macaroni21

Reports seem very variable. Others have reported more positively of Tawan and Screwboys. Of course, taste varies, but perhaps timing does too. Perhaps you went in too early, thus few or no customers?

While Pattaya is hardly more inconvenient to get to from Suvarnabhumi compared to downtown Bangkok, the play options in Pattaya simply don't compare, especially with the two-decade long decline of the scene. It's not as if Pattaya/Jomtien is such a great beach either. Between a mediocre scene and a mediocre beach, I can see why it's losing its attractiveness. And the traffic on second road, with interminable roadworks... Now that's another thing.

I find it rather inaccurate to call them "masseurs", when they hardly know the first thing about massage. "Moneyboys" may be more accurate, but I guess we've developed a habit of using this term to mean those on apps, and not those in shops...

Pattaya bars, you say? Sounds very much like what I had earlier described as "marginal corners of society serving Western tourists". I have also seen girlie bars with country and western music and matching decor. Their existance hardly implies that wider Thai society, including its popular culture, have substantially acquired a taste for this kind of music. But before we get too confused in this conversation, we should carefully segregate the question of Rasta-themed marketing from the question about the roots of the word "ganja", as used in Thailand and its neighbouring countries. There is no doubt that Rasta-themed bars and paraphernalia grew out of an imported culture-style, though I would hestiate to extrapolate from a few bars in tourist areas into an assertion that there is widespread and deep-rooted adoption in Thailand. I argue that the stylistic use of Rasta is almost entirely for tourist appeal. Consider too: no indication of import of Rastafarianism as a quasi-religious practice. But just because Rasta-themed bars and paraphernalia are imported phenomena does not make the use of the word "ganja" in Thailand and its neighbours an imported term. It is widely accepted among those who know the history and roots of Rastafarinanism - I have found more articles on the web since my last post - that the plant and the word came from East Indians arriving in the Caribbean islands. (See https://www.labroots.com/trending/cannabis-sciences/13574/connection-rastafarianism-marijuana and https://www.ganjapreneur.com/vocab/ganja/ for example). "Ganja" is the word used in India for millennia. There have been trade, immigration and cultural exchange between Southeast Asia and India for millennia too. There are plenty of articles on this, easily found with a quick web search. It is hard to believe that Thais had not known the word "ganja" until the mid or late 20th century when Rasta fashion became useful for touristic purposes in this country. It is hard to believe that from a recent very superficial adoption of Rasta style by a few bars in tourist areas, the word "ganja" would have spread into general usage all over Thailand. On the contrary, I argue that "ganja" as a word is indigenous to Thailand (other than its origins from India millennia ago).

OK, I'll bite. What's a real twink as opposed to a not-real twink? 😗

I think @10tazione is correct. It so happens that "ganja" was one of the first Indonesian words I learned from a young employee in our office (he was Indonesian, or maybe Malaysian - I'm not sure now with the passage of years). And if one goes to Google Translate and look up the Malay and Indonesian translations of marijuana or cannabis, one will see "ganja". It has wide usage in those countries - and now I learn that is the case in Thailand and Cambodia* too - and is part of the formal vocabulary, as opposed to being merely a fashionable slang term imported for exoteric effect in marginal corners of society serving Western tourists who cannot leave their Western bubble behind. The way the word is so deeply embedded in the local vocabulary strongly suggests much deeper roots in terms of the word's origin and 10tazione's explanation fits the bill. *Google translated marijuana into Khmer "kannchhea" too. Unlike the UK, there is no Caribbean community in Southeast Asia to identify wtih the rastafarian movement. I've had blank stares in the past when I've mentioned Bob Marley even among educated circles in the company branch offices around the region. I think it is an improbable stretch of the imagination to think that the Southeast Asian word ganja in its various forms had anything to do with the rastafarians. @Londoner I think the arrow of linguistic migration is in the opposite direction. Ganja was a wild plant across Tibet and Central Asia 2,500 years ago and smoked even then. The plant and its use became widespread in many other parts of Asia in the centuries following. It didn't reach the Americas until European settlers got there. If I have to hazard a guess, I think the East Indian indentured labourers which the British Empire brought to Trinidad and other Caribbean islands after the African slave trade ended (and thus the plantation owners needed a new source of labour) brought the cultivation of hemp and the word "ganja" with them to the West Indies.

This is an area of small row houses, so there are more leasing options for small shops rather than look for a space with large floor area. Having multiple small shops also makes the business more flexible. If times are bad, one can close the worst-performing shop and keep the rest running. It allows the business better bargaining strength with landlords. If one landlord asks for a steep increase in rent, it is possible to walk away from the deal and still have other shops in operation. Another possibility is that each shop is structured as discrete businesses with different minority shareholders. That way, the main shareholder can tap on multiple minority shareholders for capital, so although to us they may look like a single buisness, in fact the ownership mix of each shop is different.

🤣 give the poor guy a break. He didn't say he absolutely had to do all the bars in one evening.

I had one. In Khon Kaen. We smiled at each other in a cheap restaurant, and before long he was following me back to my room. At some point along the walk to the hotel, he mentioned something about needing money because he had just finished his novitiate month - aha, that accounted for his bad haircut, I said to myself - though exactly what the relationship between finishing a month of novice monkhood and needing money I never really knew. But the point was that he made it quite clear that there had to be compensation. I cannot remember now how much it was, but it was commensurate with the lower cost of living in the far Isaan, and did not give me pause. I remember nothing about the performance in bed, so it must have been something midway between memorable fireworks and throw-the-dud-out. I did wonder in the days following, if, pre-novitiate, he had been working in the bars of Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket, and thus had the skills to identify horny foreigners from afar, reel them in, and negotiate a price. For all I know, what I paid him could have been spent buying a bus ticket back to Patpong.

Never underestimate rich people with money to throw.

This history was front and centre in the displays of Patpong Museum. Maybe you saw it there too? Oh wait, have you been too busy with boys, left, right, front and back each time you're in Bangkok, and not yet visited the museum?

Vinapu is correct that USD, especially small denominations, are widely accepted in Cambodia, and the exchange rate of 4000 riels to $1 is applied everywhere. He is also spot on that they can be picky about notes with grafitti or tears, but these are quite common so you have to be equally careful about accepting such imperfect notes from others as change. As for US coins, I have never seen them in circulation. One has to remember that since USD is not the national currency in Cambodia, the notes they have are all second-, third- or twentieth-hand, having been passed from person to person till they reached Cambodia. As a result, I too often find them dirty, and prefer to use the riel notes instead. These are often newly minted and clean. I know riels are pretty much useless outside of Cambodia, but then things are so cheap there, I hardly had to have much of that currency on me. When departing from my last trip, I just gave most of what I had (unspent) to the hotel staff as a parting tip, keeping just enough for the taxi to the airport.

Tell, tell... please don't leave us hanging.

I have never understood how Abomb has survived all these years. I know it changed owners right after Covid, so perhaps there has been frequent changes of owners, each bearing several years of losses before giving up. This bar has had its ups and downs, but I have had great offs from there, so I always make a point of checking it out each time I am in Pattaya - which isnt often nowadays, unfortunately. As for negative reviews, there are negative reviews of every bar, and I suspect a lot of that comes from the type of boy a bar has. Those who like fem twinks will be completely disappointed by Abomb. Those who like the bigger guys will be writing negative reviews of bars with fem twinks. And thus, the world goes around.

There are some gays bars that would celebrate if they got as many as four customers.

I found the OP's idea so strange, I just had to do some digging. June 7, 2023 was when the OP made his first post in this forum. He - I assume it's a he - said: Can someone please help me how much should i pay the go go boys on my visit? A friend of mine who go to thailand last april told him that he was wrong for giving the go go boy too much and also, he was asked by the bar fine much higher compare to others. I really dont have my idea since its my first time visiting thailand. I really appreciate if someone will guide me. My generous interpretation, if the idea was actually serious, is that it's a temporary flight of fancy that sometimes happens to folks on their first trip to Bangkok. Newbies have been known to be mesmerised by the city's offerings, yet dissatisfied because the scene doesn't completely live up to their fantasies. So as soon as the trip is over (or even before) plans are made to out-do the bars that exist. In this case, we can see from this member's post on June 14 (topic: Celebrity encounter) that the fantasy is that of buying the services of celebrities. Do you have any experience hiring famous model or celebrity in Bangkok? I mean i dont mind paying 10-20k baht just to have one night with them. Naturally, the necessary caution should be to not imagine that there are enough of others with similar tastes (or pockets) to make a market for a business. Jaded old-timers here have seen many a foreigner lose money by the bucketloads setting up bars and businesses to feed their personal fantasy rather than based on a hard-headed business plan. Please don't be the next one.

I find it hard to believe that the OP is serious. There are so many legal issues involved, it shouldn't even take any research to be skeptical about its viability. Consequently, and I don't mean to offend, my first reaction was that it was just meant to get a rise out of other readers. I am intrigued by this. I hope your contact is not some out-of-work mamasan who dreams of making it big on your money.

Kissing is not a requirement for me, so I have never ever asked any boy in advance if that's what he will do, but occasionally, in the heat of the moment while in the room this may seem the natural progression of the one-hour romance. My limited experience is that more often than not I get a response, "I no kit." While others may have different "survey results", and it will be nice to hear what their experiences are, from my experience, I think the majority will not want to do it. You may need to lower your expectations. There was a time when I put the no-kissing stance to the fact that the majority of the boys working in gogo bars are straight but I am not so sure anymore. Firstly, how straight can they be if they can get hard as easily as they do? Secondly, I have a feeling the issue is strongly cultural and kissing is seen in a very different light in Thai culture, which therefore means that even the gay boys would attach similar cultural significance (whatever that may be) to kissing.

"Then turn around and I fuck you all night."

@Deszz24 My reading of your posts tells me that your primary objective is to visit a Gogo bar, maybe see a performance and take a lad off. Because you just wrote "bar" in your posts, and even mentioned the thought of going as early as 5pm, you are getting replies that are unrelated to gogo bars. Regulars here on this forum can deduce what kind of bar is being referred to in the replies (e.g. from references to Soi 4, beer bar, etc), but I don't know if you can. Assuming that my reading of your primary intention is correct, there really is just one way to go about it, time-wise and action-wise. Gogo bars open a little after 9pm. There are hardly any customers until about 9:30 or 9:45pm. The shows usually start around 10:30 and finish around 11:15 or 11:30pm. Customer numbers peak during the show and melt away quite quickly after 11:30pm. As a newbie, it may be best to time yourself to the busy period between 10 and 11:30. Otherwise, half the boys and all four mamasans will be targetting you. As Vinapu said, "it's not such great idea to come early as you may be accosted more often for lack of other victims while at show time bar is usually full and mamasans are busy dispensing drinks etc. " Don't try to control or expect to control what the boy will or will not do in the room. Go with the flow, and understand that like everybody, they have their limits. Or they may say yes to something but do not deliver. It is a gamble. Even experienced members in this forum have disappointments. We should pay what we agreed even if we're disappointed and not try to insist on a discount. It's the risk we take. What we do instead is to pay more than agreed if we are happy with the service. And something not mentioned so far: Bring plenty of small change when visitng gogo bars. Best would be to pay the bar tab with the exact amount and not with large bills.

I have asked the same question before! I asked the boys and the receptionist. No one knew the answer, but instead I got looks that sort of asked me in return: "Why are you even asking such a question? What does it matter to you what colour we (are told to) wear?" Lest things escalate with offence taken over this pedantic, busybody tourist, it was wiser to just leave it at that and get to the business of choosing a boy whose chief task in the room would be to discard the orange shirt (and more) post-haste.

He's back at Moonlight? The last time I saw him he was at New Twilight - though that is no more and I shouldn't be surprised if he's back at ML. Nonetheless, it will strike me as very forgiving of management to take someone back after he defected to the competition.

I have had similar thoughts though 'terrified' might not be the word I would use. I once chatted with and liked a guy in Tawan, but I remember, quite vividly, hesitating over the off when he told me he had been bulking up in the weeks before, but it was hard work etc etc, and he "only" weighed 98 kilos. And then I pictured a scene of 98 kilos on top of me and I couldn't breathe. But my (admittedly not too numerous) experiences with Tawan boys have been good. They're easy going and even a bit docile in the room. I made 98 kilos promise not to lie atop me. He kept his promise. Macaroni is still alive, and here to tell.

This is new. I assume (from your first post) that you were referring to Jomtien Complex. What you described above sounds like a gogo bar. Was there one in the Complex before when you visited? Has the ban on gogo bars been lifted?

Yes. Rome club I remember, Roxy I only have a vague memory. But it's the same building as where Jupiter is now.