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The BravingKL Pink Districts: Bukit Bintang 1 (Updated)

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Gayvilion:
Positioned strongly on the top of the pink hangout destination of Klang Valley is Gayvilion (also known as Pavilion to the straight folks), the spanking new pride of the queer world.

Barely one year since its opening, this swanky mall quickly rose to become the hub of all homo-activities outside the clubbing world. Come sashay down the wide airy aisles in your Prada shoe or your LV bags, or find time to add another Versace to your collection. And then head over to Starbucks café on the street level, and join the highest concentration of caffeine-sipping sisterhoods on a weekend day-out for some people-watching.


Lot 10:
This 18-year-old mall has long lost its luster (if it ever had any), long before Gayvilion came into the picture. However, the recently announced RM20million facelift project YTL may inject some excitement back into this sleepy green building.

http://www.ytlcommunity.com/commnews/shownews.asp?newsid=39055


Dome Café:
This former favourite haunt for the pink community has unfortunately been reduced to a sorry state of affairs with the escalating popularity of Gayvilion. Obviously lacking now in any sinful queer activities that once call this joint home, there seems to be a revival of wholesome family gatherings on weekends, though in numbers that will never match the former. Dome Café has definitely seen its better days, but of course if you still miss their overpriced food and drinks, and their sticky chairs and claustrophobic washrooms, the manager eagerly welcomes you.


Bambusa:
The accessibility and convenience of this once-flourishing gay sauna was ironically what led to its demise. It’s an unwritten rule that all saunas, given their (debatable) negative moral implications, must be situated in seedy backlanes (Otot-Otot), or in sleepy commercial areas that are deserted on weekends (Mandi-Manda) or in areas peppered with similarly seedy gay massage outlets and infested with foreign workers (Kakiku).

Thus, having half-naked men parading their bodies in a balcony directly overlooking the bustling Jalan Bukit Bintang, despite being heavily camouflaged with leafy trees and bamboo blinds), definitely falls out of the comfort zone of the authorities, leading then to multiple high-profile raids and finally its death.


Blue Boy Disco:
Long before the queer crowd parades the classy patio of MarketPlace, this unpretentious disco was already a bustling joint for the Malay crowd and their admirers. With the lures of the more glittery outlets nowadays, I guess alot of the crowd has long moved on.