Danok, Sadao, Southern Thailand

[Usbbb]

Hi XXL,

I was at betong too during that valentine night.

End up blue ball that night, frust and disappointed.

We choose wrong date, as master say don't go during festival season.

I will try again on March.

[XXL]

Before I forget: the go-go I visited was actually right next to Merlin Hotel, not opposite Merlin Hotel. It was the first house to the left of Merlin Hotel, looking away from Merlin Hotel.

Opposite to Merlin Hotel is a tallish building housing the disco I mentioned as well as a night-club that does not open until nine.

[XXL]

A dozen or so small go-gos in town, centered around Grand Mandarin Hotel. I just visited one situated across Merlin Hotel. One big Heineken bottle + 1 coke = 490 Baht. A bit of naked dancing, girls not so young, some good pairs of tits, poor lower bodies most of them. I asked about "BF" and "ST". They didn't understand what I meant, or they didn't want to. After some palaver I was given to understand that if I wanted to leave with a girl it would cost me 5000 Baht but, quote "I was not allowed to sleep with her", unquote. WTF?

Anyway, it seems no hotel in town has safety deposit boxes, neither in-room nor at front desk. Not even the Grand Mandarin where I'm staying which is among the best if not the best hotel. Idiots!

This is a border town where crime may not be so rare as in other parts of Thailand. If I want to take risks with my passport and valuables I'll buy myself a flight to some African destination thank you.

If I'm not too exhausted after my sightseeing program tomorrow evening I may have a drink at Hotel Merlin's disco. Reportedly the disco has girls, only with no nudity. I don't give a rat's ass about nudity. The girls can be in diving suit as far as I am concerned, provided they have hot bodies underneath. Will report.

[Usbbb]

Hi,

I will be at Danok at Dec 6, stay a night a the Ship hotel.

Any lonely traveler want to go discover together?

[MakeItOrBreak]

Fly to Langkawi, then take the ferry over to Thailand.

Thanks that seem like a good option.

[Golfinho]

Thank you for interesting reporting. How did you travel to Dannok? I will see if I can combine a visit to Penang seems quite accessible by car.

Fly to Langkawi, then take the ferry over to Thailand.

[NewImage]

After the disappoint of the night before with Ms Massage (and given that I could no longer stand the smell of the pillows at the SP Sweet Hotel), I went looking for a new hotel. Tried two rooms at the Paramount Palace: all manner of things didn't work, but the killer was the internet. Tried three rooms at the Oscar: all smelled of either smoke or oil paint. Decided to try the he Jia adjacent to the place where I met Ms Massage. And as I was walking toward it, who should I spy but Ms Massage. We renewed acquaintances and I was pleasantly surprised when that led to an afternoon session in my new room: no money involved. I was even more pleasantly surprised when the session turned out even better than our first encounter.
One other point of note for mongers. I have been walking the streets of Dannok for three days now and I don't think I've seen another Caucasian. There are some Thai women who don't care for Caucasians. There are some who are indifferent. Then there are the Thai women who like and prefer Caucasians, which makes this a seller's market if you're Caucasian and can locate the buyers.
Leaving tomorrow. But I'm sure glad I came.

Have contemplated Danok but then scrubbed it off the list due to language problems and Western Food. Looking for side trip from KL. Thoughts about English speaking Aussie in Danok?

Pro's. Close to KL, improving infrastructure, decent hotels, city set up for mongering, price reasonable.

Con's. Language esp PRC's. Prefer to have at least conversation with provider, poor choices for Western food, Caucasian bias / smaller pool of available talent.

Possibly PP, Jak, Phuket better options?

Thoughts.

Appreciate NI.

[Betong]

How did you travel to Dannok? I will see if I can combine a visit to Penang seems quite accessible by car.

It's a quick drive from Penang, just a couple hours. But avoid trying to cross into Thailand from Friday afternoon through Saturday, or going back to Malaysia on Sunday through Monday morning. The immigration queues can be ridiculous.

Dannok is a rough town, run by the Malaysian mafia. It pays to behave yourself and keep your wits about you. A lot of the girls there don't seem too happy with their lot and it's hard to blame them. Many of the hottest ones have regulars and so are not generally available. You also have to watch out for little scams in the clubs. But it's still possible to have a good time, and it definitely has the most to offer of all the Thai-Malaysia border towns.

[Daeng]

Hye Guys,

Me Daeng, an old Cheongster from KL, Danok (Sadao) seem so long time I haven't visit since my last posting. May be am a bit buzzy with Jakarta, Medan, Bandung and Surabaya visit.

Nevertheless, well I shall visit Sadao again this weekend. One thing for sure am lost of the era. Need some back up info from you guys.

Place to stay with happening area in walking distance and any mamasan shop for shopping.

Thanks guys really appreciated.

Daeng.

[Dinghy]

สุวรรณภูมิ

Yes it is really Suwanaphoom (in sound). It looks like you would pronounce it well from your English attempt. It seems to mean land of gold or Golden land. It is built on an area that was once called "hnong nguu hao", which means the "cobra marsh / swamp" LOL.

]

Some just call the airport 'SWAMPY'.

[Syzygies]

How about Suvarnabhumi? Should that have been 'Suewanapoom' or something like that?

สุวรรณภูมิ

Yes it is really Suwanaphoom (in sound). It looks like you would pronounce it well from your English attempt. It seems to mean land of gold or Golden land. It is built on an area that was once called "hnong nguu hao", which means the "cobra marsh / swamp" LOL.

Feed the Thai script into Google Translate and you will hear how it sounds.
https://translate.google.com.au/?hl=...B8%A1%E0%B8%B4

[MakeItOrBreak]

After the disappoint of the night before with Ms Massage (and given that I could no longer stand the smell of the pillows at the SP Sweet Hotel), I went looking for a new hotel. Tried two rooms at the Paramount Palace: all manner of things didn't work, but the killer was the internet. Tried three rooms at the Oscar: all smelled of either smoke or oil paint. Decided to try the he Jia adjacent to the place where I met Ms Massage. And as I was walking toward it, who should I spy but Ms Massage. We renewed acquaintances and I was pleasantly surprised when that led to an afternoon session in my new room: no money involved. I was even more pleasantly surprised when the session turned out even better than our first encounter.

So I booked her for the night: the massage shop mamasan might not have known about the afternoon tryst but she wasn't going to give one of her girls away free for the whole night. Strangely, I had the option of paying 350 ringitt for the night or 4,000 baht. Now 350 ringitt is roughly equivalent to 2,800 Thai baht. So of course I paid in Ringitt. Dannok being a border town, and with most of the punters coming from Malaysia, the local currency of preference is about evenly split between baht and ringitt, but many of the merchants seem to have trouble figuring out how to equate the two. In some hotels, you're better off (by 15-20%) paying in one currency. And in others it is the reverse. In the he Jia, for example, I could pay 750 baht or 120 ringitt (equivalent to 950 baht!) Very strange!

I have now been in Dannok for three days and I have to say that I find it to be an impressive place in so many ways. The streets are all in good repair. Same with the sidewalks: Buenos Aires could learn a thing or two from the civic engineers in Dannok! Construction of new hotels seems to be booming. Even the police seem well-behaved: I saw one policeman with a Go-Pro-like device on his helmet. In some states in the southern USA, devices like that have had the effect of curbing abuses of authority by the police. Perhaps they will have a similar effect in Thailand: Lord knows Thailand could benefit from less police corruption.

One other point of note for mongers. I have been walking the streets of Dannok for three days now and I don't think I've seen another Caucasian. There are some Thai women who don't care for Caucasians. There are some who are indifferent. Then there are the Thai women who like and prefer Caucasians, which makes this a seller's market if you're Caucasian and can locate the buyers.

Leaving tomorrow. But I'm sure glad I came.

Thank you for interesting reporting. How did you travel to Dannok? I will see if I can combine a visit to Penang seems quite accessible by car.

[WildBillLewis]

After the disappoint of the night before with Ms Massage (and given that I could no longer stand the smell of the pillows at the SP Sweet Hotel), I went looking for a new hotel. Tried two rooms at the Paramount Palace: all manner of things didn't work, but the killer was the internet. Tried three rooms at the Oscar: all smelled of either smoke or oil paint. Decided to try the he Jia adjacent to the place where I met Ms Massage. And as I was walking toward it, who should I spy but Ms Massage. We renewed acquaintances and I was pleasantly surprised when that led to an afternoon session in my new room: no money involved. I was even more pleasantly surprised when the session turned out even better than our first encounter.

So I booked her for the night: the massage shop mamasan might not have known about the afternoon tryst but she wasn't going to give one of her girls away free for the whole night. Strangely, I had the option of paying 350 ringitt for the night or 4,000 baht. Now 350 ringitt is roughly equivalent to 2,800 Thai baht. So of course I paid in Ringitt. Dannok being a border town, and with most of the punters coming from Malaysia, the local currency of preference is about evenly split between baht and ringitt, but many of the merchants seem to have trouble figuring out how to equate the two. In some hotels, you're better off (by 15-20%) paying in one currency. And in others it is the reverse. In the he Jia, for example, I could pay 750 baht or 120 ringitt (equivalent to 950 baht!) Very strange!

I have now been in Dannok for three days and I have to say that I find it to be an impressive place in so many ways. The streets are all in good repair. Same with the sidewalks: Buenos Aires could learn a thing or two from the civic engineers in Dannok! Construction of new hotels seems to be booming. Even the police seem well-behaved: I saw one policeman with a Go-Pro-like device on his helmet. In some states in the southern USA, devices like that have had the effect of curbing abuses of authority by the police. Perhaps they will have a similar effect in Thailand: Lord knows Thailand could benefit from less police corruption.

One other point of note for mongers. I have been walking the streets of Dannok for three days now and I don't think I've seen another Caucasian. There are some Thai women who don't care for Caucasians. There are some who are indifferent. Then there are the Thai women who like and prefer Caucasians, which makes this a seller's market if you're Caucasian and can locate the buyers.

Leaving tomorrow. But I'm sure glad I came.

[Mogwai]

Translation to English is always a fucking mess. For a start the English vowels are all wrong, and then they fuck with the consonants for no apparent reason.
The V should always be a W since V sound does not exist in Thai.

How about Suvarnabhumi? Should that have been 'Suewanapoom' or something like that?

[Syzygies]

Traipsing around the city, I've seen all three on signage. The more I look, the more it appears that Dannok is the consensus choice among locals, but I've also seen both Dan Nok and Danok on official signage. I'm sure most of the Thais don't care one way or another, but it is funny.

Translation to English is always a fucking mess. For a start the English vowels are all wrong, and then they fuck with the consonants for no apparent reason.

The V should always be a W since V sound does not exist in Thai.

The letters J and CH often get switched. So Chao Phraya river actually sounds a like an English Jao Prayaa.

Ex prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva actually sounds like "Up-pea-sit Wait-char-chee-wa". You can see the English lettering was not even slightly close.

And you are right, the Thais just don't give a shit the English version on Thai names is made so confusing.

I spelled Prachuap wrong because the Thai sounds like bra-juap.

Thais are mispronouncing English words badly too which often throws me. Yesterday the Thai guy was trying to say Foot, however it sounded exactly like Food (including long vowel), so I really failed to grasp what he was getting at. If he had simply used the Thai word for Foot (Thaow) then no problem.