[Taoboxer]

I finally found the elusive sauna which almost everybody has heard about but never been able to find. It took some while and a great deal of walking about to find it but the best thing was that, in the process, I also discovered the gogo bar area in Hatyai. It still isn't anything like BKK or Pattaya, or even Phuket, but for all those who are thinking of a trip to the south, here is the link to my blog post.

The Rowdy Reprobate: Getting to GL Sauna and men's gogo bars in Hatyai

My apologies to everyone for posting just a link as I took photos of the way there and all my directions are on the photos to make it easier for people to find the way. There are too many pictures to upload the entire set to every forum where I post regularly, and I'm too lazy to copy and paste repeatedly.

[icon513]

Very useful, thanks!

[BKK-European]

Originally Posted by Taoboxer

I finally found the elusive sauna which almost everybody has heard about but never been able to find.

Indeed! I've been to Hat Yai quite a number of times 3-4 years ago and I kept looking for the sauna, but I couldn't manage to find it. Thanks a lot for pointing me to your blog post, next time I'll visit Hat Yai I will know where to look...

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Taoboxer

My apologies to everyone for posting just a link as I took photos of the way there and all my directions are on the photos to make it easier for people to find the way.

Wow, great job! One of these days I'm going to better understand why, in some regions of the world, an address is meaningless.

[Taoboxer]

I'm glad to be of help. And I know what you mean about addreses. I tried locating the sauna by following the house numbers at first. And that didn't turn out too well because the numbers ran up and down in not-necesssarily sequential ordering on both sides of the road named in the published address. It was only after asking a very helpful ladyboy that I finally found the place.

I can't say that my time was wasted though, because I also found Hatyai's small collection of gay boy bars (and girly bars), while wandering around.

[pong]

terimah kasi dari disini. Good discovery.
1.approx how far (kms or mins walk) from the DIANA store=well known landmark in HYai?
2.this moreorless confirms my idea that in provincial Thai towns -if they have some sauna- it is very often in/near some gay bar area-to allow some place for nearby incidental meetings or so.

[Taoboxer]

Hi Pong,
You're welcome. I think if you follow my directions according to the photos I posted, it shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes brisk walk from Diana Dept. Store.

If you take a tuk-tuk to Nattaporn K&K, it's just round the back of the minimart.

What I know about Hatyai is that some ten years or so ago (I can't remember for sure) all the naughty places were supposed to be shifted to one place away from the main tourist stretch around the the big hotels. Some places got around the prohibition by becoming "barber shops" or "salons" with lady tonsorial experts but you could only make your bookings before 6pm, when they closed their premises.

A tuk-tuk driver took me to one of the boy bars (I can't remember which) a couple of years back, but it was the only one I actually saw along ThaiAkarn Road back then. I never managed to find it again after that.

It's taken me more than a year of patiently and discretely asking about here and there to find the sauna and bars. It would have been easier if I could have simply asked my aunt but I didn't necessarily want her to know I was plannng to have wild and uninhibited sex with other men the minute I left her house after dinner.

Incidentally, massage parlours were not included in the move to one red light district, and there are many along the main tourist areas. I have never availed myself of their services but from some things I heard people say - and a couple of male masseurs I saw - I gather it might be possible to book one of the male masseurs for an in-room massage at your hotel. I know there are no facilities for 'private massages' at the massage shops I see while walking along the streets. Friends of mine have booked masseuses for that purpose, I know.

Speaking of the male masseurs I saw this last trip, I noticed that all the shops had younger men with fairer skin, who looked almost Chinese, to provide no-hanky panky massage at the glass-fronted shops. I was told that they came from the north and could be booked for in-room massage, too - whatever that might mean.

I am afraid I did not investigate the range of their services as I prefer well-tanned Thai men. And as I did not have time to check out the bars at ThaiAkarn Road, I am afraid I can't say if there were more of these light-skinned guys at the gogo bars.

[llz]

I was in Hat Yai 40 days ago and went to the three bars which are within walking distance one from another.

They were offering a much better choice of boys than on my last visit about 5 years ago, but I did not see many southern-looking guys there. The boys they choose clearly have a fairer skin complexion than in Pattaya or even Bangkok. I also saw a group of women roaming the same bars as me, and of course the boys were more interested in them.

The bar I preferred was City Man which is on the western side of Thai Arkan Road : very welcoming owner (from Buriram) and some great looking lads. A little bit closer to Sripoonavart Road you have G-Men - less boys than in the other places and than before. Go further north towards Sripoonavart Road but turn on your right into a small soi just before crossing this main road, and you will find Buddy's which has opened again after a two years closure.

There was a Studio 54 Bar on Chaniwate 2 Road -southern of the three above places, where there are many girlies bars ; I could not see it so I guess it has closed now.