zoomomancs

Last night I went to the new Dream Boy at about 23.00 ish so fairly peak Friday night. Beer Singha 500bt, a blue drink with umbrella for my companion 600bt. No Leo Beer so I lobbied the waiter re. 500 bt price and no Leo? The venue looks much the same as it used to inside but the stage may have changed design (not sure) and it has the extra, new, illuminated entrance noted above. Seats nearly full with customers but still some available. More boys on stage than in July, maybe 30 or so. Show looked interesting with money spent on costumes for dancers though we only stayed for one drink so did not see everything. Many lads doing big cock show and touring for tips afterwards. The big stage has a lot of possibilities. No love lost for the pillar in the middle at the former place. I still find the Freshboys lads more twinky but most customers will find a man they fancy here. Not cheap but you will probably want to give it a look.

I hope he is back soon. Always entertaining.

Has anyone been inside the new Dreamboys to tell us what it is like? Now that we have established (I think) that Cameron doesn't own it. I don't own it either.

To be fair I can't recall other thefts from me in Thailand in about 44 month long visits in 11 years. When I bring a man back to sleep I really should remember to put my wallet in the safe. As well as it being safer there it avoids any self questioning the next morning along the lines of: 'did I really spend 10,000bt last night or has some gone missing'. Having done a few 'crazy' things in the past I will state the obvious advice about our physical safety for anyone coming for the first time: avoid confrontation, smile and remain pleasant through difficult encounters, the combination of jet lag, dehydration, alcohol and lack of sleep can set us on unwise roads, read up on Thai scams, 'face' is extremely important, agree it's on the meter or a set price getting into a taxi. I'm sure you can all add more.

A safety measure that nearly came unstuck. I keep debit cards in the safe or on me but I put a back up bank card in the bottom of my rucksack. My first long time Thai man created a row while we were eating in a restaurant near the hotel, got up and stormed back to the hotel. This was the night before I was flying home. For some reason I looked in the rucksack and no card was there. I said I was going to the hotel reception to talk to them. When I returned to the room, the bank card had appeared on the floor. Another time I was stupid and left a little man bag with about 27,000 bt on the table in a massage room while I had a massage. After the massage I fell asleep and when I woke up there was 7,000 bt in my man bag and the masseur had vanished. Do not do similar, lol.

A former mamasan there thought it would reopen around now but no news. Workers I ask in the Soi know nothing of reopening. Might we hope for a high season opening? Kings Castle may be watching how the new Dreamboys venue gets on. That's a big venue to fill every night. As such bars go, Screwboys was not too expensive to run. The lads got no payment, not even 150 bt, but didn't have to turn up to work. Maybe we need to find a way to get the message to Kings Castle that many of us miss Screwboys?

Twice in this thread wrong information is given: "Thailand still has a Covid mask requirement in place"......"I do not personally see the need for masks. However, it is the law" The reality is: "Outdoor mask-wearing has been endorsed as voluntary although the public are still advised to wear a face mask in crowded places, such as, public transport, markets, and concert venues, or for people with certain health conditions." (Royal Thai Government Gazette on 23 June, 2022, and with immediate effect). I still wear a mask in some indoor venues, including BTS and MRT.

The mask mandate was lifted months ago: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-24/thailand-ends-restrictions-on-bars-scraps-mask-mandate Now we decide.

Someone - I forget who - mentioned 7th October as the target opening date. There has been plenty of grinding noise and activity by renovation workers visible at the new Dreamboys door nearest to Silom on a side alley so they seem to be going at the work energetically.

The last few nights I've been drinking there at about 22.00. There may be a lack of staff (and customers) sometimes. The former smaller bar in the group, nearer Surawong, has never reopened since Covid as far as I know.

In July when I was In Sunee walking about I may have seen 2 such motorbikes.

In Patpong (BKK) the bar underneath Hotmale usually has customers. Red Dragon Bar (sort of) underneath Freshboys and part of the same business is also worth a look.

I see today that the former Lucky Boys property has a new 'Dreamboys' sign and at least 3 people are painting the entrance area. I tried to ask the workers when it it is opening but got no answer beyond smiles. Does anyone know anything?

Just arrived BKK from MAN via DOH with Qatar Airways. Both the 777 and the A380 seemed completely full, as they were for my June trip. As fewer airlines are doing Thailand (eg BA) the existing airlines can charge plenty.

In 2017 I had returned from Bangkok to UK by a week when I heard on Facebook that a Vietnamese man, aged 20, who I knew, had died after jumping into the Chao Phraya river after a tiff with a woman in a taxi at 05.30am after going to a birthday party. I don't think me meant to die, just to make a point to the woman, but I guess he was drunk. He worked in Red Dragon Bar on Patpong Soi 2. That day I flew to Ha Tinh to visit his family. I will never forget him. In a week I will be in Bangkok. I will be more generous to the lads as a tribute to his memory.

Increasingly these days I say I don't send money, I tell them I pay for services when I am there. I also regularly ask people I've loaned money to when they will repay it. Last trip I got 3,000 bt back. As I am soft I gave 6 men in a go go bar 500 bt each.

After going to Thailand from the UK some 4 times a year for 6 years I thought seriously about moving there. Maybe to Jomtien. The holiday lifestyle reduces the pain from a health condition so I was tempted. What stopped me was the reality of losing the NHS as I get older and knowing that what I can afford to do on holiday would not be possible all year round if I was there. As long as I can, I will go 4 times a year to the region, as I like Vietnam too.

It can be cheaper to book Tarntawan by becoming a member on the hotel's website. You can see the prices per night on a calendar after you log in. I will be there at the end of the month for a few nights before going to the Raya.

I will be in Bangkok 24th to 28th.

A quote from a bar lad in Ao Nang, said to his mate, after a young farang woman from Glasgow left in tears to go home at the end of the last night of her holiday: "If we have a good harvest of farang in the high season, we eat in the low season". We might consider ourselves as similar to rice or carrots, but often more profitable.

If we say no often enough the requests stop in my experience. I completely agree not to get trapped sending regular cash to an insincere man. I've done it, though no fortune. A friend of a friend gave about £100,000 to a man he'd never met in a different continent. But I don't regret being in contact with dozens of Asian men over the last 11 years. I want to meet many of them again so my way I know where they are. When one of them threw himself in the river in Bangkok and died I was on the next plane to Vietnam to see his family. Of course many of them will give us a sob story to try to get cash. And sometimes their reality is grim. We can keep in touch and be very careful, and say no, and do what we can to help when we are there.

Just to emphasise the importance of keeping the employers unaware. Once I arrived at a go go bar moments after the lad arrived for work. He put his head round the door and went with me, despite my questioning whether this was ok without my paying the off fee. He was new in town and said it was ok. He was sacked the next day because of this. He was reinstated the day after that when I returned to the bar and paid the off fee.

As someone said said above, stalls on Silom, open some days but I don't think every day. Do haggle, but not too hard.

Thank you for the info. I'm British.

Thank you for a great update. Re the age of consent in Vietnam, does anyone know why Google confusingly says it is 16 and 18? I have had a few fabulous meets in Vietnam and want to stay the right side of the law on my next trip.