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Phuket showed us all how to have fun with Beach Road and the Paradise complex full of music and colour for the Phuket Gay Festival 2004 earlier this month, with Bangkok and Pattaya making do admirably with Chinese New Year. Then just as everyone is gearing up for Valentine's Day the government throws a small bucket of semi-cold water on things with their new closing time regulations - but it was nothing like the huge bucket of freezing water that was the worst case outcome suggested by some in the Interior Ministry!

The Phuket Gay Festival kicked off on Thursday 29 January with the usual opening street party in the Paradise complex, and the soi parties continued every night - though crowds in the soi seemed a little down on last year some nights. The volleyball competition on the beach was as usual a very popular event. The parade on Sunday was probably larger than last year, with a few venues with multiple floats and all the smaller venues with walking contingents or small vehicles. The was a good crowd along Beach Rd and Soi Bangla and the Paradise complex was busy post parade with everyone hyped up and having a great time. Pictures from the festival are in the gallery here, on boxer's website and there should also be some up soon on the official Phuket Gay Festival website.

Chinese New Year saw decorations and special events all over Bangkok and Pattaya, and if you are sick of seeing red everywhere you will need to stay inside for a few days more - Valentine's hearts are up all over town and special events are on at most places, including a foam party at Babylon, the Love Ball at Yes! and of course special shows at Throb/Splash and Boyz Boyz Boyz in Pattaya.

Rather than partying however, most venue owners and nightowls are more concerned about what impact the recent cabinet decisions and new laws will have on nightlife in Thailand. The zoning laws have finally come into effect, and while most of Pattaya's nightlife (including Boyztown, Sunee Plaza and Day Night but not Jomtien) seems to be "in" a zone, it is still not exactly clear what exactly is "in" the Patpong zone in Bangkok - Silom Soi 4 seems a safe bet, and probably Soi 2 but some debate the inclusion of Soi Twilight/Duangthawee Plaza while others claim it is definitely "in", but the Sukhumvit and Saphan Kwai venues are definitely not "in" a zone.

Opening and closing hours are still not exactly clear in and out of zones either - outside the zones it is midnight, in the zones it is 1:00 AM or 2:00 AM or midnight depending on the type of venue, which may leave DJ Station forced to close at 1:00 if it is classed as a "disco", while the Soi 4 bars could open till 2:00 if they are classified as "bars", and most massage places will have to close at midnight, but the go-go bars are still a delicate issue - there is lots of information about venues with female hosts but very little on places with male hosts! And of course all of this becomes effective March 1, with the police reportedly already distributing details of new licenses required to open the new later hours but nobody is really sure if anyone can actually issues the new licenses!

How all this will end up be implemented, and what impact it will actually have on venues (some of which seem fairly empty after midnight anyway!) remains to be seen - but while you are waiting for the final outcome there is lots more fun to be had - see the calendar for details of what else is coming up over the next few months and the directory listings for the latest venue changes!