Having a ball in Chiang Rai

Was it because of The Wild Boars story ? Or a recent thread on one of the boards ? I wanted to visit Chiang Rai again and so had planned two days there. Beside a change of atmosphere, I wanted to see how the only gay bar in town was going, and I must say I was nicely surprised.

Only gay bar in Chiang Rai ... but worth it !

Chiang Rai is one of the few small towns in Thailand where there is a gay bar left, and this Regency Bar has not changed a lot since I discovered it many years ago : same furniture, of course well worn now, same old-style bathroom remembering of what we were used to in Sunee fifteen years ago. But also a nice bunch of boys : I saw five of them, and they told me that some evenings more than ten come hanging around. And many of them quite good-looking, entertaining and fun loving local young lads. They are mostly on the masculine side but some would probably accept more if duly rewarded. Off fee is 300 THB and minimum tip 1000 THB short time.

Chiang Rai has many pubs and a great time may be had there with one boy or more. I felt that coming to the bar is for them a way to end the night dancing and drinking in one of them ; the rightly called Sperm Pub is still the most favored. 

Besides this little gem of a bar, I was blessed with the Annual Province festival which sees everyone of its 20 districts featuring in a long parade of traditional outfits and beautifully decorated floats. Useless to say that the local talent was perfectly showcased often in groups of half-naked boys of the same age … an absolute delight for the eyes, sorry the event took place at night time thus preventing to shot suggestive pictures.

Back now to more traditional activities in Bangkok and Pattaya.

 

Gay Chiang Mai revisited

Every trip I make to Thailand involves some days out of the infernal Bangkok / Pattaya pair. I have to say that these excursions often produce the best memories from my holidays in Thailand as each of them are obviously different. This time I wanted to go again to the north as it has been a long time since I went there on my own. Only five days were allowed for this short journey with one in the Lamphun province which I had only visited during a short getaway from Chiang Mai.

As I had enough time to do my housework, going to Lamphun was not a hassle : flight to Chiang Mai, short taxi ride to the local bus station in Chang Phuak, and a quiet short transfer to Lamphun. I had reserved a room in a homestay which offered the most convenient location to downtown Lamphun : no chance then to bring someone back to my room. Not that it mattered as the town is quite small and quiet and the aim was mostly to visit the temple and feel the atmosphere

After a quiet night, back to Chiang Mai and Chiang Phuak where I had reserved two nights in my favorite Mercure Hotel. With very smooth prices and flawless service, this accomodation deserves more attention from those looking to be near the Chang Phuak bars and massage shops, and is an obviously much nicer place than the grim Lotus Hotel that I saw from outside. The only gay venue I went in the area was Adam’s Apple where the show had a full room attendance. Good and imaginative show with a lot of flesh, but finally not really my thing as I prefer personal contact and interaction. On my second day I wanted to go to New My Way which is still open, but confess that I was too exhausted (read : intoxicated) by my former visit to the Night Bazaar bars.

Welcoming Pandee Bar in Night Bazaar

So most of my time was spent in the soi 6 beer bars ; eight are listed on the gayinchiangmai website, but three of them were closed or devoid of any gay life, so that leave us with five, all of them within walking distance. Going rather early in the evening, I did not like Ram Bar which has a cabaret show later in the evening but charges the same prices even when there is still no boy and nothing special. Neighboring Secrets Bar had only one waiter on duty so I did not venture … perhaps boys come later ? Next door to the easy-going and tasty food court is the very welcoming Pandee Bar which offers a good atmosphere.

I spent some quality time with the boys in the small Chiang Mai 19 Bar, at the far end of the Night Bazaar building which is now almost deserted. This is a small bar with only three or four boys with a nice attitude and taking really care of the customers.

And finally there is of course the famous Orion Bar which stands proudly in the middle of the soi. Full of handsome guys lured by the pool table and by the lively atmosphere, and also full of local expats who seem to regard the place as their own playground … I sat in what was probably the best spot in the bar and almost could hear the sigh of relief when I finally had to leave …. The nice boys come and go during the whole evening so you have to pay close attention to what is going on if you want to take someone with you. Anyway a great place to relax watching the world – and the boys – go by.

Going to the Night Bazaar area at night from Chang Phuak was not really an issue as the hotel offers a free shuttle to and back from there. I finally spent more time in Night Bazaar than in Chang Phuak, and will probably consider staying in Chiang Mai center next time I go there, although I usually do not like to stay in touristy areas. Provided of course the bar situation doesn’t change too much by then.

Enjoy

Let’s enjoy Thailand as long as we can. This is what I told myself when booking another flight which brought me to Bangkok five days ago. When reading threads on the boards such as “Sunee some years ago”, I cannot help think that in 10 years we will probably read reports about “Thailand 10 years ago” and then we will have only eyes to weep.

Rap ngan

Before coming again, I tried to secure some contacts using Facebook and was quite impressed by the number of young men offering their services, the usual word for this being now rap ngan (accept work). I quickly discovered that students are now on holiday since the beginning of October and for the whole month. And as they always need some funds, if only for going touring somewhere, they use the easiest way that the young men use nowadays.

Speaking frankly, I did not go very far with this kind of offer as the risks are rather significant. I will just post a picture of two of these young men as they posted all over Facebook offering their services.

So these first days were rather quiet with four days in Bangkok and two in Pattaya. What struck me most at first were the frequent rain showers, and as a possible consequence the rather low number of tourists especially on Pattaya. Not that I am to complain about this of course.

What are the news in Bangkok ? Well Soi Twilight was not too bad with the greatest void being the closing of Dicks Café. I have not been setting a foot in the gogo bars for many years already, but Bonny Massage was open again after some rumour of a closure ; they seemed to have a nice group staffing the massage shop facing Dicks Café, whose name I cannot remember. Sorry that the most handsome guy in the pack gave a great massage but did not want to provide any special service. On the contrary the bars in Saphan Khwai are really quiet now, and Adam karaoke one of the oldest ones in the area, has now a “for rent” sign in front.

Rap ngan

My two nights in Jomtien were well used to roam the famous stretch of bars, as lively as ever. It remains difficult to find company in the “Cambodian” places where the boys sit with you only if being expressly invited … you just have to show very openly that you are interested. Once you have got to know one boy, he will not forget you (at least if he is not already busy) and this is the door to open before being admitted in the circle and treated like regular customers. In the bars who are mainly staffed by thais, the boys are most likely to approach.

I am now getting out of two day with the sex machine I met last year, just coming back from his isan province. This is a time when nothing matters except being in bed and playing, which brings me in an advanced stage of exhaustion. I will try to recover from to-morrow on, as I am booked on a flight to the North where I will stay five days just to see how they are doing now, and filling an empty space in the map of the thai provinces that I want to visit.