DivineMadman

Wow, that's one for the record books. Sorry for the bad experience (but a great story). Sounds like the woman who the manager wasn't there... In my experience it's sort of a mixed-bag place. Inconsistent.

Hilarious

I have some limited facility with reading thai.

Correction - the bar that was there a few years ago was called "Heart Beat"

thanks for the great report!

Here's a screen cap of their room/service charges (excludes tip). The VIP rooms aren't necessarily for me, but I think they are very nice. (I got a brief tour when the place was just opening and the VIP rooms were being finished.) As has recently been pointed out in another thread, everyone is entitled to spend his hard-earned money as he chooses without reproach here

I truly understand, but they're just doing their job and they absolutely mean no harm.

Something to consider is heading over to soi twilight at 9:00 or so -- before the shows -- and grab a bite to eat or a drink at Maxi's (a bit further into the soi on the left side). Then you can sit back, relax and take in the scene for a while. There's also plenty of eye candy at the massage shop across the street. The touts and guys working at the beer bars are just doing their job and even if they playfully grab your arm, just smile and keep going. It's all fun.

I believe that currently ASEAN is only committed to improving free mobility of skilled labor.

+1

LOLs. I think naked Thai massage is very fun and erotic. Also hard to take oneself too seriously when getting stretched and bent and folded. Sounded like you had a good time....

That approach is hard to work out at a smaller book-ahead-by-photo shop (typically how Nine operates). Sometimes it's best to try to figure it out through open communication with Manager (and then making sure the Manager tells the guys). That approach works for me. Personally I think the issue with 4 hands massages is sometimes we go in with unreasonably high expectations. They can be different, interesting and fun!

don't know exactly. quite a while ago.

G.O.D. reopened under the new name GBangkok.

I'll miss Bourdain's reports. They were always interesting. His audiobooks are just fantastic to listen to. Just last week I watched his visit to Laos where he caught the end of Lent in Luang Prabang. It was so inspiring I immediately booked my room for this October. In Hanoi the very modest shop where he and Obama had dinner is now a regular must-see stop for young backpackers, who usually order the Obama Meal. Cheers to Tony!

I am literally waiting for plaster to dry, and this is a topic very near and dear, so here’s my stab at bare bones 2 year budget that fits under a rough $65,500 total. It's just to show that it might be possible in Bangkok. The OP or others might find some compromises unworkable, so it may be doable in theory but too bleak in practice. And that's fine. Or it might be that someone could decide by saving some money here or there it could stretch that out to 2.5 years, or by adding a bit to the budget it’s more liveable, or…whatever. And definitely Pattaya is cheaper. But at the least the decision to eliminate BKK as an alternative can be a bit more of an informed one. Off the top take $10K for health ins. Just as a sanity check, an expat plan from GeoBlue for a hypothetical U.S. gent in his late 50s is a tad bit under 5,000. I am sure cheaper plans can be found shopping around, and more expensive plans can definitely be found. Next take about $5,000 for visa-related costs. Assorted visa fees, extensions obtained at Immigration, visa runs to inexpensive neighboring countries. Not much glamour. Another 2K for long-haul flight from NYC (hypothetically) and misc. costs of being an expat (e.g., mail forwarding services). Obviously this is not biz class. Leaves us about $48K (65-10-5-2) for two years = $2,000 per month. Convert to baht @30 baht/$ = 60,000 per month. Of course it’s possible to get better conversion rate than that, but this builds in a little cushion. 15,000 rent - let’s pretend and use the studio on Suan Plu 1,500 electricity (should end up less) 800 home internet 800 phone with internet pkg (can easily pay less) 100 water (should end up less) 18,200 leaves us 41,800/month for living or about 10,000 baht/week. Not great, but livable. You could enjoy a visit from an entrepreneurial young gentleman via Hornet 3x/week at @2,000 a visit (6,000 a week) Is that enough? Up to you. That would leave about 4,000 per week for food and everything else, which is possible if you eat like a local. (It's also possible to spend that on just one meal.. I think it's possible to spend 300 a day on good street food and from time to time at the inexpensive restaurants around Suan Plu (for example), and then once or twice a week go to a restaurant/bar for a nicer meal. So the 4,000 could break down to, for example, 3,000 baht a week for food and 1,000 baht for exploring Bangkok. (haircuts, BTS, Museum fees, occasional lectures, motosai, etc.) Personally I'ld probably skip the nice restaurants and spend more on exploration/fun. It doesn't leave a lot of money to splurge on fancy visa runs instead of the basic number already built-in. It also doesn't leave any money for falling in or out of love, or meeting someone who is far far better at separating you from your money than you are at resisting his charms. All these examples are at a 30:1 exchange rate. Even just 31:1 on $48K obviously adds 48,000 baht to the playground. But if you're not the kind of person who really really enjoys the adventure of living in BKK, being on a tight budget might really make you miserable and that negativity can become quite toxic. (The scarcity effect) PERSONALLY, I think if the budget goes up $10K to $75,000, that extra money could flow directly to food/fun entertainment by adding another 2,500 baht a week for food/drinks/exploration and make the whole thing less strict and more fun. Or go to Pattaya.

As an example, right now there is a studio available for 15,000 at the Seed Mingle on Suan Plu Soi 8 on what looks to be a middle-to-high(ish) floor. A modern building with pool and gym. It turns out to be slightly less than 15 minute walk to Lumpini or to Chong Nonsi or Sala Daeng BTS, or of course a very quick motosai ride. Personally, I think it's as near to a perfect location as possible (and not just because it backs up to The Prince). Not that it's important, but it is also a very gay building. And the street food scene there is great. So it's possible to get housing all-in (utils. etc.) for around 17,500/month (actually a bit less). I have no idea, of course, if the OP is the kind of person who would be comfortable in a studio apt. Older less fabulous buildings or even the newer buildings down near Surasak BTS have lots of offerings as well. So it's possible, it will just invariably involve a compromise. The price (among many) of living in BKK.

I don't think we need to be overly-discouraging. If we the OP's original question to "For about US$65K can I have 2-3 years based in Bangkok in a nice neighborhood near the action? and still have some money for fun?" Yes. There are plenty of one bedroom and studios available. Always have "what if I hate it" escape plan. But if you're an adventurous type looking to get away, I say go for it.

You can get a sense of condo rents in Bangkok on https://www.thailand-property.com/properties-for-rent. https://www.thebkkresidence.com/ResultProperty?for=rent is another site. I don't think your budget (roughly $50K to live on over 2-3 years or $2K per month (or less)) will let you live where you want to live and do what you want in central Bangkok. I think you'll be lucky to get a nice 2 bedroom in the Silom/Sathorn or similar neighborhoods for 24,000 baht, and then budget another 2,000-3,000 for utilities (electric, water and internet). For a sunny 1 bedroom my electric bill probably averaged around 1,200 baht and I'm pretty cheap on the a/c. water is nominal. High speed internet around 800 baht/month. Easily US$900-1,000 for housing in Bangkok. That's before your first Pad Thai or massage or whatever. You can find lower rents in different neighborhoods. It depends on how comfortable you will be away and how good your Thai is. Also, personally, I think it will be time consuming and a challenge (and an expensive challenge) to find 2 sex worker house boys who you actually want to live in close quarters with for 500 per person per day. And as others have noted, it will be much more than that in fact because of the food and shopping and new phones and all that. Also not sure where you intend to find them. But that can be your adventure. Thaivisa.com is of course the place for all current thai visa questions, but I think you should be able to get a couple of years in Thailand on tourist visas obtained first in your home country and then from neighboring countries. Vientiane I think is still fairly easy to get two TV's. Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi (I forget which) and Bali are supposed to be pretty easy as well. You will have to play the game with showing outbound tickets and finances to get the tourist visas. Doing visa runs or side trips to get your visas would be a lot less expensive than the $15K Thai Elite 5 year visa, for someone who is realistically looking at more like 2 possibly 3 years. And you might find that you want to get out of Thailand and visit neighboring countries anyway.

A side trip to Nana, which has several ladyboy bars might be mildly interesting. If you take them to Soi Cowboy you could disappear for an hour or so once they're settled in and get a quick massage at Urban Male or Banana Club, which are are both nearby. If you are a good nephew and go with them, you might try to feign more interest than this guy. https://www.facebook.com/Caption.SHARE/videos/2095527177438041/

+1 I join in recommending the book. there's also an inexpensive "book club guide" that gives some helpful info. The Refugees is a collection of short stories also excellent.

It's not an excuse, but because it's slow season some of the bars have let guys go home for a while or otherwise take time off (take their stint as a monk, etc.). Saves the bar from having to pay them.

There often seem to be people selling sex toys around Patpong

+1

I know dual pricing is a trigger issue for some. Yesterday -- presumably in response to a complaint somewhere -- Chakran Sauna posted their "thoughts" on the TMB Group chat. I've attached a screen grab of their thinking. I dont think we usually get the arguments from the "other side" so I am sharing it here (not that there's much substance). In this context the dual pricing is foreigner vs. local Thai. I don't actually know anything about the pricing at Chakran. I'm not really a fan of the related VCK Cool Space massage shop. I don't think anything they say is particularly compelling but they are up front, which is refreshing. This issue is also unrelated to Chakran Sauna's reputation as being asian-for-asian and not too welcoming of farang once they get into the sauna. That is just its reputation, and I can't really vouch for accuracy on that. It's a shame because it looks to be a nice facility. Personally, I wouldn't go to a massage shop or restaurant or movie theater that gave different pricing to foreigners. But it doesn't bother me when cultural institutions (museums, parks, etc.) supported by taxpayers have dual pricing with lower prices for locals. But if you're going all the way to Thailand and have a hankering for fun at a sauna, I certainly wouldn't miss out or let the different pricing ruin my fun.