I've been to Chiang Mai a few times. I've stayed at the Porn Ping Hotel (mentioned in another thread) and another "short time" hotel just on the other side of the night market. The Porn Ping was extremely reasonable and I highly recommend it. The reason I stayed at the short time hotel was because I wasn't sure if the Porn Ping was "guest friendly". Many hotels in BKK charge extra if a girl comes to your room. Rest assured, the Porn Ping IS guest friendly.

My first trip to CM, I was not sure where to go. So, the Tuk Tuk driver took me to a brothel where the girls were charging 100 baht short time! They loked pretty skanky, so I told him to take me to a go-go bar. The place he took me to was near the tourist show (with Muay Thai, folk dancing, etc) off of Thanon Loi Khraw, about a block West of the night market. It was a bit nicer than BKK fare, and they charged me 300 baht "cover charge" including the first berer to get in. At least they were up front about this, and a sign was posted stating the cover charge. In BKK, they sometimes try to sneak the cover charge in once you get inside (I've never had a problem not paying, BTW).

Anyway, inside, it was pretty standard go-go stuff. The girl I was with was friendly, and not too pushy about drinks, etc. She was 500 for barfine, and 1000 for either short time or long time. She took me to the short time hotel (mentioned earlier), and so I ended up staying there next time.

I mentioned the tourist show - If you walk up Thanon Loi Khraw and you can't miss it. There are several beer bars surrounding the show, with plenty of tourists both male and female watching the boxing and whatever. It is pretty slick, but most of the waitresses at these bars will go with you. 300 baht bar fine, and 500-1000 for the girl. Most of these girls are quite attractive in my opinion, and I have taken a liking to this more primitive method of finding girls. The first time I was there, I never even guessed that they were working girls - they are very subtle, and won't leave with you immediately, since they have to stay to close the bar.

I also visited a hostess-type bar further up the same street on the other side of the night market. They have a pool table and air conditioning that can freeze beef. Again, not too pushy - the girl seemed to be more interested in having a good time going out to dinner and to the disco than heading straight to bed. There seemed to be more ex-pats than tourists in there. 500 baht bar fine, 1000 baht long time.

In addition to this, there are several other go-go bars and hostess type places in CM, but these were the ones I noticed closest to the night market, where you will probably spend most of your time anyway. I never realized that the girls at the Porn Ping Hotel were working - I remember seeing pictures in the elevator of the karaoke bar and thinking "those girls are first class", but it seemed legit, so I never bothered to check it out. There are a lot of tourists, including families passing through this hotel, so I am surprised that they would allow (encourage?) this to go on, but I will be sure to check it out next time I go.