Travel observations (not a full report)

[10tazione]

1. BKK airport

Immigrated two times within in the last 2 weeks. Both times immigration took less than 5 minutes, just 2-3 people in front of me directly at the counter. I think its not normal for february, Corona is really doing harm to Thai turism.
The first time there was no temperature scan (if i remember correctly), the second time there was.

I wondered if I have to do the fingerprints a second time, and the answer is "probably no". I put my fingers on the scanner as the software told me to do so. While the officer was typing the whole process got cancelled, so I guess as soon as the software knows there are recent fingerprints in the system, there is no need to do them again.

2. The Masks

My observation (rough impression, did not count people):

2 weeks ago in BKK airport train:
most Thais (and asian turists), say 80%,  wearing a face mask
half of western turists wearing a face mask
Silom area same impression

2 days ago in BKK airport train
Less than half of the Thais wearing a face mask
30% of western Turists wearing a face mask
Silom areas same impression

The number of people wearing a mask has gone considerably down within two weeks, altough the risk hasn't probably changed. Wearing those masks every day sucks, especially in a hot climate like in Thailand.

3. Prime Massage

Can confirm that Prime Massage is checking customers temperature and make them all wear face masks (it was like this 2 weeks ago, dont know if they still do). If you get an immediate appointment at Prime, you know it is REALLY LOW season.
Got a foot massage, somewhat painful. If I get asked soft or strong, I always say "medium" - how am I supposed to know how strong is strong? Dont want a lame massage but neither want to be killed! Is there a different concept of pain in western and asian medicine? I think the western standpoint is that pain during a massage is never good? And the Thais say just "stiff stiff, massage stronger"?

To be continued (probably when I arrive back home; time in asia is too precicous)

[JackR]

Thanks 10tazione. Interesting to hear that there are LESS people wearing masks.

[Travellerdave]

I’m in Pattaya. Only the occasional person is wearing a mask- maybe one in fifty passers by. The main impact is the virtual lack of Chinese visitors who normally you see parading along Walking Street and occasionally through Boyztown behind their flag waving guides. Out at sea there are hardly any parachutes being towed by speedboats, as Chinese are the main participants. 

 

[DivineMadman]

6 hours ago, 10tazione said:

Got a foot massage, somewhat painful. If I get asked soft or strong, I always say "medium" - how am I supposed to know how strong is strong? Dont want a lame massage but neither want to be killed! Is there a different concept of pain in western and asian medicine? I think the western standpoint is that pain during a massage is never good? And the Thais say just "stiff stiff, massage stronger"?

It's hard for the masseur or the customer to calibrate, so real-time feedback can help.  You can start with medium and if you sense it's not what you want, I just tell the guy.  I've noticed that if I haven't had a foot massage (for example) for a while, I only like medium-soft on my feet proper but as strong as he can get on my quads, so I just tell him that.  Forearms I have the same issue - very sensitive for the first few massages then that issue goes away.   [I give a short list before a massage of things like this shoulder is bad be careful, very tight here at the neck and right quad and IT band - needs extra attention, etc.]

Certainly in western sports/deep tissue massage a certain amount of "pain" is absolutely part of the program to break up knots and adhesions.  But there's pain/discomfort and real pain-pain.  I tend to have knots in my upper back and shoulders that take a lot of time for the masseur to ease up and release, and there's definitely "pain" involved, whether the massage is here or at Bliss in NYC (just to pick a western spa).   One potentially helpful guideline I've heard is you never want to be tensing up when the masseur is trying to release those knots, so guide the masseur to keep the pressure at a level below where you might be tensing up, wherever that may be.  

Real men like to be pampered too, so nothing wrong with just getting a soft massage and not worrying about it.   

[spoon]

There is good pain and bad pain. Good pain, to me is always feels painful but at the same time pleasurable, as it is very deep pain and not like pinching your skin pain. And almost always, you will feel immediate release and instant painless feeling after the masseur let go of the pressure. If the pain is like pinching your skin, or the pain doesnt goes away after he release the pressure, i called it injury lol

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, 10tazione said:

 

 

To be continued (probably when I arrive back home; time in asia is too precicous)

only saints are more patient than us here so we will gladly  wait

[aymidios]

Thanks for the report. Good to know there are lesser people wearing mask. I'm no expert but I feel like you should only wear a mask if you're ill. 

Anyways, looking forward for the rest of the trip report! 

[traveller123]

I flew back to Thailand via Tapei after a holiday in the US on 20th (19th) February on the EVA flight departing SFO at 12.05am

I guess the flight was not more more than one third full which meant I had 3 seats to myself

The connecting flight to BKK was almost full with most Asians wearing masks and about half farangs wearing masks.

[jason1975]

Thanks for report. I shall be in Bangkok for 5 days middle of next month in March.

[10tazione]

4. The Green Massage (1)

As usual when I am in Bangkok and in need of a (serious or not so serious) massage, I walk a circuit starting at the corner Silom Road / Convent Road,
stroll to the Sala Daeng station, cross Silom Road via the overpass at the station, head towards Silom Soi 4, check out the massage parlours there,
continue towards Silom Soi 6, check out the massage parlours there, walk past The Prime Massage, Tawan Massage, Indra Massage and all the other shops over there.
When I arrive at Surawong Road I turn right.
In the past I would have then entered Soi Twighlight, stopped for a coffee at Dicks Cafe and then gone back to Surawong and then continued to Silom Road via Thanya road until I reached my starting point again.

How many massage shops are on this circuit? Must be easily more than 20 if not 30.
Since the closure of Twighlight I replaced the last part and go now back via Patpong 2 because of The Bangkok Massage (which I never used before because I found that The Bonny Massage had the cuter guys for me).

In my indecisiveness most of the times it takes second round until I finally enter a shop.
In the second round I sometimes feel a little stupid and wonder if I am the only one walking in a circle, passing the same shops again ...

This time, the second round led me to The Green Massage in Surawong Road, one of the nice male staff there made me stop.
I booked 90 minutes head/neck/shoulder massage for 350 Baht. They do it in the massage chairs where they also do the foot massage.
I love this simplicity. In my home country,
1. this would probably cost 5x more,
2. there would be so much unnecessary decoration that distracts from the acutal massage like a super nice room with a massage table decorated with colorful bed sheets and fresh flowers and candles, i dont need all this stuff (well ok at some anniversary maybe ...), half of the massage time would be used to put some or remove some towels from somewhere to somewhere ...,
3. it would be impossible to get a massage spontaneously prebooking and
4. (not always important but sometimes would be nice) there is basically no male staff.

My masseur was from Myanmar (like many other staff at this shop), and besides a wonderful smile he also had a wonderful massage tecnique, working my stiff "office-job" neck.
So wonderful, that after 90 minutes I didnt want to let this end and therefore booked another 60 minutes of foot massage for 250 Baht.
First they said it would not be possible with the same masseur because he is booked, but when I said that then I will leave it at the 90 minutes, suddenly it was possible and I enjoyed another hour in heaven.

I think I will replace the Prime Massage in the future with The Green Massage. No idea why the name is the Green Massage when they all wear orange shirts?

What I really hate during a massage are interruptions. Bad masseurs find so many occasions to interrupt the massage like
applying more cream and it takes endless for them to open the bottle, extract some cream and put it on the body;
they also like to leave the room in the middle of the massage and come back 5 minutes later with some towels,
or even worse they start typing on their mobile phones.
Guys, prepare everything before you start and then please nonstop! I claim that ideally there should always be at least one hand massaging the customer and my guy did this prefectly.

After the massage I made another booking for the next day with the same masseur. I booked 60 minutes of head/neck/shoulder,
and because I feel obliged to investigate for this forum, haha, I also booked 90 minutes of oil massage. Considering the nice smiles of my masseur,
I thought I would not be too embarrassed in case the stiffness of my neck would slide down to some lower body part. But I really had no expectations regarding a happy end. Do you?

[anddy]

13 hours ago, 10tazione said:

No idea why the name is the Green Massage when they all wear orange shirts?

haha so true!

13 hours ago, 10tazione said:

After the massage I made another booking for the next day with the same masseur. I booked 60 minutes of head/neck/shoulder,
and because I feel obliged to investigate for this forum, haha, I also booked 90 minutes of oil massage. Considering the nice smiles of my masseur,

looking forward to the review of that massage  

[10tazione]

On 3/5/2020 at 10:06 AM, anddy said:

looking forward to the review of that massage  

I thought I'd skip that part

5. The Green Massage (2)
So the next day I went there again. The head/neck/shoulder massage great same same like yesterday.
I told the masseur to massage a tid softer, what he did.

After the 60 minutes we went upstairs and the masseur told me to shower.
They have proper rooms with a proper shower and a proper massage table with a hole (although I must say I almost prefer my head thai style on a pillow)
He was waiting somewhere outside the room and came back when I almost finished drying myself.

I laid down on the massage table and another 90 minutes of heaven began. He started with the back, then legs then arms.
When massaging the inner side of the upper legs, he incidentally touched my cock, not often enough to come to any decisive conclusion about the further course of the massage,
but often enough to make me slightly aroused.

When I turned around I was looking and smiling at him, he was smiling back and said "You like?".
That expression was new in his vocabulary, so far he only used "ok?", this must be "English for masseurs, level 2".
My answer was of course "yes" with an even bigger smile than before (yes also farangs can smile when the circumstances are favorable...).

He continued with the belly and the chest by making big circles with both hands, which I find extremly pleasant
and I must have been purring like a cat, and the "incidentally" slowly became an "obviously on purpose".
I started rubbing his belly and then put my hand under his shirt and felt his smooth skin. After a while I asked
"ok?" and he said "no", so I removed my hand again.

Maybe he misunderstood my question, because a minute later he took my hand and put it under his shirt again ...
Later he asked "Do you want me to come?". I'm not sure whether I was more suprised by the meaning of the sentence
or by his english skills, "English for masseurs, level 3", or is it all covered by "Survival english for masseurs" anyway?
Whatever, not in control of my mouth anymore, I answered "yes". He then mentioned quite a high figure and I agreed again.
Overpriced for sure, but it is like holding a drug in front of an addict and mentioning any price the addict will say yes...
Those guys for sure know how to extract the baht of us farangs but I really can't be mad at them. Later at home I also thought that those guys will probably face difficult
times in the next months so it is ok to overtip them.

Without going into further details, I must say I left the place very happy and for sure will make a visit there again on my next holiday, which under the current
cirmumstances unfortunately is unclear when that will be...

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, 10tazione said:

Later at home I also thought that those guys will probably face difficult
times in the next months so it is ok to overtip them.

..., I must say I left the place very happy

if you left happy I don't think you overtipped him , you just tipped fairly for the experience 

[10tazione]

Ok I guess there won't be many new travel reports this year, so let me continue with mine.

It was Makha Bucha day, so not all bars where open in Bangkok.
I wanted to go to Luckyboys, but it was closed. So I went to Hotmale Bar. "We no have alcohol".
No problem, I can drink orange juice. 5 minutes later the list of drinks miraculously expanded, but i was fine with my orange juice.
Nice view from the bar down to the Patpong street. On the other hand also quite a few people with big cameras taking pictures of the 2nd floor from the street.

After Hotmale Bar I went to Hotmale Gogo, then to Freshboys. It seemed like everything was closed on the right side of Patpong 2,
while on the left side many bars where open (not sure about Screwboys, i think it was closed).
Nothing to report that hasn't been reported yet. Enough boys. Some customers.

Jupiter
Inspired by reports about the midnight karaoke (thank you spoon!), i had that on my todo list (listening to songs, not singing ahem). Normally after midnight the preferred place for me to stay is my bed, so i decided to tick off this item as long as the jetlag was still favourable for late night activities (midnight in Bangkok, 6pm in Europe).
There is a mandatory entrance fee even i you arrive close to midnight, and i don't think that changes after midnight (?)
There where only a few customers, one bigger group engaged in some drinking games with some boys (must have been water, or does Makha Bucha day end at midnight on the dot?)

I was sipping my drink until the singing started.
Not sure if they ever mentioned there names, but now after rereading spoons report and doing some internet search i am pretty sure
they where Poppy and PJ.

Poppy, impressive stage presentation, very nice smile, clear voice, clear english pronounciation. Here some short videos on the Jupiter Facebook page, so you have a face to the names, couldnt find anything of better quality:

Jupiter Video with Poppy on Facebook

The other guy must have been PJ, the right guy in this video:

Jupiter Video with Poppy and PJ on Facebook

While PJ was singing and Poppy took a break, I went to Poppy and asked for a song:
พระเอกจำลอง  (phra aehk jam laawng, "fake protagonist") by Getsunova. It is the main song in the BL series "Theory of Love".

There is now also an english version:

I had no idea whether Getsunova is a known Thai band or not. Poppy didn't know the song but he knew the band and suggested a different song:

ไกลแค่ไหน คือ ใกล้ (glai khae nai kheuu glai, "how far is near"), of course I said yes with a smile and a tip!

Or some extended version:

Later Poppy introduced a girl as the voice Thailand. Her voice as voluminous as her body.
I think that is her:
Jupiter Video with the Voice on Facebook

If anyone has links to her performances at The Voice Thailand, please post them here!

Getsunova
They are a Thai band and I became aware of them while watching Theory of Love.
Guys stuck in Europe or whereever, watch Thai BL movies to pass the time until we will be able to travel to Thailand again, doesnt look good for this year, and who knows if it will ever be the same again ...
The lead singer is a heir of the restaurant chain S&P.

There are a few more songs I really like,

ความเงียบดังที่สุด (khwaam ngiiap dang thee soot, "the loudest silence", 100M views quite impressive)

คนไม่จำเป็น (khon mai jam bpen, "inessential person")

The getsunova story does not end here, but led me to some very Thai environment (something new to me, I am just an ordinary turist), but i am not sure i will report about that ...

[jason1975]

Glad you enjoyed listening to Poppy and PJ. I love those guys! I have lost count of the number of tips, garlands and gifts I give them every time I go to Jupiter to listen to them.

[10tazione]

3 hours ago, jason1975 said:

Glad you enjoyed listening to Poppy and PJ. I love those guys! I have lost count of the number of tips, garlands and gifts I give them every time I go to Jupiter to listen to them.

Yes I did and it is something different for a change ... If only it would start a little bit earlier instead midnight ...

[10tazione]

I think I found Poppy's auditon:

And Omaem' s audition:

And the battle between them

 

 

 

 

 

[MunichCut]

I love tthis Song from Body Slam.The biggest Band iin Thailand,