Youtube video selling gay Bangkok to the Chinese market in the middle of a pandemic

[macaroni21]

Seeing the first few scenes of this video, I thought it was made pre-Covid. The clubs were packed and no one had face masks. Then at the 24th second someone (a waiter?) in a mask walks by. Then we see the doormen of Jupiter who had a mask too. Finally, at 3 min 37 secs we see a date on the wall -  11 April 2021 -  indicating that it's a very recent video. At 8:00, there is a huge sign in the background saying "Face masks required", but no one in the foreground has one.

The bars on Soi 4 and on Soi Patpong 2 are clearly still in business, so that's a relief. Something to hope for when travel becomes possible (by the end of the year?). Lucky Boys may be the exception though; it looks closed. However, seeing the heaving crowds in the dance clubs, all maskless, the Covid situation may get much worse before it gets better.

 

[fedssocr]

during the first few months of the year Thailand thought they had beaten the virus. I know music venues were hosting concerts for many months where most people were not wearing masks. The numbers started shooting up a few weeks ago. So it's possible that this video was shot before things started going bad

[reader]

If you go to the website that produced this video (gaythaicool) you'll find a tab that contains listings and photos of many massage shops in Bangkok and Pattaya.

https://gaythaicool.com/tag/boy-massage/

[ichigo]

I've come across these videos on YouTube as well and I love seeing all of the lovely Thai men, but it makes me sad that I cannot be there in amongst the action.. soon hopefully!

[iendo]

12 hours ago, ichigo said:

I've come across these videos on YouTube as well and I love seeing all of the lovely Thai men, but it makes me sad that I cannot be there in amongst the action.. soon hopefully!

I feel your pain!

[Lucky]

Not to be snarky, but the guys on the video homepage above are not exactly bell ringers.

[PeterRS]

4 minutes ago, Lucky said:

Not to be snarky, but the guys on the video homepage above are not exactly bell ringers.

If I was Chinese and saw that lot, I'd head for Singapore or Taiwan 

[Londoner]

A quick look at the website suggests that its readership must have very different tastes to mine. I wonder if it's aimed at  women, despite its name? 

[spoon]

What u see in the videos vs whats on offer in bar is very different. the videos only shows those outside the bars, but most of the boys are inside. Go to specific bars fb/ig/twitter and some bar does shows a bit of what u can expect. I believe that very same website also have dedicated page on some bars with more pictures of boys.

[fedssocr]

of course once you watch this video the Almighty Algorithm will start showing you other similar ones. I got served up one from Nakarat massage that was quite enjoyable.

and this Thai boy band at a Japanese bath house

 

[macaroni21]

In recent memory, I've only been to Nakarat once and it was a disaster. As I recall, they were mostly Vietnamese boys, very straight-lookng, who knew virtually nothing about massage or giving pleasure. I reckon they must have returned to Vietnam after Covid shut massage establishments down for a while. Are the staff now all Thai, I wonder? Gee, I can't wait to get back to find out! But it still looks like a long, long wait.

 

[reader]

53 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

In recent memory, I've only been to Nakarat once and it was a disaster. As I recall, they were mostly Vietnamese boys, very straight-lookng, who knew virtually nothing about massage or giving pleasure. I reckon they must have returned to Vietnam after Covid shut massage establishments down for a while. Are the staff now all Thai, I wonder?

 

Having been there 50+ times over several years, it was anything but a disaster for me.

You're right about there being a lot of straight looking Viet guys there but I like straight-looking guys. Guess I'm just funny that way.

Also found them--and their Lao colleagues--more than capable of providing satisfactory service. I found that it has as much to do with how I treated them as how they treated me.

It's also been my experience that judging a massage shop based on a single visit with one guy isn't a good basis for making such a sweeping assessment.

53 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

Gee, I can't wait to get back to find out! But it still looks like a long, long wait.

Longer than you think. The shop is permanently closed and owner has moved back to Isan where he's opened a shop..

[fedssocr]

my one visit to Nakarat wasn't so great either. But it's too bad it's gone. I just thought the guy hosting the video was very handsome.

[anddy]

On 5/2/2021 at 11:31 PM, macaroni21 said:

 Finally, at 3 min 37 secs we see a date on the wall -  11 April 2021 -  indicating that it's a very recent video.

looking at that sign in the video it looks like an advertisement for some special event on that date (presumably related to Songkran). I can't recall them ever displaying the current date on a screen like that (though of course never really paid much attention to that).

Having said that, it can't be the date of the filming, as entertainment venues were already closed effective Saturday April 10 as per this article:

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2097739/bars-pubs-closed-for-a-fortnight

The filming was probably in the Feb/March time frame, so still very recent. That was after the second wave from Dec/Jan had subsided and things were reopened. I was at Soi 2 myself on March 6 and it looked indeed as in the video.  Signs of mandatory mask wearing everywhere, masks nowhere.