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From news.com.au By Alex Carlton The odd small food cart, usually without customers. Street dogs snuffling in gutters, sometimes outnumbering people. The Koh Samui of 2022 is Thailand like you’ve never seen it before. The tiny island off the east coast of the mainland, around a 90-minute flight from Bangkok, has been hit hard by Covid shutdowns and border closures. In a normal year, Thailand welcomes around 40 million tourists, making up 11 per cent of its GDP. The country is a big favourite with Australians, with around 800,000 of us visiting each year, pre-pandemic. And for islands like Koh Samui, usually buzzing with music, cheap and delicious food and beer, nightclubs and hostels, the effect of tourism shutting down has taken a huge toll. “Many people simply couldn’t stay in the cities; they returned to their family farms and lived very simply,” one local told me. “It’s been absolutely devastating.” Thailand, like so many places in South East Asia are only just beginning to recover from the effects of the last two years. But borders are now open to Australians – you need to be vaccinated, apply for the Thailand pass and have a Covid test on arrival and isolate until you get a result (in my case, under 12 hours which is standard) but otherwise there’s no quarantine. And that’s exactly why you should consider travelling to Thailand right now. It’s the only chance any of us will ever get to see and experience this beautiful country without its usual crowds. And it’s a way to do your part to support the Thai people – who are always so welcoming to people from all over the world – to get back on their feet.

You're not alone. It's been quite amazing to me (amazing in a good sense) that different people have such widely varying perceptions of desirability. Every somatotype -- from thin to Thor -- has its admirers. I even know quite a few friends who are into chubs. Personally, I like the boy-next-door or fit-athletic type, and even those past 30 and beginning to fill out. And as for size down there, it's never mattered much to me. Below average is fine. It's skill that I am more interested in. For me the key consideration is: Can the service provider provide a good service? More interestingly, I have also observed that not only is the desired type different from one beholder to another, the spread is also dfferent. Some have very narrowly specific tastes, while others (me included) have a wider range of acceptability, and not just in body type either. In terms of age range as well. Observing people and the spectrum of tastes has been one of more intellectual pleasures of my many visits to Thailand.

From Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) UTravellers can arrive in Thailand by air, land, and water with the required prepaid accommodation reduced to 1 night and the COVID-19 tests revised to 1 RT-PCR and 1 self-ATK. The health insurance coverage has also been reduced to no less than US$20,000.PDATED! TEST & GO rules from 1 March 2022 The following rules will be in effect from 1 March, 2022, and will also apply to travellers who have applied/obtained the TEST & GO Thailand Pass or Certificate of Entry with scheduled arrivals from this date. Points of entry: By air (direct international flight or transit domestically via dedicated flights.) By land (at the border checkpoints in Nong Khai, Udon Thani, and Songkhla.) By water (yachts.) Eligible travellers / countries: For arrivals by air and water: Fully vaccinated Thai citizens and foreign travellers from all countries/territories. For arrivals by land: Fully vaccinated Thai citizens and foreign travellers from neighbouring countries connecting with the reopened border checkpoints (Nong Khai, Udon Thani, and Songkhla). Pre-Arrival Requirements All travellers must have the following documents for entering Thailand: A Thailand Pass (via https://tp.consular.go.th/) for arrivals by air and land; or a Certificate of Entry (via a Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate-General) for arrivals by water. A Medical Certificate with an RT-PCR lab result indicating that COVID-19 is not detected issued no more than 72 hours before travelling. Travellers under 6 years of age, travelling with parents with a negative RT-PCR test result within 72 hours before travelling, are not required to have a pre-arrival negative RT-PCR test result and can have a saliva test when entering the Kingdom. For arrivals by water, everyone on board the vessels must have a medical certificate with an RT-PCR lab result indicating that COVID-19 is not detected within the officially specified time frame. Anyone on aboard with a history of COVID-19 infection within a period between 14-90 days must have a medical certificate of recovery. An insurance policy with coverage no less than US$20,000. Thais and foreign expatriates under Thailand’s national healthcare coverage are exempt from this requirement. TAT recommends that travellers make sure to check the small print of any COVID-19 insurance policy before purchasing. Ultimately, the policy should cover the cost of treatment and other medical expenses associated with being infected with COVID-19, including in-patient hospitalisation, hospital isolation, hotel isolation, or related quarantine. The insurance policy should also cover the whole duration that travellers are planning to stay in Thailand, plus at least 10 extra days as a precautionary measure in the event that the traveller’s second swab test result returns as positive. A proof of prepayment for 1 night of accommodation at government-approved hotel/s; such as, SHA Extra Plus (SHA++) on Day 1, which should also include the expenses for 1 RT-PCR test on Day 1 and 1 Antigen Self-Test Kit (self-ATK) on Day 5. A Certificate of COVID-19 Vaccination/Recovery Everyone 18 years of age and older must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with an approved vaccine at least 14 days before travelling to Thailand. Travellers 12-17 years of age travelling to Thailand unaccompanied must get vaccinated with at least 1 dose of an approved vaccine. Those travelling with parents are exempt from this requirement. Travellers 6-11 years of age, travelling with parents, are exempt from this requirement. For arrivals by water, everyone on board must be fully vaccinated. This is except for travellers under 18 years of age, travelling with parents or guardians. Travellers with a history of COVID-19 infection who have recovered by medical treatment, and travellers who have received at least 1 dose of an approved vaccine after post-infection must have a certificate of COVID-19 recovery. All travellers must undergo ‘exit screening’ at the point of departure, i.e., at the airline check-in counter and present the required documents to the person-in-charge to carry out the checks. On-Arrival Requirements / During the Stay All travellers must undergo entry screening including body temperature check, and presenting the required documents to the Immigration/Health Control officer to carry out the checks. 1.1 Arrivals by air: Arrivals on a direct flight to Thailand’s international airport: At the point of entry. Arrivals with domestic connecting flights: At either the first point of entry before boarding the transit flight, or at the final airport. 1.2 Arrivals by land and water: at the point of entry. Proceed to the prearranged accommodation or medical facility to undergo the Day 1 RT-PCR test. *Travellers under 6 years of age, travelling with parents, can have a saliva test. 2.1 Arrivals by air and land: The trip must be by a prearranged vehicle on a sealed route within a travelling time of no longer than 5 hours. Then, all travellers must wait for the test result within the hotel only. 2.2 Arrivals by water: All travellers must wait for the test result on board the travelling vessel (yacht). Travellers whose test result returns as negative are free to go anywhere in Thailand, but will be provided with 1 Antigen Self-Test Kit for a self-test on Day 5 and be required to report/record the result via the MorChana application or another specified application. Travellers whose test result returns as positive will be referred for appropriate medical treatment in accordance with Thailand’s Communicable Diseases Act B.E. 2558 (2015). The expenses must be covered by the required insurance / own expense for foreign travellers, or national healthcare coverage for Thais and eligible foreign expatriates. Pending on their conditions, they may be medically advised to receive treatment in either hospital hotel isolation or community isolation. During receiving the medical treatment – at least 10 days, they must remain in their accommodation only. They should not leave their accommodation unless utmost necessary, and must notify the Communicable Disease Control officer in-charge. After having recovered from COVID-19, they will receive a medical certificate of recovery. While in Thailand, travellers are advised to strictly follow standard, good personal hygiene practices; such as, wear a mask in public, maintain hand hygiene (washing with soap and water or using hand sanitiser), and keep physical distance of at least 1 metre from others. Travellers who are experiencing COVID-like symptoms should get tested. If testing positive they must get appropriate medical treatment. All travellers must download and install the MorChana application, and set it on at all times for the COVID-19 precautionary measures and to record the self-ATK result on Day 5 in the application. The self-ATK on Day 5 will not be required if the traveller’s length of stay is less than 5 nights, or his/her scheduled international departure date out of Thailand is on Day 5 or before. For example, if the traveller plans to stay in Thailand for 3 days, then he/she does not have to report the self-ATK result, but he/she must leave for another country immediately. However, the traveller may be required to take another test depending on the airline and the final international destination. Guidelines for Domestic/International Departure For domestic departure, travellers must show proof that they have received a negative result for their Day 1 RT-PCR test. For international departure, it is the responsibility of travellers or their organisations to make sure that the travellers meet the requirements of their specific international destination regardless of the point of departure. Kindly note the information is to serve as reference only. It is especially important to check in regularly on www.tatnews.org to stay current on what remains a very fluid and fast changing situation. ======================================= For updated Sandbox requirements: https://www.tatnews.org/2022/02/thailand-reopening-living-in-the-blue-zone-17-sandbox-destinations/

Guys take shirts off when the rain pours down. There is no point to wear shirts.

Visiting Thailand? How about living in Thailand? I can assure you the answer is Go. First, it doesn't rain every day. Second, the rains are only torrential sometimes. Third, when it does rain, it usually lasts 45 minutes to an hour and that's the end of it for that day. Fourth, more often than not the rains occur in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, sometimes it rains hard enough and long enough to cause flooding, but it doesn't happen like that very often. Go to Thailand during rainy season and don't even think about letting that deter you. Most of the time you won't even need an umbrella.

Sauna Mania, R3, BKP, Bann JV are all open as usual (all part of the Mania/R3 group, that's why I mention those four)

not at all. Since we here in this forum all know all the bars, I suspect it was maybe shot in one of the girlie gogo bars. Same same but different... testBKK has been around for many years. It's not a clinic per-se, but kind of an educational campaign for sexual health. They often had booths at big gay events such as the circuit parties as well as Songkran, handing out freebies with their logo on it (including tons of condoms, needless to say).

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. In my case, I want a cock to have some resemblance to what a cock is supposed to look like, not a shapeless unrecognisable blob of meat. And that's how some of the worst examples I have seen actually look like. I wish I could do something to help them. So sad.

I love just walking the streets. I'm pretty sure it won't be close to normal, but after a couple of years cooped up, I just need to go somewhere for my mental health. The few years in the US have been very depressing. Covid and fascists.

Came across a new (to me, anyway) massage shop in Bangkok: 365 The River. Although its Twitter site is just about entirely in Thai, you can gain some perspective from the photos and illustrations. From what I can make out, it may--or may not--be located somewhere in vicinity of Bang Sue station. A more diligent search may be productive for those lucky enough to be in town.

From Pattaya News The Pattaya City Public Relations Department this afternoon (February 24th) confirmed rumors online and officially announced that they have decided to postpone the Pattaya Music Festival due to concerns about rising Covid19 “cases”. Pattaya PR stated that due to many confirmed Covid -19 cases in Pattaya and Chonburi, the event has been postponed until the situation improves. They noted that although Chonburi is heavily vaccinated and Pattaya is over 90% vaccinated with plenty of hospital capacity and although serious cases remained incredibly low, as well as deaths, the concern was having an event that would encourage interprovincial travel from areas with more limited resources. The move has already caused many tourism and business associations to criticize the decision, stating that Pattaya and Thailand need to “live” with Covid-19 and stop canceling and postponing events that hurt tourism. TPN notes the overwhelming response on Thailand social media was negative, with most stating that they felt the decision to postpone was poor and that the event should have moved forward as scheduled. https://thepattayanews.com/2022/02/24/pattaya-music-festival-officially-postponed-until-further-notice-due-to-rising-covid-19-cases/

From The Nation The first batch of 236 Thai evacuees from Ukraine are due to arrive back in Thailand from Tuesday to Friday (March 1-4), the Royal Thai Embassy in Warsaw said. he embassy said 47 Thais are currently at the evacuation centre in the city of Lviv, western Ukraine, while another 43 Thais are on their way there from cities across the war-torn nation. However, it said about 100 Thai nationals are unable to travel due to curfews or unsafe conditions in the cities where they live. Among this group are seven Thais in Mykolaiv and 12 in Kharkiv. Fighting between Russian troops and Ukrainian defence forces has been reported in both cities. Thais in other cities were safe, the embassy said. Fighting has also reached the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv. The embassy said that 102 out of 148 Thais in Kyiv had been able to leave the city, adding that 43 had already arrived at the Lviv operations centre. The Warsaw embassy said it will organise a bus to take 41 Thais from Odessa in western Ukraine to Romania's Bucharest on Sunday. "After that, the Royal Thai Embassy in Bucharest will send them back to Thailand by commercial flight on March 1 and 2," the embassy said. It said it was also organising a bus to take 43 Thais from the Lviv operation centre across the border to Warsaw on Sunday, followed by a second batch on Monday.

Yes, I agree. During the rainy season, it's much more pleasant to be outside if it's overcast or partly cloudy than when the sun is roasting. I also agree that doing beach destinations in the rainy season is not a great idea. Pattaya excepted, of course.

I prefer the rainy season in Pattaya..... quieter (sic) which used to be a plus! And anyway, most of the pleasures available are of the indoor variety while the rain rarely lasts more than an hour or two. However, a visit we made to Krabi a few years back was a disaster; we had planned boat-trips to various islands including Phi Phi. Each day, we'd wake -up to glorious sunshine but observe clouds on the horizon. By the time we were due to leave, the rains had come. We spent much of the time in-doors. And no Phi Phi.

gerefan is correct. Most years those are the two rainiest months - and they are part of the "official" rainy season.

I agree just go. I was there once in September the wettest month and you tend to get short heavy showers but it very rarely rains all day. Have fun.

I was in Thailand in August, September , October and November ( in different years of course ) and agree with Gaybutton's every word including not even needing an umbrella most times

If you are referring to heaven, I think pretty good chances. Not so for vclub

Canadian, I join in thanking you for these reports. They lead to what seems to be an obvious conclusion: Grindr is better than Manny, because you get what you want and for a lower price. Am I mistaken?

Pearl Harbor was not Japan -US conflict but outright aggression, so was Germany's invasion of Poland and so is Russian attack on Ukraine

As I may have mentioned, I have visited rio and recife in january. A little bit more than a week in rio and week in recife. All stores and restaurants were opened. The beach has usual crowds. Maybe there were less vendors on the beach during the week. I did not visit saunas, because a new wave of omicron just started to grow in brazil. I was said when I saw that my my favorite bar Tonemai on Rua de amoedo in Ipanema is closed. Now they are refurbishing the place and the domino pizza will move in short time. This was my first trip after January 2020. Maybe the prices of food did increase, however the exchange rate is taking care of the increase. What is more sad, is that I feel that quality of food is getting worse. As I said, I did not visit the saunas, because of covid fear. However, grindr is rich with boys who are willing to do anything. Some will start their offers with 500, some with 300 reais, but they will all settle for 200 reais. It was particularly interesting in Recife. I did not know, how the hotel will treat visitors. I have read on tripadvisor that hotel’s policy is liberal. And really, whenever, I came in the lobby with guest the security was looking literally away. No problems. Recife is not much up to, but village near by Olinda is beautiful old village. I would also recommend uber trip to beach in porto galinhas. Really nice, but avoid weekend.

Yes, Heaven was in full swing back in December 2021.

Not exactly sure what that means...As I've stated before I'm not interested in Macho hunks or masculine tops or muscular manly guys...if those are 5-star to you I understand but, they aren't my type.

I have been checking my neighborhood in Google Maps, and I love it. Definitively, Medellín is becoming a strong candidate to be one of my after retirement bases. Even in Google Maps, the city seems to be full of attractive men.

J is my choice. https://twitter.com/365theriver?lang=en

Zee is cute indeed !

I am glad to be back both in Thailand as well as in this forum. After I logged into my account, I re-read my last post from my last trip in February 2020. I had strong feelings then, when I left. I did contact Myanmar boy after and promised to meet in April 2020. Of course, that didn’t happen and I did not contact him since. Tl;dr I did meet him this trip but I am not sure I will see him again. In fact, he was one of the main reason I went ahead with this short trip despite all the hoops to go through, uncertainties and risks. He appeared in the line-up for a massage shop I was following on LINE. He was still in Thailand, and I wanted a reunion, two years overdue. Phuket Sandbox notes I travelled under the Phuket Sandbox scheme during the suspension of Test&Go. My Thailand pass approval took 7 days (applied on Saturday, approved on Friday). Upon arrival at Phuket airport, immigration only checked 2 documents; Thailand pass and my pre-departure PCR test, which they took and kept the copy. This was the only time anyone in Thailand asked for my Thailand pass or cared about what scheme I was travelling on. Technically, I could leave and fly off anywhere else after Day 1, of course that would be illegal. After immigration and collection of baggage, PCR test station was outside conveniently next to the pick-up point. I did my PCR test at 6.30pm and the results was in my email inbox at midnight. It was my first time in Phuket so I had to take extra time to research. Thanks to @Midguy1, his trip report was really helpful. I am not really a beach and sun person, so I was not sure how much I will enjoy spending 7 days here. I did. Being a morning person, I loved and missed my daily morning run-walk along the beach the most. I spent the evenings, when it cooled down, watching the sunset daily. Maybe it was the just the laid-back getaway atmosphere I needed. There were a lot of foreign travellers, but it was not overcrowded. I see a lot of Thais as well enjoying their time on the beach. I had most of my meals from the street carts along the beach, not the cheapest but the most convenient for me. As widely discussed, mask wearing were more lax here compared to Bangkok. Depending on your risk appetite, you had options to be away or be in the crowd. Massages I had an average of one massage per day. The massage shops are on one row of Royal Paradise Hotel street, while the bars were on another street around 50 metres away. I like to research using google street view, but it was not possible to view the row of massage shops since it is on a walking path and not a road. Very little footfall, but I do see one or two customers at the shops every time. One of the massage boys told me that it is busier at night after dinner and they close late after midnight. There were about 4 shops open. I only remembered 4massage, as I saw it mentioned in a few sites during my research and it was also on google maps. The other shops' names were either not prominently displayed, written in Thai or I was just distracted by the boys sitting outside. 4massage had the most number of boys, at least 7 at one time. The rest had between 2 to 5 depending on the time of the day. I was pleasantly surprised at the number and choices available. I would say most, if not all were Thai. Prices for oil massage was 300-400 baht. Most did not have duration specified in the menu, or again maybe I was too distracted to notice. I will not go into details for each massage. Overall, massages were average but attention and services were great. Half of the guys specified their tip request which can be negotiated down. I do tend to tip more for those that don’t ask. For the apps, it seemed to me the numbers were small, one or two pages covers everyone in Phuket. Most boys on the app works at a massage place. For those into ladyboys, there is definitely a higher concentration here on the apps and also working at massage places than anywhere else I’ve seen. It was on the apps I found BKK boy, the highlight of my trip. Based on location, I guessed he worked at a massage shop so I started the conversation immediately asking him that. He confirmed, sending a picture of the massage shop and the menu. I quickly negotiated and agreed to his offer for him to come over to my room. He said he will reach in 5 mins, however it was at least a 15 mins walk to the hotel from his shop. I thought it was ‘Thai time’ but turns out he asked for a ride from the shop manager. He was thinner in real life but still looks pleasantly good. I requested to start with a massage, which he did, for a short while. First impressions a little on the aggressive side in bed to my liking, but I saw glimpses of his cheeky and caring side off bed as we had a short conversation after as he sneaked in a goodbye kiss with mask on. He has also mastered the art of texting by not being too pushy or overbearing. After he left, I knew I wanted to see him again. I kept my options open with a ‘maybe’ we can watch the show at Zag-Zig bar the next night which we talked about. The next day was my last full day.

Laborlife Diagnosticos in Rio … not a maternity ward … laborlife.com 5-10 minute walk from Botafogo station (southwesterly) Very professional and fast, walk-in. If you are not a nickel-and-dimer is worth it for convenience. Close to half the cost of fee-for-service equivalent in Canada. Results in PTG and English, get both versions automatically. There are other options locally but Botafogo is so accessible whether travelling south from as far as Lapa or north from Ipanema, etc. RAT 2 hrs swab to email BRL180 RT-PCR 12 hours BRL300 RT-PCR 6 hours BRL450 For searchability keywords on our GG site: COVID rapid antigen test PCR