pong

For those, I guess not many, of you maybe playing with the idea of going and also just happening to be in BKk at those days (I myself have no idea if these concerts are sold out already or not-they may be, tickets are always via thaiticketmaster, who have outlets in most big centre-city Malls-just ask infodesk where): Impact, the |Thai just say Im-Pek, is in Muang Thong Thanee, the Thai/BKk version of Glasgows inner city skyscrapers low-class housing, and an awful way from centre-city, roughly as far as old Don Muang, but more westerly, beside the expressway. Transport going there is in 1 word; HORRIBLE, esp. when there are any main concerts or shows. And expect same-same coming back. You will have enough trouble finding a taximeter goinng there-they know what it is like. The fare from Silom should be about 150/180, plus the time for waiting. By public transport: take bus 166, from the Vict. Monument, north-west corner, most forward section of lanes direct on the traffic, which goes then right on the expressway, but makes a 6 kms double run into pak Kred before going into Muang Thong. or VANS=minibus, from the big que at the north/park side of the Mochit BTS end. Just ask others, but the right vans will be stormed as soon as they arrive in. Thai Cult. Centre is much easier to go to: simply take MRT=metro/underground, to stop with same name.

You are truely a history-genius, dear khun FH. You forgot however, that when the VN-R+R started, Phetburi Rd (tat mai=the then very new eastern section) was aimed for that. you can still see the castles, named Lolita, Isabella etc. with giant billboards along that road. As to the go-go: you still seem to much aimed at the western farang. They are catered for in Pattaya. The format of the male go-go is 111% copycat (same-same and not different) of the example set by the female/straight variety, which was simply a 99% copycat of the Japanese format. Aimed at pressing as much money as possible from the punters (buy drink, buy lady/friend drink, pay off, pay bar-ordered tuktuk/taxinometer, etc., buy hourly rental at bars room, etc.). And the general Thai lacks the vision, nor has s/he ever seen it, of how it could be done otherwise-just see how any classic Thai bisnis works, like on a market, foodshop, etc. And oh, yes, ''entertainment'' means surely just 2 things for Thai: get drunk as pissed as poss, and then get l..d.

one can get good dentist help about anywhere tourists come-and in many towns outside that circuit too. at low prices for a good standard. Expect fluent english and adapt to the specifif farang wayoflife only in farangland though. this may come as shell-shock for the Pattaya crowd, but is no secret for most others. incidentally, I just made a new appointment yesterday for the yearly check.

well, at least there is now some substance that all that moaning about low tourist nrs were part-sighted. Also be happy: nearly all those Chinese and well over 90% of those Koreans come in organised tourgroups. You wont come in their way. (But once I met an independent young Chinese backpacking tourist from Yunnan-he had walked all the 33 kms from airport to Pra nakorn-to save a 20 bt bus!). BTW: the flight to SEL/ICN takes well over 6 hrs. to PEK=Beijing only slightly less. Thai like to go to Korea-mainly influenced by endless TV-commercials but more by Korean pop-boy-bands, for SKIing-did anyone of you ever thought of that?

they now seem to have curtailed the nr of monthly red mobs (this is just normal Thai for any demonstration-dont use it the english way!) to 1. The gossipped pay-out seems to be now 1000 bt/.head. As from early morning the usual stalls were set up along Ratchdamnern, with the pavements choked by noon. More vendors as demonstrators. It often now seems they want to sell-off any of the huge amounts of red ''show affiliation'' wares, even the banished feet-clappers (feet are seen as unholy, they have been replaced by hearts-feet were chosen as the yellows already claimed hands). In the eve all traffic was stalled here, naming this a ''rally'' well-up to you. They now also seem to lack the fuming communist-propaganda spitting speakers of last year, the single lady remaining did not sound very convincing. Mainly overloud music (the complaint in another post abou tloud noise is simply a Thai thing-nothing her ever can get non-loud-that is just not fun). It lasted-of course you have to challenge the autorities in charge a little to show you are not that childish-stubborn, till about 0.30. This morning heaps and mountains of refuse, which were already searched for any usable recycling stuff were left and being disposed of by BMA-trucks. Now see what the yellows, fuming about perceived give-away of huge tracks of THAI land to the foul Khmer=Cambodians, will do, or the clad in brown monk-lookalike robes about another perceived huge and also grave fault of the govmt. Elections are looming, and the poor rice-farmers are in the season the lands hardly need attention-so plenty of time for demonstrations, the more as elections are now looking behind the corner soon.

Mr. Mac/k/aroni has it right. This is a kind of combined site for many gay massageshops mainly in outer BKK. It does not specifically aim at visiting farang. The tel nrs are of the shops and not of those of the boys. Some shops do home-delivery, some not, some only if they know you. Or, what is more common, if you fancy a boy, who is willing to do so, you get his mobuy nr (in the visit in that shop) and make private arrangements. I often had a boy propose that himself too. The prices are the normal standd ones for outer BKK, some shops also show proposed or minimum tips-mostly 500 THB for soft sex and 1000 for ''hard''. That Monthly Albury show has also been featured since at least half a year. A bit surpizing for some: in early jan. 2011 it was a special with all donations going to some buddist temple.

while this is quite off-subject of the thread, but re the point of the Malays and public nudity. I think this is (well, at least for the Malay-Malays, muslim etc.) more similar to the Indonesians (which are for more as just Bali)-they bathed in the rivers (kali) and also when going to the beach, this was with a sarong on. Men and ladies had different spots as to where they would bathe-even married couples. In private though, Indonesians are not very shy to undress, generally.

frankly, having just arroived back in BKK late yesterday eve, this is about the one thing I would not think of as being so tipical Thai. In fact I find the Thai (in this respect) FAR more taking care of others and taking care not to embarass or disturb as most westerners. Reminds me of the Brit/english league idea of standing right and passing left on escalators (in fact this is also very Russian-even though they are not polite at all), hwich people in my homeocuntry think of as being preached at and ''then stant up an hour earlier if you are in such a hurry''-for people tryiung to just catch that connecting train and being blocked.

it is just a copycat of HKG-or Lon/Paddington (for a while)-the checked luggages are to be sent in a sealed apartment of the expresstrains. Rain may simple also fall when they transfer it from that car to the luggage-cellars in Changi. The word ''up to'' is a bit misleading (maybe for those not having english as 1st and like to have travel-industry watertight wording) Check in is ONLY posssible on the same day as your flight is due and UP to=last time, 3 hrs before your scheduled dep. This means that as at Swampy the cut-off time is 1 hr or even less and the ride takes just 16/17 mins, you may have to check in at airport if you arrive a little late-as indeed is confirmed by various reports in week 1. I do not know the exact time of opening opf the Makkasan check-in facility. When for short while TG=THAI moved many of its domestic Thai flights to old Don Muang (dont sweat-this is finshed again!) they also had an in-town check-in at the Lard Prao MRT stop and a free bus from there. Noone knew about it and about noone, even if they knew, had any reason to use it.

Could be both, but I think the nr of Koreans visiting Thaild is about 10x as high as the nr of Thai visiting Korea. perhaps astonishing for those now knowing very much about it: Korea is mainly featured in Thaild as a SNOW and WINTERdestination! I also always thought that to enter/visit Bhutan one must buy very epxensive all-in daily packages and also has to fly at least in or out by their national DRUK-air (for a long time maintanied by TG=THAI). But maybe this is more relaxed for Asians as for white rich people.

those, like me, more cynic about how things work in Thailand, only think: this is his way in making the teamonies from the concerned bars higher in his pocket. or thats the likely way the barowners will respond: with a jaded smile: so how much more, thao ray eek?-you want this time.

some remarks: 1.the still existing domestic operations at DMK, in the old domestic termional (seems to be nr 3), will MOVE to old terminal part nr. 1 (former international ) as per 1/4 or 1/5 coming. This is about 1-1,5 kms apart! 1b. as DMK is owned by the Thai airforce, privatisation seems a very far-off idea. They have to get someone in the govtmt, handling on their behalf (which is way it reopened some time ago) to protect their takings. it must also be about the only airport with a golfing course right next to it, occasionaly golf-balls land on the tarmac. it must also be one of the very few airports in this world where a gay brothel/massage-house is located under its approach (K-male). 2.re on gate or ramp: I once arrived at Denver,CO, USA from Europe, plane parked at gate-which was then NOT used, we had to step into buses, bringing us to immigration, for the usual interrogations and terrorist-screenings, incl. fingerprinting etc. When planes park on apron, this is often when they have to stand for long times , like overnight, tipical for most arrivals at Swampy from USA. The no-frills cheap-cheap THAi AirAsia always uses apron and buses (the oldest they could find in this kingdom), where as the KUL flights on the malay AirAsia branch use a very convenient gate , in the mid (shops) D-pier, right next to immigration. 3.from LGW to LHR you can go about 6 times/hour by train to London and then the tube-in fact (with an oyster card) this is even cheaper as the lowerpriced of he rip-off NatExp. buslinks (sorry, coaches for you Brits, we continentals never see that difference). But thats of course more changes and more carrying luggage around.

yes, also read about it in the relevant news I receive. Dont think it will be of any use to the average reader here, to me it seems clearly aimed at visiting koreans in tourgroups, and I suspect the only flights made will be when they pay enough seats to make it worthwhile, with perhaps a few odd seats being sold by whatever other channel they manage to find. In fact Orient Thai (now trading by that name-the former 1-2-crash/go abolished) also aimed for Korea-flights, but I think this has fallen through.

This might very well apply to about anything in China-and most of it is in fact staterun or owned. All those shiny new highways, buses etc. start to fall apart after 2-3 years. Agree with z909 in his wry comment, though as with about anything in life, nothing is 100% true. The mantra of always slamming greed for profit and private companies for that appears to much parrotting and too less own proper thinking. Now just think 1 step further: nationalise all Thai gay bars/places and have the Thai govmt. run them, not for profit, but for safety's sake and lowwer prices. Guess what would happen?

hello again, dear khun FH. Sorry-dont know about that area-have not been there in evenings since nearly 2 yrs now. There used to be also many of those stalls along Pradiphat road-Sapan kwai. Of course many have turned to selling VDO and now DVD. Eves, after 20.30/21.00. On the Chatuchak weekend market, the 2nd jand bookstalls are open daily, in the small square south of it, along Kampaeng Phet road/near the flyover. Any farang who walks there will be aproached by ''poh'' offerings. There is also a stall, with a few boxes of old Thai gay mags, and also DVDs (poh, @ 3/100 bt or 40/piece) and sexy male underwear at the daily evening market along Klong Lot, moved from Sanam Luang due to renovations, opposite Royal Hotel, close to the Saran Rom boys for rent park. In general many former 2nd hand bookshops have closed down, or dwindled and downsized or merged, as have many former stalls on markets changed to other selling items.

oh, dear! Stockholm (and maybe another bar later in that soi where Golden Cock is still) was a total tip-off, as described by any guiebook then. Tipically a bar where unknowing farang were taken to by tuktukdrivers and touts on commission and offered giant padded bills. or so the story goes (I relied on the TMOT=The men of Thailand books by then). That bar across Suriwong from Twyly was indeed Barbieery and this was considered THE nr 1 stylish gay bar of that time. Also with giant stocks of about 100 willing boys. They did shows-of which I cannot remember that much. And they mainly had boys more appealing to the Asians (like Hero now has for massage)-by then not really my choice.

yes, history always repeats itself-but with those little changes you and I and noone knows beforehand. Sama-same with all those economists who say they can predict the shares+stock-exchanges. Or about countries who fail and those that reinvent themselves. I do not really know the nrs of poeple in China before 1900-but I somehow guess it it roughly equal to those living in Europe by that time. Industrial revolution of those years has also brought substantial better standard of living to about any European. Comparable in nr to the masses of China and its dire poverty of then is maybe India-which ahs no more real royal family as ruler.

Mksn was choses, because it is on RAILway land-thus avoiding any costly purchase. The intent is to extend this line further above the old rialtracks-via the 3 way junction Yommarat over the northern line , past Don Muang till Rangsit. It will then also pass Bang Sue (MRT ends-to be extended, works in place), fairly near to the giant Mochit2 Busterminal (good for many an upcountry link), to be joined as a big all of BKK transportation terminal. Coming FROM the airport, the cheaper cityrail is not much of a hindrance for those taking big luggage-for obvious reason. And this route connects easily into the BTS=sktyrain, which does not have that cumbersome luggagecheck the MRT=metro does. But it might be crammed going to airport in the PM-rush-but for most intercontinental flights, these leave at other times anyway. Most of those in the know expect the express to dwindle pretty soon (average of 10-12 pax/ride) to maybe 30 mins, and trains changed to cityrail-and boosting this,to ev. 10 or 7,5 mins. as it obviously has enormous potential. Since 4/1 Mksn now has check-in privilege, but for TG=THAI and LH only, up to 3 hrs before departure. Prices for cityrail are now by distance-like BTS, 45 bt for whole way. (35 bt for Airpt->Mksn). The BMTA=citybus intends to reroute more buslines to link into it.

hello, khun FH. I've visted while in BKK (where am not now-to return in about 120 days) about 6 or 7 this year, mainly suburban ones, and SMania. intended to jot something about it in another forum, but still not found time nor stamina. I do not have many remembrances from the days of yore-as I simply did not went then, except the old Babylon. By now there must be around 40 (see listings on dragoncastle or tmmsociety) and they are spread all over BKK untill the furthest outposts. But what is there to write about? A sauna is a sauna-they all look more or less same-same. Do not expect the luxury of Babylon, but lower prices (sometimes down to 99 bt in slack hours). Do not expect to many patrons-20 is already a big crowd. Do not expect too much eye-candy, mid-age Thais are more the norm. Often in small groups who know one antoher, like is also the case in many bars. Often free drinks, booze and sometimes even food. And -fairly often- a tendency to watch and peep-if at all possible (even if this involves standing on chairs or whatever can be moved to it! There may ba a TV or screen-and it will often show str8 poh. Rumor mill has it also that Chakran has moved into the ThaiforThai only mentality, or just for hansum boys who only like to get admired. Next question is then : is it all worth it? Well-if you stay long time in BKK and know your way around and are not averse to travel-or have to go somewhere anyway, it may add a little cheap fun. But it is never garanteed, you just take your chances. More amazing is that so few sauna's exist and have made it in the porvinces: only a very few larger towns, like CMai, Khon Khaen, Ubon (or closed?) and a doubtful one in Phuket are listed, plus Pattaya. (if you do staistics: the ratio of sauna vs. nr of people ir around the same then though-these towns have 2k people-for 1 sauna-and BKK has roughly 40 for at least 8 million people-or 1 sauna per 1k males).

sorry, it is not really ''unique'' in that it only plays in Ubon. It is held-on roughly same dates (Buddist calendar) in many Isan local towns, but in a (much) smaller scale/format. Those having friends from there may ask about it to them.

Is it? Another change? Another newspapaer? What I have seen is a repeat ''remembrance'' every 19th at the Rajprasong intersection. For those readers only knwoing the gay parts of BKK; this monument (anusawaree prachathipathai) is in the roundabout mid in Rajdamnern Avenue, near Sanam Luang, where the black ninja's killed several protesters and others in april-soon after which the demonstrators all moved to Rajprasong. The usual rumour-mill, and superstitious as most Thai are, says they thought this place (also near Phan Fa-bridge) was haunted by the ghosts of those deceased. Why this does not apply to Rahjprasong-no idea.

BL is right-that site is the best. Utopia-asia is not all really uptodate or even complete. They do not even intend to, I was told in some updating notes. IOt also seems more geared toward Asians-and they tend not to want the type you favour. A much better site is mainly Thai: tmmsociety.com, but scroll down the end and you''ll find links in english for about 90% of BKKs and other Thai massageshops, giving more delight. Another good site, but only for its advertisers, is thaimassageboy,com, but you need to subscribe first. Most larger shops have a variety of ''boys/masseurs'', from the small fem/skin and bones types till well hung, maybe even fat and big, real men. NO shop, AFAIK, has only the type you describe. Some shops do not allow you to choose your masseur (like Bonny) but this is quite rare. What really varies enormously beyond belief is the quality of service-both the real massage and the ''afters'' or 2nd part. Same-same for barboys or gogoboys etc-many of whom can also deliver quite good massages. That remains just the luck of the toss of a coin. Looks do not say anything about that either. (though I myself tend to believe that the most ''hansum'' ones are better avoided if you want a really good service)

take one situated on Lard Krabang rd-the others are much further away and may take nearly 30 mins even in a taximeter early morning. That is nearly the same as from central BKK early mornings by expressway. When asking about HTLs-always state budget or required minimum ''luxury''-so many of you seem so overfussy aboyt that (when I read normal HTL reviews). There is a neutral site listing these all, impartial. I think it is either somewhere on tripadvisor (FAQ-in forums Thailand) or a site like ''backpackthailand'' (dont be misled too much by that name). Either on this site or another of the few gay sites, someone (latintopxx?? or so??) had a report on a successfull encounter in a place like ''Queens (Garden) resort'' or hotel, about 800/1000 THB with a 10 min free shuttle to swampy. OR: the NASA-Vegas, as it is now right smack beside the new ARL-cityrail at RamKamHaeng-rooms are 700 or so. However, in the morning, first trains are from 6.00 (to arr airport by 6.28)-so that may not work out for AirAsia early.