Stickman Readers' Submissions June 14th, 2017

The Unknown City Of Dannok

There is a town in Thailand where no farang has been (ok, probably a few), and it is a fun town. A town dedicated to catering to those looking for fun, to relax, get massages, party, eat, whatever Thailand can offer.

Does it sound real to you?

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No I’m not talking some rural town where no one wants to go or some part of Isaan or the North-West that people stop only to get some drinks from PTT 7 Eleven en-route somewhere.

This town is so popular, popular to those who knew about it that I am quite surprised that I only met 2 farang in that town until now. The best part is, A LOT of people have gone past that town, but they didn’t know what it is.

I wonder that of all the people mongering, travelling, and writing in to Stickman why nobody ever mentioned this place.

Let me introduce to you, Dannok.

Yes, it’s the name of a small town in the south of Thailand, the last town on the Thanon Phetkasem Route 4, before you enter the border of Kedah State, in Malaysia.

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Dannok main road.

 

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Main Road of Dannok, after the Malaysian border.

 

It is the busiest route on border of Thailand & Malaysia, where thousands of cars, busses, trucks, lorries and people cross.

Dannok is located in Sadao District, in the Songhkla region, where the biggest city is Hat Yai. It’s only a 1-hour flight from BKK to HDY airport, and another 50 or 60 minutes by van to Dannok. There’s also a direct 13-hour bus from Bangkok – Dannok.

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Location of Dannok.

 

Enough with the geography, I bet a simple Google map search will show you exactly where it is.

So what’s so special about this town?

This town looks like other border towns like Padang Besa, Betong, and Sungai Golok. All are very well-known by the people who live near the border in Malaysia, and for its nightlife. Over the past few years, only Dannok that has become more developed than other border towns.

Dannok is very well-known to the people of Malaysian, especially for people who live in the northern part of Malaysia. But it is very well known generally.

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Hotels and 7 Elevens are everywhere.

 

Personally I’ve known this town for the past 5 – 6 years. Of course I went there when I was young, but as an adult, yes around that long. It was around 2010 I started to go there.

At first, I went there for massage (that’s all I know what that place can offer at that time). Later on for ST, then LT.

ENTERTAINMENT CLUBS

Then I found out that Dannok has a big a-gogo club. First time I went inside an a-gogo, the name is Pattaya Club (I wonder why they called it that). I was surprised, it has a big stage, podium, 2 floors, and every girl in there wore a two-piece. “Wow, what kind of place is this?” (I was young at that time, pardon me).

Nowadays, there are around 5 – 7 large a-gogo clubs in Dannok. Hello Bangkok, M Club, First Club, Jaguar Club, and others I with names I can’t remember. There’s also small a-gogo clubs, after 3 AM clubs, rave clubs, karaokes etc.

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M Club, behind M Hotel.

 

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M Hotel, used to be KPK Hotel.

 

The MO for this kind of club a-gogo is more or less the same I guess, but it’s quite different from a Soi Cowboy or Walking Street a-gogo.

They have DJs playing club songs, then they’ll have live band perform with dancers, female and male singers, change of costumes and all that shebang.

And after that they’ll have the coyotes on stage dancing.

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M Club coyotes, big club and stage.

 

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You find your table, order your drinks, and just enjoy the show. The coyotes then will come to you and sit with you, talk and request lady drinks.

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They normally have DJ – Live Bands with performances, dancers, singers. – then DJ, Coyote on stage all night

Normally, the patrons will order 5 – 7 big bottles of beer (normally Heineken) which cost around 180 baht per bottle. Coyotes will ask you for Tequila (cost your around 100 baht) but normally ask for 3 – 5 shots each time. They also ask you to buy flowers which cost 500 baht – 1,000 baht depending on the flowers. People who came to Dannok to party at a-gogo, well, I am not saying everyone is rich, but they spend A LOT!

And bear in mind, you CANNOT barfine these lovely young coyotes!

Let’s talk about the girls (coyotes) working here in Dannok.

I have known a lot of them over the past years, and became good friends with some of them.

Girls who work in a-gogos in Dannok mostly are young pretty girls, fair-skinned and come from either Bangkok or Chiang Mai / Chiang Rai. If you are looking to meet pretty girls, you should come here.

I’ve been to a lot places in Thailand. Mostly you find Isaan girls in Phuket, Pattaya or Bangkok. But here in Dannok, most likely you’ll find Bangkok girls, or Chiang Mai / Chiang Rai girls. Some of them even on university break / work break come to make some money.

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There’s also a sports bar.

Interesting, ha? Why do they come to Dannok? Because they don’t have to sleep with customers or get barfined. They just party, get lady drinks and go home and sleep with their “sister”. So any normal girls can do this job. The chances you gonna meet normal working / studying girls high is here.

Patrons who enjoy Dannok mostly come from Malaysia, or Singapore. 70% of them Malaysian Chinese.

HOTELS AND FACILITIES

The development of Dannok is growing, with new hotels and apartments being built. Dannok is a place where you can get anything at any price. You can find a 5 star hotel room at around 2,500 baht. Or a decent hotel at 1,000 baht. If you’re on budget, there are also 300 baht rooms for you. If you’re here for long time, you can get a nice room for 3,000 baht a month.

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Tesco Lotus, Dannok

 

There is a small Tesco Lotus, Police station, minimarts everywhere, 7 Elevens on every corner, almost everything you need. Money exchange, salon, restaurant, nice lake view restaurant.

Did I tell you that this town is only around 1 km in radius, meaning you can walk around the town. In the past 5 years, Dannok has developed more than I see Phuket has. Even with the MYR Malaysian Ringgit losing 20% to the Thai baht.

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KPK Resort Hotel – Built 1 year ago. There’s a club there called “First Club”. A great place to check out.

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FOR PUNTERS

Dannok offers variety of places. You can enjoy yourself in a-gogo club and pubs. There are 3 well-known strip club joints – Winner / Scorpion / Spider. You can also hang out and sing in many karaoke places (and these are the places where you can barfine girls too), or you can indulge yourself at a lot of massage places around Dannok.

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The Winner – I could say the best strip club here. You can compare this with Suzy Wong (Phuket).

I really suggest you go to Mutiara Massage. They have 3 places in Dannok. Go inside, finger point at any number you like and go up to good private massage room (very decent). Then you can enjoy a sauna and Jacuzzi bath for 2 hours for only 600 baht.

For ST/LT fans, here comes the good news. You can get 1,000-1,300 for ST, 2,000-3,000 for LT meaning 7 PM to 10 AM the next day.

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Jaguar Club

 

You can also check in to any hotels here, and get massage to your room for 400 – 500 baht an hour. Cool, ha?

I remember when I was younger, me and my friends were hopping from clubs to clubs to strip clubs to after-party clubs until 9 in the morning. Fun times.

WHY DANNOK?

I’m not a promoter of Dannok. I’m just surprised that I don’t see Stickman here or other farangs. I wonder why. Maybe you are all uninformed?

Dannok is, how you can say, an unchartered town, a new playground, a new town with new faces and new places that you can explore.

If you’re on visa run, then consider to getting your visa in Malaysia (Thai Consulate in Penang). Then you can take few days to enjoy Dannok before returning to wherever you’re from.

Just take flight from BKK – HDY airport, then take taxi to Hat Yai bus station, then you can hop on the minivan for only 70 baht to Dannok.

If you’re a fan of trains, you can hop on the express train 36 BKK – Hat Yai (it takes around 15 hours). Then the same and hop on a minivan to Dannok.

Or you can take the 1,000 baht bus from BKK direct to Dannok, which takes around 13 hours (better, ha?).

Most people think that the South of Thailand is dangerous. I agree. But not in this southern region. This is not that “South” you read about in the news. It’s quite safe. Even at night.

For me personally, I wish to see foreigners come and explore this town, and have fun here. With more people and money coming, perhaps this place could be better in future? Who knows.

IS IT SAFE?

When talking about Southern part of Thailand, a lot of people might think it’s a very dangerous region and a place people tend to avoid. But trust me, it is as safe as you think Bangkok & Pattaya is. Few incidents happened in the past, just like = in Bangkok.

For me, the route of Bukit Kayu Hitam border, to Dannok – Sadao – Hat Yai and further up north is quite safe. The roads are good too.

THE BUSINESS

For me, the last 4 years has shown that Dannok is developing quite fast. Just over the past 5 years, 6 or 7 big hotels were built, a lot of new apartments went up as well as clubs and pubs were built. But most of these developments are controlled by some Malaysian Chinese or Thai.

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New area being developed.

 

This is the only entertainment town where I don’t see Russians or other foreigners presently. A few weeks back, I saw they started bringing Chinese tourists in busses here. Maybe it’s their new business model to cover the decline of Malaysian visitors.

From what I’m seeing, this town could be a stop for tourist, backpackers and visa-runners going/coming from Malaysia. But since this town is not quite advertised in anywhere in Thailand, nobody knows about it.

There are no backpacker hostels here. You don’t see farang tourists here. I’m surprised.

If anyone out there needs help checking out this town, or needs some tips, you can e-mail me at : kaoniaowmamuang@gmail.com.  Maybe we could have a drink or two. Let’s have fun!

I might write more in future regarding the individual places and venue I wrote in here. Stay safe!

The author can be contacted at : kaoniaowmamuang@gmail.com

The author can be contacted at : kaoniaowmamuang@gmail.com

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