sglad

Indeed, what more can you ask for. Welcome to the board, paborn! Happy to see you here.

Pardon me, but what's LCR?

traveller123, I'm glad you enjoyed your ride on Ben's big seat.

In addition to the address details you already have, make sure you have the contact no. of someone at the orphanage who can direct you or your driver to the orphanage in case you get lost. Should you use Grab, speak to the driver before you set off and ask him whether he or she would mind waiting for you for the return journey for a pre-negotiated price. They might be amenable to the idea as they would likely return back to the city with no fare otherwise. The yellow commuter songtaews suggested above may be a quaint, rustic and cheap way to travel for the farang but I wouldn't recommend it as it might get crowded with passengers and make many stops along the way. Seating at the back of a songtaew with their low ceilings and narrow benches can get quite uncomfortable for a somewhat long-ish journey in September and, depending on the time of day, you might have to jostle for space with sellers from the market and their wares. Mae Rim is an amphoe or district in the central part of Chiang Mai province. Are you perhaps going to Baan Vien Ping or Vien Ping Orphanage in Tambon Donkaew? In the city itself, you might want to visit Baan King Kaew in Wualai Road (en route to the Airport Plaza) for an example of a well-run orphanage. It can be a very sad and very heart-warming experience.

You can use Grab, which is similar to Uber. Uber ended on April 8. An hour's drive away is quite far; would you mind telling us where the village is? Alternatively you can make an arrangement with a songtaew driver but make sure he knows where you're going, I mean really knows. You don't want to end up in the general area and end up going round and round searching for your exact destination.

Have you drawn up your last will and testament? Hehehe... I'm sure it will be fine. As I understand it these things are hit and miss. It all boils down to chemistry and the skills of the masseur. Of course, get the pricing sorted out before you enter the massage room. Other than that, take it easy, relax and think pleasant thoughts.

It's all relative to individual spending power, tastes, type of venue and location. All too often people compare oranges and apples in these forums, making dismissive statements about a particular venue which to me sounds like a hatchet job. For example, they go to Dreamboys or Jupiter 2018, which sits on some of the most expensive real estate in Thailand, and compare it unfavourably with a Sunee Plaza bar or one of those bars in that soi where the Tawan is. Very different types of venue in terms of staff, atmosphere, the services they offer, the kind of clientele they attract and of course, pricing. I've also read some rather unkind remarks about Vietnamese boys here who, interestingly, are very popular with Asian and female customers. Thankfully, the reviews in Chinese and Thai forums seem to balance things out a bit. So yeah, it all depends on who's doing the reviewing, what they're looking for, what they can afford, what they're willing to spend and the type of bar. Everything has to be viewed in context.

Wow, that waterfall is gorgeous! How is the water; is it cold and is it safe to swim in if you're not used to the currents?

Wow, long holiday! Glad to hear that you enjoyed your trip to Chiang Mai. The overnight train from Bangkok might have been more interesting as it rolls into Lampang, Lamphun and Chiang Mai in the morning and you get a breathtaking view of the surrounding hills. Even better if you have a loved one to enjoy it with you as you sip coffee together in the restaurant car. Sorry to hear that the masseur wasn't what he claimed to be. Didn't you Snapchat or FaceTime to verify each other prior to meeting? The farang trying to be more Thai than Thai is all too familiar and it's not limited to two-week backpackers ! I've been accused of not being Asian enough by this lot - they have stereotypical, narrow and, in my opinion, racist views of what it means to be Thai or Asian and anyone who doesn't conform to their views or, more accurately, act Asian is attacked. Anyway, they are the ones who are stuck in the land that time forgot and, as you know, there are lot more fun things to do in Thailand than to be concerned about them. With that thought in mind, I hope your next visit to Chiang Mai will be even better than your recent one. Cheers!

Uhm where in Thailand? You should be able to find gyms in all the major cities if your hotel doesn't have one. They don't usually advertise their pay-per-use rates but they are available. Walk in and ask them. Anywhere from the big chains to hardcore shop-lot gyms. There are also gyms attached to some municipal stadiums with very inexpensive rates (20-40Bt per entry) but if you're just passing through then maybe it wouldn't be worth your time to seek them out as they're not located in city centres.

Perhaps they were in Bangkok for other reasons (not everyone goes to Thailand for sex) and happened to chance upon one another at the park and it was an impromptu thing. Perhaps they were fans of outdoor sex and organised one through the hook-up apps. Perhaps they invited some of the locals and they weren't interested. My boyfriend and I have jogged at Lumpini Park very early in the morning and we've met and had coffee with some very nice and helpful Chinese-Thai professionals from the nearby condos and offices. An unlikely place to make and expand your social and business network but it happens!

No worries. How was your trip to Chiang Mai?

Attractive ones?

All the short-time hotels are indecent.

Even so, brutally murdering someone is hardly an appropriate or proportionate response.

I'm bumping up this thread for mynakedtop who recently asked about Chiang Mai. Just a note on Uber. It ended its services on April 8 but Grab is still running.

No, that's not what you said in post #25. You specifically said Sydney and Melbourne for Asian guys and South America for Latin guys. If flight cost and convenience is really the issue, than it would make more sense for Americans to visit their larger, more cosmopolitan cities where the odds of finding Asian guys are better given their larger populations than in Sydney or Melbourne and for essentially similar cultural experiences. And if they must travel but flight cost and convenience is still an issue, then Hawaii, Japan or Taiwan would possibly be closer and provide better odds and more interesting cultural experiences. This bringing coal to Newcastle thing by going to Sydney or Melbourne just doesn't make good sense. And, as aussie suggested in post #33, you need to look good in a pair of boardies coz you'll be competing with some pretty hot guys. More so if you go in the summer months where the hottest of the hottest from Europe and Brazil descend upon the Australian beaches. Friends from Sg who are into white guys hit those beaches as the pickings are so much better than what they find in SE Asia.

Nope. Your sampling is flawed and thus your anecdotal findings cannot be extrapolated onto "the larger group of gay tourists". First you need to identify who the current gay tourists spending the big bucks are. They are not complaining and lamenting the death of Patpong and the Thai sex industry, at least not based on what I've been hearing from my friends and reading gay-oriented sites written in Mandarin. The huge presence of the Chinese and other Asians in the Bangkok bars speaks for itself. They look for hot bods and quick sex, are happy to pay the going rates, and then they move on to other stuff on their itinerary. The ones who are complaining are those westerners on a limited budget who go to the bars for a social experience. They miss not having deferential boys serving and fussing over them - aah the good ol' days of Asian servitude are fast disappearing and they are running out of options for re-living their dusty colonial days for a few shillings. So they whinge and whine. You can't blame the Bangkok bar owners for gearing their business model towards their main/current market and ignoring the whiners who nature will take care of as the years go by anyway. It's just good business sense.

The above statement doesn't make sense. If Americans wanted to meet Asian guys, why fly all the way to the antipodes when there are plenty of them studying or working in the larger American cities like LA, SF and New York? The Asian guys in Sydney and Melbourne already have a huge pool to cruise from - from among themselves as well as the local Aussies without needing American tourists. If these Americans wanted to incorporate a bit of travelling with their sex hunts, wouldn't it make more sense to go to the mother ship and visit the big Asian cities like Singapore, Taipeh, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai? And why not Bangkok for non-commercial sex? I mean if "many hundreds of cute Asians" are available for 'free sex' in Sydney and Melbourne, then surely there should be (at least) just as "many" 'non-working boys' in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai? Or is the above writer saying that all Thai guys want money?

Why not? As mynakedtop and others have pointed out, there have been substantive changes in the bars themselves as well as the demographics of their patrons.

I know what Craigslist is but I don't think we use it that much around these parts.

Yeah I do have a wide circle of friends from a variety of backgrounds.

Erm, 25 years ago would have been the early 90s?

Yes. Best to keep away. I have friends who chill, fuck, smoke, fuck, gym, chill, fuck, smoke, fuck, gym... Some chill two or three times a week, some can't have sex without chilling. God knows what they're doing to their brains and bodies.

Ironically, Soi Twilight is living up to its name.