Leaderboard

Because "face" is not a zero-sum game, and calling someone out is not a winning strategy in Thai culture. If you make someone lose face, you are inviting trouble. You are also perceived to lose face on your own account because of your inappropriate (as they see it) behaviour. Moreover, if you make a scene, that embarrasses the onlookers and can make them lose face too. On the other hand by discreetly signalling that you have already heard all the BS (true or not) you enable everyone to save face.

MBK. One of the floors all the way down one side is filled with all the tacky you could possibly want. Where else can you buy snow globes that rain red glitter over a cheesy tuk-tuk replica? I also recommend MBK for mango and sticky rice at the old food court. And across the street from MBK on the ground floor of the kind of new art center is a terrific specialty coffee shop that makes coffee only with beans grown in Thailand. You can buy bags of the beans, which also make terrific souvenirs. In that same building but on a higher floor is a specialty chocolate bar shop that makes world-class chocolate with beans only grown in Thailand. The bars on the expensive side but are wonderful souvenirs (though in my experience I always end up failing to give away the bars to their intended recipients and eating all the bars for myself). Um, maybe too many tangents. Circling back, try MBK.

A pretty recent picture shot from Mahanakhon Tower.

From Reuters BANGKOK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Thailand raised its daily minimum wage for the first time in more than two years on Friday, the labour ministry said, as it seeks to help workers cope with rising living costs and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A committee made up of government representatives, companies and labour groups agreed to raise wages by an average of 5.02% from Oct. 1, Boonchob Suthamanaswong, the ministry's permanent secretary, said in a statement. The minimum wage was last hiked in January 2020, by 1.6%-1.8%. The exact rates differ slightly between regions with the three most industrialised provinces - Chonburi, Rayong and Phuket - and the capital Bangkok, at the top end of a 328 baht and 354 baht ($9.11-$9.84) range. The raise makes Thailand's monthly minimum wage - at 9,840 to 10,620 baht ($273.33-$295.00)- among the highest of its peers in Southeast Asia with such measures. By comparison, Vietnam, a regional manufacturing base, has a monthly minimum wage of between 3.25 million dong and 4.68 million dong ($138.82-$199.90). ($1 = 36.00 baht) ($1 = 23,412.0 dong)

From The Straits Times

NOTE -- The scene depicted in photo below appears to have been taken in Benjakitti Forest Park. From Time Boys’ Love Dramas Are Changing the Way Many People View Gay Romance In downtown Bangkok, a crowd of waiting women squeals as rookie actors Jitaraphol “Jimmy” Potiwihok and Tawinan “Sea” Anukoolprasert step out of a shopping mall. With their blushing humility and matinee idol looks, they effortlessly charm the assembled office workers and students in uniform. Yet it is Jitaraphol’s hand on the small of Tawinan’s back, and their fleeting glances, that elicit the loudest cheers. The intimate gestures echo their exchanges in the new series Vice Versa—one of many queer romances that are Thailand’s hottest cultural export. Known locally as Y shows, and globally as Boys’ Love (BL) dramas, the serials are poised to compete with South Korean telenovelas for viewership in Asia and beyond. Some see BL as Thailand’s soft power, doing for the Southeast Asian nation’s global image what the yoga boom has done for India or K-pop for South Korea. Jitaraphol tells TIME that the country’s queer dramas “can compete with series from other countries.” Poowin Bunyavejchewin is a senior researcher at the Institute of East Asian Studies at Thammasat University in Bangkok, who has made a study of BL. He says that if the genre was able to hook foreign audiences “it would be a high potential revenue generator.” BL’s success isn’t a given, however. Thailand is a socially conservative, primarily Buddhist country with a significant Muslim minority. The country’s military-backed regime—known for its use of repressive laws to crack down on politically progressive forces—is also unlikely to be enthusiastic about the country’s burgeoning reputation as an exporter of luscious gay TV. It isn’t just the growth of an entertainment genre at stake. Thomas Baudinette, a cultural anthropologist at Sydney’s Macquarie University, credits BL with an “emancipatory, very positively framed, romantic depiction of male-male love.” Continues at https://time.com/6208817/thailand-bl-dramas-popularity/

I bought a pencil sharpener on Khaosan Rd for a friend. It was a woman with her legs apart, so you can guess where the pencil went. Very tastfully done!

I think it is unreasonable to off a guy and expect him to be able to bottom if he's not used to it. Is not something you can just do on the spot - it requires quite a bit of practice and a top who will take things slowly. Otherwise it can be very painful indeed. But one you get used to it, it's a case of "Hello, sailor!"

Patpong Night market may be not reinstated yet but in the evening there are still some souvenir stands along Silom between hospital and former Robinson. Tourist Boat piers near Grand Palace and Khaosan are good hunting grounds as well as Grand Palace vicinity toward National Museum and KhaoSan herself Sukhumvit in the evening between sois 3 and 21 too during daytime markets at Silom soi 8 and on opposite side in soi 5 may have some I saw few souvenir stands on Convent in between all those food stands Plenty souvenirs in New Twilight, Tawan, Moonlight, FreshBoys, DreamBoys, HotMale, Banana Club and Jupiter but I'd not call them tacky and are rather on expensive side compare to tuk-tuk above

My friend in Rio informed me he has monkeypoxx for the last 3 weeks. I'm sure he got it in one of the sex clubs he loves to visit. When I was there he took me to about 4 clubs near the lapa area. I'm due to arrive in Brazil in October and I admit I am a lot more concerned over monkeypoxx than I ever was of covid. I am wondering what I will do when I'm in the mood for sex? Will I stick to regulars or will I just hope for the best? I talked to my friends in Sao Paulo and none of them have heard anything about monkeypoxx. This trip, I'm bringing friends from Sao Paulo to Rio for a weekend partyfest before they fly back to work and home. Before I planned a bar and sauna crawl till the wee early morning but now I don't know. And then there is the sauna. I hear the pox lingers on surfaces. Wearing a towel could expose skin to contamination? Maybe? Maybe not? For now I'm going to pull a scarlet and worry about this stuff another day...

That is what I would say too. I don't mind being generous with the boys, but I mind very much being ripped off, and that is how I see the prices being quoted. I'll stick with the apps. I used to be among those who felt as if they are missing something if they weren't in the bars every night. Now I'm just fine having little to do with them at all. Besides, I'm not a drinker in the first place. I'm sure I would view it differently if I were in Thailand only for holidays. Living here, I see things much differently. I check out Jomtien Complex once every few months or so. I haven't been to Sunee Plaza since Covid began. I haven't been to Boyztown in years. For me, that's quite enough. For me times, and apparently prices, have changed.

Thank you for recommendations but stay on the subject, question was about tacky, not high quality souvenirs, LOL

From Pattaya News Haven’t been to Thailand since before the Covid-19 pandemic took place, say before March 2020? We have you covered here at TPN media. The following article is designed for visitors and tourists, not expats, and is focused on some of the changes in venues, atmosphere, and the town in general since pre Covid. For the ease of use in this article we will call that period PC. AC will be after Covid. This article isn’t designed to list every single change, business opening, closure, etc. It’s only a general guide for those who haven’t been in a while, not meant to be all inclusive. We also aren’t covering requirements with visa, or covid vaccines etc. To come. This is more focused on Pattaya itself. We here in Pattaya have already seen many people returning for the first time in two years plus and the number of people returning will only likely increase as we move into Quarter Four and the first high season without strict border entry restrictions since 2019. Let’s begin. Continues at https://thepattayanews.com/2022/08/26/feature-a-tourists-guide-to-some-of-the-biggest-changes-in-pattaya-for-visitors-who-have-not-been-since-before-the-covid-19-pandemic/

As far as I know, that is correct. What used to be common when Pattaya had a great many go-go bars, the mama-sans would try to get customers to take the boys they recommended. That's because those boys would give kickbacks to the mama-san. I don't know how much of a kickback they gave or if any of that still goes on today, but the boys are free to go with or turn down farang, negotiate their own prices, work in whichever bars they want, and change bars any time they want. I doubt many boys still give kickbacks to mama-sans or anyone else these days, By the way, 1500 baht is expensive for short time in Pattaya. Unless times have changed since I last took a bar boy off for short time (and that has been quite a while), the going rate is 1000 baht. 1500-2000 baht for overnight. Of course, no boy will object if his customer wishes to be more generous than that.

I am sure you are correct. On the other hand that means losing an off. The young man was new to the bar and probably was only trying to be helpful. I reckon the words he used when I asked if he'd bottom were very fair. I could easily have told him I'd find another of the boys instead. But I liked him and he was extremely pleasant, more so than many boys I'd met in bars. And even though the sex was not quite what I'd hoped, I had a really good time with him. I hope he reported that other farang to the mamasan and that she then spread the word to the other Twilight bars.

I have stayed there two or three times a year for several years now, and always happy. My last visit was last month, and the construction appears to be nearing completion. The long term staff are as lovely as ever, but like billyhouston I do miss the lovely buffet breakfast and tended to go out to eat. Hopefully in this high season coming up things will get back to normal.

issue with bottoming may be size of client, on few occasions boys, when asked told me they would bottom but only for small size

It's easy to forget that Thailand already has an organization that operates as a de facto sex workers union. The Sex Workers IN Group (SWING) are a sex worker organisation with drop-in spaces and offices across three of Thailand’s most infamous red-light districts: Bangkok (Patpong), Koh Samui, and Pattaya (Walking Street). As an organisation working at the local, national and regional level, SWING are recognised for their expertise in developing creative and innovative core programs and projects which focus on the health and wellbeing of sex worker communities, using a human rights framework and peer-led health promotion activities. From the Global Network of Sex Work Projects SWING’s work is driven by principles of community ownership and community representation, which reflect the organisation’s commitment to providing its exclusive sex worker membership with a range of peer education initiatives that build the capacity of individual members and ensure the sustainability of the network. In creating a space and voice for sex workers in society, SWING employs a strategy of empowerment through education, which aims to increase the quality of life of its members and to enhance their abilities to participate in the local and national sex worker movements as peer-leaders. In advocating for sex workers’ rights, SWING recognises that sex workers are the most effective agents of change; however, the organisation also works to build strategic alliances with institutions and individuals who can enact cultural change within their own communities for the benefit of sex workers. SWING are a member of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) and are widely respected within the Asia Pacific region for the flagship work they have undertaken within male and trans* sex workers communities. Read more about SWING https://www.nswp.org/featured/service-workers-group-swing

The court has teeth. They essentially killed off Future Forward. It's just a matter of which powerful institution the court serves.

Yes. This site is for falangs, not Thais. Posters on this site (and I hope I'm one of them) often seek to present the views and experiences of Thai guys on the scene as best they can but we are merely reporters. Please take it from me; there are many guys out there who are sensitive to the manner in which they are treated . Appreciative often but sometimes hurt. The inability of most of us to speak Thai competently can prevent us from gaining insights into their feelings particularly since their ideal is to maintain a "jen yai"... a cool heart. This can mean not showing emotion. Sometimes they go back to their rooms quietly but deeply hurt and disappointed. Peter RS's post recounts a tale I've heard elsewhere and I expect everyone else has too; "Well, I payed for it and so I'm going to get it, however much it hurts him." And in one case, as recounted to me, the pain inflicted even gave enjoyment to the customer. We are paying for a service that can seem to be analogous to having a hair-cut but it is a lot more than that because of the intimacy of the transaction and the emotions aroused. None of us wants to be taken advantage of but nor do our hosts. If either party doesn't comply with the rules of the game, hurt is inevitable.

Ok, I agree. You've said your piece and I've said mine. All done. Nothing to be gained by continuing.

As mentioned in my first post here, I'm a long-time follower of this forum (going back around 15 years, on and off) but rarely posted anything because from the great fountain of information you guys shared, I don't think I have anything new to add. Once I started sharing (just three weeks ago), I found that I do and should have done it many years ago Although Jason1975 says I should write trip reports, I'm not really up to a full report so I just share tidbits of my Thailand trips and occasionally take a chance to give you some info about Vietnam's scene too since I'm mainly based in Vietnam. I gonna start this tidbit thread with stories about a cheating mamasan in Toy Boys. This week, I came directly to Pattaya from the Bangkok airport (using Nam taxi, 1000B, they gave me detailed instructions of how to find the driver: Arrival Hall, walk outside and find Entrance No 3, then look for a car plated XXYY). Staying in AIYAREE PLACE just across street from Jomtien Complex (spacious room with a double and also a single bed, which I can use for massage, a separated space with room apparatus, arm chairs and table, perfect for working remotely, swimming pool and small gym, included breakfast buffet and also 400B hotel credit for lunch/dinner in the in-house restaurant with a pretty good selection of Western and Thai food, all of these for just 1100B/night, also no problem with guests to the room) Chatted with a boy on Blued for a massage deal. If I'm gonna meet a guy on app, I prefer if he can do massage and if I can just book for massage only first (in case the guy shows up and looks totally different from his picture). This guy seems professional with his itemized price list (shown in the picture). Some members may know him too (the one who keeps promoting his own laundry service all the time and I find it quite cute. He showed up, and just one look at him (small-built, slim fit, smooth skin, boyish look), I know I'm gonna follow up with some after-massage services. He's indeed professional, bringing everything (water-proof tarp, towel, a selection of massage oils, relaxing music, he just forgot candles hehe). He also speaks decent English (used to have some foreign boyfriends from China and Japan), so we chatted a lot during the session. It turns out he used to work in Toy Boys in Boyztown about 4 years ago. My first visit of the bar many years ago left quite a bad taste in my mouth. I was greeted by this mamasan, who is Chinese-Vietnamese and can speak Mandarin, Vietnamese, Thai and English. It felt so good to talk to someone in my mother tongue in a foreign bar, so I sought advice from him about everything. It was my last night in Pattaya and I liked 2 boys so decided (a first for me) to off both of them. Mamasan presented me with a handwritten bill including my drink, boy drinks, bar fines, boy's tips (1500 each) and also a charge for bar's short-time room (400 per boy). He told me he collected the boy's tips in advance just for safety and that even though I don't use the short time room at the bar, they still charge for it as a rule. I guess I was really naive at the time and probably trusted the bastard too much because he's Vietnamese too. To think that I even gave him a decent tip for all of his "troubles"! Only when I was back to my hotel and talked more with the boys who spoke rather limited English, I found out that the short-time charges were totally bullshit. If I didn't leave town the next day, I would come back to the bar and raise the issue with the management. The next time I set foot in the bar (6 months later), I simply ignored that mamasan who recognized me instantly, refusing to speak to him even for seating or bill paying (kinda passive-agressively you must think). I became friend with another mamasan from Cambodia and had no problems since then. So back to my massage, I asked Kiwi (the boy's nickname) why he quit, and he said he didn't like the working enviroment there and especially the mamasan, who cheated him out of his money so many times. Of course, it was the same guy. Turns out he cheated the customers and he cheated the boys too. Kiwi told me that many times that mamasan dealt with a customer (especially someone new to town) 2000 for ST and collected the money in advance but told the boy that the customer paid 1500 so the boy got back 1400 (minus his cut of 100). Kiwi said he never thought about asking the customers how much money they actually gave the mamasan. He only found out about this almost one year later, when a customer showed him a picture of the same handwritten bill I got, and funny enough, including the same bogus short-time room charge I had. Kiwi also said even though he gave the mamasan his standard 100 cut every time, that one still tried to steer customers away from him (because some other boys would give mamasan 200 or even 300 cut), like telling the customer who wants a bottom that Kiwi only tops (FYI he can do both but prefer bottom position), or even saying that you need to be careful because he's kinda bad boy etc. Kiwi, too, only found out about this through customer feedback, and his story brought back another bad memory. That night, when I pointed to one of the two boys I later offed, who was standing quietly like a church mouse in a corner, Mamasan did say that boy only goes with lady customers. But because he was totally my type, I waived him in and later found out he's gay and can bottom (another red flag I should've paid attention to but I was too excited to have my first threesome ever at that point). Back at the hotel, I asked him why Mamasan said he only goes with ladies, he said he didn't know and he never went with women customers before. Back again to my massage. Job done, I'm happy with the massage, after services and also the enlightening conversation we had, and gave him 2000 even though he only asked for 1500 tops. Also because of this, I decided to go to Boyztown that evening and visit Toy Boys again (I walked past them a couple of weeks ago and saw they just re-opened with that cheating mamasan standing at the door), just so I have a chance to blow him off again hehe. (to be continued)

From Khaosod English / Thaiger Thai Airways announced it is renting three more planes and hiring 600 more staff this year as part of its restructuring plans. After cutting costs, selling stock, chasing debts, and distributing plane seats, Thai Airways’ turnover rate in the third quarter of this year is expected to increase. Not only that, the President of the Reorganisation Committee of the Thai Airways International Public Company, Piyasavat Amranand, says he expects the company to be back in black within the next two years. Piyasavat added that Thai Smile Airways, a subsidiary of Thai Airways, has seen an increase in passengers. He said the number of passengers is at about 80% of the pre-Covid-19 days. The president said Thai Airways needed more personnel, especially ground staff, in response to the increasing number of passengers. So, he made known that they would outsource 600 staff to fill vacancies in the ground service area, cargo department, and kitchen. The number of company staff will be raised to 15,000 next year. The company is also expecting more travellers from India, and European countries as Thailand approaches its high season from October to December. Moreover, Thai Airways will resume direct flights from Bangkok to Milan, Italy, and Bangkok to Oslo, Norway, by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, and increase flights from Bangkok to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from four to seven flights per week. Piyasavat believes Thai Airways will be back in black and on track by 2024 and end its reorganisation plan in 2025.

YT suggested this to me last night. I think I may need to find out if there are subtitles

It's usually 100B for both Bangkok and Pattaya bars, as I was told by various boys from different bars. I even saw a boy from Luck Boys gave mamasan 100B right before he left the bar with me and of course before he received any money from me. I was also told that some boys tried to one-up others by giving mamasan more (like 200B) so the latter would play favorite and push him harder to potential customers.

That's not quite the way I hear it. It sounds more like "ke-lid-mart". to me, and the first time I heard it, (which was literally decades ago, but hasn't much changed) I ended up thinking the speaker was saying "climax". It was most unnerving that the speaker was a female hotel receptionist.

If little Winnie has started that at Divarium, that's crazy. Might explain why his bar has been empty every night for the last 3 weeks. Still, I would ignore him and make your own arrangements with the boy. I won't deal with people acting like "pimps". Having said that, he only has 4-5 boys working for him, and not the best lookers in Jomtien Complex by any stretch. I have a feeling it might have not been the bar, but instead something dodgy with that god awful mamasan he employs (the one that looks like a soi dog and begs for drinks).

If you have time on the weekend, Chatuchak Weekend Market is a good place to find all kinds of souvenirs. The toy stalls would be full of tacky crap, but you might find some good scores for yourself. The Amulet Market over by Thammasat University could have something, this might not be tacky enough and more buddha and cultural things. I don't know how tacky you need them, the shopping in the terminals at Swampy on your departure will have a bunch of random crap like tuk-tuk models, but it is overpriced. But If I was hunting for the tackiest possible souvenir I would look around markets close to the touristy temples, the floating market, or maybe some elephant pants from Khaosan Rd. In normal times I'd suggest just following the flag on a pole (if you know, you know) 😅

not everything , just guys

I agree, CNN has always felt like corporate centrism with any bias being towards getting viewership more than a firm political leaning. I think Trump's crybaby fits against something most people thought was innocuously centrist helped some people to see how dishonest he was. I HATE the false equivalency conservatives love to draw between Fox and MSNBC. MSNBC is a journalistic enterprise and while there's a liberal bias... there's a lot of good journalism too. NOBODY SCREAMING "KILL THEIR MIKE" when an alternative viewpoint is being discussed-hell it's one of the few places to still seek an alternative viewpoint! Fox "News" is nothing but billionaires paying millionaires to tell the middle class to blame the poor. The ONLY goal is tax cuts for the corpocracy and top 1%, everything else they destroy along the way is collateral damage. There is exactly as much "journalism" as their legal department tells them is REQUIRED. Personally, I prefer to be the consumer rather than the product (what advertisers are purchasing) so I get most of my news from National Public Radio, specifically never miss the weekly wrap up (also widely available as a podcast) Left, Right, and Center. Believe it comes out Thursday evenings, should be able to get the latest episode Friday at the least. "Alexa, play podcast Left, Right and Center, latest" works for me!

You whoring up everything in sight 😗

I see, but gained some weight though

I'm not a resident but I was in that area on my last trip in July. A large, new building is going up on the block bordered on three sides by Silom rd., Convent rd., and the narrow soi that runs behind the Silom complex. Most of the food vendors on the periphery of the site have had to relocate. I would not be surprised if the construction work generates much noise. Best wishes for a good trip. Just spoke with a bartender at a Patpong club and he says business is steadily picking up.

I think you mean "jai yen" (ใจเย็น). "jen yai" would be "Big Jane", and you really don't want to meet her 😀

I think the boys are sometimes victimized by cheap skates. Remember the most important thing to a man is sex, the next is money. So after having had an orgasm, the first thought is saving money. Maybe lowering the expected tip for the boy. If I was a mb, I would try to unionize and request payment first like in most other countries. That would give more power to the mb. We’re very lucky that’s not the case yet. But you never know.

Saturday would be my last opportunity to visit a sauna in the evening as I would be leaving in the afternoon on Sunday. I decided to go to 117 for my last night which turned out to be a good choice as I had a couple of sessions with two guys I had met earlier on the trip. A fun way to finish my sauna visits for this trip. Sunday I visited the hippie market in Ipanema before heading to the airport in the afternoon. Catching a connecting flight to GRU and starting the long journey home. The trip had been a great experience with the opportunity to meet some amazing guys. I will get to do it all again in a months time.

In my bar-going days, when differences arose between a farang and one of the bar boys, I usually found the bar boys' versions were correct. Years ago there was a waiter at Classic Boys whom I really liked. I asked if I could off him. He seemed pleased. I said I would like it if he would bottom. He said he had little experience but would try. Did I still want to off him? I did. He certainly did his best, but being a bottom was too painful for him. So we spent the off time doing other things and I had a really enjoyable time with him. He fully deserved his tip. A few weeks later I was chatting to him in the bar. He said another English-speaking farang had offed him, again on the basis that he'd try to bottom but again after informing the farang he was inexperienced and could not guarantee it would work. The farang took him to the Suriwong Hotel short time rooms. As with me, it didn't work. The farang became angry and told him to get dressed and leave. He did not even give this very pleasant young man a tip. I agree that there are duds amongst both some boys and some customers. But I am sure they were few and far between in those days because the boys always had the mamasans whom they could report a dud customer to. Now with the apps, things have obviously changed.

not size of regular kitchen , more of Buckingham Palace kitchen, but , yes about half size of previous location

I can't look at the KFC logo now without thinking, there's a wise man 😉

the do but it's between you and masseur, not between you and venue if you see they advertise something like T or B or number i.e. 54, you know you are heading to a place of your dreams

they showed now suspending PM after all. It's why I suspect he crossed spades with somebody more powerful

I’m sorry but Thailand has temples?😮😮😮

Sorry "Thai doctors" but I go to Thailand for cocks. I visit beaches and temples in between the cocks. For me, there are lots of other countries which offer far more interesting places to go sightseeing.

we do but so far never had any issues, quite opposite , we co-operate nicely to keep guys busy

:Last year I was in Bangkok over Christmas and it was uncrowded fun although church at midnight mass was packed. Since another member 18past19 was there at the same time and even we stay in the same hotel we visited Mahanakhon and after that had lavish Christmas Lunch in world famous UNESCO designated 7.5 star Foodland Patpong. Tourist crowds were nowhere to be seen, neither on top of Mahanakhon not in Jupiter which we visited in the evening. This year for a change I'm planning to stay home at Christmas as my relatives consider Christmas travel pagan custom.

For MaxTul fans: Max and Tul will reprise their roles of Tan and Dr. Bun of “Manner of Death” in the continuation of the plot from “Triage”. The new series will be called “ Transplant”. Unfortunately, the link below is not an official teaser:

(part 5) After 2 days, I move to A&P (Arthur & Paul) - the gay-only hotel in Phnom Peng (I have always wanted to experience such a place). It's pricy, double the price I paid for my centrally located 4 star hotel, and also a bit far from the city center. However, moving to this hotel put me in walking distance of 15 minutes or less to a number of well-known gay sauna & massages, including Dai Khmer (st 420), Ganesh House Massage (also on st 420), Hatha Khmer Massage and Love Spa (reported in part 4), to name a few, not to mention the most famous A&P, the in-house sauna of the hotel to which its guests have free access (Guide actually wanted to take me to A&P during my first tour but I told him I'm gonna stay there anyway). My tip: visitors to Phnom Peng should try to stay in two different locations (one near the Royal Palace, and the other near A&P). A&P itself is expensive, but I saw quite a number of decent hotels, probably cheaper, nearby when I walked around the neighborhood. That means you can stay in a cheaper place and then buy an all-day multi-entry pass to A&P for a few more bucks to use their very good facilities, including dry & wet saunas, swimming pool, big jacuzzi, and also cute and smiling staff in their underwear (it's clothing optional, mind you). It's like when you visit Ho Chi Minh city, you should stay first in District 1 (the actual city center, especially Bui Vien area which we call phố tây - street for foreigners) and later move to District 10, Sub-district 12 (the de factor gay service center with a lot of gay massage parlors and saunas). Back to Phnom Peng, I walked to Ganesh House Massage last night because it's very near just to have some ideas. It has the same setup as Hatha Khmer Massage: curtains, boys in underwear (white this time) but fewer boys (8 on display at 10h30pm, open till midnight). As with the case of Heco, the receptionist's English is extremely poor and Guide wasn't with me, so after a few questions trying to find more info but to no avail, I gave up and walked back. Took some pictures though. I contacted Dai Khmer (on the same street as Ganesh) on Grindr and they send me pictures of the available 5 masseurs. I like the one in red shirt. A taste check: @vinapu and @jason1975 which ones do you like? Jason, I think you could really use a week-end trip from Singapore to sample gay life and boys in Phnom Peng. About finding boys on app, I only had one hook-up in the first two days so don't have much to say about it. However, it looks to me that while both Blued and Grindr have a lot of local boys, Grindr appears to have a higher rate of MBs. In Thailand, I found that Hornet works better for Pattaya, Grindr for Bangkok and Blued is pretty decent for both. Vietnam is similar to Cambodia (Blued and Grindr), but you may want to install one more app - Zalo (as popular as Line in Thailand). Usually, app boys are gonna give you their Zalo contact. Another tip: if you are in Vietnam and try to find boys on app, beware of so-called online pimps, who also advertise their service on Blued, Grindr and Zalo. Many of those online pimps just scout the apps, looking for any boys who advertise themselves as MB (in Vietnam, we usually use the term call boy or cb instead), then create their own list of "models". As a result, the same boy may appear in multiple lists advertised by different pimps. In many cases, the pimps know next to nothing about their boys and can't answer your questions about the boy's sexual orientation, whether he looks like his pictures, what he would or would not do in bed, etc. Worse still, they also jack up the price quite a bit (for example, if you deal directly with the boy, he may ask for somewhere between 500K and 1 mil VND short time, about 700-1500B or 22-45 USD. Through a pimp, that would become 1-1.5 mil VND (and if they know that you are foreigners, they may quote the price in USD for even more money, so feel free to haggle). The more a pimp can charge you, the more commission he gets (30% of what the boy gets from you). Different pimps may quote you different prices for the same boy. I don't mind paying the pimps their cut if they actually do a their job of giving us some helpful intel about boys. But they more often than not don't. So I follow some pimps on Zalo to see pictures of the boys and then just do the opposite: scout the apps for familiar faces You also need to know where to put your location while searching. In Hanoi, for example, search the old quarter or Hoan Kiem lake. Ho Chi Minh city (see relevant locations a few lines above). One MB, who's currently working in Bi sauna in District 10 in Ho Chi Minh City, told me this intriguing story. He got a customer (a Vietnamese overseas) through a pimp and travelled all the way to meet the customer in his centrally-located hotel. The agreed price is 1.2 mil (which means the pimp's cut is 400K). However, the customer, for whatever reasons, changed his mind and didn't want sex. He offered the boy 500K for "meeting and chatting". FYI: I can confirm that the boy in question does look like his pictures, very cute in person as well, and can also do massage quite professionally. I used his service and was happy. Boy told me he had to give the pimp his cut of 400K no matter what (he also complained that pimps don't care if the deal didn't go through, they don't care if boys get in trouble with rogue customers, would not protect the boys because they themselves also know nothing about customers), and the remaining 100K wasn't even enough to cover his two-way taxi fare. So he insisted the customer pay the agreed amount because a deal is a deal. When the customer refused, you know what the boy did? Right there in the middle of the hotel lobby, he (kinda small-built) jumped on the guy (tall and big) and screamed in Vietnamese. I need a moment think how I should translate this into English... "Everyone, this jerk's trying to stiff a whore! This jerk's trying to stiff a whore!" (that's how we make a scene in Vietnam). You probably know the ending right? The customer paid up and the boy left, but damages already done. (to be continued)

Watched a show in M2M. Again, enjoyed it very much. I also wanna see again the dancer, who blowed me away (figuratively) in the previous trip. He's still great, moving like a gayish ballet dancer with a lot of energy and oozing charm. Guy is obviously not the kind of twinks I'm usually into (a bit mature and a bit big). In other words, his look is not really a turn-on for me. But somehow, I can't take my eyes off him when he performs. I even picture this crazy scene: off him and watch him dance in bed for an hour But when he drags, the whole package looks really disturbing Before show, I messaged a boy asking him to come and join me in M2M, and we can go to my hotel later. He replied "I don't want to go in there". I then asked if he can go to my hotel the next day, he said "Could you change hotel. I don't like Jomtien Complex" and only agreed to meet when I explained my hotel is close to but NOT in Jomtien Complex. This is the second time I saw this Jomtien-phobia thing. Right before Covid, a boy I had before (one of my memorable offs) turned down my offer for a repeat because that time I stayed in Zing. He made it very clear: If Jomtien Complex, I not go. Those two boys have something in common: pretty young, gay, have a regular job and only do this to earn extra money. I can't figure out why they hate Jomtien Complex (I asked but they wouldn't say). Any thoughts? So the next day, after an afternoon session with the boy who hates Jomtien, my boy quota for the day was met. Evening, I went to Winner Boy bar just to watch boys having fun in underwear. There were 9 boys working that night (one already got offed before I arrived) and 4 or 5 groups of customers, most of whom sat outside, only one inside with two boys. I bought drink for the first boy who approached me and we got talking. Little did I know, I got to hear his life story for the whole next hour He's from Bangkok, 25 years old, gay, vers top, started his MB career at Kawaii go-go bar in Boyztown when he was 17 (that means he was underaged and had to, his words, "run" whenever the police knocked on the door). His met his farang (French) boyfriend, now ex-bf, when he was 19 and the other 58, and stayed in that relationship for 4 years (show me his arm tattoo with his ex's name). It sounds like it was serious as he brought the guy home to meet the family (show me pictures of the boyfriend taken with him and his mum) and they even discussed the possibility of same-sex marriage. He didn't know why they broke up but the ex now has a new boyfriend back in France (show me pictures of a cute Caucasian teen whom I would totally off with the permission of the said boyfriend). Note to self: try to find cute boys who used to have farang boyfriends because they speak good English. During the course of their relationship, boyfriend rented him a room, told him to quit his go-go job and also not to let other boys stay with him. But he kept working without the other knowing because, he said, some months boyfriend only sent 10K and the room alone already cost 8K (it was a nice room), he didn't have enough money left for food and other stuff so he had to work. Boyfriend visited him three times each year, stayed roughly a month each. Whenever he visited, they had sex every day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, it was too much for him, especially because he had to bottom while prefer being a top. It looks like the boyfriend was also a bad influence on him in the way that the former drank and smoked heavily. He said he was drunk all the time whenever the French guy visited and also became a chain-smoker himself. Now he can cut down on drinking, but couldn't give up smoking despite trying. Then he cheated and got a Thai boyfriend, who stayed with him in the same room the French rented for him. Once they video-called and the farang got glimpse of the other boyfriend, he got jealous. Next time they video-called, he made the poor lad go around the house with his phone camera, even into the toilet, to prove that there was no one else in the house Then he cheated some more and got another farang supporter, who also sent him money every month until he died of Covid. I asked the boy if he prefers Asians and he said "sure, any time". Without taking into consideration financial support, he would go for Asian boyfriends only. Anyway, back to his stories. Difficult times came with Covid. He went home to his mom for one year, then couldn't get along with her new boyfriend-cum-business-partner so he left and went back to Pattaya. Stayed in Winner Boy bar with 4 other boys for almost a year. Although his boss tried to support them as much as he could (providing accommodation, food ingredients and cookware so they can cook for themselves) and occasional customers who came to off them secretly from the closed bar, there were days he had nothing to eat or even had to pawn his cell phone to buy food. He gave a lot of credit to his boss, saying "we survived because we have a good boss". Now he moved out and can afford to have his own room but it's still difficult. He only had one customer in the last two weeks. The current room rent + utility bills cost 2.5K, he needs around 200 for food per day and another 100 for cigarette, so roughly 12K per month to live on. Back in Kawaii days, he said, he earned a lot of easy moneys, many days with two offs and customers were often more generous than the 1500ST/2500LT standard rate (now, he's willing to go ST for just 1000). He said he spent all that money on visiting karaoke host bars often having as many as 4 or 5 boys sit with him in one session (he's gay after all). So it's that funny cycle: he spent money from people who liked him on boys he liked, he used the support from his farang boyfriend to support his Thai boyfriend. His farang boyfriend f*cked him who in turns f*cked his Thai boyfriend (the so-called boy-on-boy-on-boy arrangement). I noticed that he talked about cheating quite nonchalantly like it was just the way of life, a fair exchange, not something morally wrong or shameful. This is the first time I digged into a Thai MB's complicated relationships with multiple partners-cum-supporters, so I don't know if this also speaks for others. He concluded his story, saying with regret: I used to have a lot of money, but I didn't save. Now I learned how to save but I don't have much anymore. It was 10.30 pm when I left. The bar was empty of customers except for one blond-haired farang sitting in a corner with a new boy who just showed up for work today (24 years old, nice ass, very sexy and revealing undies). They did something quietly for more than an hour, ordering several rounds of drinks and the boy later took a large tower to cover certain parts of his body (under-the-table activities under way I presume). Most boys also left (probably no hope for more customers to come). The only waiter (a chubby Thai with highlighted hairs in his mid-30s) nodded off in another corner. Boy told me he's the owner's boyfriend (who's 61, sitting outside with the only remaining boy) and they have been together for 13 years. My soft drink was 90, boy drink was 150. I gave the boy 500 for his time. I would see him again for other activities. The boy has good genes. Despite everything he had been through, smoking, drinking, Covid and all, still look quite boyish with a lean, supple body. To a Westerner, he may look like he's still in high school who took to wearing underwear as his uniform.

What club? Am i missing something? I want a lot of khmer guys too lol

Mena is a good friend of mine and always steered me right. He would never deliberately not recommend a boy, but would simply say "I think you can do better" when it came to the ones that had bad feedback from customers. He also introduced me to a lot of Khmer guys in the club's that I would not have met through the bar... The good old days!