Kanchantaburi

We are planning to take a trip there, any info on (any) gay scene there. Hotel recs, places to go. Will only be there for a few days.

[TrongpaiExpat]

It's really a beautiful area of Thailand. I have been there several times and if you do a search you will find some posts about Kanchantaburi. Some do package tours, others not. There's all sorts of lodging in all the price ranges.

No real gay venues. You could meet someone or BYOB to be sure.

Personally, I would skip the in town Death Railway attractions and head for the Hellfire Pass site. It's a bit out of town. It was build by a group of survivors who where put off by the Thai packaged attractions in town. Thou, the in town museums are a lot better now than what they first had.

Then I would just head to Erawan National Park/ water falls.

Sai Yok is also worth the effort but more time consuming to get to and around than Erawan.

I visited there last year, stayed at Rainbow Lodge. some pics and contact info here http://www.pbase.com/win13/rainbow

stayed in the 'suites' which had just been renovated. about 1000B a night. basic but comfortable, with a great view of the river. food nice there, and an easy to walk to other restaurants.

[TrongpaiExpat]

The Rainbow is one of the many in-town on the river bungalows/rooms. The problem with the resorts in this area are the floating discos. It's really just a large flat barge towed by a boat, full of mostly back-packing farangs. I had read somewhere that the "authorities" had stopped these boats but you know how that goes. They make quite a racket until 1am or so.

Anyone know the current status of the floating discos?

The resorts up river away from town are quiet.

I used to go to Kanchaburi quite frequently when my partner was in the army (much like prison, except the food is not nearly as nutritious). It is a very beautiful part of the world indeed!

We used to stay at the Rainbow Lodge -- it is not posh, but 500-700 baht per night, and it has a pleasant river view. Agree with Trongpai that the floating discos are annoying, but then we were usually in the Irish pub across the street (*excellent* venison Irish stew!!) until quite late. If you like Sang Som, go for the 'family pack' -- and the boss wills swap out cokes for sodas. It's not a gay pub, but probably as close to it one can find in Kanchanaburi. We did meet a rather camp English teacher there, and his mate (even more camp!) who was over from Scotland.

Also agree that the death railway is not terribly interesting -- the waterfalls and mountains, however, are beautiful.

I would also recommend skipping the Tiger Temple -- they are dead set on getting money out of tourists any way they can, and the monks were positively rude.

If you bring a Thai friend, he can tell you which farmers stands to stop at to pick up local varieties of mushrooms -- a regional specialty, and I have not seen them in the markets here in Pattaya. We also got wonderful locally grown rambutans in the market near the WWII cemetery.

An hours drive north west is the Khao Laem Reservoir (Vajiralunkorn Dam) -- an absolutely stunning place. I can't recall the name of the resort where we stayed, but essentially, if you are driving up the west side of the reservoir, after the town, it is the first hotel on the right (lakeside) -- about 5 km from town. We had lovely bungalows over the lake, and the restaurant is excellent. Lakefront bungalows were 1200 baht per night: tastefully decorated room, full-blast hot water, and a large terrace overlooking the lake (which would be over the lake when the water level is higher!). Definitely bring a jumper, as it was cold at night, even in July.

The lake is teeming with fish, and the resort has a sort of floating pier for fishing (they also had tiny boats which my Thai friends used, but definitely not farang size!) We had no luck with live bait (earthworms, cockles), but frog lures worked very well. If you plan on fishing, buy all your gear in Pattaya -- a lure that cost 60 baht in Mike's Shopping mall cost 280 baht in the local tackle shop, and the staff redefine the word useless.