The Bangkok vs Chiang Mai decision is really getting harder. I don't think there is a wrong choice. Both have their perks. Neither has many downsides. Before landing in Thailand I was already convinced Chiang Mai would be the spot. Then Bangkok overwhelmed. Samui was a nice escape but it just made me miss Bangkok. No big surprises here in Chiang Mai... I guess with the exception of the daytime heat. It feels like Bangkok. At night though, there's a marked difference between the two. I think I like the pace here in CM better. But the conveniences and energy of Bangkok are undeniable.

The escapes outside Chiang Mai all sound great. Mae Kampong is on my to do list this week... might save it for the weekend when he's here. Really looking forward to the Airbnb experience today. I love elephants but I'm probably more excited to see life outside the city. I know there's a waterfall on the itinerary. Forget which one. But it'll be nice to get out and see life outside CM along the way.

2 hours ago, a-447 said:

I took a long-tail boat up the river to a raft hotel.

As the name suggests, your room in on a raft on the edge of the river.

would you recall the name of this hotel? I was always intrigued by the floating hotels in Kanchanburi

2 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

Mae Kampong is on my to do list this week... might save it for the weekend when he's here.

Mae Kampong is a small village (it is literally just the one big street uphill with lanes branching out) so you should plan 2-3 other stops since you’re driving there from Chiang Mai: Kew Fin viewpoint, strawberry farms, waterfalls to make a day of it.

You also want to go there peckish since the roadside stalls sell all sorts of northern snacks including ‘Sai ua ’ circular grilled sausages, honeycomb, and so on.

One of the most popular things to do is to have shabu (hotpot) or mookata (Thai bbq) at Kao Ba Fueang (เก๊าบ่าเฟือง) which supposedly has the best views of Mae Kampong street. It can get busy but worth a try. I was lucky enough to be given the exact second floor balcony seat with the viewpoint that has gone viral and it was a great experience (the food was - okay). To be more precise, you get a great panoramic view of Mae Kampong and also face the large cannabis signboard that sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the rustic and charming village.

Rabiang View Cafe is also worth a visit. If you have your own transport, would be better to take that than walk.

2 hours ago, hank75 said:

would you recall the name of this hotel? I was always intrigued by the floating hotels in Kanchanburi

Sorry, I can't. It was quite a while ago.

Chances are it is no longer there.

2 hours ago, hank75 said:

would you recall the name of this hotel? I was always intrigued by the floating hotels in Kanchanburi

When I hired Woody and his partner Non - they took me from Chiang Mai to stay at the River Kwai River Resort in Kanchanaburi, which I reported on in my 2015 trip report shown below:

https://www.gayguides.com/topic/9986-july-2015-trip-report-chiang-mai-sukhothai-kanchanaburi-and-pattaya/#findComment-83552

Staying on those floating raft types of rooms was the highlight of my trip. I loved that place and the great time that we had there.

I see that it is still operational 11 years later. I included the site hyperlink above.

Enjoy.

7 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

Love it @daydreamer thx. I haven’t really started looking at things to do once he gets here. That sounds like a win. I’ve been to a couple temples but other than that, not much touristy stuff. Just neighborhood visits. If it ends up being Chiang Mai, it’s going to be Nimman for sure. So I’m gonna have a little fun now. Today I’m doing the super touristy elephant sanctuary visit.

If you're interested in unusual temples, visit Wat Umong, a forest temple a couple of 2 miles west of the city with some unusual underground architecture. The forest setting means the whole place is very peaceful but if it gets too quiet there are lots of monks who are keen to practise their English.

16 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

Roamed around the old city today, spent sunset at the pool talking fun stuff like visas and healthcare with an expat. Then ended up taking I think Jason's advice and hit up a blues/rock club with the expat and his girlfriend. Good times. Parted ways with them and went to another Muay Thai event next door at the Night Bazaar that was just starting.

Glad to hear this. Do muay Thai fights at the night bazaar start later now because that must've been quite a rush between sunset and muay Thai? They used to start at 8 PM at the night bazaar stadium at the latest. Anyway, since you had a good time perhaps you can tell us more about this club that you went to very early on a Monday night. Where was it located? What kind of music did the band play? Did they play any popular English covers? The perennial Hotel California? 😂🤣😅 Did the venue serve food? What kind of drinks? Beer only or did they serve cocktails too? What was the set up like? Standing with drink in hand? High chairs? Mainly Thai customers or a mix of Thai and foreign? Young, old, middle-aged? How did they dress? What was the pricing like? Just asking the stuff that our readers usually like to know.

If you're interested in unusual temples, visit Wat Umong

Totally agree on Wat Umong!

25 minutes ago, tm_nyc said:

If you're interested in unusual temples, visit Wat Umong

Totally agree on Wat Umong!

When was the last time you visited Wat Umong, @tm_nyc @thaiophilus ? I ask because the street leading to Wat Umong has changed so much over the last twenty years. I agree that the 700-year-old "tunnel wat" is worth a visit, especially about an hour or so before dusk where I feel it is at its most tranquil.

4 hours ago, mauRICE said:

When was the last time you visited Wat Umong, @tm_nyc @thaiophilus ? I

That would have been 2004, when I think I cycled there.

I imagine the road's a little busier now 😄.

8 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

If you're interested in unusual temples, visit Wat Umong, a forest temple a couple of 2 miles west of the city with some unusual underground architecture. The forest setting means the whole place is very peaceful but if it gets too quiet there are lots of monks who are keen to practise their English.

keen to practise their English.

Only their English?

..When was the last time you visited Wat Umong...

I am guessing that my last visit was in 2023. I was first taken there by a masseur I knew & then visited it several times before Covid. I don't know what it was like years ago when the area was less developed.

On 9/21/2026 at 1:08 PM, aaroninatl said:

went to another Muay Thai event next door at the Night Bazaar that was just starting.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2 hours ago, daydreamer said:

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.

The version of Chiang Mai 19 as shown in your pic closed in 2021 at the peak of Covid. A new bar with the same owner (can't remember his name - starts with a D) opened in 2023 in a tiny alley about 20 metres north on the same floor and on the same side of the building. It's a narrow, small-ish, darkened bar that's quite easy to miss.

Both the old and current versions the of the bar are popular with bar-girls who flock there after midnight - sometimes with their customers - when their bars in nearby Loi Kroh close. Also workers from the surrounding hotels would drop by after their shift. Smoking is allowed in the bar, including weed, and it can get quite rowdy and opens until very late. Not my kind of place.

I wouldn't say the old Chiang Mai 19 was that much different from the Soi 6 bars. It had two or three permanent staff, with random street urchins dropping in and out. Some of the old farang you see in the Soi 6 bars would come by - it depends on who they're on talking terms with at that time! There used to be a host bar in the basement right below Chiang Mai 19 and the hosts would sometimes sit and have a drink there before they started work. I remember one particularly tall and handsome one that drove a Beamer (granted it was a used Beamer) and was rumoured to be one of the kept boys of one of Chiang Mai's most notorious and wealthiest ladyboys. That basement host bar also closed in 2021.

Above, on the first floor of the same building, is where the very popular and very noisy Sixcrets Cabaret Showbar is. It seems to be on the radar of every digital nomad and the great unwashed ie backpackers. And on the same floor are two smallish hole-in-the wall type bars, also popular with after-work bar-girls, mamasans and assorted types.

6 hours ago, tm_nyc said:

..When was the last time you visited Wat Umong...

I am guessing that my last visit was in 2023. I was first taken there by a masseur I knew & then visited it several times before Covid. I don't know what it was like years ago when the area was less developed.

I first visited in 2001. I had just graduated that summer and was having a nice long holiday before going back to start my pupillage in the fall. Soi Wat Umong was just a sleepy soi back then as was much of the Suthep area. Nimmanhemin had one or two cafes and the famous Amari Hotel; my favourite was this little cafe that specialised in banana pancakes which was staffed by ex Suan Prung patients to help them reintegrate into society. The owner was a lovely lady who was an ex-patient herself and a native of the area.

The legendary Joe Cummings, who wrote the brilliant earlier editions of the Lonely Planet Thailand guides (it's crap now IMHO), lived in Soi Wat Umong. Back then I only had my wits, Lonely Planet, the Thai friends I made along the way and fledgling Thai skills to guide me. Of course the fact that had I grown up so close to then very porous Thai border gave me an advantage but mostly I discovered things through trial, error and experience which has put me in good stead because I learned Thai ways from the inside out.

The recently maligned Adam's Apple was already open in 2001, as was My Way and Coffee Boy which was on the east side of town on Tung Hotel Road, near the Chiang Mai Arcade bus terminal. Coffee Boy was a one-of-a-kind; it was in an old teak house on stilts and customers sat on the floor in front of a small stage where the boys performed. It had a guest house on premise. I remember one kindly farang kept wanting to buy me drinks thinking I was one of the boys until the mamasan had to step in. 😅 Coffee Boy remains in my memory as probably the most gentle and polite commercial bars that I've ever been to.

Back then it was still safe to ride around town on my bicycle which I gave to a close Thai friend on the day I left. I remember crying on that day but glad to say that we're still best friends 25 years later.

1 hour ago, mauRICE said:

The version of Chiang Mai 19 as shown in your pic closed in 2021 at the peak of Covid. A new bar with the same owner (can't remember his name - starts with a D) opened in 2023 in a tiny alley about 20 metres north on the same floor and on the same side of the building. It's a narrow, small-ish, darkened bar that's quite easy to miss.

Both the old and current versions the of the bar are popular with bar-girls who flock there after midnight - sometimes with their customers - when their bars in nearby Loi Kroh close. Also workers from the surrounding hotels would drop by after their shift. Smoking is allowed in the bar, including weed, and it can get quite rowdy and opens until very late. Not my kind of place.

I wouldn't say the old Chiang Mai 19 was that much different from the Soi 6 bars. It had two or three permanent staff, with random street urchins dropping in and out. Some of the old farang you see in the Soi 6 bars would come by - it depends on who they're on talking terms with at that time! There used to be a host bar in the basement right below Chiang Mai 19 and the hosts would sometimes sit and have a drink there before they started work. I remember one particularly tall and handsome one that drove a Beamer (granted it was a used Beamer) and was rumoured to be one of the kept boys of one of Chiang Mai's most notorious and wealthiest ladyboys. That basement host bar also closed in 2021.

Above, on the first floor of the same building, is where the very popular and very noisy Sixcrets Cabaret Showbar is. It seems to be on the radar of every digital nomad and the great unwashed ie backpackers. And on the same floor are two smallish hole-in-the wall type bars, also popular with after-work bar-girls, mamasans and assorted types.

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.

6 hours ago, daydreamer said:

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.

I don’t think I knew about that one thanks. It’s a strange combat sport, but I dig it. I really only thought I’d go to one event just to check it off the tourist list. But it’s so unique. The pre-match dance ritual. The respect between the fighters. The live band coordinating music to the fight. And I’ll be honest most of the guys are hot. Not gonna deny that that’s a factor too. 😆

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.

Good Wednesday morning from Chiang Mai. Again, not much really to report in terms of what the message board is about. Maybe tonight I’ll hit one of the bars or get a massage.

Yesterday was spent on an incredible tour of the mountains southwest of chaing mai. I thought it would be kind of cheesy and touristy (but hey I’m a tourist). The elephant experience really was incredible though. Plus, it was great to see surrounding areas of the city. The drive took about an hour and a half. Arrived at a sanctuary and had a quick lunch watching workers tend to the elephants. We put on our uniforms that cracked everyone up back home when I posted pictures on social media. Had a cooking class to create elephant vitamins. Then it was time to feed and then bathe with the elephants. An incredible experience that I really underrated when I signed up for the tour. After we went to a waterfall. Beautiful.

Normally, I check in with you guys during my rides. But the van that we were in didn’t seem to have shocks. I was in the back row, bouncing up and down like a basketball.

The tour was about 50 bucks. Everything is cheap here, but it blows my mind how they can do tours like this at that price.

4 minutes ago, daydreamer said:

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.

No, I love that. The one I went to this week was pretty bare bones. The high-tech stadium in Bangkok was fun, but it felt more like a WWE event.

18 minutes ago, aaroninatl said:

The tour was about 50 bucks. Everything is cheap here, but it blows my mind how they can do tours like this at that price.

by paying little to drivers and guides

Just now, vinapu said:

by paying little to drivers and guides

I made up for that for sure at least on my tour.