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Thanks for this. I may well try it out next time I am in town. This is probably a dumb question, but do you wear any footware (i.e. flip flops or "shower shoes")?

I will be there. I still need to figure out where I am going to stay. Leaning towards an apartment type thing instead of a regular hotel.

Yes, I am sure that is the same person. I witnessed him totally bilk another customer who was Asian and didn't seem to have the ability to say "no" out of a lot of money for drinks. After the guy left the mamasan "high-fived" one of the boys which seemed very poor form to me. I offed a very cute boy (who had moved on to Boys Bangkok last time I saw him) with whom I should have negotiated in advance on his short time rate. We had a 500 baht difference of opinion over the going rate. Ultimately I just paid him to avoid a scene. I would have happily offed him again until that unpleasantness. But I think he wasn't hurting for offs since he seemed to be one of the stars there at the time so maybe repeat business wasn't a concern to him. But I may well give Classic another look next time I am in town. Things could change again between now and then though as well. :-)

what's disgusting about pineapple? They do put some weird stuff on pizza, but I don't count pineapple among them.

I really liked Pizzeria Limoncello off Suk 11.http://www.zanottigroup.com/pizzeria-limoncello.html As you can see form the URL it's part of the Zanotti group. It's a nice little place. I ate there twice on a visit a couple of years ago when I was staying on Sukhumvit Soi 11 at the Fraser and then at the Aloft. Lots of gay patrons and hi-so Thais. Service was a little slow. But the pizza was great...and enormous. Too much for one person really. Good desserts too. I agree that Scoozi is pretty good too if you are in the Silom/Suriwong neighborhood.

Nice to hear Classic has turned over a new leaf. The mamasan that used to be there was such an objectionable person that I swore the place off a couple of years ago.

Well, with the growing Chinese middle class looking to travel I think it is not a surprise that a city in Asia would have this distinction. London is too expensive for a lot of people. Add in the UK's onerous taxes on flights and It think London has some high hurdles.

Does the climate there lend itself to bike riding? Bike share has been very popular here in Washington. And I know the program in Montreal has been quite successful too. But it's only 100 degrees here a few days out of the year. But given Bangkok's traffic and weather conditions I can't imagine this project has much chance to succeed.

Maybe he makes money by bringing in unsuspecting guys who like cute Vietnamese boys? Perhaps his job is to lure you in so you'll buy drinks for him or others. The boys usually get a cut of the drinks you buy for them. I agree I don't see where the deception is. You asked if he could go off and were told no multiple times. If he's Vietnamese it's likely that he isn't allowed to work. So maybe they can keep him in the bar but its too risky to them to let him go off.

"After frolicking with Bangkok’s people, Bryan got a taste of this city’s notorious architecture and history at the local temple and grand palace." Notorious architecture and history? The writing is pretty horrific even if you overlook the factual inaccuracies.

I love that in China 1.5 million people is considered a "small" city! I have an expat friend who has been living for 7+ years in Taipei. He really likes it there and I can see why. I think it might be tempting to a degree as there are so many things I enjoyed about the place in my short visit last year. Headed back for a longer time this year. Not sure I could ever live there or anywhere else in Asia though for a variety of reason.

Wow, those problems would certainly put me off going back! While I am sure it costs more, I booked my trip through Purple Dragon and had no problems...other than some really crappy weather in Hoi An which was no one's fault of course. I did meet a guy in Hanoi at the lake who seemed to be obviously trying to angle me for a scam but I had my defenses up. I tried to be pleasant but wasn't about to give in to anything. The trip on Halong Bay I had a whole boat to myself. I just went for a day trip though and didn't stay overnight on a boat. I understand the new road from Hanoi to Halong Bay has dramatically reduced the time it takes to get there. Having a private car and guide is very helpful and for me it is the best way to travel around Asia.

According to a poster over on Flyertalk.com the truth seems to be that the FO left the cockpit to use the lavatory and one of the cabin crew sat in his seat at that time. Somehow another flight attendant entered the cockpit and the captain let her sit in his seat. The captain never left the cockpit. When the FO returned the person in his seat got up and may have disengaged the autopilot. Apparently it may have been the FO who reported the incident to the company. That is a lot more believable to me.

I wonder how much of this story is true though. As I said in other forum, whoever was in charge would have been required to be in contact with air traffic control. It's not likely the flight attendants would have known how to do that correctly. Could be that the person who reported this "incident" is lying or has some grudge or score to settle.

I really liked Hue a lot. The sites there are very interesting and a bit different, especially the Emperors' tombs. I didn't love Hoi An but it's worth a visit. There's an interesting museum of Cham culture in Danang that is worth a visit. I really wish I had taken the time to visit some Cham empire sites. But I like all of those old ruins. If you're not into that it's probably not that interesting. If you're driving from Hue to Hoi An take the scenic mountain route rather than the tunnel. There are some really dramatic views of the ocean. In Hue I stayed at La Residence. It's one of the more upscale choices in town. It's got a lot of Art Deco touches which I liked. There's a big pool table on the lobby level that I enjoyed along with my guide. The only thing I didn't like was the crazy-inflated prices for bottled water. But there's a little shop right outside the hotel's gate which had water for a fraction of the price. I don't remember touts being an issue but I was with a guide/driver most of the time.

Here's an interesting map that was linked on a favorite blog last week http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=4923 IQ vs penis size

I posted my horrible experience at Adam's Apple on another message board back in December. Too loud. Weird "meeting" before the show with patrons in the bar which was incredibly unprofessional. Strobe lights that gay me a terrible headache. Some very cute boys but too many negatives for me to have any interest in going back.

There was another survey the other day that said BKK is the best airport in the world http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/344738/travel-firm-cites-suvarnabhumi-as-world-best-airport Not sure how PEK rates so high. I absolutely hate it. Transferring through is a total pain in the butt. The two times I have traveled through there the place has seemed virtually empty.

The hotel thing is definitely an issue. It will take some time to get the supply to meet the demand. Those longyi are definitely a good reason to visit. They really show off their butts well. And it is indeed true that no one wears underwear in the country. I remember that one of my boat drivers gave me quite a show when he pulled up his longyi hopping off the boat.

There is a balloon operation in Thailand. http://www.balloonadventurethailand.com/index/ I thought about getting more info about them before I spent some time in CM last December. But ultimately had enough other things going on. Balloons Over Bagan operates for several months out of the year during high season. So it's not a "festival" per se. Interestingly according to our captain they pay the local employees year round and jobs with the company are high sought after in the community as a result. So they get their pick of people to hire. He also mentioned that the Myanmar guys are very strong for their size but because they tend to be fairly small they need more of them compared to the operation he works for in Turkey.

I did. It is spectacular. Worth every penny to me. You can see photos I took in this trip report http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/1444298-myanmar-burma-couple-weeks.html The balloon pics start in post #7

The Love of Siam is my favorite movie ever. Find the Director's Cut if you can. It adds about 20 minutes but makes the story make a whole lot more sense. I didn't love Bangkok Love Story, but I did enjoy seeing a grittier side of the city in it. I saw a very good Thai film on my flight home last year called SuckSeed. It's not a gay movie exactly but it's very much a coming of age film with the relationship between two high school boys at its center. While they are both chasing the same girl (I'm not giving too much away there), the film is really about their friendship. I liked it a lot more than I was expecting to. I thought it was going to be just another dumb Thai teen rom-com but it had a much deeper level to it.

Nice report. Pakse and that part of Laos has been on my list for a while now. Maybe next year. I have seen some interesting trip options that include a cruise on a nicely restored old boat. I really loved Luang Prabang. I know some people think it's too touristy, but I am a tourist after all. I thought Vientianne was a bit of a letdown after LP.

I was actually kind of disappointed by HK. Might have been the crappy weather, but people there looked unhappy. And so much smoking! Just walking down the street I felt like I was getting lung cancer. OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe people are under too much stress there or something. I did like the HK History museum and the science museum next door which were good rainy day places to see. I enjoyed Taiwan more. I have also seen the same gayhk.com website. I think all of the questionable places advertising there are in Shenzhen. The massage places in HKG seem to all be more above board. I had a nice massage at a place in HKG. The escorts listed on that website are pretty much all only in Chinese. Lots of gorgeous guys though. My massage experience in Taipei was much less interactive. Which was a bit disappointing.

Have they cleaned up the mold in the showers? I visited on my first trip several years ago. Lots of cute boys then. But I am sensitive to mold so the dirty shower was a problem for me. My boy also used way too much pressure so I was in pain for a couple of days. We weren't able to communicate well enough for him to understand that he was killing my calves. The happy ending part was pretty good though from what I remember.