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I'll have to see if I can find the more recent version. Still spine tingling

Domestic fares are already pretty low. I think I paid less US$50 each way for my upcoming trip to Ubon Ratchatani

actually the mattress point is a good one. More than once I have complained about the concrete-hard beds of Asia. As a side sleeper I find them unsleepable

It really is a shame what's been done to that beautiful country. Such nice people, now forced to fight for their lives. It's all such a waste

For me location is the most important criterion. If the choice is a perfectly-located 3 star sort of place or a not as well located 5 star I know which I prefer. And most places I have stayed in Thailand are of a quite good standard even if they're not 4 or 5 star luxury.

you can rent many condos/apartments by the night. No need for long term rentals

I'm not sure you need 4 stars or better for comfort. There's a Hilton at Central Festival. That's not super far from Boys Town but a bit of a walk. You'd need to hop on the baht bus to Jomtien. I stayed at the Hotel Baraquda Heeton Pattaya by Compass Hospitality when it was the Dusit D2. I suspect it's a bit more worn down now unless Compass has invested some money. If you take a look at the map on Agoda or any other booking site you will see what's available. Seems like there are many small places that are comfortable. Lots of condos in addition to hotels.

those three could take my 20000

New column from author Philip Cornwell-Smith Bangkok’s graphic image had become a mess. Yes, the city’s character is messy, too, but that’s not an excuse when visitors need consistency and residents could feel newfound pride in their city’s badge. There was no constant font, colour or composition for the logo and wording. There wasn’t a manual specifying how to reproduce the city’s graphics, which is a norm that any firm provides for its brands. Every promotion, like ‘Amazing Bangkok,’ ‘City of Life’ or the current ’Unfolding Bangkok,’ added yet more fonts, slogans and clutter. Bangkok has been in desperate need for what designers call an ‘identity system.’ https://koktailmagazine.com/content-detail/BMA+Logo?fbclid=IwAR2oF4Umx2HTMRJM9X0hE3a95TUUJGVLIMOe9ZLnKJmJDawmA7BcXD65crs

some of the more generous "like minded" members of this forum might be around to show you the ropes. There's a lot of good advice in the forum about gogos and other venues. But it will take you some time to read through. Maybe Mack's blog would be helpful? But I think these sorts of venues are generally fairly similar everywhere. So if you have experience in other places you should find the scene in Thailand to be pretty straightforward

Apparently Kazakhstan is big market now which I think is a bit surprising.

I think most of the new high rises in Bangkok have fairly small apartments. Certainly the studios and 1 bedrooms are on the small side. The Airbnb I stayed in at Ashton Chula was a small studio. But they provide lots of nice public areas - big gyms, co-working spaces, party rooms, etc.

that whole area looks quite interesting. Apparently there are many new highrise apartments there that are not too expensive.

I think that's the point. The onset is earlier this year.

Isn't the whole point of Buddhism that all of life is suffering?

I stopped caring what busybodies I don't know think a long time ago. I am happy to spend time with my much younger friends/sugar babies in pretty much any venue. It's been my experience that most other people are too caught up in their own issues to care about how much younger my companion happens to be than I am. It's not like we're fucking in public so our relationship could be all sorts of different things.

good luck with that. Unless they can start controlling the weather it will be a tough sell for most people from temperate regions to visit when it is a billion degrees and the air is full of pollution or when there's a lot of flooding. Although I think there are probably plenty of people who would prefer the quieter locales over the crowded cities if they had the right kind of infrastructure support

The digital nomads and YouTubers are interesting cases. I think some of them are on student visas or they teach English part time so they have a work visa. Some have other businesses that they manage to get work visas for or they work for companies that arrange visas for them. Some are on retirement visas. Thailand keeps talking about offering digital nomad visas but I don't believe that's actually been created yet. There was a gay travel YouTuber based in Thailand who was told he was exceeding the 180 day limit after several exits and re-entries.

I think I have many of these same photos 🙂 I did the Bergen to Flam ride on one of these local ferries - also in September about 5 years ago. Gorgeous scenery. I think it was about 5 or 6 hours. Then took the train from Flam to Oslo the next day.

Thanks for your detailed post. You are obviously a very generous person. I found at Zoo that I had to be a bit more aggressive than I would normally be to get what I wanted. Although the first boy I saw there provided B2B massage as part of the package and I got what I wanted out of that encounter. I will agree that things there are a bit more trouble that it's worth. They do have a lot of pretty boys who cycle in and out of their stable though.

I can't add anything recent, but I stayed at the Siam Heritage on my first trip in 2006. Very strict no joiners policy there at the time. I was staying there during the coup that knocked Thaksin out of office and they would not allow my tour guide in that night when things were pretty chaotic.

what's your budget? I'll be staying at the Crown Plaza Lumpini next month. Very well-located for the gogo scene and close to BTS and MRT for seeing the rest of the city.

See I don't really like people, so meeting new ones doesn't hold a lot of attraction for me. The entertainment doesn't really change much. The ships do the same itineraries over and over. I suppose it's better than a retirement home, but if you require a lot of care the ship isn't going to be equipped to provide it for you. I haven't priced retirement homes but cruises aren't exactly cheap. The doctor on board can handle some emergencies but it's not like your primary care doctor's office. If you're in good health it's fine. But if you need nursing care the cruise line isn't going to help you.

I did my first and only cruise on Virgin last year. Definitely very gay. Plenty of obviously gay crew and guests. I had a fine time but ultimately it didn't really comport with the way I prefer to travel.

just a lot of nudity and very-near nudity in public places that could have gotten them into a good bit of trouble if they'd been caught