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I don't think it is "officially", but more like "usually". Early February usually is, but as February wears on the number of high season tourists wears off. Just what kind of high season there will be this year remains to be seen, but for several years even before anyone ever heard of Covid, the tourist numbers dropped off to the point that I could no longer tell much difference between high season and low season. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I believe this upcoming high season is crucial to what will become of the Thailand gay scene, especially in Pattaya. If it is a really good high season, I think we will see more go-go bars opening and reopening and more boys working in them. If the high season is a bust, then I believe the best we can hope for any time soon will be status quo. So gents, if you wish to help save Thailand's gay bar scene, during high season pack your bags and get thee to Thailand - and bring plenty of money . . .

When you are on vacation, you don't need to maintain the nursing home routine 😝

Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum, and planning my first ever journey to Thailand next year on May to experience the joy that maybe nearly all of you had for 3 weeks. Can you recommend best gay friendly hotels in Bangkok/Pattaya. that don't apply joiners fee and are nearby gay districts that has gay bars or massage places? Basically hotels convenient for offing and inviting the boys. Because I'm planning to stay in Bangkok perhaps for six/seven days first and then move to Pattaya and stay here for another week. And as for third week somewhere else idk. PS. I'm 30 year old top. Mainly interested in twink types.

Baan Souy, but it’s position is not ideal. Midway between Boyztown and Jomtien.

I've just had 3 weeks in Thailand and a few days in Cambodia. Currently at Dubai waiting for connection to Manchester. If I was you I wouldn't have 6 nights in Bangkok. After staying at the fantastic Agate Hotel in Jomtien where all the twinks are directly outside, it was perfect. Bangkok has become a real disappointed since Soi Twilight has gone. DJ Station was a terrific evening though and must be tried....350 baht to get in which includes 2 free drinks. Generally Bangkok has become expensive for massage and drinks etc and it's much cheaper in Jomtien with far more choice. But my hotel in BKK was spot on and really close to Soi 4. It's a new build and now high season has started it was 1600 baht walk in price.. It's called The Quarter Silom by UHG and is on Soi 6 👍🏼

Just very recently, read yesterday I offered help to a known guy in severe financial need by promised to hire for 4 days at above market rate. My reward - his entire time with me was spent on his phone playing loud music out of it , even in bed and even at 4 a.m. So deal was cut short , surprise, by him citing my unreasonable demands like stop checking Facebook every 27 seconds. In country I was raided there,s saying "if you help yourself, God helps you too " , how true !

March - October is low season, excluding 2nd and 3rd weeks of April (Songkran).

I think many of the garotos live from 1-2 hours outside of Rio metro. May of them are from compo grande, nova Iguazu and other places I cannot pronounce the name. Omnibus and metro, and some guys on motorbikes. It is hard for them to travel in the rain. i know one sauna guy who just broke his entire lower leg bones during a motorcycle accident in a shower evening. Still in hospital 2 months after. Feel sorry for him.

Not in Thailand, but other place in my life I've had friends and sex partners who died. Several died by suicide, some by illness ... most died in the USA of HIV/AIDS in the 89's and 90's. Actually, I lost count of the number of my sex partners and acquaintances who died of HIV/AIDS; scores. With each loss there are mostly fond memories, but always there's sorrow.

Now with years of experience and being able to read Thai, no problem finding these places. Most of them are placed correctly on googlemaps (only if the name is only in Thai a problem for the average tourist - and indeed, that's the problem, Home Spa is in Thai only on google maps). Street view helps a lot to confirm location (for my general travel satellite image as well). In all cases in OP, the numbers refer to the alley, but often do not mean the massage place is in that alley, but near the entrance, or even across the main road. In Thailand, soi numbers are even on one side of the main road, odd on the other side. There might be sois with slash, e.g. there are Silom Soi 22, followed by 22/1, followed by 26 (24 missing?). The odd and even get out of sync, e.g. Silom Soi 15 is opposite Soi 22/1. In Thailand and Cambodia, I always found a sign, in some cases small, with the name of the shop. Only in Myanmar did I have to ask locals to show me the way or call the shop for directions, once I got to where it was supposed to be but no sign.

As said above. Keep to the extreme right as you go up the ramp into immigration. When you get to the top go FURTHER right as it is hidden behind some desks/furniture. There is usually someone there checking you qualify....just show them your passport and bate of birth. Keithambrose.....you shouldn’t have to argue about being over 70 to use fast track on departure. It is quite clearly sign posted. I have used it many times without any questions. Maybe you ran into a newbie!

That is one of the advantages of Thailand and any other country in the vicinity. It is always 5 to 6 hours earlier back home. Even when I go out till 5 am, it would still be around midnight back home. Never a jet lag. Traveling to South America is a different story. 😴

Great report and thanks for sharing. Brasil is still the place for fun and lot more. Easy and uncomplicated hookups which we all enjoy. Plenty of young and available hot guys. Enjoy the rest of your wonderful trip. I’m hitting to southern part of Turkey, Antalya, believe to have lot of young and beautiful Russian and Ukrainian….

Thank you! This Bangkok Airport Limousine fast-track service is the one I used several years ago. From what I remember, the lines were really short that time, and I didn't really save much time at all. But it was a nice insurance policy to have. Oh, and it's much, much cheaper than the service in your first link!

I have written to several Pensions Ministers pointing this out. The real annoyance for me is that I elected to pay the full national insurance contributions even when living for much of my career overseas. I did this because I assumed I might at some stae return to live and work. I paid in full to protect my access to the National Health Service and gain the full basic pension (including its annual increases). Both were governmet policy when I opted to live overseas. Never in decades did any UK government department inform me that, despite my contributions over the years, access to the NH Service would be restricted only to those who returned to live in the UK for a minimum of six months a year. Nor that pensions would be frozen when first drawn down. As a UK citizen I am indeed penalised because I live abroad. A refugee to the UK gets better financial treatment.

Apologies. I should have written if in black he can top YOU. I am surprised that some mebers want everything fed to them on a plate and clearly can't be bothered actually checking sites. As I stated, @Tartegogo listed this one on his first post.. Had @dscrtsldnbi bothered to check, he would have noticed this grid at the top of the Boy List - These are the young men's statistics and what the boy's do. It seems remarkably clear - and vastly easier and faster than finding out such information in Bangkok and most other places! As for the comment about cock sizes and the use of feet and inches. A cheap barb to expect a vastly different country culturally like Japan from adhering to western norms!

About three weeks ago I reported above on conversation I had with three massage workers I’ve known for 5+ years. Last night I again had opportunity to talk with them along with a fourth guy who’s a newcomer to the Bangkok scene. When the topic got around to tipping, I was taken aback by just how poorly some customers who come from non-tipping (north Asia) cultures compensate them. I heard accounts of receiving paltry tips as low as 20 baht for an hour’s work. One lad told me did a two-hour oil and was rewarded with 100 baht that same night. When I asked why doesn’t the boss of their shops have a minimum tip policy (like I’ve encountered outside of the downtown area) they say no shop wants to go first because bosses feel it would put their shop at competitive disadvantage. The other point that was quashed is that the the boys would prefer young, good looking guys to massage. All four said they’re not in it for the sex and see their work as a job that pays their bills. Although they expect their clients to be clean and “not smelly”, age or physical condition don’t influence them as much as the likelihood of being fairly rewarded. Based on my experience with shops that have a minimum tip policy, I’ve yet to encounter a sub-standard massage. When both they masseur and customer have same expectations, the results have all been positive in my experience.

From the Thaiger THAILAND Foreign tourists swarm into Thailand Immigration officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok are struggling to cope with the crescendo of foreign tourists flooding into Thailand. Pictures of the jampacked airport taken on Sunday, October 20, reveal a promising outlook for Thailand’s tourist High Season, which runs from November to April. Between 1pm-5pm on Sunday, 76 flights landed on the airport’s runway, an average of 20 flights per hour. An average of 3,000 – 4,000 foreign tourists per hour passed through immigration that day, according to the Spokesperson for the Immigration Bureau Mj Gen Choengron Rimphadee. It is by the far the busiest the airport has been since before the pandemic. To ensure that arrivals didn’t have to wait longer than one hour at immigration, all immigration booths were staffed and officers spent no longer than 45 seconds checking the passport data, visa status, personal biometric data, and blacklist status of each arrival. Commander of Immigration Division 2 Pol Maj Gen Montree Pancharoen said that although immigration officers are quick, they still do a thorough job to ensure that foreign criminals posing as tourists do not slip through the net and into the kingdom ahead of the APEC summit in Bangkok later this month, which will be attended by several world leaders. In preparation for High Season, the airport increased the number of immigration booths from 92 to 112. During busy hours, every booth will be staffed, said the officer. The airport is capable of checking in around 6,500 passengers per hour without compromising security, said Maj Gen Choengron Rimphadee. Currently, Suvarnabhumi Airport is welcoming an average of 45,000 to 50,000 people every day and the airport only expects figures to increase.

My understanding is that "high season" came out of the larger number of visitors from Europe and North America escaping their winters. Many were retired even then, and were able to spend three months, mostly in Pattaya. It's similar to how flights from Russia are resuming for the next 3 - 4 months. It really has nothing to do with choosing to go during the busier or costlier period. The arrow of causation is the other way around. Winter in Europe >> more visitors to Thailand >> higher prices and busier places. Living in Australia, you may be able to count yourself lucky in that you do not have a long, damp or cold winter to escape from. Those of us like me who still have to work cannot afford to spend three whole months on vacation. We pop into Thailand for relatively short visits of perhaps 2 weeks at various times of the year. I have never really "participated" in High Season - at least not in the sense of being part of a migratory community.

Do you ever have a bad day?

Wise, wise post

To be honest not tipping after you receive a happy ending, however disinterested the masseur is, would be completely unacceptable. That said I agree you shouldn’t just stay quiet about a bad massage. However I feel that saying something or not tipping *after* the massage is already over, is too late. It’s like going to a restaurant, eating the food completely, and then complaining about the quality and refusing to pay afterwards. If you don’t like the food, you try one bite and then you immediately inform the staff. With massages the same is true, if he’s disinterested and bad you can ask him to massage harder or let him know how you like it, and give him a chance to improve. If he doesn’t, you can reduce the tip (or give none at all if truly bad). However when it comes to happy endings if you don’t want to tip you should also decline it. These boys do want and rely on the big tip they get after a happy ending, so the best way for you to communicate to them that their attitude/massage is bad is by refusing the happy ending.

Yes, be careful in those countries. It is not safe like walking carelessly in amazingly safe USA cities.

Why? They did not pay tattoo shop for the service?

Only three 🖕 ? I am sure they have given you more than three.

There's nothing to prevent an individual from sharing their password to various types of accounts in advance of their death. Whether that password can be legally used post death is subject to "terms of use" and any applicable law. In the US there are legal services that offer to facilitate the process for estate planning purposes. This opens up the discussion as to what accounts an individual may NOT wish to be accessed after their death. Do you really want anyone to have access to your email, blogs (i.e., this one, Grindr, etc.), LINE, phone records, texts, Instagram, FB, Twitter). In many cases, I'd suspect the answer is no. So we all have some thinking to do. We may have very good reasons for providing our executor and/or attorney with financial account information. On the other hand, we may wish to direct the same individual to destroy any record of other on-line accounts (and passwords) upon our death. We may well wish to discuss our wishes now with that person (executor) who will be going through our things after we pass.

where I live Power of Attorney of any kind becomes invalid at death and Will , if any , takes over.

this is not what I was talking about, my point is that most people don't even think about , not to mention do, what I underlined in your post.( i'd add also potential obligations to the list ) - see GWMinUS post just above Then we die and nobody knows

We have something similar here in the UK and I've been exploring the possibility of, as GWMinUS says, "preparing for the inevitable". It is not straightforward: I'd hoped that my solicitor/executor could fulfil that role but it turns out that this is not the case. I'd appreciate some advice, either here or via a PM.

all three, you and earlier reader and Kipling before him are shining light on very serious issue In this age when every imaginable institution , government, banks etc. are nudging or outright forcing us to login in , create account and password and conduct all our business online. All good until we are able to understand and control it. But day may come when we won't or we'll die suddenly . Than , if no proper records were maintained or instructions given, nobody will have access to our accounts and affairs and even worse they may not even have slightest idea about our unpaid bills, outstanding loans and unfiled taxes. I see it quite a bit and don't envy executors in such a cases specially if they succumb to family pressures and distribute assets too early. Funny thing , when I mentioned this to my investment advisor who was, you guessed it, calling me to cut of mailing and switch to digital he was stunned " I never thought about it" . We should keep it in mind now when we are of somewhat sound mind and ask ourselves that question 'will the know what is where and whom to call ? "

you did right thing by cutting him off , sooner the better

As we get older and older, there will be more sad moments and grief than happy times. The sad news sometimes come in unexpectedly, this is why I usually book refundable airplane tickets and hotel reservation, in case somebody dies or somethings happen and I have to take care of things, or say good bye to a dying person, or attend a funeral.

Although I'm not aware that anyone I met in Thailand has taken their own life, a good friend I worked with for many years did. We stopped for a beer after work one night and he told me he was on the verge of divorce. He was visibly shaken. I just tried to listen and say what I thought was reassuring. I still recall standing outside the bar, thinking about embracing him before we parted. But I didn't. Five days later he was found dead from self-inflicted wounds. As I look back on it I realize that I should have followed my gut instinct and hugged him. I'm not saying that if I did he wouldn't have killed himself. What I am saying is that I still ask myself why I didn't. It is--as some have said--what we don't do that can haunt us the most.

During my trip to BKK in June/July, I went to a host bar called Changsha Chill. I threw a private party with a bunch of guys there. The owner was nice enough to have one of the guys pick me up from my hotel. Granted he was late, but he was handsome and charming, so I didn't let it bother me too much. At the party, he was having a good time as we all were, though some of the guys felt a bit awkward being in their underwear, including the driver guy. Thankfully alcohol made everyone a lot more comfortable as the night went on. The next day, I reached out to the guy who picked me up and asked if he would be up for meeting at my hotel. I had actually read about him in this forum and wanted to experience what I read for myself. When he arrived, the best way I could describe him was tweaked out, as if he had been using drugs. I'm not around people who use drugs much, so I couldn't tell for sure, but I knew something wasn't right with the guy. It could also have just been intense nervous energy. Unfortunately the encounter didn't go great, but he was kind the whole time and I honestly just liked his company as he had lived in Australia and had a high level of English. I never talked to him after the encounter. Fast forward to just a few minutes ago, and I found out on the bar's Twitter that he has passed away. I don't know why I feel so sad about it because I know he wasn't a good friend of mine or anything, but I thought I could at least share here in case anyone has ever experienced something like this. I don't really have anyone IRL that I could talk to about this. I wish I would have given him a big hug when he left my hotel that day or that we had just talked more.

From Thai PBS World Hundreds of GrabFood and GrabMart riders staged a mass protest today (Thursday), against changes to delivery service rules, issued by their company which, they claim, have resulted in a reduction in their earnings. The riders gathered in front of the Central World shopping mall in Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong area this morning, before proceeding to their company offices on Phetchaburi Road. The riders say that the company has imposed a zoning system, which has forced them to operate within each zone instead of throughout Bangkok. They also complain that they are ordered to take two delivery orders at the same time, instead of one, which has reduced their orders and the fees they can charge. The new rules, say the riders, have restricted their rights and affected their earnings. )

Perhaps even worse is when a boy you care about just disappears and you have no idea what happened to him, even after many years have passed. Around 16 years ago I would occasionally go to the up-market Italian restaurant Zanotti on Saladaeng. Sometimes a client would take me. At others I would go with friends. Expensive at evening time, it had a very good set lunch at a very reasonable price. There was one waiter who I found especially attractive. Mid-20s, he came from a town in Isaan. His English was good and his smile virtually to die for. I usually chatted with him. Over time we became friends although he always said he was not gay. As his room was not far from my condo, I invited him round for drinks after work one evening. I was surprised that he came. Soon he would come quite frequently, almost always sleeping overnight on the sofa. For his birthday, I got a cake from the Mandarin Oriental shop and he was so happy. He said he'd never had a birthday cake before! Only on 2 or 3 occasions would he knock on my door and ask to sleep with me. Although i was not in love with him, I loved his company. He could be wonderfully funny and we spent many evenings on the sofa just chatting and laughing. I considered him a lovely close friend. After about a year, he and several other staff left Zanotti following a disagreement with the manager. He told me that of the 10% service charge, the manager kept 8.5% leaving the staff to share just 1.5%. Eventually he told me that he wanted to work overseas. The Mango Tree restaurant (near Tawan Bar) had a namesake in Dubai. He had been offered a job there. I checked the contract with which I told him there were several problems. He tried to bring them up with the manager here but was told it was take it or leave it. So he signed and flew off to Dubai. In several early emails he told me how much he was enjoying the work and being in Dubai. Soon, though, things began to turn sour and he wanted to break his contract and just leave. He did have his passport but no air ticket which he was saving up for. I told him just to get the ticket and I would pay him the balance. Back in Bangkok, he did a couple of part-time restaurant jobs before he was offered a post on one of the Royal Viking Line Cruise ships. Hugely excited, off he went to somewhere in the Baltic. When in ports he would email me saying he loved the job, despite the hard work. Eventually he had some leave coming up. He wrote and asked if he could stay with me in Bangkok. Of course I agreed. Having given me his dates, he said he'd contact me when he got back to Thailand. Sure enough, he mailed me to say he had arrived but would first go to see his family. He'd come to Bangkok after 6 days. That was the last I heard from him! I mailed him several times. They were unanswered. I left sms messages on his phone which was still working. No reply. I called and just got the ring tone. After a couple of months I wrote that I did not care what had happened to him - maybe he'd married, maybe found a long-term boyfriend, maybe been in a bad accident - all I wanted to know was that he was OK and perhaps see him if he came to Bangkok. If he needed help, I was here. Again no reply. I hope he is somewhere and happily settled down with the good job he deserves and a love life that he enjoys. If I could just get one mail saying that, I'd be really happy for him. It would also set my mind at ease. My fear is that something happened when he was back with his family and he died. It's the not knowing that occasionally, even now, gnaws at me.

Its natural to grieve the first few days as the shock sets in and you will ruminate thoughts , leave it a few days and see how you feel. If still no better then you should see your GP to talk to a counsellor. But I'm sure after a few days you will get over it "so to speak. I'm sure there's guys on here with psychology/counselling knowledge who could advise 💜💜