Koh Chang?

[gearguy]

Anyone been to Koh Chang?
Are there any gay-friendly hotels? guesthouses?
what's the bar sceen like?

Bar scene? On Koh Chang???

[manfarang-old]

Bar scene? On Koh Chang???
Agreed. Nothing. A few older ladyboys working in the restaurants was about all I noticed. Bring your own entertainment.

[bigben]

GearGuy

I can’t remember who, but a few weeks ago one of the business owners in Pattaya put together a trip to Koh Chang and some billed it as "a trip of a lifetime", with all the extra money colleted from the trip expenses to be donated to charity!!!

I never heard anyone comment on the trip nor did I see any photos posted on this forum, but I may have missed it. Maybe they haven't returned yet or maybe it was just another rip off. I really don't know.

If I am not mistaken, the trip was to commence around the 4th of July so the post was most likely a few days before that. Sorry, I wasn’t able to find the original post.

I visited Koh Chang about 7 years ago and it was just a jungle type setting but had bungalows for rent on the beach. Very quiet back then. I have no idea if there is a night life to be had nowadays. Perhaps some guys who took the trip on the 4th can help you out.

[TrongpaiExpat]

I was there last December. I loved it, BF hated it. We took the new bus route from Ekhamai that goes directly to the pier. Stayed at Katcha resort in a nice garden bunglow.

One side of the island is developed and the other wooded and rustic. Some of the resorts are a bit isolated.

No gay venues. Loads of Euro's on holiday but I did not see large groups of package tourest.

[paulg]

I earmarked this trip organized by monty as it was of interest to me

http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/fo ... =koh+chang (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8397&highlight=koh+chang)

montys phone and email is in the thread ask him sounds like he knows the place

Beautiful place. Reminds me of one of the smaller Hawaiian islands. But definitely no "Gay" scene. No "Scene" at all LOL. Definitely BOB (Bring your own Boy). If your Boy likes the nightlife (like mine), he will quickly become bored after a day or two.

... Utopia's website (Koh Chang info towards the bottom of the page): http://www.utopia-asia.com/thaipat.htm#kc

There doesn't seem to be anything that is totally gay but there does seem to be gay friendly bars located at Kai Bae Beach, according to this site. I have never been so cannot comment and Utopia does tend to have out of date info' on occassion.

Thought I would get my 2 cents worth in about Koh Chang - I posted some time ago after the question was asked about the island but damned if I can find it.
I have been to Koh Chang twice, first time about 3-4 years ago and stayed in a Thai bungalow at Best Garden Beach
(euro toilet, bucket shower, double bed, fan, verandah & hammock right on the beach). Bliss. I was alone for about the first week and then a couple of thai friends joined up for a few days. Basically, all I we wanted to do was chill out, take it easy (although the JWB got a bit of a hammering in the evening - courtesy of my friends, by the way).
Unfortunately this old-style thai bungalow and resort has now gone, together with the 400 baht room rate,and the thai families which arrived on the weekends. This time(late Feb/early March I stayed at Alina Resort which is on the same beach - White Sands, which is the main beach on Koh Chang.Check out the website: http://www.alinaresort.com/
From memory I paid about 1000 baht for a hotel room which included shower and a full-size bath for goodness sake! Room had a decent sized balcony with a good-sized table and chairs with a drying rack and although the room did not face the ocean, it was viewable and only spitting distance away. My room rate included refrigerator, aircon and fan, two queen-sized beds and an unlimited supply of towels whenever needed from front office. No mini-bar or bits and pieces, but the hotel has its own 7Eleven type store which stocks everything. No internet or phone connection in rooms. TV optional and extra, but who needs it? I found that I didn't really need the aircon - fan was ok. Also no problem with my friend - no charge for joiners or friends staying. "Enough room for 4 people - same price" Same day cheap laundry service.
Internet cafe across the road and thai restaurant serving western breakfasts adjacent.
There is only one main road with beach, hotels on one side and shops, bars and some houses and accommodation on the other.
I would not recommend the restaurant at Alina. Enough said. Go next door on the beach to Thor's Palace which has been there for years and is an institution, serving great Thai food (and European) - especially Masaman Curry. It is run by the charming katooey Thor, who will make you feel very welcome and sit with you and have a drink in the evening after the dinner rush. Great Margueritas. The place essentially looks like an old-style thai bungalow with verandah right on the beach, and also has tables inside with a floor area with pillows etc for lounging or reading books from his extensive library which you also may borrow to take back to your hotel. Open from about 2pm. At night, when the tide goes out, more tables are set out on the beach. Enchanting. Onemore thing about Thor - I think he closes from April to August and heads off to Europe.
An interesting phenomena about White Sands Beach is the tide, which varies only minimally all year, so in the morning, the tide is up to the restaurant and resort steps, and recedes later in the morning. Every day.
If u are looking for an alternative which is similar to Pattaya, forget it. A word of warning. Be careful if u hire a motor bike, especially if u plan on riding on some of the dirt roads on the other side of the island, they can be treacherous.
There are the usual elephant tours if you're into that - I took a trip to the waterfalls on the northern end of the island past the ferry terminal and my friends and I enjoyed swimming with other thais and tourists alike. The beach is just fine.
For nightlife, Sabai bar about a kilometre or so north of Alina is the place to go. There are no boybars or gay bays as such.
Sabai bar is fairly upmarket (thought the drinks were a bit on the expensive side) but a great mix of people (quite a lot of Euros) but many thais, some from Bangkok, and my friend and I felt quite comfortable there. Sprinkling of gay thais. No one was concerned if u danced with your b/f or not, although I would draw the line at sticking my hand down my b/f's pants, let alone french kissing him on the dance floor. It is possible to score trade.....
Live music, playing upmarket Thai rock and popular covers. Very good.
Someone posted about Kae Bae beach to the south having a gay bar and accomodation. This information is incorrect and I think came from the old Utopia website, which is hopelessly out of date. I checked it out in February, and Kae Bae resort was the place to stay, but no longer any hint of gay attractions there. I did stay for a couple of nights initially my last trip, and got invited to a Thai office party from Bangkok which plied me with copius quantities of booze and food before throwing me in front of their karaoke........great impromptu night.
Regarding travel to Koh Chang, which may be of interest. I have this thing about cramped minibus trips, although the last trip with a stunning Russian boy (and his very onto it mother) was an exception. Anyway, I hired a car from Pattaya to Koh Chang and for me, definitely the way to go. Can't remember the price, but definitely reasonable considering I was taken all the way from Pattaya across on the ferry to my hotel with the same car and driver. You pay for what u get.
As I wasn't returning to Pattaya from Koh Chang on my last trip, and was leaving via Bangkok, I chose to fly from Trat to BKK (about 40 mins) by Bangkok Air - a good option.
I think I will be heading to Koh Chang for a few days in November, so I will try and give some feedback then. Also going to check out the ferry service to Sihanoukville to see if it has improved.
:flower: :albino: :bigsmurf: :drunken: :alien: :geek:

me4thai, thanks very much for doing such an extensive report.... sometimes its still worth browsing this forum.... and I agree 100% with u about the utopia-asia website..... it is definitely mediocre and they dont take much effort in improving their oldfashioned and outdated website...

[bao-bao]

me4thai's review of Koh Chang was wonderful. For those like myself who aren't able to return to LOS nearly as often as we'd like and have far too little time there when we can, this was great. There is a large farang's belly-full of info on the normal tourist areas already - this was refreshingly different.

The detail was much appreciated, thank you. I hope you enjoy many more visits to the LOS - and that you continue to share here about them!

Just got back from two nights in Koh Chang. Nice place, but saw no evidence of real cruising. One youth made eye contact walking along the road at Kai Bae, but, well, not really my type. I didn't see any evidence of gay bars.

Stayed at the Kai Bae Hut Resort, 400Baht for a fan room, 1200 for air-con. I'd stay there again.