Nikom

Anyone know who bought the Ambiance?

Rickinoc, why is Colombo a must see? Details please! While at Dickman's a farang told me that the best way to enjoy Colombo was to contact someone on GayRomeo, not for sex but to act as guide the the 'spots' in the city.

OH, forgot the most important thing! Lion beer! As was said to me, "Sri Lanka runs on Lion"!

A general reply to several questions and comments. If a trip to Sri Lanka is good for you depends on why you are going. If for history, culture, people this YES go! A great place. I will return for this reason. If you are going to check out the men then a good reason to go BUT a very different scene than Thailand. I stayed at Dickman's in Negombo. Expensive but I would do it again. Best everything! The owner was in Europe with his boy friend and still everything worked great! Life is short - taste it while you can! - Have you ever been to Laos? Yes, but Laos is just the same as Thailand. Sri Lanka is very different. - Abysmal food? I love Thai food, and the food in Sri Lanka, however food from every culture is available all over the island. - South Asian young men. If you are mainly interested in the men then I would concentrate on Colombo and the beaches to the south. Boys are everywhere. Hot and ready. BUT you do have to be somewhat careful [as every where]. Negombo has young men but this is a small village and everyone knows everyone else. But you will be approached everywhere! The word is “do you want a massage”! From this first trip and my limited ‘research’ it seems that most boys from early on have sex with their mates but this often stops when they marry, but not always. Several well known famous gay persons in Sri Lanka are in fact married with children! About costs? This changes all the time. The best way to answer this is to search air fares, google hotels in Sri Lanka, buy a travel guide. There are several travel companies listed on Utopia. Check with them. As I mentioned I used Steve and was impressed. I told him how many days I wanted and where I wanted to go and he emailed me a suggested tour with price. He can 'tailor' a tour for you. As a couple of you mentioned, just taking the local bus and trains work well too. The Lonely Planet guide book is good for this type of travel.

The country of Sri Lanka had always been on my travel list so after I returned to Bangkok from Myanmar and I went off to Sri Lanka. Historically Sri Lankan Buddhism and Thai Buddhism have been closely tied together. Once when Buddhism was about dying out in Thailand Sri Lanka sent hundreds of Buddhist monks to revive the religion, and at another point in history after an Indian prince’s family had ruled Sri Lanka for 200 years Buddhism was dying out there. The Sri Lankans freed themselves and sent a request to Thailand for help. Hundreds of monks were promptly dispatched to Sri Lanka. What is interesting is that there are Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka of Thai design, and Buddhist temples at Sukothi, the old capital of Thailand, of Sri Lankan design and I got to visit all of these in both countries. I began and ended my Sri Lankan tour in Negombo, a beach resort town on the west side of the island. Contacted Steve [see Utopia] for an 8 day tour. Steve planned the tour but was already booked so sent his friend Lal. Great driver and guide! Knew the best places to stop! One national holiday – no beer on sale – Lal came back with several cold bottles of Lion Beer [large bottles and the best!] We first went north to the mountain fortress of Sigiriya that was build by King Kassapa who ruled 477 to 495. From there we took a route down through the mountains of central Sri Lanka stopping at many historical sites. One of the most impressive was the Temple of the Golden Tooth in the mountain town of Kandy. We attended a night ceremony at the Temple where a tooth of Buddha is enshrined. Sri Lanka is the world’s fourth largest of producer of tea. From Kandy we wondered down the island through large tea plantations stopping at tea factories and British plantation houses that have been converted to restaurants. Reaching the south coast we turned east and arrived at Galle, pronounced Gawl in English. The massive stone fort at Galle was started in 1663 by the Dutch and today is a working city of 400 homes, mosques, churches, and businesses all protected as a World Heritage Site. The 2004 tsunami killed many people in Galle however there were not any deaths and very little destruction inside the walls of the fort! One note: The rise of Asia? Only a couple of years ago Sri Lanka ended a long rebel insurgency and is now rebuilding their country. China, Singapore, India and Japan are investing heavily in Sri Lanka. China is building new roads, super highways, paving many rural roads and is building an international medical school and hospital. [The United States offered to sell them some American made weapons!] If others have been to Sri Lanka would love to read your experiences. Plan to return! Nikom

THANK YOU both. Great help!

Where can I buy large or X large European size condoms in Bangkok? Any suggestions and directions? THANKS!

There is another reason that a boy may not be 'offable'. I know one bar in Boys Town where the farang owner likes to show off his "new boy" but the boy can not be taken off until the owner is finished.......

I have a Nepalese friend who works in a top hotel in Katmandu as a masseur. A group of us were drinking one evening and thus subject came up. Friend spoke up saying, "Yes, it is true the the Koreans have the smallest penises BUT God corrected this by giving them the cutest little as___ in the world"!

Had to go up to Chiang Mai late last year and visited Adams Apple. Not many people there but there was a nice group of boys BUT the boys all sat BEHIND the seats for the visitors and you could not see them unless you turned around and stared! They did a not time walk through with numbers written in some font that was difficult to read. I left without anyone. I have ran into this in another bar in Chiang Mai and wondered if there was some special reason for sitting behind the visitors.

In the Chiang Mai bars why do the boys sit BEHIND the customers? How are we to 'check them out'?

Those thinking of visiting Myanmar should do so sooner. With last year’s rush of tourists and the tourist projection for the next five years Myanmar will soon lose is wholesome welcome nature. The number of tourist doubled in 2011 from the previous year. The costs of hotels greatly increased however in many of the hotels new services were also added. Tourist officials expect the number of local people employed in the field will double this year. One tourist agent told me, smiling, that it seemed like a new tourist company was being formed every week! Added to this is the fact that every plane going to Myanmar from Bangkok now is full of Asian businessmen all seeking a part of the pie. Interestingly, many passengers were from India. Myanmar at one time was part of the British Indian empire and thousands of Indians lived in Myanmar. After the Army coup year ago most left as the government took their businesses. Now they are coming back in force! Unfortunately the only travel guide available, in English, is Lonely Planet. The current guide was poorly researched and is out of date. Lonely Planet is now owned by BBC news so that should give you an idea of its quality. But that is all there is now so go buy it. A travel route? Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, and Inle Lake. The two ‘must see’ are the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, and Bagan. If you have time and the season is right there are some nice beaches on the west. The climate is the same as Thailand. The water festival is held the same dates as in Thailand [because of the hottest weather]. If you go during ‘high season’ you will need hotel reservations well in advance. If you go during low season it is still possible just to go and take a chance. During rainy season Yangon is by far the wettest however the rain is much less up north around Mandalay. The boys of Myanmar are of a mixed lot. Some very dark, some white like Bangkok Thai. Many tall and thin and many shorter and thicker. My favorites are the mixed Burmese and Shan boys in Mandalay! Yangon has every kind of boys from all over the country!

. "My boyfriend has a 9 year old son." OH, so where is daddy? He is the key here. If he has no interest in your project Michael then forget it!

I ran down to Pattaya for two weeks in August and wanted to add a couple of notes. I still like Funny Boys but I have never understand who the movement of the boys around the stage is so slow. The workers there say it is the owner and not Rose. XBoys, YES! Across the street XBoys has a second bar named XBoysLand and many of the boys go back and forth between the two bars, especially for shows. Such nice boys!!!! One of the shows at XBoy was the best I have ever seen in Thailand. I also like Cupid. They has many new boys of every size and needs! The Mamasan there is MOST HELPFUL! .

I read this forum almost daily. I seldom post for several reasons: a. Does it seem that there is a clique of regular posters who intimidate posting by others? >>>>> Yes, there is a clique of regular posters but in general they are helpful and have good posts. There are a couple who God Made In Heaven and thus can not be questioned! b. Do you feel welcome to post or do you feel ignored or put down by some of the regulars? >>>> Yes, welcome to post and do not feel ignored. Many readers read the posts and appreciate them but do not reply. However: There are a couple who God Made In Heaven and thus can not be questioned! c. What are your feelings about the frequent banter among the regular posters? Negative or positive or neutral? >>>> It is really inpolite when someone has posted a serious topic and one or two posters take the whole line onto another subject. Why should these few regulars "banter" in the middle of a serious topic. Their posts should be removed, but I realize that this would cause them to leave the board.

I ended up staying at The Ambiance. A good choice. They now do an ID check of all your guests, a feature that I like. Everyone was friendly including the guys in the restaurant, and the place was clean. Gave the cleaning woman a nice tip at the beginning of my stay and told her I needed three or four towels daily. She took good care of me! During my two week stay I only saw one heterosexual couple.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions. Funny about how we humans react to events. I checked out Copa but rejected it for a different reason. Twice in the past my Bangkok boyfriend and i stopped in there to see the show downstairs but were not treated properly. It seems they want you to take one of their boys, not bring your own. What I did not understand is why they thought that we two would not take a third? I would not be surprised if The Ambiance is trying to attract the heterosexual crowd. I have no problem with that. At the now closed Howards often staright Thai boys brought their girl friends there. Thanks again!

Which Boy's Town hotel is best: Ambiance or LeCafe Royale? Any one stay at Baan Dok Mai? Thanks for any help!

On another site a poster stated that the Chiang Mai government “plans to expunge late night and “adult entertainment” from the city. Anyone know any details about this? Does this mean the Adam’s Apple and the Circle are going………..

THANKS everyone. Will sample all suggestions!!

Thanks much for your message. Appreciate it. Restaurants: Thanks for the ones you mentioned. Will try them. I mostly eat Thai food five days and then need some steak! Bars. I will give it another go. I was there last during low season and most did not have a show or wanted to put a show on for just me! I guess I am spoiled from Bangkok and Pattaya where you can see all the guys on stage a couple of times and then choose one. I really don't understand at Freeboy why the guys all stand at the back of the bar while the seats face the stage???? Any problems bring guys in for short time in the Mercure Hotel?

Some suggestions about Chiang Mai? Last visit, low season, I returned to Chiang Mai after an absents of 7 or 8 years having stayed in Bangkok or Pattaya. Still love Chiang Mai and want to go back in a month or so. My problem is I like to go to a go go and see the boys several times on stage or nearby and then choose. This last visit to Chang Mai I only found bars that just had the boys walk through once and you had to choose. One place the boys had numbers which you could not read. Another had the boys walk through once, no number or name and thus no method of contact. Another had the boys stand at the back of the bar while the customer’s seats faced the opposite direction! Any suggestions about where to go or how to be able to choose a boy? Any restaurant suggestions for dinner???

I haven't been to Phuket in years. Are all of these three hotels below about the same quality? Anyone have strong opinions about any of them, and why? Connect Rendez Vous Aquarius Thanks!

This "event" happened two days after the American government was screaming about their 'intellectual rights' not being paid for.

As reported before on this forum, the largest gay festival in Asia is held every year about 15km outside of Mandalay. This is a Nat Festival and is a all day-all night affair. This year the dates are August 14 to 22, with August 14, 15 and 16 as the high point.