daydreamer

@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.

Those Snake Brand towels are new, they didn't have them earlier this year. I'll try them during my upcoming trip. I see on the package it says "only at 7-Eleven". The other type of cooling towels are also available in bulk in the super stores like Big C. Snake Brand makes a famous Thai body powder that's been around for many years - prickly heat powder, sold in several scents.

I am also a fan of the cooling towels. Often they have two sizes. The towels contain menthol for cooling, great on a hot day. Thinking back to my last trip, I bought these items over the course of different days - water, yogurt, bottled sugar free green tea, Full Moon wine coolers, bagged ice cubes, beer, coconut water, toiletries, snacks, canned iced coffee. Lately, alongside the large individually wrapped bananas, some 7-Eleven stores have been selling the small nam wah bananas. Yes, I know bananas are sold in markets, but in 7, they are sold in tiny bunches, perfect for one or two people - not in large bunches as sold by the kilo in markets. Same here, I like iced coffee before I leave the room in the morning, and like you, I never step foot in Starbucks.

There are no Family Mart stores in Thailand. Family Mart exited Thailand three years ago.

Up to you. I've never had a catastrophic loss on my property either, but I still buy property insurance every year.

I usually go to a Kodak Express store shortly after arrival in Thailand each trip. They will photocopy your passport info page and visa stamp page - (if any visa stamp, now that some countries use e-gates at immigration). They will shrink the passport copy to credit card size, and if two pages, put them back-to-back, and laminate. Easy to carry in wallet, and Thai police approved. Thai law requires a passport or passport copy for visitors if stopped by police, or in case of a police raid on a club, bar, or massage parlor. Less hassle than a trip to the monkey house until you can produce your passport.

I'm also a fan of Sam Tyler.

The northwest part of Chiang Mai is where CMU (university ) is located, loads of cute university students in that area, good location.

Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

I haven't been to Koh Samui in years. When I went, I took a boy from Saphan Kwai, from one of the small bars off Pradipat Road. I researched Koh Samui before my trip, and it looked like slim pickings for boys on the island, so I traveled with a Bangkok boy. If I'm going anywhere outside of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or Pattaya, I usually find a boy to travel with me. I don't fly all the way to Thailand to sit on the beach alone, I can do that at home. If you can make it to Chaweng, there's a large club called the Green Mango. I just looked it up, Green Mango is still open, it's been there for more than 25 years. It has a capacity of 1,000 persons, so maybe you can find someone there to hook up with, and travel to pig island with. On the same side soi, on the right side, before the Green Mango there used to be a small gay bar, I don't know if it's still open. If it is, you can't miss the rainbow flag on the soi. Another option may be to off a boy long time from a massage place in Chaweng on a 24 hour basis. Certainly there has to be a few boys in all those massage shops? I've done that several times. The massage boys like the steady income, and the time off from the shop. All the boys have motorbikes, so that would also solve your transportation issue on the island. Good luck. I'm sure you'll find some company to enjoy the island life with. BTW, what part of Chiang Mai will you be staying in? It's easy to get around in CM, the red songtaews travel all over the city, and there's Grab and Bolt. I hear farang complain about the songtaews in CM charging 30 baht, but unlike the blue ones in Pattaya that run on fixed routes, the trucks in CM act as shared taxis, there are no fixed routes, you just tell the driver where you're going, and jump on, flat fee of 30 baht, to your exact destination. Try that in Pattaya or Jomtien, and it will be 100+ baht if you declare your destination to the driver. https://www.greenmangoclub.com/

As the Thais say - "Never try, never know".

I was referring to a list of new threads, and threads with new responses, not unread posts. The list was on the main forum page before signing in. It had nothing to do with posts that had been read or unread. Here's a screenshot. The column I am referring to runs down the right-hand side of the page, it is entitled "Recent Updates", circled in red below. Notice that on the screenshot, it says "Sign In" in the upper right corner. This was available before signing in.