About Danok
Danok is a border town located just after Sadao Immigration and Custom checkup. The bulk of the visitors are Malaysians from Penang and Kedah, who normally go there for a weekend getaway due to it's convenient location near the Thai-Malaysia border. Danok has now evolved to become a real delight for those bored with Hatyai and are looking for something new. Over the years the number of entertainment joints have grown quickly. You can find massage palours, karaokes, discos, agogo bars, pubs that are just as exciting if not better than Hatyai.
Getting There
If you are coming from Hatyai, take a minivan for about 50baht per pax. The journey takes about 45 mins. Alternatively if there is a whole group of people, then you can hire a van for a two-way journey from Hatyai to Danok and back for 1500baht.If you going to Hatyai from Danok, just look out for a small table in front of a 7-11 shop on the main road across Oscar Palace hotel. Pay the money to the person manning the place and he will direct you to a van nearby to take you to Hatyai.
Exploring Danok
Danok is a small town where every place is just within walking distance. Therefore unlike Hatyai, you need not have to take those tuk-tuk if you want to move around. There are many hotels with rates ranging from 300 to 800baht. Most of the bigger hotels have massage parlour and karaoke joint for you to enjoy without having to step out of the hote. Danok may look dull and uninteresting in the day, but once the sun sets, it is transform into a bustling town crowded with people in most of the streets. At this time, you will find lots of pubs, bars and karaokes blaring loud music with sweet young girls beckoning passerbys to go inside for a drink.
Here is a tip on getting around in Danok. Just take Oscar Palace Hotel as a bearing. This hotel is about 100m away from the immigration checkpoint and you cannot possibly missed as it is just along the main road. On the right side of Oscar Palace are the KTV farms for booking girls, and on the left across the street are the agogo bars, pubs and discos.
Eating Places
There are little information and recommendations about eating places in Danok. Listed here are some of the few places being mentioned in the forums.
Ped Restaurant - serve chinese thai cuisine. Located at the side of Oscar Palace hotel
Fishing Park - located at the side road next to KPK hotel. Recommendation is the the fish dish - "Kin Song Pek Sat".
Breakfast - recommendation on a coffee shop behind Oliver hotel where they serve good wonton noodle with pork ribs.
Ah Yak restaurant -serve reasonable good dim sum. The curry crab dish is also recommended.
Betong Restaurant - serve good duck rice.
Hotels
There are many hotels in Danok ranging from 300 to 800baht. Some of the rates are quoted in Malaysian RM, so you have to do your conversion to thai baht here.One of the more popular hotel is Oscar Palace. It is located about 100m from the thai immigration. Rate is RM65 for a standard room, and RM75 for a deluxe room. The deluxe room is larger with a big bath tub and there are also mirrors on the ceiling. There is also a mini-safe in the room for you to keep your valuables. The hotel has a pub on the ground floor, a KTV on the 2nd floor, and a massage palor on the 3rd floor. Good reviews have been given on their massage palor in the forums.
Other hotels are:
Oliver hotel - 690baht
He Jia hotel - 690baht. Tel:,074 301843
PJ hotel - abt 500baht
Firatel hotel - abt 500baht
IPD hotel - 500bahtYU House - RM65. Located near New York Disco. Tel: 074 301741
KPK hotel - about 150m away from Oscar Palace hotel. Rate is RM80. Feedback is that the rooms are smaller but more comfortable than Oscar Palace.Phu Phing Hotel - new hotel which is located behind Oscar Palace. Rate is 690baht
Satit Hotel - RM38
There are other small hotels and guest houses spotted all over the town. No information is available at the moment, although it is known that the room rates are cheap.
Massage
These are the places in Danok where you can go for thai massage and more:
1) 2nd floor of Satit hotel - provides thai massage and "extra services".
2) 3rd floor of Oscar Palace hotel - provides traditional massage at 240baht for 2 hours, If you wish to have your massage in your hotel room, the rate is 300baht. Some of the massuers offer 1000baht for ST, and 2000baht for LT.
3) Mei Spa in He Jia hotel - the package cost 600baht which include unlimited use of spa facilities and 45 mins of oil or traditional massage.
4) Satit Massage Palor - located beside Satit hotel. Here, you can ask the massuer to go to your hotel room for RM30 (2 hrs). Some massuers provide FJ for RM100.
5) Mutiara Spa - located behind Oscar Palace Hotel. Nicely decorated. The promotion price is RM 35 for two hours use of the spa and sauna, and 1 hour of oil massage.
6) KPK Massage Palor in KPK hotel - this place is new and nicely decorated too.
Night Entertainment
In Danok, the pubs, bars, and karaokes start operating from 2-3pm onwards. While the pubs, bars and karaokes have to end by 12am, discos are allowed to operate till 4am.
Listed here are the night establishments that are mentioned in the forums:
TMT agogo bar- highly recommended for their strip shows. The charges is 60baht for a lady's drink, and standard tip is 100-200baht for the hostesses.
Sha-la-la - another highly recommended night joint; Lady's drink is 50baht.
Bangkok Cafe - agogo dancers, young hostesses available to sit with you. Overnight booking is available.
Spider - highly recommended in the forums. It is an agogo bar where the girls dances either half or fully naked. It has a disco atmosphere and it is so crowded especially during weekends that you literally have to squeeze yourselves in this place. There is a variety of dance shows here and the dancers usually stripped down fully. They have almost 50 SYT dancers rotating throughout the night. These dancers usually rotate among several joints in Betong, Hadyai and even Bangkok. Most dancer from Spider don't accept booking from customers. Only those hostesses who accompany customer for drinking are available for booking. But do note that the hostesses here are quite aggressive. If you don’t want them to sit with you, just reject them straightaway or they will assume that you want them to be with you
Chaborn - located just beside Spider where the waitresses are in bikini with dozen of topless dancers on stage.
Bar Berry CabaretBlueberry pub - located beside Paragon disco. Operate somewhat like Spider.
Note:When you are ordering your beer in any of the joints, do tell them what size bottle you want besides the number of bottles, as they will assume that you want the large size.When any of the hostesses or waitresses offer to shake hand with you,don't shake their hands but instead shake your head if you don't want them to sit with you. If you shake hands with them and they sit with you, then you are expected to buy them lady's drink.Also prepare plenty of small notes like RM2 or 20baht, as all the employees in these joints expect to be tipped.
Paragon disco - Paragon Danok is located about 5-10 minutes walk from the agogo bars. Although the place is smaller than Paragon Hatyai, it has similar deco including the large a large projector screen on the front and heavy techno bass speakers beside it..
Dragon disco - located behind Oscar Palace hotel.
New York disco - located near YU house.
Note: It has been observed that many patrons take drugs like ecstasy and yaba openly especially in the discos. If you are uncomfortable with these things, you are advised to stay away from such places. You are also strongly adviced to stay away from drugs as police raids are not uncommon.
Karaokes
There are plenty of karaokes in Danok where SYTs beckons. Quality varies, and ST services are also offered. The best time to recce the farms is 2pm. Unlike Hatyai, you need not need to take a tuk-tuk to tour the farms, as the area within walking distance from most of the hotels.
The rates are:
Short time (ST) - about 500 - 1000bht
Long time (LT) - 1500 to 2000 (thai girl), 2500 - 3000baht for thai chinese and new arrivals
In general, the girls are fairer and better looking than those in Hatyai. A lot of them are very young too. The prettier ones will start to appear on the streets and outside of cafes and KTVs during evening time. If you are not desperate, it may worth your while to wait till night time.
Here is the list of KTVs that are mentioned in the forums, which you may want to check out when you are there.
Mida KTVMinnal
KTVPinky
KTVHoney
KTVRose
KTVMutiara
KTVFebuch
KTVRinda Karaoke - located in front of Satit hotel
Reminder: Always practice safe sex at all times and use a condom.Precaution You Need to TakeNote the handphone number of the captain or pimp and contact them immediately if you have a problem with the girl you got from the joint. Never trust any pimp who does not have their own joint, or belong to any establishment.
If you decide to take those freelancers, do take care of your valuables as there are many incidents of theft. Do not leave them alone. Always be on your guard even if you are taking your shower alone.
One of the way to spot a girl who may disappear on you is to see whether she comes to your room with only her handbag. If she does, then you have to be particularly cautious of her doing a disappearing act later. If she brought a bag with her pyjamas in it, then it is likely that she is prepared to stay the night with you.
Avoid all kinds of drugs and do take note whether the girl you have booked display symptoms of a drug abuser. Ask for a change, or let her go even if you can't get a replacement.
Last but not least, always practice safe sex and use a condom.
PS: Should there be any inaccuracies in the above information, kindly share it in this forum. Thanks and Happy Explorer, u will reach the paradise
Edit by The Monkeys
