reader

By DAKE KANG Associated Press Teak chips from pulverized balconies and broken-up floors shower down on workers as they cart out an old TV, a bamboo sofa and a shattered mirror from a house dating back to the 1920s. Meters away, a man wielding a sledgehammer smashes down the frame of a rusting door as dozens of residents look on behind hastily erected barriers. "It's so sad," said Sudjit Sananwai, an architect and longtime visitor to Fort Mahakan, watching as dust rises from splintered wood beams of homes that once belonged to the guards of Thai kings. "People don't understand the value of these houses. They let them demolish everything." Fort Mahakan was built during the late 1700s in part to resist a French invasion, one of 14 strongpoints that ran along the perimeter of the island that defined the borders of old Bangkok. Only one other fort remains; the rest were victims of development. Now just 30 houses within moldy white walls remain here, half the number of two decades ago. Above the houses' worn but well-maintained wooden eaves looms the Golden Mount, with a shining temple perched atop a steep hill. Along one side runs an ancient royal moat, harkening back to an era when Bangkok was called the "Venice of the East," with thousands living in houses stilted above canal waters. The city is setting siege not just to a fortress, but to one of the last communities in Bangkok to maintain a centuries-old way of life, preservationists say. There are few laws in place, however, to protect historic sites beyond temples and palaces. Fort Mahakan was once home to palace guards and their families. Over the centuries, they left, family by family. Residents today come from mixed backgrounds — some have lived there three generations or longer, some are newer arrivals. Most eke out a living as street vendors. The city government contends the residents are squatters, living there illegally ever since authorities seized the land under expropriation laws in 1992. Some residents accepted compensation to move out, but more than 200 have refused to budge despite years of threats and deadlines. Officials want to build the park as part of a 1978 master plan to conserve and develop the old city. But preservationists believe their plan glorifies monks and kings while ignoring the history of everyday people — sterilizing the past and purging it of any charm that might draw tourists. A Thai architects association has proposed an alternative plan to renovate 24 houses and turn them into a tourist attraction while letting old residents stay, modeled after the preserved hutong alleyways of Beijing. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article136665168.html

CREDIT Suisse investment analysts predict that the US dollar will stay strong this year, while most Asian currencies remain weak, including the baht. At the firm’s annual Market Outlook Seminar, attended by more than 200 Thai clients and guests, four Credit Suisse analysts provided a comprehensive outlook on global financial markets. Financial markets are likely to remain challenging in 2017, they said. Growth in global gross domestic product is expected to accelerate slightly, from 3.1 per cent to 3.5 per cent, albeit with pronounced regional differences. http://pattayaone.news/en/thai-baht-tipped-stay-weak-us-dollar/

From Daily Mail (UK) Colourful graffiti vibrantly daubs the concrete walls but music no longer pumps through this deserted nightclub. Batman Nightclub, in Pattaya, Thailand, was abandoned 20 years ago and the only residents of this eerie place filled with discarded rubbish and pools of murky water are vermin and bats. First constructed in 1994, just south of Bangkok, the nightclub was one of Pattaya's most thriving spots for nighttime entertainment, with many Western tourists visiting for a taste of Thai nightlife. But just a year and a half after the official opening, the six-floor club was shut down for underage drinking and drug use. American photographer Dax Ward travelled to the desolate building to photograph the lifeless remains of the bottom floor of the nightclub. He said there was 'an overall sombre vibe about the place... but still some beauty amongst the decay'. Some of the graffiti is fresh from recent events, however. (interior photos at link below) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-4275170/Inside-Thailand-s-abandoned-Batman-nightclub.html

All of us enjoy a good gay read, especially by someone who takes us into places and situations we may not have ventured ourselves, or with guys we can vicariously lust after. Rather than to continue to lament Numazu absence, I offer some of my favorite gay reads from the past, any of which will hopefully take your mind off Burboy, Shanboy, et al. City of Night (John Rechy). A young man arrives in NYC in the early 60's and soon discovers Times Square. Dancer from the Dance (Andrew Holloran). A strikingly handsome (and otherwise innocent) young lawyer is kissed by a Puerto Rican messenger boy while working late in his Manhattan office in the mid-70's and his life changes forever. Note: it has nothing to do with ballet. My last offering may surprise. Bangkok 8 (John Burdett). It's a first rate mystery but the author makes it clear that it's a story of the love an Amerasian detective has for his Bangkok police partner, his soul brother since boyhood. Perhaps others have suggestions to get us through these difficult times.

The giggles are spreading. The Nation today ran this photo to accompany article about the Happy Zone. Audience memebers look they just got off a tour bus. The poles look familiar but the ladies grasping them not so much. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30309069

From Pattaya One Pattaya “happy zones” are set to be put into action next week. The head of the provincial police made a flying visit to Pattaya yesterday to say that the resort “will be a great place to be for the whole world to enjoy”. This comes as authorities are setting up the “Happy Zone” scheme in Walking Street. Chonburi chief Somprasong Yenthuam said that a party launching the new “happy” era for the resort would be held on Saturday March 25th. And the chief told reporters yesterday they can expect an end to attacks on tourists in Walking Street, and no more swindling or padding of bills. Explaining the “Happy Zone” project he asked for the cooperation of operators in the area to put CCTV outside their properties so that they could be “the electronic eyes” that could help with any necessary evidence gathering. “The Happy Zone project will turn Walking Street into a place of happiness for tourists. We have asked the operators to ensure there are no under 20s, no weapons and most importantly no trouble for tourists. “That means no physical attack or swindling of visitors at all”. The chief said that local police, soldiers and district officials were all onboard with the project. He himself was under orders from on high to make the project a success. “This will ensure that Pattaya will be a great place to be for the whole world to enjoy”, said chief Somprasong. http://pattayaone.news/en/pattaya-happy-zones/

Thanks, Forrestreid, for posting correction.

"Actually, contrary to what the OP states, I think Stickman is actually fairly regularly read by quite a few posters here" Exactly where did I say that in my post?

stickmanweekly.com

Stickman Weekly's lead article in the current (Mar.12) issue is well worth the read, especially if you're interested in Pattaya or the bar business in general. Stickman has an extended interview with a Brit who runs over 15 lady bars in addition to the hugely successful Pattaya Addicts forum with a whopping 104,000 users. Fascinating is about the best way to describe Bryan Flowers and what he has accomplished in a dozen years. He talks openly about the ins and outs running bars, managing employees and offers his own take on the local mafia. Also of interest is his experience moderating the forum and dealing with the huge range of challenges members can present to a moderator. Go off the reservation and give it a read; you won't be disappointed.

Bloomberg publishes another list, The Most Miserable. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-03/these-countries-are-getting-more-miserable-this-year

While returning from Twilight one night three years ago, I was approached by a guy who was sitting with friends on steps of Kasikorn bank. After quickly coming to an understanding, we walked to my hotel. To describe his performance as lackluster would have been a compliment. I decided to curtail it after about 20 minutes and gave him the agreed amount. He then asked, "what about my tip?" "That is your tip," I informed him and escorted him out. It reinforced what has become SOP for me: once you decide a guy's not worth any more of your time, cut you losses and don't look back.

"Thanks so far. Since I will stay also 2 days in Bangkok are there some Bangkok tips?" Walk down any street, without sunglasses, and smile at anyone who catches your attention. The odds are in your favor.

From Coconuts It’s the third year that Thailand has been named the least miserable nation out of those ranked on Bloomberg’s Miserable Index. The newly-released 2017 list sees Thailand ranked at 2.6 on the Index. Thailand’s score was slightly higher (as in, slightly more miserable) than last year, which was an astonishingly low 1.2, but it was still the least miserable of the 65 nations ranked. http://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thailand-remains-least-miserable-country-third-year-running/

My most vigorous pat down was performed by a hunky blond in Oslo about six years ago. Only thing comparable was the tailor who measured my inseam for my high school graduation suit. He has a lot to answer for.

Last time I was at Bonny Massage (next to Dick's Cafe), I had a one-hour oil massage and the manager collected a 600 baht minimum tip up front that I understood was passed on to the guy I chose (this was in addition, of course, to the house's fee of 600 baht). I ended up tipping an additional 500 baht directly to masseur for the satisfactory services rendered.

Although we didn't realize it at the time, and perhaps nor did Numazu, that a wonderful yet painful story was unfolding. I believe the vast majority of us have experienced at least one departure from Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang where we had emotions similar to those that he shared. Many here, myself included, prize our butterfly status. And most the time, it's a reasonable--indeed necessary--way to approach our time there. Not often, but every now and then, we experience a disconcerting twinge in our gut as our plane races down the runway. We are all too well aware of the cause and very much want the time to pass rapidly until the flight attendant asks what we'd like to drink. That's the stuff we almost always omit from trip reports. It's goes to a place we'd prefer to keep to ourselves. Numazu did not and that, in the end, made all the difference in the pleasure we took from his writing. We were cheering for a happy ending and the promise of tales of future adventures. It's clear that he had a great time in Puerto Vallarta. But with all that behind him, the inevitable rendering of the heart replaced what was a gay man's adventure of a lifetime compressed into a matter of weeks. He's told us that he'll soon be returning and we selfishly hope to persuade him to keep us in the loop. But I suspect it won't be that simple for him. I understand if he's more guarded, more protective now. Once you open yourself emotionally to close friends or total strangers, it's easy to be hurt.

I assume that the Dusit "annex" is also part of the project. In the photo, the annex is that gray building to the left of the tower. It's about a dozen stores high and houses many additional, lower-cost rooms. This will take 517 rooms out of the upscale market in one of the more popular business/tourist destinations in the city. Good news for the rest of the industry in the neighborhood. The Dusit is the first building you see that announces that you've arrived in Silom. It's among the most indelible memories of my first trip. Will miss it.

Reassuring to know that no animals were harmed in the making of this video.

Maybe's there's a business opportunity here: massage training consultant. Guys with much experience like Vinapu, a447and Christian (all of whom meet the gold standard in all manner of massage reporting) would make themselves available, for a modest fee of course, to break in newcomers. Who knows? It could lead to a successor to Shameless Mack's matrix style of evaluation.

From Khaosod English BANGKOK — A shopping mall, condos, green space and more are coming to replace a 47-year-old landmark on the corner of Silom Road, which will be redeveloped into a mixed-use property, the Dusit Thani Group announced Monday. Once the tallest building in Thailand, the Dusit Thani Hotel will be demolished and replaced with a complex consisting of a hotel, residences, an office space, a shopping mall and green space, according to the announcement. The 36-billion baht project is a partnership between the hotel group and Central Pattana, which owns 30 shopping malls nationwide under the Central brand. Dusit Thani said the hotel will continue operating through June 2018. Development will then begin on the same land, the lease for which was recently extended another 60 years by the Crown Property Bureau. The new lease agreement will also add another 5 rai (8,000sqm) of land to the property. http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/bangkok/2017/03/07/bangkoks-dusit-thani-hotel-gets-date-wrecking-ball/

You might try Pattaya.

From NY Times On most nights, the subterranean sex club Paddles in Chelsea is home to patrons — straight or gay, depending on the hour — absorbed in threesomes and other adventurous behavior. But on a recent afternoon, as dozens of men and women explored its low-lit rooms, the only sex was in the storytelling. The reason was “Adonis Memories,” an immersive work based on first-person accounts by men who frequented the Adonis, a gay porn movie theater that opened in 1975 and proved so popular in the seedy-city era of Times Square that it inspired its own film, “A Night at the Adonis.” Bought by a developer, the Adonis closed in 1989, around the time that two other theaters were shut down after the New York City health commissioner, Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, called them “an AIDS breeding ground.” A site-specific production of the documentary-theater company In Our Words, “Adonis Memories” features eight actors who wander through Paddles in its off hours providing frank and often X-rated accounts of furtive pairings and virginity-vanishing quickies at the theater. In the immersive spirit, shirts come off and pants are lowered with the audience just steps away. But there are also more poetic parts, tales of the Adonis as a refuge where men found companionship and romance before AIDS. Taking the axiom “you had to be there” literally, immersive theater productions — the multidisciplinary genre includes artful extravaganzas like “Sleep No More” as well as more raucous fare like “Drunk Shakespeare” — are resurrecting bygone chapters in gay history this spring. At a time when gay marriage is often greeted with a once-unthinkable yawn, and with anxiety about AIDS no longer omnipresent, these nostalgia-drunk shows are eager to provide audiences an experiential reminder of the dangers and pleasures of an earlier gay age. In addition to “Adonis Memories,” there’s Jeremy Lawrence’s “Lavender Songs,” a solo show set in a Nazi-era underground Berlin cabaret, where a drag queen addresses the audience during what might be his last performance. Two men drafted into the Army before World War II explore their sexual desires in “Seeing You,” a new movement-based show by Randy Weiner, a “Sleep No More” producer, and the choreographer and director Ryan Heffington that begins performances on May 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/theater/gay-histories-close-enough-to-touch-but-dont.html

You're right. I should have been more clear about the way I worded that. What I was trying to get across is that should Soi 4 gain in popularity from the arrival of this new Jupiter enterprise, I don't think it will accelerate the decline of Soi Twilight--or that soi on the opposite side of Surawong where the original Jupiter is located for that matter. Until I can again return to the LOS and kick some tires, I'm hoping that it will be a win-win-win all around because competition is good for the market as well as the libido.

Even without knowing exactly what the owner has in mind for the place, this should add an edge--a bit of sleaze, hopefully--to the soi. And I don't necessarily think it will diminish interest in Twilight--well, interest that hasn't already faded. Despite the frequent complaints we hear (many justified), I'm among those who continue to like the vibe. I'm not a big show guy and don't spend more than an hour or so there at a time, but it has become a frequent stop. It's a comfort level thing acquired over many years. I find Dick's Cafe a great perch to people watch and good, low-tech base to occasionally snatch passing eye candy (no app or off fee required). This new Jupiter incarnation gives us more opportunities inside Silom-Surawong, and all are within walking distance. We've got massage shops, go-go's, bars, restaurants and those fine little hands-on places clustered in the soi by Mango Tree off Soi Tarntawan. So concentrated are the opportunities that it makes the apps an aid to navigation but not necessary to accomplishing the mission. I view apps like I do a new car catalog: good for tweaking interest in available models but I prefer to then go to the showroom to see them in person to savor the new car smell. I'm sure Christian--and you other guys who like to run a hand over the fender--will understand (Thanks, Promsak, for posting the pics. They take the bite out of the frigid winter back here in farangland)