forrestreid

Surely the prospect of increased inflation due to tariffs should make a the dollar weaker relative to other countries currencies? The mysteries of high finance....

Southern Indian guys can be hot. There is a Youtube account called "fit karnataka" that has videos of bodybuilders from southern India. A lot of the guys there arent overdeveloped in the "walnuts in a condom" style but are sexy and well developed. Some of the backstage videos show them better, when they are not posing. None of the guys there are hairy, but as they are bodybuilders I assume they would razor hair off anyway. Worth a look if you are going to southern India (particularly Karnataka state) to put you in the mood!

Tubi TV is not available to people outside the US unfortunately. Do you now if it is on any other site?

I am glad to see my report on Big Tool is still being quoted six months later, but it is time for new intrepid travellers to visit and give us an updated account...if anybody going to Pattaya soon is reading

I took a trip trip to Boysclub21 in Amsterdam last week, on a Sunday night. I wasn’t really in the mood that evening, to be honest, but I decided to visit anyway to have a look at the place, and I was conscious of having promised a bit of a report from earlier in the tread, lol. When I arrived, I was greeted by a guy at the door, who welcomed me and led me to a seat. He was was Colombian I think, but not exactly the type guy I wanted, and I was bit concerned I might get stuck with him. However, he quickly told me that he would describe the other guys to me, and suggested I could ask one of them for a drink, instead, if I wanted. I appreciated the attitude. He pointed out the other guys who were working there. I think there were four guys working that night, as well as the guy who I met at the door there was a Bulgarian and a Portuguese guy and another guy from somewhere in South America, I think. I said I would like to chat to the Bulgarian guy, and so he came down and I bought him a drink. He told me he had moved to the Netherlands mainly to escape the homophobia in Bulgaria. He was about 30 and very pleasant looking, but not a stunner. We ended up chatting for 20 minutes. He travels to Thailand quite frequently with friends, and he told me he liked Pattaya and Jomtien in particular. His favourite bar is Question mark bar. He knew several of the staff in Jomtien bars by name and was disappointed that I couldn’t really remember any of the names of people in the bars, despite being there earlier this year. He was also complaining about the Russians in Thailand, he is not really a fan of them. I asked him if there are any Dutch guys working in the bar at all, and he said during university term time there sometimes were one or two guys who worked on a Thursday and Friday evening. We had a nice chat, but to be honest he gave off a sort of friendly, garrulous taxi driver vibe which although easy to talk to was a bit of a passion killer for me, and didn’t encourage me to want to part with €220. As some of the posters above have said, my impression was that the guys on offer, although fine looking in a boy-next-door type of way, were not quite good looking enough to be really successful as escorts. The set up, the room and the guy for €220, was clearly explained to me at the start. They take cash or card and it was a relaxed and pleasant environment. I would recommend you go and have a look at the place if you are visiting Amsterdam. It is the last of its kind in the city, and will only survive if people visit - in fact I feel a little guilty for not hiring there now, lol.

Like you, I was surprised that they pushed this issue, but I (naively) hoped that it was a signs of a wind of change for Thai modernisation. In retrospect it seems it was the party who were naive in this situation. And like Vinapu, I think the conservative forces who promoted this decision should have given a thought to the fact that that this party was the biggest winner in the last elections, and considered the long view. The inevitable changes coming in Thailand might be all the more disorderly now.

I will be in Amsterdam next week. I will report back

I dont have any memories of Pattaya before 2006 but I have a copy of Spartacus from 1980. According to that, here was very few gay establishments in Pattaya in 1980, just three bars/nightclubs: Byblos - Beside Orchid Lodge. Comments: no stars. Tiffanys Bar – South Pattaya Road, near Siam Bayshore Hotel. Hours: 2000-0100. Comments: Three stars. Tiffany’s Cabaret – same address as Tiffany’s bar. Hours: 2200-0100. Comments: Two stars. I think the Tiffanys Bar was on what is now Walking Street The restaurants mentioned were “Coral Reef Restaurant and Outrigger Bar”, “Dolf Riks ”, and “Nang Nual”. All were in South South Pattaya Beach (Walking Street), and were mixed rather than gay. Dolf Riks was a Dutch-Indonesian who was a part of the gay scene in Pattaya in the Eighties.

On that topic, does anybody know if Big Tool in Walking street in Pattaya, is still going? As I reported in February, it actually had lapdances, (western style, they never got naked).

Thanks for consolidating that info, 12is12, a very useful post.

I stayed there in January, and enjoyed it. The rooms are of reasonable size and nicely appointed. The only thing I disliked was that the room I was in had a really slippy wooden floor. I had to avoid walking around in socks as any time I did I nearly slipped. There was no problem with joiners, they didn’t pay any heed to who you are bringing back even though the lift is beside the reception. The little pool was a nice addition for a late afternoon swim. I don’t know about the breakfast, as I did not have breakfast included, and so I had my breakfast in “Took Lae Dae” on the basement of the Park Siam shopping mall, which is two minutes walk away, across the road. If you go through the ground floor of that building, you are right beside Sala Daeng BTS station.

Sorry to see you’re not getting much response here, Bert, as it is topic I am interested in myself. Perhaps if you’re bit more specific about your questions, it would help. Are you more interested in ordinary gay bars, or gay bars at back rooms; sauna or just escorts? I am thinking of basing yourself and Torremolinos or somewhere else between Malaga and Marbella?

How are you can deal with this depends partly on a much of a “real tourist” you are. I have a similar issue with going to Thailand. However I quite like the touristy stuff as well, I usually have plenty of pics from my touristy expeditions which I can show people from those days that, where I played the part of a “quality tourist” Just bore your work colleagues into submission with pictures of beaches and temples, ( or the Brazil equivalent of temples). I usually find if you start saying “well just let me bring up the 100 pictures I have on my iPad here - I don’t know how I will pick my favourite, I don’t want to bore you with them all” …you usually then see the panic in their eyes and they stop asking the questions pretty soon… Of course, if you’ve no real interest of the standard touristy stuff stuff, that’s a bit more difficult, you might need another strategy!

I know an elderly woman here in Ireland (where such requests would not generally be expected) who went to visit some neighbours who had recently moved in with a young family. They had such a policy as they had either hardwood floors or beige carpet on their floors. The elderly woman and her husband had been invited in for supper, late evening after the kids are gone to bed.They were slightly taken back to be requested to remove their footwear, but they agreed to do because as the woman later said, the floors looked spotless. Unfortunately though, one of the kids had left a piece of Lego on the ground in the bathroom, and the old lady stepped on it while on a visit to the toilet! I am not sure if she told a couple about it, but she bitched pretty vociferously to a lot of other neighbours afterwards, which is why I’m aware of it. On the question in general, I think I remember a letter in the “Dear Mary” section of the (London) Spectator magazine in relation to this question. This is a section in the magazine that deals with etiquette problems and moral dilemmas. The viewpoint of the person answering the queries can sometimes be a bit strange. Anyway, in this case she advised buying a set of disposable surgical over-shoe covers that they use in Hospital and keeping them in your pocket, and whisking them out when faced with such requests. That way, you wouldn’t have to take off your footwear, but any dirt that does come outside on your shoe wouldn’t get on the floors. Not sure how to hosts would react to that..

I visited the Villa again last week I arrived about 6 pm on a Wednesday. It is my second time in in the place but I never hired there before as I wasn’t well on the last occasion (review of visit above). Just to note if you have never been - there is no sign for the place, just a little plaque saying "Basement flat No.32" at the top of the stairs. When I went in, I met the receptionist/host and he brought me to the one-way window. The available guys were three South American guys. They were all Twinkish in build, and of average to good looks. I think they had been better looking bunch the previous time, when unfortunately I wasn’t up to doing anything I clarified that the fee would be £160, which would include everything. I picked a guy called Pedro, who is from Brazil and quite new to the establishment. I was told I’d have to wait for a room, and I was ushered to a little waiting-room just inside the door, with a couch and a TV. Felt a bit weird to be stuck in this pokey room watching Sky News, but I was only was only there for maybe five or 10 minutes before the host came and brought me to the bedroom. The room was a small windowless room with just basically bed and side table. If I had been hoping for an en-suite to possibly have a shower, I would have been disappointed I decided I wanted a sort of proper massage first, but the bed was so soft it was hard for the poor masseuer - when he put pressure on my back I just sank into the mattress. I didn’t leave it long before I moved onto other activities. Pedro was friendly and eager to please. When the session ended, I gave Pedro £160 in cash before I left the room. The overall vibe was friendly and relaxing and I was offered water when I arrived and before I left. Before I left, I asked the host if there were any guys apart from the three I saw who who would be available the next day, and he showed me some photos and videos of a guy who wasn’t in that day, but would be in the next day. So it may be possible to plan ahead to visit when a guy you like will be there.

The author was Michael J Burchall, and the Book was: "Boystown, 1982-2008, My Life and the History of Cockpit Bar, Le Bistro Restaurant, and the Story of Boystown Pattaya". It was more about Boystown than Sunee Plaza - he had the Cockpit Bar in Boystown for many years, and then later Topman in Sunee Plaza, for a much shorter period.

Thanks for the detailed report young11

The Pet Shop Boys have release a new single called Loneliness As a song it is fairly similar to pretty much all their other songs, and a similar theme, but if you are of a certain age like me who was in my teens in the late Eighties/Nineties, it is an irresistably nostalgic listen. And the video for it has a nice story-line and some very cute men (sometimes wearing very little), so even if you are not into the Pet Shop Boys it might be worth a click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUVfoybVqIg&t=314s&ab_channel=PetShopBoys

Looking at the pictures above, Is Splash the new name for the DJ disco party thingy?

It can be hard to read the signals, lol When I was checking in to a hotel in Dubai recently, the porter, after bringing me to the room and showing me the AC etc, then suggested that we exchange Whatsapp details. On seeing me look at him in confusion, he said that it was so I could send him a Whatsapp message down in the lobby if I needed him to bring me something... Despite being to Pattaya five times, it was only after giving him a polite refusal and ushering him out, that I realised that he was probably about try and hook me up with either a lady of the night, or himself! As it was a very straight hotel, and he was in Indian guy who gave off very straight vibes, i suspect it was the former. I was sorry after I hadn't said yes, just to see what I would get offered...

Really enjoying this trip report. Some great photos from Cambodia, and those pictures of Sukhothai are making me want to visit myself. You never told me, when we met in Bangkok, that you were going to Phuket, I was of course just back from my Patong Beach stay. Probably for the best, saved you from having to listen to my unneeded advice, lol I got a sense of déjà vu when I saw your photos. The ones from Zag could have been mine, and the day trip I took was exactly the same itinerary, except on my tour, we didn’t visit the Tiger sanctuary.

There hasn’t been much on the boards about this place in Walking Street since it opened, so I thought contribute a review, after having visited on my trip to Pattaya in January. To briefly explain, it is a male strip show on Walking Street, with western guys as dancers. They seem to be mainly Russians or Brazilians. It’s a bit different than the other offerings in that it’s more like a western style strip-show, based on tease. Despite the title, you won’t see any big tools. It’s basically muscular western guys dancing around a pole and stripping down their trousers. Then they walked down among the crowd and pull down their jeans a bit for you to stick in 100 baht note in their underwear . Even then you didn’t get to see much. Probably wouldn't be the cup of tea for most people on these boards. However, the guys are well-built and good looking, and they really know how to dance on that gogo pole, with some showing really athletic moves on it. I was accompanied by a Thai guy that I had taken off from X Boys bar, and although he was a bit shocked at first, he began to enjoy it. When enter, you go up the stairs to, you have a choice of two rooms, one where there are guys dancing, and another room with women dancing. I had a brief look in the room with a women while I was going to the toilet, the dancers there were western looking also. When we went into the room with the men, we ushered to a seat in the front near the stage. We were given a menu, I looked, and it had alcoholic drinks going from 400 baht up to mad prices for cocktails, champagne, etc. I didnt see any soft drinks on the menu, and when i asked about that, they gave me a second menu with some soft drinks for about 260. So we ordered those and sat down and watched the dancing. They brought the bill for the drinks straight away, and I paid straight away as well. This actually reassured me a bit, as I was a little worried about it being a pure clip joint. After our first drink, although they came around two or three times asking us if we wanted a second, there was no huge pressure to buy, and we turned down the offer and sipped our drinks slowly. There was a constant stream of dancers - there was one on stage at time,and as soon as he was finished, another started. They used to do one dance which was about four or five minutes long. Then they came down and they gyrated in front of the audience, looking for tips in return for a feel of their chest. Most of the audience were western (Russian?) females. But the guys came up to me and my Thai guy as well. When they were with the women, they had put the women’s hands on their chests and chiseled torsos. They were not that pro-active for us, but when I put my hand on the dancer chests, they didn’t object. In return, you were expected to give a tip of 100 baht. They had a sign at the table saying that the minimum tip was 100 baht. The Thai guy I had with me was a bit shy, so when the first guy came round I took the initiative and grabbed his hand his hand and put it on the dancers chest. This made my Thai companion squeal, much to the dancers amusement. Then I gave him 100 baht to give to the dancer. The staff serving the drinks were Thai, but after while a blonde Russian woman came over to us.. She gave us a menu of various add-ons you could pay to do and tried to entice us to buy. These ranged from having a photograph taken with a dancer for 500 baht ( like a fool I actually paid for this with the cutest dancer) to having a private dance for 1000 baht, to getting up in stage yourself (presumably with the dancers) for 800 baht, to renting the whole room for 45 minutes for something like 10,000 baht. I don’t know if they got any takers for these options, the mostly female audience seem to stay for a few dances and disappear. There was no mention of a fee for taking a guy off, I suspect that you would to make your own arrangements for that in a private dance I asked all the guys came to our table where they were from. I think three of them were Russian, one was a Brazilian, and one was Australian (but he said his parents were Russian). If you like Caucasian guys I think you would find them quite good looking. They had a sort of bodies that a member of western stripper troupe would have. Once he got over his initially amazement, the Thai guy I brought seemed to quite enjoy it. When one Russian guy came out with long blond locks, he said "Oh, he looks like an angel!" I know this establishment won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, particularly the Asian guy fans, which naturally enough are predominant on this board. However, considering that the dancers are good looking westerners, you could consider that you could have a similar experience to a western strip club for an hour for the equivalent of 30-40 euros (assuming you spend roughly 1300 baht, broken down into 260 for a soft drink on entry and 1000 bat for 10 dance tips). If you have a Thai guy who has a thing for good looking farangs, it might be a bit of fun for him.

Two I like to watch are: The Bald and Bankrupt Channel - run by a British guy who likes to travel to unusual places. Before the current Ukraine situation, he was particularly famous for travelling in the former Soviet Union and eastern bloc countries. The video I link to below is a fascinating recent one, where he joined immigrants making their way north from Colombia to the USA trough the notorious Darien Gap, and area of complete lawless jungle between the the North and South American continents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aswvkdCpZYc&t=32s&ab_channel=baldandban Of more Thai interest is the Bangkok Pat channel. Pat is a Thai/British guy who delved in considerable detail into certain historic old Bangkok neighbourhoods. The video I link to is where he goes around the Soi Ngam Duphli & Soi Sri Bamphen (near Lumpinee BTS station) and talks about the sleazy history of the area in the 1980's and 1990's with another Thai Youtuber, Karl. They discuss, among other things, the old rent boy scene in the Malaysia Hotel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZfaSNzrpf0&ab_channel=BangkokPat

Looking forward to this report Vinapu!

If you are thinking of visiting Mykonos, a rather cute introduction to it is this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ryB45n8Zk&list=PLbnU9iq6kGBGPVbe5pS5MThq5clRgqaup&index=1&ab_channel=Channel4 It is part of a series called "My First Greek Summer" which was a Channel 4 documentary series (may have been just online ) that followed three rather dumb young British gay lads on the first gay summer abroad. You can follow their adventures that summer in later episodes too. It kinda funny if you have a lot of patience for the young and the dumb if they are cute...