Back in Pattaya after 2 years and 4 months

[Travellerdave]

Yes I’ve finally arrived after putting off the decision for quite a while. But following the introduction of the simple Thai Pass procedure I had no excuse to overcome my apprehension that it would turn out to be a mistake.

i booked the £650 airfare through Expedia on Qatar Airline departing Manchester and changing flights almost half way at Doha. I thought about paying for business class but my economy upbringing caused me to save £800 with the penalty of 13 hours of mild discomfort. Arriving at Subanaphumi at 8.20 pm I found emigration an extremely  smooth and efficient process putting the recent chaos at U.K. airports to shame.  My Thai Pass was subject to a preliminary check during the long walk from the gate, but there were no queues at all at the desks. On approaching I hesitated when I saw that evidence of a hotel reservation was one of the requirements. I had a reservation at the Ambiance via booking.com but I had not brought a print out or saved the evidence on my phone or iPad. But the Pass, the Visa waver, and my passport got me through. Approaching the carrousel I was surprised to find my bag already circling and 5 minutes later I was on my way via the motorway. It could not have been much more that 2 hours from stepping off the plane to stepping into the Ambiance Hotel, where I had booked 3 nights.

i was not intending to go out but after unpacking and establishing that I had omitted several items  like my iPhone/ iPad charger and after taking a shower I ventured into a very quiet Boystown, which nevertheless looked exactly the same as during my last visit. Taking a motor bike taxi I arrived at Sunee to see that the only sign of significant life was Winner Boys, where outside there was two tables with boys entertaining I think 3 customers, who had recently abandoned the interior Gogo. Two boys joined me wearing rather sexy speedos to chat about the current state of the gay economy, which I helped by buying  two boy drinks and giving both a tip. I had to steel myself to hold to my plan of not offing, rather to have a good sleep and wind down after the journey (I’m really too old for this long distance travel and sex tourism). So ended my first day by writing this report.

[Boy69]

35 minutes ago, Travellerdave said:

So ended my first day by writing this report.

I like your approach to write a report on the spot not only after arriving home ad most of the forum members are doing.

Keep us update .

[12is12]

Welcome 

And thx

[jason1975]

6 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

Two boys joined me wearing rather sexy speedos to chat about the current state of the gay economy, which I helped by buying  two boy drinks and giving both a tip. 

Thank you for helping the economy!

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

So ended my first day by writing this report.

thank you, there's no day in trip like first day when we have a chance to walk through familiar sois , hear sounds we were missing and smell fragrants we never forgot

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, Boy69 said:

I like your approach to write a report on the spot not only after arriving home as most of the forum members are doing.

 

those miscreants are doing that most likely because they find more interesting things to do on vacations than spend hours typing reports. Which is very hard when only one hand is available because other is holding somebody's cock.

[10tazione]

3 hours ago, vinapu said:

Which is very hard when only one hand is available

You could use google voice to text but I guess voice wasn't available either because you were moaning with pleasure

[Olddaddy]

Funny how you talk about traveling economy , I just saved  about 50,000 baht travelling from Australia to Bangkok in economy class.

Was tempted to book business but glad I didn't as I had 2 seats to myself in economy !

Food was basically the same .

 

 

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

I was not intending to go out but after unpacking and establishing that I had omitted several items  like my iPhone/ iPad charger

I forgot to pack underwear for a European trip about 20 years ago.    After that dismal failure, I started an Excel check list.

 

14 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

I had to steel myself to hold to my plan of not offing, rather to have a good sleep and wind down after the journey (I’m really too old for this long distance travel and sex tourism). So ended my first day by writing this report.

Very restrained.   I always off on the first day, but it's always short time until I'm past the jet-lag phase.    (Only exceptions were when enforced by quarantine)

 

[Min]

1 hour ago, Olddaddy said:

Funny how you talk about traveling economy , I just saved  about 50,000 baht travelling from Australia to Bangkok in economy class.

= 25 offs

[colmx]

1 hour ago, Olddaddy said:

just saved  about 50,000 baht travelling from Australia to Bangkok

I find asking at the check in desk or even the gate for a paid upgrade is often fruitful to pick up bargain biz upgrades.

Of course there is no lounge access permitted on these tickets or extra baggage allowance etc. But a good nights sleep on the flight helps me hit the ground running on arrival in BKK and avoid any sleep catch ups

[Londoner]

I was checking prices of flights from LHR to BKK in the next few weeks a couple of days ago and  found that the costs have doubled in a period of about two months.

Emirates and Thai were  offering Business Class flights  for about 130,000bht in April; now, you will pay around 250,000.  

Economy lights have also been affected.

Not only this; the number of tickets available for the next few weeks, certainly on direct flights, is limited. The EVA flights are full while Thai Air  has but a handful of seats  left.

Will this be what we can expect? or is it a temporary response to the surge in demand from those of us cruelly separated  for two plus years?  On the plus side, EVA's Business class in November costs less than 100,000 bht.......at the moment.

 

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, 10tazione said:

You could use google voice to text but I guess voice wasn't available either because you were moaning with pleasure

I'm not good with technology I guess

[12is12]

Its "temporary" until the surge ebbs....

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, z909 said:

 

 

 I always off on the first day, but it's always short time until I'm past the jet-lag phase. 

 

# me too

day without off or at least massage is vacation day lost. Happened to me in my early days but then I saw mistake of wasting passing days. Of course my trip are somewhat short 1-2 weeks , one coming for month or two can afford being less stiff with time.

As for jet-lag , my worst day is usually third and with age I noticed is getting worse and worse

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, Min said:

= 25 offs

that calculation I always have in mind when looking for prices of flights to Thailand

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Londoner said:

or is it a temporary response to the surge in demand from those of us cruelly separated  for two plus years? 

 

that and result of rising fuel prices.

We can't do much other than comb for relative bargains or just give up and see what market forces will bring us to.

My sister lives in country half way between me and Thailand and price to fly there   is almost the same so for me Thailand is still like bargain

[Guest]

My calculation is incremental flight cost per hour flying.

LHR-BKK return is about 24.5 hours direct.    

Pre-covid, I got Premium Economy seats with EVA for about £900, which I think was ~£350 more than economy.   So £14 per hour extra, or 600 baht per hour.   Reasonable.

If I take the 250,000 baht figure quoted above, that's about £5747.       

Let's assume we can get economy for £747, which looked feasible last time I checked.

So £5000 incremental, which works out at £204 per hour, or 8877 baht PER HOUR.        So straight to the back of the plane !    Even if the 777 economy seat is AWFUL.  

 

 

[vinapu]

3 minutes ago, z909 said:

 

So £5000 incremental, which works out at £204 per hour, or 8877 baht PER HOUR.        So straight to the back of the plane !

 

right, 

I you reported you offed somebody short time and reported tipping him 8877 or even just 8800 rest assured you would be stoned by some within hour of arrival just for spoiling market for others

[gerefan]

As I said elsewhere I believe these high prices are a combination of 

a) people wanting desperately to travel and

b) European holiday time. July and August.

As pointed out above add
c) increased fuel prices.

Airlines are cashing in!

However, if you book early business fares in September and October are still reasonable, albeit higher.

Economy is only very slightly more than before.

[12is12]

Even toward Nov which is supposed to b the beginning of peak season there ?

[gerefan]

4 minutes ago, 12is12 said:

Even toward Nov which is supposed to b the beginning of peak season there ?

Yes.

Just look at Emirates website. 15 Nov return 15 Feb

London to Bangkok Economy £758. Bizzo £3890. (Not as bad  as £5747) but higher than last year.

https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/
 

 

[Olddaddy]

3 hours ago, vinapu said:

# me too

day without off or at least massage is vacation day lost. Happened to me in my early days but then I saw mistake of wasting passing days. Of course my trip are somewhat short 1-2 weeks , one coming for month or two can afford being less stiff with time.

As for jet-lag , my worst day is usually third and with age I noticed is getting worse and worse

I tend to nowadays go the opposite way taking it as it goes , I don't rush to have boys everyday now, if I feel like one I do, otherwise I'm not feeling guilty, I'm more here in Thailand to relax .

I used to have several guys a day even when I didn't feel like it , but now even on a 2 week trip , the hunt is more exciting than the finish so if I end up with taking 5 days in 14 days so be it .

 

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Olddaddy said:

I tend to nowadays go the opposite way taking it as it goes , I don't rush to have boys everyday now, if I feel like one I do, otherwise I'm not feeling guilty, I'm more here in Thailand to relax .

I used to have several guys a day even when I didn't feel like it , but now even on a 2 week trip , the hunt is more exciting than the finish so if I end up with taking 5 days in 14 days so be it .

 

we all have our own prescription as what stands for good vacation time

[Travellerdave]

Yesterday was a good one - my first full day in Pattaya. Firstly I got my iphone operational. I was under the impression that it was locked to o2, my U.K. service, and that unlocking would be difficult and that a solution would be to buy an old phone just to make calls back home and to potential boys. With that in mind I walked to Tuk Com when it opened at 11.00. Browsing around looking at the displays of old phones (around 1000 baht) I responded to a lady stall-holders’ “can I help you “ with “I hope so - I think this phone is locked”. She did something and replied with an emphatic “not locked” and described various SIM card options. However this needed my passport which I had left in the Ambiance room safe. Keen to get my problem sorted out with an obvious expert I went to and fro to fetch it by motor bike. Within 15 minutes my phone was equipped with  a Thai SIM card plus 500 baht of data and a charger. 
My next task was to fill my wallet with cash using my bank debit card from an atm inside a bank (some years ago in Thailand the cash failed to emerge from a street atm and it was a lot of hassle to receive reimbursement)

Thus armed my thoughts turned to boys and back at the hotel I logged on to Romeo having failed to understand how Grindr worked (i think it’s not properly installed on my iPad) I contacted a promising boy and within an hour he was with me in the room. It was a happy experience, principally because despite my worries,  I was able to perform (non chemical aided) and he gave a 100% service, for which he was well rewarded. He said I had offed him 2 years ago, but I could not remember.

My evening campaign was largely focussed on Winner Boy Bar, where at 10 pm the boys were still dancing in briefs inside. Selecting a  cute one I tried to describe what my expectations were but his English was negligible and a rather unsatisfactory experience resulted. The preliminaries were fine but when it came to pénétration things came to a grinding halt with him stating - “I sorry -‘cannot’ . Oh well I thought you can’t win them all so he got minimum tip and I changed mode and read a book for an hour or so before sleep.