Anyone planning Xmas?

[Olddaddy]

Last time I went to Pattaya /thailand during Xmas was December 2016.

It was high season and all I remember was crowds everywhere.

Years ago they used to have the famous Xmas dinners at every venue, Poisendon I recall I had mine

I know some guys go every year only at Xmas 

Whats your Xmas schedule particularly you guys with no family are you going this year?

I guess Yupins in jomtien will probably have a do again 

How do you celebrate Christmas?

I'm not into religion I'm an Atheist actually so no  religion for me I'm not interested in that 

 

[Shonen]

I’ll be there, but I try to avoid anything Xmas related.

[Olddaddy]

1 hour ago, Shonen said:

I’ll be there, but I try to avoid anything Xmas related.

Do you actually go to any Christmas dinners on Christmas day ?🤶🤶🤶

I have a feeling Xmas maybe busy this year but of course never as busy as 10-15 years ago , I think all the old timers have died off and many of the next Gen of  gay are not interested in spending Xmas in Thailand well I should say Pattaya, because to me I see many younger gay farang couples more into Phuket areas or Bali ,even the islands if Philippines are becoming popular for gay farang couples.

When I was in Pattaya last month a bar owner ,I won't say where ,but everytime I went to the bar he mentioned how he was selling it , xmas will be very busy he said.

However I don't see a future in it like the past ,anyway I'm getting off track about Xmas 😂

 

[vinapu]

:Last year I was in Bangkok over Christmas and it was  uncrowded fun although church at midnight mass was packed.

Since another member 18past19 was there at the same time and even we stay in the same hotel we visited Mahanakhon and after that had lavish Christmas Lunch in world famous UNESCO designated 7.5 star Foodland Patpong.

Tourist crowds were nowhere to be seen, neither on top of Mahanakhon not in Jupiter which we visited in the evening.

This year for  a change I'm planning to stay home at Christmas as my relatives consider Christmas travel pagan custom. 

[Olddaddy]

19 minutes ago, vinapu said:

:Last year I was in Bangkok over Christmas and it was  uncrowded fun although church at midnight mass was packed.

Since another member 18past19 was there at the same time and even we stay in the same hotel we visited Mahanakhon and after that had lavish Christmas Lunch in world famous UNESCO designated 7.5 star Foodland Patpong.

Tourist crowds were nowhere to be seen, neither on top of Mahanakhon not in Jupiter which we visited in the evening.

This year for  a change I'm planning to stay home at Christmas as my relatives consider Christmas travel pagan custom. 

 

May I ask what country your in Vinapu 

[jason1975]

26 minutes ago, vinapu said:

:Last year I was in Bangkok over Christmas and it was  uncrowded fun although church at midnight mass was packed.

Since another member 18past19 was there at the same time and even we stay in the same hotel we visited Mahanakhon and after that had lavish Christmas Lunch in world famous UNESCO designated 7.5 star Foodland Patpong.

Tourist crowds were nowhere to be seen, neither on top of Mahanakhon not in Jupiter which we visited in the evening.

This year for  a change I'm planning to stay home at Christmas as my relatives consider Christmas travel pagan custom. 

Such a waste you won't be in Bangkok during this Christmas. I am so glad you get along well with @18past19 Both of you love handsome muscle guys and I can imagine both eyeing the same guys in bar!

[vinapu]

11 minutes ago, jason1975 said:

I am so glad you get along well with @18past19 Both of you love handsome muscle guys and I can imagine both eyeing the same guys in bar!

we do but so far never had any issues, quite opposite , we co-operate nicely to keep guys busy

[PeterRS]

Having lived far from my family for 4 decades, Christmas has come to mean very little to me. Great for kids, but for those without kids it's just a peg on which to hang a great deal of outright commercialism. It's also an excuse for the travel industry and others to raise prices. I think most Chinese around the region are much more practical in celebrating the winter equinox a few days prior to Christmas with family dinners.

[pong2]

No, never did that in Pty-and its still quite a very long time in yrs since I was there (though now contemplate it for next trip-cool season, airfares permitting, I am getting older too and also double pensions). BUT have done that for at least 20 yrs in BKK (untill that pandemic came) and there its named Klissemash. It is for Thai a normal working day (if it is mo-fr) and the main association they may have with it-its Thai after all´ is ´paahtee.´ The time leading to it will be festooned with jingle bells and santas riding on sleighs in the snow-also not quite a normal thing in tropical Thai. Soon after it the better times come: BKK empties out (of locals), even traffic may get a nice breeze and very manageable, untill 31/12 followed by 1/1, which is by far a much bigger ´pahtee´ and well worth being at, also bcse big-city BKK (the local govmt) will lay on fireworks and more nice and free things for those poor who have to remain in town. A rather tipical fenomenon for us is the belief of all bar/gogo/etc guys that 1/1 is the very best day in the yr as clients will flock in as it is supposed to bring good luck (choke dee) which is a well-known and very Thai superstition.

Again 1/1 is just a western invention-as all Thai know the real Nw Yr starts on 14/4, songkran, in the Buddhist counting and has to be done with ample throwing of dirty klong water. Plus that its very intercultural-the tipical boss will be Chinese so has Chinese Nw Yr-varying dates, another hi-peak time for incoming tourists (the Singys and the Malays etc.), and is obliged to treat his workers with presents. Another so-so advantage for us is that the VNese go home, as their idea of NwYr also is on that date-they name it Tet.

But whereas BKK empties out, it seems to me that Pty has peak-time-even quite a lot of Thai seem to think this is a fashionable holiday-retreat (but so it seems are other seaside places like HuaHin etc.). THis may lead to the dis-advantage that the competition for the best guy to serve you also heats up. But others who have experienced it may know more how that will work out.

Thai: melly klissemash, or Sawasdee Phimai (=happy/welcome Nw yr).

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, pong2 said:

Pty has peak-time-even quite a lot of Thai seem to think this is a fashionable holiday-retreat

because it is no doubt, no ?

[gayinpattaya]

The new roof on Jomtien Complex will ruin any chance of a New Years from the past. The fireworks from the bridges were always great. But I sincerely hope that Jomtien Complex can have a huge Christmas and New Year. The expats/tourists need it, just as much as the bar owners! 

 

[flashbarryallen]

I went to Bangkok the Christmas before COVID kicked into full gear...back when we thought it was just this thing that would stay in China. Ahh those blissfully ignorant days. 

I expect crowds and flight/hotel prices to be at an all time high, so it's going to be a skip for me.

My partner and I both celebrate Christmas and we'll probably just stay at home and have a party with our friends. I might cross the border to Singapore to check out some of the Christmas offerings at Universal Studios and Gardens by the Bay. 

I went way over budget on my summer escapades in Bangkok and Pattaya, so any travel will have to be more wallet friendly. 

If I really am craving some "fun", I might just do a short trip to KL as there are quite a few freelancers working the apps there.

 

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, flashbarryallen said:

 

I went way over budget on my summer escapades in Bangkok and Pattaya,

 

that's part of vacation fun , no ?

[18past19]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:12 PM, vinapu said:

we do but so far never had any issues,

not only that we stayed in the same hotel, we had breakfasts together every morning, often with vinapu’s special guest too. 

one time, it was with someone who accompanied me during a dinner a few days prior, but then he was vinapu’s that morning. 

 

 

[vinapu]

42 minutes ago, 18past19 said:

not only that we stayed in the same hotel, we had breakfasts together every morning, often with vinapu’s special guest too. 

one time, it was with someone who accompanied me during a dinner a few days prior, but then he was vinapu’s that morning. 

 

 

yes and I'm grateful for your recommendation, gooD guy he is and one of those who look handsome even if fully dressed

[macaroni21]

On 8/22/2022 at 3:13 AM, pong2 said:

and there its named Klissemash.

That's not quite the way I hear it. It sounds more like "ke-lid-mart". to me, and the first time I heard it, (which was literally decades ago, but hasn't much changed) I ended up thinking the speaker was saying "climax". It was most unnerving that the speaker was a female hotel receptionist.

[Gaybutton]

Since Covid I don't know if they are still doing it, but be careful where you stay.  Several of the hotels, especially the ones around the beach areas in Pattaya, had mandatory Christmas dinners.  Hotel guests would be charged for it whether they ate there or not - and often guests didn't know about it until they arrived. Actually they were very good and I thought well worth it, but I never liked the idea of mandatory.  The excuse was they were preparing elaborate, expensive dinners and could not afford for their guests to eat elsewhere.

They should have at least informed their guests in advance but few ever did.  I don't know if any hotels in Bangkok or other cities were doing that, but I would want to find out before deciding where I want to stay and how much they are charging.

Before you commit to a Christmas hotel, ask if they are doing that.  Check about New Year's Eve too.

[vinapu]

Crowne Plaza Silom did not have mandatory Christmas dinner last Christmas but it means nothing when comes to this year's  one. So like Gaybutton suggest, better check in advance although I know few people who were participating in those pre-covid in some Chiang Mai and Bangkok hotels and they found it good value so it's not necessary a bad way to spend money

[Gaybutton]

I should have mentioned that I saw several customers get very angry about the mandatory dinner and were arguing with reception.  I think they were right if they were not told in advance.  However, those of you who know how things work in Thailand, you don't need me to tell you how much good their anger and arguments did them . . .

[Londoner]

My abiding memory of a Thai Christmas was the distressing sight at our Krabi hotel  of four polystyrene reindeer, originally white but turned dingy brown by the weather.

It was in May.  I assume that Christmas lasted all year there.

My other Christmas -related memory was of my first visit in 1995; in those days, the baht-buses were the products of cottage industries and the roofs of the buses were   recycled  British Christmas tin-trays. Robins, snowmen etc. I was amused  by the incongruity of seeing Father Christmas and Christmas trees on the way to Jomtien.

[Olddaddy]

10 hours ago, Gaybutton said:

Since Covid I don't know if they are still doing it, but be careful where you stay.  Several of the hotels, especially the ones around the beach areas in Pattaya, had mandatory Christmas dinners.  Hotel guests would be charged for it whether they ate there or not - and often guests didn't know about it until they arrived. Actually they were very good and I thought well worth it, but I never liked the idea of mandatory.  The excuse was they were preparing elaborate, expensive dinners and could not afford for their guests to eat elsewhere.

They should have at least informed their guests in advance but few ever did.  I don't know if any hotels in Bangkok or other cities were doing that, but I would want to find out before deciding where I want to stay and how much they are charging.

Before you commit to a Christmas hotel, ask if they are doing that.  Check about New Year's Eve too.

May I ask your Xmas plans,?

[vinapu]

10 hours ago, Gaybutton said:

I should have mentioned that I saw several customers get very angry about the mandatory dinner and were arguing with reception.  I think they were right if they were not told in advance. .

and then they returned to their  countries and are paying  for simple lunch  more that for that lavish Christmas dinner without second thought.

You are right about having reason to be upset with such a surprise, on another hand I recall seeing on booking sites information about mandatory Christmas or New Year's Eve dinners so "surprise" claim may not be warranted

[Gaybutton]

11 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

May I ask your Xmas plans,?

In August I have Christmas plans?  Not just yet . . .

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Gaybutton said:

In August I have Christmas plans?  Not just yet . . .

nobody asked me  but I do :

wake up, take shower , brush teeth,  shave, have breakfast and go from there

[pong2]

So I´ll have my special Xmas dinner (if it will be special at all), mandatory served (but not to eat as such) in the airplane, perhaps even twice, as flying back was considerably cheaper those days as on exactly from day 45 after entry.

Having enjoyed this Xmas in Thailand quite a few times: its jingle bells and Rudolph everywhere, but as such 25/12 is for many Thai a normal working day, shops open etc.