khon kaen- gay areas?

[thrillbill]

Visiting Khon Kaen next week. Are there any "gay" places there? (bars, saunas, massage parlors..) :bounce:

[llz]

As far as I know, no gay bar in Khon Kaen.
Two well-known saunas are :
- The Beach Khon Kaen Sauna (not very convenient location)
http://www.thebeach-g-thailand.com/khonkaen.html
- C Male Sauna (behind the market across from the bus station next to Piman Condo on Soi Pimpasut 2)
http://c-male-kk.hi5.com/friend/p424867566--C-male_Khon+Kaen--html - not sure the site is up-to-date

This is not first-hand information so you will have to check by yourself. In any of these places, you could want to ask for information about the latest gay scenes.

[soi_toi]

Utopia and Gay Scout have some listings. Whether these listing are accurate or up to date is anyone's guess.



http://www.utopia-asia.com/tipsthai.htm#khon

http://www.gayscout.com/gaymap/Khon-Kaen/g196.0.4718

Don't forget to report back what you found.

Cheers

[Gaybutton]

I was in Khon Kaen last year. The Kiwi Cafe seems to attract a lot of gays, although it is not a gay bar per se, but gays go there anyway. See their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kiwi-Cafe/148210478567079

Also, when you go to smaller cities, looking for gay bars is usually the wrong approach because it's rare for any such places even to exist. Meanwhile, a lot of bar boys come from Khon Kaen. You might try asking around at some of the gay bars in Bangkok, Pattaya, or wherever you are. It probably won't help much if you're talking to boys who come from out in the province, but if you find any boys who come from the city itself, they're the ones to ask.

In smaller cities I've had my best success simply by cruising around. Shopping centers and open air markets usually produce good results for me. Also, at your hotel if there are bell boys or young guys working in the hotel, ask them. If you offer a 50 or 100 baht tip, you'll usually get good answers as to where to cruise. If he's cute, there's a good chance he's going to be the answer or he'll likely have interested gay friends.

Don't forget Gay Romeo. Several boys from Khon Kaen have profiles on Gay Romeo. Many list their city in Thai on their profile. The Thai for Khon Kaen is р╕Вр╕нр╕Щр╣Бр╕Бр╣Ир╕Щ.

[pong]

those english listings only copycat the original Thai listings: try mangosociety or tmmsociety or gthai.net- there are small english sections. Buyt then copycat is the fave Thai habit anyway.
Good advice of khun GB-simply forget youre western set ideas-thats not how TH works. KhKn is a giant uni-town, so there will be fun-but maybe not quite in the style you appreciate. And our beloved canadian/canuck Matt lives there and some time ago seemed desperate to meet visitors. The same apporach should work in about any minor TH provincial town. Only Udorn-due to its special history-has a few of gay-aimed bars.

[Hmmm]

I was in Khon Kaen last year. The Kiwi Cafe seems to attract a lot of gays, although it is not a gay bar per se, but gays go there anyway. See their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kiwi-Cafe/148210478567079" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some tasteless discussion on the subject from the local breeders .....
http://www.khonkaen.com/english/forum/f ... ay-hangout (http://www.khonkaen.com/english/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4826&title=kiwi-cafe-a-gay-hangout)" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

KK is not a small city, but as GB mentions "gay bars" for the locals often don't exist ... because they just go to the "regular" (for want of a better word) bars and discos. When I was there for songkran last year the bf just made friends with some obviously gay boys we saw in the street, and went clubbing in the nearest regular hangout. I guess the only problem may be avoiding neanderthals like the above.

[Smiles]

Where is Cdnmatt when you need him?
Apparently he lives in Khon Kaen (well, hinter lands at least) . . . and he is, also apparently, gay.

Send him a PM on this.

[cdnmatt]

I don't know, I think GayButton already summed it up quite nicely.

There is a gay sauna. I don't know the name or address though, but I can get there. It's on the road around Bung Kenakon (the lake in the middle of town), and is in the middle of 2K BBQ restaurant and the mini-Tesco with 7-11 kitty corner. You head from 2K, it's on your left hand side. Don't even know the name of it, and have never been there, so can't give you details on it. Sorry, but I have no idea about actual street names or anything, but I know where it is.

Then I've been told Rad has a gay area, but I've never seen it the few times I was there. If you're hanging out in the tourist areas, don't worry, you'll run into Rad. It's a large night club that's separated into 5 or 6 different smaller clubs. Been told there's a gay area, but never seen it, so maybe it's just on certain nights of the week or something.

Other than that, I think GayButton said it the best. There's no real gay community, because there's gay people everywhere, and they're not really ostracized, so no point in a community. Just put yourself out there, and you shouldn't have any issues, especially if you have a Thai guy with you. Then more than likely you'll end up with other guys going out of their way to make sure you notice them with the odd subtle glance, wink, etc... Or go on Camfrog, and that would be another excellent place to meet local gay guys.

If you feel like getting together for dinner & drinks some night or something, let me know. I'm not much for nights out these days, but a dinner and couple glasses of wine I'm always up for.