's usually quieter than the Soi 6 bars, as it's hidden away by itself on the soi. It's a popular spot with locals, and is open until late. The Google maps address is Thapae Road, Lane 1 (Soi 1). The soi runs north-south between Thapae Road and Loi Kroh Road. It's the soi that runs along the west side of the Chiang Mai Marriott Hotel. In the photo below, on the left side you can see the Night Bazaar building, an easy landmark to find your bearings.

Some of you may remember the Boat Restaurant and Bakery that was on Second Road in Pattaya, just across from Boyztown. It was a favorite amongst PLU for breakfast and lunch. Although it closed a number of years ago, and the site now houses an Indian restaurant and the Pattaya branch of the Pulse Clinic, the Pattaya restaurant was a branch of the main business, which is still open, located in Chiang Mai. The Chiang Mai location was opened 56 years ago, in 1970. I was in Chiang Mai two different times earlier this year, and I ate at the Boat a couple times. The restaurant has the same look and casual atmosphere that the Pattaya restaurant had. Adjacent to the dining room is the Boat Bakery, a very popular retail shop for delicious baked goods and ice cream. The restaurant has lots of comfortable seating, both regular tables and many booths. The restaurant is located right next to the large CMU university, and not far from the Chiang Mai Zoo. There is a free parking lot in back that I used, the parking lot is owned by the restaurant. Address is 237, 11-14 Huay Kaew Rd, Suthep. The Lao boy I was with on my travels throughout the north earlier this year agreed that the food at the Boat was very good, and inexpensive (Tom Yum Kung, only 85 baht). Here's a photo of the front of the restaurant, and a page from their menu.

My last visit to Wat Umong was just a few months ago. It's a very different forest style wat. The brick walled tunnels are unique. I always buy bags of fish pellets from the vendors to feed the fish in the lake at the back of the temple grounds.

If you're into Muay Thai, there's another boxing ring located close to ThaPae Gate, called ThaPae Boxing Stadium. There are several small beer bars where you can watch the fights from for free, or you can buy tickets to get a closer seat.

If you're looking for something else to do, there are a couple really popular walking street night markets every weekend. The largest one is on Sunday evenings, and stretches along the main east-west road in the old walled city, beginning at ThaPae Gate, and going west all the way to Wat Phra Singh. The market also extends into side streets. Wats along the route open their grounds to become large open-air food courts. There is no alcohol available at these food courts, as they are inside temple grounds. Very popular with both locals and tourists. Vendors sell a wide variety of prepared foods, handicrafts, artwork, souvenirs, etc. On Saturday evenings, there is a similar walking street market at Wua Lai Road, beginning at Chiang Mai Gate, at the southern end of the moat. It's worth a couple hours either night to eat, shop, and soak up the local Lanna festive atmosphere. The markets both begin about 5 PM, and wind down by about 10 PM.

Not sure if you're into visiting Buddhist temples or not. In your first photo, on the right, high up on the mountain, the golden lights are the stupa and buildings of Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, a favorite on the list of must see spots of many visitors to Chiang Mai. Perhaps your friend from Bangkok would like to see it with you when he visits you. It's easy to reach the mountain temple by shared songtaew (red truck). The departure spot for the shared ride is on Suthep Road, right near the Chiang Mai Zoo. The fare one way is around 60-80 baht. After seeing the temple, the songtaews wait for passengers at the bottom of the stairs, to head back down the mountain. If you do go, there's a great view overlooking the entire city of Chiang Mai from the temple grounds.

A generation ago in Thailand, it was common to refer to tops as "gay king", and bottoms as "gay queen".

I've seen two comments in this thread about proximity to the American Embassy in Bangkok, one in reference to Chiang Mai, the other about the distance from Pattaya to the US embassy. Actually, Chiang Mai does have an American Consulate General, with an American Citizen Services section. It is the only branch of the US embassy in Thailand. The Chiang Mai consulate serves US citizens living in the 16 northernmost provinces of the country. The consulate is located just off the Superhighway, close to the Index Mall and Big C Extra.