Londoner

In some African tribal communities, too.

If you look at falang visitors as a whole, there is a distinction; many of those who are in BKK at a particular time are there for a short period...BKK+ CNX + beach, or variations thereof. Not so many BBK tourists stay for a week or more though I know some do . In Pattaya, on the other hand (or Phuket, for example), the beach location results in tourists staying longer. Not many will travel to Pattaya for just three or so days. There are also business men in BKK who are there for a couple or so nights only and may enjoy a bar or two. Soi Thaniya? This means that the guys on the scene in BKK and Pattaya may have different expectations, or even hopes and aspirations. In Pattaya, a successful interaction may lead to two weeks of paid employment while a BBK mb will be less likely to expect a repeat performance. On balance, I suspect that the Pattaya guy is likely to provide the better service. However, I've read of many falangs who have different experiences. I'm talking in generalities, of course. Another issue may be that the Pattaya guys often live close together and may even have arrived together as a childhood friends. I'm no expert on the bar-scene of today but my distinct recollection is that the Pattaya bars were more fun, with more inter-dancer interaction, teasing and joking and so on, compared to BKK, where the guys were more likely to be workmates...not "mates." Sometimes they may live miles away from anyone else in that bar. Just a recollection, mind you..

Me too. Asian customers are more generous than us....I am told. After all, many falangs are in Thailand on a budget while the Asian visitors, at least the ones who aren't in the huge tour groups, are generally wealthier.

I don't know about today but back in the late 90s ladyboy beauty competitions were held in some schools while, today, young ladyboys are accepted even in rural communities. Or so I'm told.. Heaven knows what US Republicans would say about all this....though I suspect that some of them may protest too much. Ladyboy competitions in Florida or Texas may be particularly interesting. It's all to do with Buddhism, of course, though that probably deserves a thread of its own.

I'm with you....though not about the punch in the mouth! I always needed a "come-on" from my chosen partner- a smile was invariably enough. I recall my second trip in '95; I stayed at Le Cafe Royal and there was a waiter for whom I had the hots. Remember those little white shorts and peach shirts? I knew he was married and kept my feelings to myself. On the day I left , I was waiting for my taxi and he was working. A falang arrived; his brief conversation amounted to when and where. The waiter told him. That's all it took. I wish I could say that I learnt my lesson. But I stayed exactly the same. To be honest, we are what we are. when it comes to this issue.

Me too. That's an excellent price for a hotel of that quality. It may go up for the high season, of course. However, it values returning guests,so take advantage. By the way, I'm told that they have an arrangement "elsewhere" for daily breakfasts at 100bht a time.

Not the Thai way.....that isn't the way the game is played. Take care. An app guy?

P doesn't consider the term "money-boy" offensive. For the only time in our eighteen years of eating out and travelling together, P told me one evening that he'd just been insulted by a group of young guys- Thais- in Pattaya's Central mall. He was livid. Very unusual. He wouldn't tell me what they'd said but I assumed that it was a word associated with prostitution. "Money-boy and bar -boy OK," he said "but not...." and here he quoted the Thai word he'd just heard.

No... I was referring to the bar-fine.

I had a similar experience years ago in Pattaya with a very cute guy from a gay bar. Very, very cute. The assignation had already started to go wrong due to his lack of interest in my needs when his phone rang; "Mama, " he said, beginning a long conversation.. We returned to the business I'd paid for, once more without reciprocity. And then the d**n thing rang again. "Mama, " he said. I took a shower and showed him the door. A year later (or was it two?), the same guy came up to me in the same bar, sat with me and suggested a reunion. He'd worked-out I was a soft touch. Or perhaps that I was incredibly handsome. I said no.

I never "negotiated" when I was a butterfly. Not only that, but unless specifically asked, I never discussed payment before sex. I offered the "going-rate" and only once, and that was in BKK, was the guy cross with me. And he'd been a dud. Occasionally, a guy would ask for more but I'd respond by saying that I was a regular and what I'd given was the "correct" amount...and I always got a smile. I appreciate that my approach is not usual, nor even encouraged by some but was the result of my following the advice in my trusty "Gay Scene" of 1995 , written by David Notcutt. An invaluable source of support for a newbie. As far as "not-MB straight guys"....I never encountered any. I met non-MBs in Babylon, of course, but not elsewhere. I was shy enough dealing with gay MBs; heaven knows how I'd have coped with straights who weren't! Looking back to the hundreds of encounters I had between 1995 and 2004, what strikes me is how angst-free they were. Some were low-key and not very exciting but most were fun and usually, the guy seemed (I emphasise that word) to enjoy it and leave the room happy with the money.

I paid 5000....and I also have an existing policy from my bank which is much more generous. If I had an accident, for example, that is the one I'd use. However, before everyone collapses in mirth at my foolishness, I did have a reason. I paid before the simplification of the TP application. I argued (with myself!) that I didn't want anything to interfere with the granting of said pass. I reckoned that the cost was more of an entry fee than an insurance fee and that spending my money was sensible if it avoided the possibly excruciating wait before the pass was issued. Things are less fraught since 1 June. I am anxious about my return after thirty months separation from P and the inexorable encroachment of age. Nothing, nothing must go wrong. Hence my decision. Which I do not regret in the least.

https://misterprakan.com/en/pass/thailand-pass Mature gentlemen welcome!

Answering Min's question, the MB's request for more than a photo of your face was inappropriate. And I wouldn't have responded on the basis of there being other, less demanding fish in the sea. A face picture should be enough; you were, after all the paying customer. I joined Romeo long ago, in its early days, and was too shy to post my photo. Too many guys told me that they didn't respond to who they termed "ghosts" and so I plucked-up courage and posted my photos. The more the better, by the way, and that went for the guys as well. I did a lot better. I was never asked for more than that, nor would I have provided more.

Costs. And ballroom dresses! Or at least that was what they were wearing when I last visited.

I wonder what they charge women? Less because they prefer women? or more because the women have larger purses?

Agreed; neither "cheap" tourism (and this includes students in gap-years) nor downmarket sex tourists are what the Junta wants. There are still plenty of islands in the south that can be further developed with expensive hotels and golf-courses without the obvious manifestations of commercial sex. Women will be available, of course, but not the sort that parade along Pattaya Beach Road. The Japanese hostess bars along Thaniya may be the model. As far as we are concerned, further consolidation and fewer venues and "gay areas" are likely but we can cope with that, surely? We lost Saphan Kwai long ago, Sunnee and Boyztown (well, almost) more recently but the Patpong area seems to have a future while the Jomtien Complex is, we're told , already flourishing again. We shall undoubtedly be fewer in number as younger gay men prefer destinations ( and facilities) closer to home: and cultural and economic expectations may limit the numbers of young men and women choosing to work in the sex industry. At least in Thailand- if not elsewhere, yet. It is sometimes forgotten that, even in the 90s, some bars were almost empty and quickly closed . Fewer but more vibrant bars (and areas?) may provide a better environment for us.

Screw Boys provided me with my first sex-show back in 1997......yes, many twinks. Michael Notcutt, in his unmissable gay guide of that era, informed us that the original plan was to call it Schoolboys. Oh dear. Perhaps a wise decision not to go ahead with that, not that Screw Boys is a particularly refined name for a bar.

I loved Lotus. Its location in a residential part of CM was (for me) unique. Not to mention being a few metres away from AA. Pity about the availability of transport but back in those far-off days, I used to hire a car. P won't allow me to now! By the way, does anyone recall the owner Mohammed's gay dog? it had a close (sic) relationship with the pooch from a shop across the soi. Really! one evening I watched them enjoying themselves while I drank my Singha at the Garden Bar. I wonder what David Attenborough would say?

Thanks.

Dating back to my first visit, back in the late nineties, AA was always the only true go go bar in CM. Very good it was too....at least fifty dancers, the majority being twinks. And a cute audience , many of them students from CMU, added to the enjoyment. I remember trying the other local bars and remained unimpressed.

I am pleased for you. And for myself....I'm computer-illiterate and was anxious as to what I| could if I had problems. My flight and hotel are booked for July. Some will find my trepidation funny or, even worse, pitiful but it's very real. I curse the Thai junta for putting me through this, not just the expense- that I can tolerate- but I have supported the economic welfare of many places ( not to mention young men) in Thailand, from Krabi to Chiang Rai for decades. They could at least have made an exception for someone with my disability!

The size is important...make sure (if you haven't already done so) that it is one page - the one with the photo- only.

I didn't stay with a guy more than one evening in the nine years I was a butterfly , that is before P came into my life and changed everything.

Long terms are problematical for the guys. P and his friend were taken to Koh Chang by a falang a year or so before I met him. It must have been about 2002. They had a great time and loved the chalet/hotel right on the beach. Being with a friend was very important. It's important that the guys have time-off...that is, time to socialize with friends, go the laundry, clean the room, talk to Mama or just relax without being with the falang all day. One of P's friends related a tale of woe which involved his spending a week as an appendage to an elderly falang, given no time off while remaining in Pattaya. For much of this time, he said, he just sat around, the falang not being very active. Yes, he was well-paid....but very miserable. If only, he said, he'd been allowed a couple of hours a day to do his own thing. And by the way, I know another guy who was taken to the Banyan Tree in Bkk (very nice too) but walked-out after two days, despite the financial loss, for much the same reason.