PeterRS

This is far from a unique story and it happens all the time with guys as well as women, although the older man/younger Thai woman is much more common. I suspect he has more problems about to knock on his temple door. Apart from having no work permit and making money by working, he will almost certainly be running afoul of the Immigration laws as regards personal finances. If/when discovered, he can be turfed out of the country as quickly as he entered.

Done!

I am not sure if porn links can be posted here, so I have sent you a pm

I heard it is a law about pubic hair not being permitted on screen. If that happens to be true, Im surprised they just dont all shave themselves. Then no need for those damn pixels! But it does seem producers of those vdos are pushing the envelope pretty far. In the vdos of 10 years ago, you could make out very little. Now it feels you are looking through slightly out of focus spectacles. There is also quite a lot of unpixilated Japanese nudity on some porn sites - both gay and straight.

Did you miss this earlier referring to British Airways? BA is as bad as any any airline I have flown. Twice lost my luggage. Each time left my contact numbers. Accessing its helpline is impossible because it is rarely answered. When it is, they are clueless. Once at Lyon airport having been in that part of the world for three days, I called more than a dozen times, got zero notification and was certain I would end up crossing the Atlantic without my case, Back at Lyon airport I decided just to look at the lost luggage area. There it was. I dont take many European airlines. I like Easyjet and have had only good experience on it. Never tried Ryanair. Have not had a problem with Air France, KLM, Lufthansa or Finnair. Nothing as bad as American from Miami to La Guardia when half the passengers were stuck at LGA for an hour and 45 minutes because they could not open the rear cargo door of the 757. It was after midnight before someone found the right spanner or whatever they needed. Everyones experience is different. Checking the Skytrax reviews gives a pretty good ides of what an airline will be like if you chuck out the best and worst reviews and then take an average.

.... or travel on an Asian airline LOL

I am delighted there is at least one carrier which is better than the biggies like United, Delta and American. They may be profitable, bur for the passenger experience they mostly scrape the barrel compared to a huge proportion of other airlines. In case you misunderstood I was referring in particular to the soft product. I have flown all three I mentioned. I get quoted a basic fare and then have to pay for all sorts of extras for my hold baggage, a pilllow or blanket, for a tiny bag of peanuts, a coke and so on. When I travel in Asia, all that is free unless I take a real budget carrier. Plus on the US carriers the service on board and frequently on the ground is like you are doing them a service instead of the other way around. On most other carriers I usually get at least a smile or two! Incidentally you say on Jet Blue you can carry two bags for free. Bags in the hold? I dont think so. Im certain that is only a wheelie bag and a computer or handbag on board. In coach on most carriers I fly outside the US I get one free bag in the hold, a free meal or even two, free drinks, free blanket and pillow etc. And in many cases I get a 32 inch seat pitch (although I admit not all).

I have a problem with total free competition. When it comes to airlines it appears to end up as a race to the bottom. I didn't experience BA when it was a state owned carrier. When it was first privatised it was extremely good. Now it is a near disaster - and a costly one at that. Economy class is close to a joke and business class is definitely a joke. What other airline has 8 across seating in business class and forces its business class customers to pay a huge amount to select their seats advance? Want a seat on the upper deck of an A380? Fine. Be prepared to add £105 per sector on to the cost of your ticket. And beware! That extra charge is going up soon. Cathay Pacific used to have an enviable reputation. it is still a fine airline but its standards have dropped considerably especially in F&B. Putting 10 across economy seating on long haul 777s is sardine time. Try that on a 17 hour flight from New York to Hong Kong! Another area is seat pitch. On long haul economy 747 flights sitting at a window seat I can recall when it was relatively easy to pass the other two passengers without disturbing them. Now that is absolutely impossible even if you are a small child. As for airlines in the USA, well most scrape the bottom of the barrel in almost every respects. Thats what happens with outright competition. I realise the Gulf carriers are subsidised and certainly Emirates and Qatar (havent tried Etihad yet) have a business class that is almost unbeatable. If those subsidies were taken away, i have no doubt that all that the hard and soft products on all three airlines would plummet. The fact is there can never be real competition. Vietnam Airlines has a good reputation for its business class. But its costs for pilots, cabin and maintenance crew will be very substantially lower than SQ and CX. So what can those airlines in much higher wage countries do?

I must say I find the description "fierce competitors" as more than hyperbole - its a total joke. The only route on which the carriers compete is the ultra-short haul KL to SIngaore. I actually prefer just to take the bus on that route. SIA is one of the world's great airlines and a highly successful one even, though like many it is facing problems. Malaysian used to be very good but it has gone through all sorts of troubles in recent years - at least a decade - and it still cannot establish itself. The hardware is nowhere near as good as SIA. Business class seats in much of its fleet are the old angle-flat variety. For years it has been trying to get rid of its A380s. Maybe they are gone by now, I don't know. MAS must be on at least its third CEO in recent years and yet another restructuring plan. The downing of its 777 over Ukraine and the still unexplained disappearance of another 777 have not helped. But it just cannot compete with Air Asia at the lower end of the market nor with SIA nearer the top. Around 20 years ago the cheapest round the world rickets which could be purchased in Asia were ex-KL. They resulted in a major saving. Then it was Bangkok. Now I dont know. But MAS must be being kept alive by substantial state aid. Frankly I cannot see what SIA will get out of the deal. Better for Malaysia if Mahatir can stomach it to let MAS go under, sell its assets and then start a smaller, much more focussed airline if thats what Malaysia wants. What SIA is going to get out of this proposed merger I havent the faintest idea!

Although I was a prophet of gloom once the demise of Soi Twilight was announced, I am delighted the bars have found alternative accommodations and are still relatively close together. What I miss is the proliferation of beer bars staffed often by very cute guys where one could just sit having a drink at a reasonable price with pleasant company watching the gay world go by. The gogo bars are there but not the atmosphere. Not yet!

Fair point. But I still dont get the reason for descriptions of individual masseurs. Because we all have different bodies, expectations, ages and previous experiences, a massage is almost the most totally personal experience and highly unlikely to be repeated with a different customer. Unless readers want a bit of an erotic thrill, I dont see the point.

For decades it was a favourite destination for masses of gay visitors to Bangkok. A few will not have liked it - the increasingly aggressive touts, the decline in the quality of the shows, the regular increases in drink prices to almost ridiculous levels and so on. I can quite understand that some preferred to keep away. On the other hand, even if my visits to the gogo bars declined in recent years, I enjoyed sitting in Dicks Cafe, enjoying a couple of drinks, a reasonable meal and the chance to sit and just people watch. Increasingly I preferred the attentions of some of the cute waiters in the beer bars where drinks were far more reasonably priced and where the company was often great fun. But time moves on. It was a part of my history that I will recall with much pleasure.

Does it really matter? In my experience massage is a far more personal experience than a go-go bar or a sauna. Some customers will love the attention of one masseur and so the spa in general is praised. For others either the massage skills or his post massage attentions are lacking. So the spa gets a bad review. Surely massage is very much a case of one mans meat . . . Why someone likes a masseur or not is just too personal. No point writing about it in my view. Unless of course the review is not the massage itself and much more about the condition of the spa and its facilities.

No matter what problems he faced, this is one key issue that I trust is at the forefront of his mind as he starts his new life. After all, he wrote this tearjerker in his blog - The fact is that when you run a business single-handedly you set yourself up for a whole host of unexpected events. It is your job to have sufficient financial and other cover to get through these. I know. I once ran a one-man service company. It is not the fault of his customers that his partners were deported or that another partner stole from the company. It is not the fault of the customers that a company he hooked up with went belly-up. It is not the fault of the customers that unfortunately he suffered from health crises. Nor is it the fault of his customers that there were problems with Google. He ran the company and as far as his customers were concerned he was ultimately responsible for everything - including not paying back some of them. I hope for their sake that those booking Bhutan trips through his new company have the best travel insurance. With the litany of woes Thomson outlined, I would think twice before booking through any new company run by him. Sorry to say it, but its my money he would be looking after!

It may be up but I do not think it is running! I called its phone number. No reply and no answering service. Click on "Bangkok Office" and you get this message - Error 404 The page you have requested no longer exists or is temporarily unavailable. My understanding is that domain names on websites are paid for on an annual basis. If true, then I expect Thomson just didnt bother taking it down. If someone had taken it over I am certain he/she would have been in touch with this forum as well as to all on the regular Purple Dragon mailing list to inform them. As we know, the company went bust owing several customers seemingly quite a lot of cash in lost deposits. I cannot think why anyone would wish to resurrect it when their first job would have to be to pay back those deposits. There is just too much competition out there.

Oooh! Worth going just for that dessert LOL

Great link spoon. Thanks for posting. I have never before heard of Roxy Fin Club. Same with the title "duck shop". I agree the boys there look a cut above those in the regular gay go-go bars. From what I can make out it often has live music and theme nights, including nude nights. Exactly what that means I have no idea, but Id love to know more. Since it seems more for gals to off the guys, I guess it a bit more like the escort clubs with handsome young men on offer for rich ladies in Japan. If only 20% of offs are for men, does that mean the off fee and tips will be a good bit more than in the usual boy gogo bars? I hope someone can visit and check it out. The article has clearly been translated (not very well). I assume from the various Chinese characters that it is from Chinese. Fo you know if the article is this from a Chinese website? I love the poster for a Military Evening tomorrow

It seems it was forced out of business due to major cash flow problems. That probably means there were a lot of debts. With no work from Purple Dragon for months, will their guides still be available? Would anyone actually buy a small niche travel company in that state? Would it not be better to start a new company? I realise the one asset the company will have is a list of past customers. But there were only 5 visitors a day to the website and at least some customers were left with lost deposits. That does not seem the ideal way to restart a specialised gay travel business nowadays. There are two more issues. Competition from the increasing success of Moses company siamroads. This concentrates on provision of specialist guides and local transport around the region. I expect they would also recommend hotels. Then there is the fact that gay tourism from the traditional western markets has been declining and now overtaken by the new Asian market whose language skills and travel habits will be different. If I was starting up a gay travel company, that is the market I would do all I could to tap. https://siamroads.com

The whole point of Japanese guys going to their clubs and pubs after work in their country is to get drunk and as a result lose all their reserve and inhibitions. I am sure the stripping Japanese seen in Hotmale were drunk or close to being drunk. I really doubt a Japanese would do that without the influence of a lot of alcohol Also most dont hold their drink well. It usually only takes a couple of beers before they are flying. Personally, unless they are young and very cute, Id prefer they remained covered up.

If you are considering islands or beach breaks, remember to avoid the 10 days before and after Easter. Thats one period when families from the west flock to Thailand.

Anyone know if any of the boys in any of the Bangkok bars sport natural erections? The ones I have visited all have their assets tied off at the base to ensure constant hardness. For some reason, this is a big turn off for me. Thinking back to the threads about the old days, I cannot remember such tying off being used then.

Many thanks for the map daydreamer. It certainly brings back memories. I could never work out why the random numbering system made it bit difficult to read. I remember many of these types of map not only from Dreaded Ned but also from other sites (Nickys) and the various free publications we could usually pick up in the bars and in Dicks Cafe. Despite all the effort by the compilers there were always little errors and omissions which pissed some readers off. In this one, the Swiss Lodge (now Le Siam - very nice hotel) is on the other side of the road. LOL Very minor issues but I remember an extended discussion on this Board some years ago ago about incomplete listings and wrong positioning. Thailand OUT (I think that was the name) came under criticism. I actually thought that it was an excellent magazine. It was published by an expat based in Chiang Mai who replied pointing out the difficulty of getting someone to assemble maps in the first place and then keeping them up to date. He even got an exclusive interview with Sir ian McKellan. His series of Bangkok maps were pretty good I thought. Then one day he had to leave Thailand very suddenly and the magazine died.

All live and recorded music performed in any public space has to be covered by a licence from Music Copyright Thailand Ltd. There is a sliding scale of rates. Not sure of the capacities of The Venue and Castro Bar. If between 60 and 100 seats the fee is 20,000 baht per year. Above 300 seats the fee is 100,000 baht. Royalties are also payable in go-go bars and for places like music in hotel lifts. Whether the enforcement agency actually makes the bars pay, is another matter!!

Its been found. https://gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9781