macaroni21

Ah, @vinapu beat me to it. Yes, it was a good crowd when I visited. I did wonder though whether it was a fluke, something to do with Pride Month.... But I guess only time will tell.

Sorry for going off topic, but just so I am not misleading anyone, there remains a little bit of variability in Japanese pricing. While not within my personal experience, I have heard of or come across shops that have different tiers of pricing depending on whether the client wants to top the boy, engage in S&M, etc (including one place that offers a scat option). So, when I said "all-inclusive pricing", you still need to be careful which tier of pricing you're signing up for. The best way to avoid misunderstanding is to be clear when emailing the shop to say what exactly you want to do and ask if the shortlisted boys do those things. No need to be bashful in your email. Lay it all out. Then ask, for such-and-such, what is the price? However, remember to use the simplest of English sentences. Almost always, they will use Google Translate to see what you're saying and Google Translate can't be relied upon to handle multi-part complicated sentences, abbreviations or idioms.

I had a similar experience in Beijing. I had an extra suitcase heavy with product manuals. No anger, but the bellboy, gently and in clear enough English, said "no, thank you, sir. This is my job. I do it with pride. This is my satisfaction." I think management taught all employees to say that. It made me feel like I would be demeaning him to insist on giving a tip. And like @Keithambrose said, I thought it was beyond absurd when I saw the payment screen of a take-out doughnut shop in New York state give me the option of 15, 20 or 25% tip. I had to look high and low around the screen to find the tiny "no tip" option.

Good point. Likewise, no tipping in Japan or Korea. The massage shops in Japan and Korea quote all-inclusive rates. No extra compensation expected.

Exactly my observation too, as I mentioned in the thread Bangkok Trip Report June 2024, page 3. The Chinese girls seldom take the boys, the heterosexual Chinese boys are only in the bars in order to please their girlfriends and anyway wouldn't know what to do with a gogo boy's dick even if they had one in the hand, and as for the gay Chinese men - they see the gogo boys as poor value compared to the massage boys. Maybe they all remember (or have heard from one another) that his chap is a poor tipper?

I am looking forward to those two trip reports too.

My reading of the situation is similar to @vinapu's. There is a minority of Chinese tourists - as often heterosexual couples or all-girl groups, as gay men - who throw money around ostentatiously. My reading is that they are part of the new nouveau-riche class in their society. They are first generation of Chinese to have wealth, and there's an urge to show off. They will not admit it, but the thinking goes like this: what's the point of being rich unless I can show everyone else that I am rich? Less obvious to us, because they don't make a spectacle of themselves, are the gay Chinese tourists who have scrimped and saved to travel abroad. They are more numerous but far more low-key. These are the ones @vinapu may be referring to as the customers of the massage parlours in Silom Soi 6. They focus their spending on the sex services (thus, gay) rather than the showy bars, whereas those who need to show off splurge in highly visible ways in the bars but don't much buy sex. The latter is an activity behind closed doors, so not easy to let others see and envy. I'm not sure that is happening. I think it is the Western tourist that is driving up prices in the Silom-Surawong area, and the rich local Thais in places like Jey Spa or Aurora. Meanwhile there's a price war breaking out among the Saphan Khwai shops. You should see the number of special discounts and promotions being offered on their Line advertising. First, the shops discount the prices of the rooms, but lately, I noticed a few boys discounting their expected tips. GooGuy started off advertising boys expecting 3,000 to 4,000 baht in tips. Lately those boys have disappeared, and now the current crop expect tips in the range of 1,500 baht for one hour.

@davide3311- were you referring to the two bars, Bali Joe and Mixwell, in Seminyak? If so, I agree with your observation though I didn't think it was bizarre. Indeed, the atmosphere was more of a local corner bar where people were friendly enough with no outwardly gay behaviour. I think partly it was because the crowd was more heterosexual than gay, on the nights I was there at least. There were a lot of mixed-gender couples, and the outnumbered gay couples instinctively became more reserved in such an environment. (This is what happens when gay men make their gay subculture "hip" and "trendy". The heterosexuals want to come! ) Partly too - among the Indonesians in the bars - it may have to do with Indonesian culture which places much weight on public decorum. I also observed that some of the Indonesians present were moneyboys, possibly straight, and it would be unnatural for them to act "gay".

Good time would be between 2pm and 10pm. As for walk-in versus prior booking, general rule, though exceptions* apply: Massage parlours in the Silom-Surawong area handle walk-ins well. Massage parlours outside Silom-Surawong (what a mouthful, can we simply shorten it to Sodom? 🤣) generally work better with prior booking. * in the Silom-Surawong area, Prime Massage is so busy, prior booking is almost a must. Magic Touch, per recent reports, also sounds unready to deal with walk-ins. * outside of this area, VCK, Prince are more geared to walk-ins than prior bookings.

I have never had anything stolen in my many offs in Thailand either, though I try not to tempt fate. I use the room safe and seldom have overnights anyway - mostly because I find it hard to fall asleep with a stranger in my bed. In the 1990s, I did have a watch stolen by a Filipino boy. I was sure I left the watch (worth maybe $100) on the bedside table, but it was gone when I looked 5 minutes after he left. In those days, even very ordinary watches had flea market resale value. I doubt if that's the case now. @JZenLyfe there is map of the area that Vinapu described at Map of Silom-Surawong area, December 2023.

I am happy to hear that Magic Touch is open again. I've been there once, and not been there at the same time. Sort of like a Schrödinger’s Cat, but I wrote about the mix-up in 2019: The full gay works, in a girlie shop

And while we're on this topic, watch this clip too: https://www.facebook.com/reel/2248513278820513

@jason1975 Your report prompted me to take a look at Banana Room Club's (to use its full name) Facebook page. And I saw this short clip which surprised me in that the customers were dancing. Was that the scene that greeted you when you visited? https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=800443231802912

Yes but MSense's 3050 (which includes 200 baht tip) won't buy you the stamp collection that Senso's 2990 buys you.

Yes, I am a city boy too. I have had a similar experience when in some kind of rustic resort. The night was too dark and the surroundings too quiet. It took me a long time to fall asleep.

I haven't been back to Manila in years, and I don't have first-hand information to answer your question, but Club Bath has a website (https://www.clubbath.com.ph/) and if you go to their FAQ page, it's very prominently stated their requirement for a vaccination certificate. It could be out of date (website not updated) but there's no knowing that unless someone has personally visited. That said, I have never held high opinions of Filipino facilities (main reason why I haven't been back recently). Perhaps I have been spoilt by what's available in Thailand, but the FIlipino places are usually basic and in need of upkeep. Club Bath, for example, does not even have a bath - neither pool nor jacuzzi.

Phew! Senso is more like it. When @bkkmfj2648 said @vinapu went to Msense, I thought somebody must have won the lottery. Have you seen the prices at Msense? Take a look: https://www.gowabi.com/en/provider/msense-spa-thailand#services

Exactly. That's why we need to make repeat visits to these places. But as always: so many places, so little time (or cash)! Ganymede Spa?

From the excerpts posted by @TotallyOz, a good number of twitter posts promote TCS Spa (for which I have a recent visit report at https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2024/06/15/in-faraway-bang-kho-laem/) What I find curious is that the posts in Massage Insider seem to show the TCS boys lifting their shirts or shirtless, as if indicating that bodies are available for exploration and erotic endings are on offer. However, my visit had the guy observing the strictest and most formal of protocols. He remained fully clothed, complete with long pants, throughout. I didn't make any move, nor did he. In such situations where the guy is so fully dressed, I find it awkward to make the transition to playtime. So my question to @bkkmfj2648 and others subscribing to Massage Insider is this: From those reports about TCS Spa, would "more than massage" be available? What about other places that Massage Insider has posts on, and also look high end, such as WabiSabi, MGallery, MSense Therapist, The Posh Massage, Mandel Spa, MenSpa X?

Banned by @reader on account of political incorrectness? -- I have personally used three terms when I speak or write. Interestingly, these three have different connotations of age and personality. Going from younger to older: A giggle of girls A bevy of girls/ladies A committee of girls/women... also connotes a certain stentoriousness (oops, reader comes to mind again 🤪)

I think Raya Hotel is not affected by any work (other than construction noise) because the unit that says "Space for rent" was not part of the hotel. That shop has been empty for a long time, since before Covid, I think. It may now have a new tenant. Dare we hope for a new gogo bar (with boys, not girls!) ?

Thank you. But let me overstay my welcome 🤪 and bore you with a bit more. All conventions evolve; but not only do they evolve inconsistently, they also vary by regional usage. The US states of Missouri and Mississippi are also named after major rivers, but to the best of my knowledge, they have never had "The" before their names. That's American usage. And mostly because of American reporting, it's getting rare to see reference to The Sudan. American news media generally refer to the country as Sudan. (But the Americans refer to The Philippines - so the yanks are not consistent either). This evolution is sped along because we have so little use for the historical term The Sudan referring to the vast trading hinterland of the Arab and North African world, such that most have forgotten about it. On the other hand, old usage can be very sticky. We still say The Netherlands, even if people today would be hardpressed to explain what the preceding geographical feature after which the country was named was (hint: "nether/nieder"). And one more thing about whether political entities saw themselves as territory or people, pre-feudal Europe also tended to see them as collections of people. Thus we speak of the King of the Franks, the Visigoths, the Huns, and maybe King of the Allemand (was there ever one?).

@pylonguy71 Any chance of some feedback how it went with your 16-hour stopover on June 5?

Here goes: When we see the word "The" before what looks like a country name, it is generally because the word had been used to refer to a geographical feature well before the country even came about. In English, geographical features are typically indicated with the definite article "the". Thus, we speak of "the Alps", "the prairie", "the Danube", "the Arctic". I believe @Londoner is right in that the present state of which the city of Banjul is the capital takes its name from the river, known as The Gambia. The river was The Gambia, the same way we speak of The Volga, The Danube, The Ganges, The Mississippi, The Yangzi, The Chao Phraya. When is country is formed and takes its name from that geographical feature, English tends to be conservative and keeps the word "The" with it. If tomorrow, there is a realignment of borders and a new state is formed in the Danube basin, and the new state wishes to call itself after the river, we would refer to it as The Republic of The Danube. (not Republic of Danube). The pre-existing geographical feature does not need to be a river. "The Sudan" was for centuries the term used to refer to a vast, topographically flat (relatively speaking) area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, between the Sahara and the Bight (Gulf) of Benin inhabited by black-skinned people. It's an Arabic term, useful to the Arabs and North Africans to refer to the vast area to the south with whom they traded extensively. The modern state with the same name is a fraction of the size of the historical Sudan. But in the same conservative fashion, the English language would refer to the state as the Republic of The Sudan. In Southeast Asia, there is The Republic of The Philippines, for similar reasons. For hundreds of years those islands had been referred to by their Spanish name, "Las Islas Filipinas", named after King Philip II of Spain. It's similar to they way we refer to The East Indies or The West Indies or The Canary Islands. So when the Filipino republic was formed and it chose to take the name of the geographical feature, it kept the word "The" in its name, this being the English convention. In Southeast Asia too, there is a truly odd one which few people realise is odd. When Europeans (particularly the French) first met the top dog in region to the West of Vietnam and Northeast of the Kingdom of Siam, that big guy introduced himself as the king of all the Lao tribes. He said something to the effect that "I am the King of the Lao people, or King of the Laos." It was an interesting moment of culture clash. Europeans conceived of statehood as a political power controlling territory (due to their history of feudalism). The people were secondary. If they lived in the territory, OK, the humans would, as a consequence, come under the rule of the power. Elsewhere in the world, particularly Asia, rulers saw themselves as ruling over people. If the people lived in a territory, then indirectly the land would be brought under the king's power. And if the people moved around, the king still expected that the people remained his subjects wherever they went off to. Thus the big guy in Luang Prabang saw himself as ruler of the Lao tribes, just as the guy in Phnom Penh saw himself as ruler of the Khmer people. Today we seldom realise that the word "Laos" got corrupted along the way. Where it used to refer (in plural) to a collection of tribes and peoples, we now use it to refer to a defined territory - but only in English. The official name of the country is not Laos, it is The Lao People's Democratic Republic. They are still using the word "Lao" to refer to the people, not the land.

I think we have similar priorities. Location is key. Room size isn't all that important so long as it isn't cramped. (Quarter Hotel's standard rooms are cramped). Fancy amenities feel wasteful to me. Functionality is important too. I was once given an upgrade at Le Siam. When I got to the room, I saw that it had a bathtub. I dislike bathtubs and plastic curtains and more so if I am planning to host a boy and shower together. So I went downstairs again and asked the reception to reverse the upgrade. Give me back a normal or ordinary room (that's what they called it). These have shower stalls big enough for two. It took a while for them to understand my request.