Last week of the year busy or like low season?

[abidismaili]

I want to experience high season again for the 2nd time in 10 years (I normally go March, October or in between).

I was thinking about the last week of this year. But then this has Christmas. Maybe this is a time when many tourists stay home,  because the Christmas period is generally a time when the extended family comes together.

So my question is: to experience high season is the last week of the year maybe a bad idea because it will feel more like low season because of the reason outlined above?

[MaxBKK]

It's crowded and festive that week and through the New Year. Nice time to visit if you're looking for a different time of year than your past visits.

[abidismaili]

28 minutes ago, MaxBKK said:

It's crowded and festive that week and through the New Year. Nice time to visit if you're looking for a different time of year than your past visits.

Also more boys in the bars in Jomtien or at massage places? Or that is the same? Only difference is there are more tourists ? Or there is a significant quality and quantity difference in the money boys available ?

[Patanawet]

Christmas is a normal working day in Thailand so although there will be countless 'melly chlismas' decorations around, the only celebrations such as Christmas Dinners etc. will be in farang bars and international hotels.
By New Year's Eve, the tourist areas will be crazily packed leading up to midnight on NYE.
Thais will enjoy this and celebrate even though their New Year is not till April.
These areas, Silom, Siam Square, Kao San Road etc. will get frighteningly packed.
Beware pickpockets. Beware pickpockets! (yes, I said it twice). Impossible to get taxi at normal prices. (Skytrain and subway late closing (01 or 02?).
Have fun. Certainly more than March or October😂🤣🙏.

[Patanawet]

I once asked my Thai other half, "what does Christmas Day celebrate?"
His response "Father Christmas's birthday".
Close enough.

[khaolakguy]

Being in Bangkok last Christmas and New Year I found that Hotel prices were significantly higher than in mid January for example. I also found less availability of guys online and more competition in the bars. Prime Massage were booked solid for three days ahead! 
 

More likely to go in February in future.

[Verchiele]

48 minutes ago, khaolakguy said:

Being in Bangkok last Christmas and New Year I found that Hotel prices were significantly higher than in mid January for example. I also found less availability of guys online and more competition in the bars. Prime Massage were booked solid for three days ahead! 
 

More likely to go in February in future.

Does prime massage take Line booking at all?

[khaolakguy]

I don’t think so, as far as I recall at that time people were paying in advance on site at the time of booking, and there was a queue to book!

[Keithambrose]

On 9/27/2024 at 9:01 PM, khaolakguy said:

Being in Bangkok last Christmas and New Year I found that Hotel prices were significantly higher than in mid January for example. I also found less availability of guys online and more competition in the bars. Prime Massage were booked solid for three days ahead! 
 

More likely to go in February in future.

I was there for New Year a couple of times recently,  and had a great time. I recall having sex with a bar boy as the chimes sounded, and the fireworks  lit up my hotel room window! The idea was to cum as the New-year started!Then off to Soi 4, which  was heaving, but fun for as long as you wanted!

[abidismaili]

But is there a significant difference in the availability of boys at bars and message places between low and high season? You have more choice in high season? Or is that a thing of the past?

[Verchiele]

49 minutes ago, abidismaili said:

But is there a significant difference in the availability of boys at bars and message places between low and high season? You have more choice in high season? Or is that a thing of the past?

Depends which massage shop you are referring to. Regardless low and high season most shops require reservations anyway - if you try to book them few days in advance (which may be too far already) - boy’s availability should not be a concern. 

However in non reservation place like gogo, VCK, Senso, Arena - there are certainly more competition

[abidismaili]

55 minutes ago, Verchiele said:

Depends which massage shop you are referring to. Regardless low and high season most shops require reservations anyway - if you try to book them few days in advance (which may be too far already) - boy’s availability should not be a concern. 

However in non reservation place like gogo, VCK, Senso, Arena - there are certainly more competition

I go to Jomtien mostly, to the non reservation ones there. You mean with more competition: there are more tourists so more competition for the available boys?  But what I meant the ask is if there aremore boys. Say in slow season there are 15 boys in front of the message shop are it 30 in high season? Say in low season at the Jomtien bars there are 100 boys in the night,  are it 200 in high season?

[bkkmfj2648]

1 minute ago, abidismaili said:

Say in slow season there are 15 boys in front of the message shop are it 30 in high season? Say in low season at the Jomtien bars there are 100 boys in the night,  are it 200 in high season?

After living here in Jomtien for 2 years now as a new retiree - I would say that the number of guys - high versus low - remains a constant.

Many of the Jomtien Complex massage shops - other than Soda Massage - have a plastic seat capacity issue --> in other words - in their small allotted space - they can only fit "X" number of plastic chairs in front of their shops.  Now it is still low season and during the night most of those plastic chairs are occupied by a masseur.  So, when high season comes they still have the same number of maximum plastic chairs that they can accommodate - hence my conclusion that the number of available masseurs remains the same.

However, I do note that during certain Thai Buddhist holidays there can be a significant drop off in the number of guys available - as they tend to go back to their home towns to be with their families.

[macaroni21]

Apologies in advance as I am not able to answer @abidismaili's specific question, which is about Pattaya. In any case, @bkkmfj2648 has given you a clear reply. But as I was reading the various posts before that, I saw something that I have commented upon in the past, but it bears repeating.

Bangkok and Pattaya are completely different markets, and it is sometimes a source of confusion when we speak of "Thailand". Chiang Mai is different again. Phuket too. Each city's scene therefore has characteristics that reflect its market. To generalise is to mislead oneself.

Pattaya is a market for Western tourists who have a tendency to come during the northern winter. It used to be that a considerable number of them stay for about 3 months, thereby boosting the appearance of large numbers (due to longer "dwell-time") when the numbers (in terms of unique persons) were probably never very large. This gave rise to the stereotype of a "high season". I will defer to @bkkmfj2648 observation about Jomtien massage shops, but my recall is that the Boyztown bars do have a higher number of boys on the stage during the northern winter. At least that was what I saw in the years past, I dont know if that is still the case.

Pattaya is increasingly also a market for Indian tourists, but they have no interest in the gay scene.

Bangkok's gay scene in its central areas (not its suburbs) is a market for Asian tourists, many of whom come from China and neighbouring, tropical countries. The "winter effect" does not apply. Regulars of Bangkok's bars and tourist-oriented massage parlours will tell you that 90 - 95% of the visitors are Asian, and have been so for maybe two decades. Bangkok's gay scene in its central areas have high spikes rather than a high season. They spike when the source country, e.g. China, SIngapore, Malaysia , Taiwan or Korea has a major holiday and long weekend, and these are scattered around the year. Each spike lasts no more than a weekend or a week at most.

As for the numbers of boys in Bangkok's "places of interest", my observation is that they do not vary by season. A market that has short-lived spikes here and there does not create enough of seasonality.

That said, there is still a significant increase of straight and family Western tourists coming to Bangkok during the northern winter, and this is reflected in hotel and arifare prices; but since they are not into the gay stuff, it has little impact on Bangkok's gay scene. Maybe the number of Westerners in bars will increase to 15% during this period form the usual 5 - 10%, not enough to affect staffing levels in the bars.

Chiang Mai is essentially a local Thai market. Its rhythms reflect that. (I have seen, though, hordes of Chinese tourists in northern Thailand and Laos during the Chinese New Year holidays, with many driving in from Yunnan, too; but they're not interested in the gay scene.)

Phuket is characterised by a strong surge of tourists during the northern winter. It has horrid weather during the summer monsoon, with rain every day and dangerously rough seas. Phuket is exposed to the Indian Ocean, from where the monsoon comes. Sun and sand is also a greater attraction for Westerners than for Asians, so this explains the high proportion of Western tourists in Phuket, which in turn means a northern winter peak. Now, I believe Russian tourists are the biggest group, and given the severe winter in their country, the "high season" is further reinforced. Despite this, Phuket's gay scene, by all reports, continues to wither. I would have thought that, given the homophobia in Russian society, lots of gay Russians would be eager to come, find a bit of freedom and boost Phuket's gay scene the way homophobia in the West fuelled Pattaya's emergence in the 1980s and 1990s, but apparently there is no sign of that happenning.

Maybe @Moses can offer some insight into why this is not happening?

[abidismaili]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

After living here in Jomtien for 2 years now as a new retiree - I would say that the number of guys - high versus low - remains a constant.

Thanks and the quality of the offering is constant too? 

If the last is also the case, then I can better keep going during low season. Less crowds and less competition. Ticket prices are lower also

So conclusion: if you travel to Thailand only for the gay sex then choose low season: same quantity and quality in offerings, less competition from other farangs and cheaper hotel and tickets.  Valid conclusion?

 

This begs of course a follow up question: why do some of your guys go in high season?

[bkkmfj2648]

4 minutes ago, abidismaili said:

Thanks and the quality of the offering is constant too? 

Tough question to answer - as I do not believe that the seasonality (high versus low) would impact the quality.  But I am not an expert - and I would suggest that other forum members respond with their opinions.

6 minutes ago, abidismaili said:

Valid conclusion?

From a financial budgetary point of view I would agree.  From a quality point of view - I might not necessarily agree - again I refer to the opinion of other forum members. @vinapu  - help ?

7 minutes ago, abidismaili said:

why do some of your guys go in high season?

I would say that they want to get away from the cold or non-pleasant weather and perhaps to escape from forced family gatherings during the holidays ?

[Moses]

1 hour ago, macaroni21 said:

Maybe @Moses can offer some insight into why this is not happening?

In fact, it does happen. But not very noticeably. The main reason is that many tourists, especially from the Asian part of Russia (east of the Ural Mountains), do not speak English or speak very little English. In addition, most Russian gays come in pairs or groups of friends and have no need to socialize in gay bars or find companions.

After the Chinese and Malaysians, Russians are still the largest group of visitors to Thailand: starting from the end of October, when the weather in Russia starts to get worse, all Russian airlines increase the number of flights to Thailand from the summer 30-40 flights per week to 80-90, and from December 15 to February 1 to 120-150 flights per week. Over 2 million Russians visit Thailand per year, of which 1 million fly to Phuket, and of these, 0.5 million come from December 15 to February 15.

Most of the guys from the bars know "hello" and "how are you?" in Russian.

[vinapu]

19 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Tough question to answer - as I do not believe that the seasonality (high versus low) would impact the quality.  But I am not an expert - and I would suggest that other forum members respond with their opinions.

From a financial budgetary point of view I would agree.  From a quality point of view - I might not necessarily agree - again I refer to the opinion of other forum members. @vinapu  - help ?

I would say that they want to get away from the cold or non-pleasant weather and perhaps to escape from forced family gatherings during the holidays ?

since I was called to answer here's my opinion : come when you have time and money and don't worry about seasonality.

You don't need 200 or 100 masseurs to keep you happy, 20-30 will do and even that much/ little is enough to confuse you.

In my 35 trips to Thailand I covered all months with exception of March and April. While there are seasonal variations in number of boys or crowds in the bars as well as hotel's prices and availability and vagaries of weather (Dec and Jan being best months in this respect ), for my personal use I consider whole issue of seasonality waaaay overhyped.

[Verchiele]

23 minutes ago, vinapu said:

since I was called to answer here's my opinion : come when you have time and money and don't worry about seasonality.

You don't need 200 or 100 masseurs to keep you happy, 20-30 will do and even that much/ little is enough to confuse you.

In my 35 trips to Thailand I covered all months with exception of March and April. While there are seasonal variations in number of boys or crowds in the bars as well as hotel's prices and availability and vagaries of weather (Dec and Jan being best months in this respect ), for my personal use I consider whole issue of seasonality waaaay overhyped.

Indeed. There are at least tens of thousands of go-go and masseurs in Bangkok if not more (one SK shop has more or less hundred available already). People come and go in the industry, new faces, old faces remain etc. 

Take my upcoming trip for a week in Bangkok - have seen at least hundreds of boys photos but alas only have time for 7 nights…

[vinapu]

1 minute ago, Verchiele said:

Indeed. There are at least tens of thousands of go-go and masseurs in Bangkok if not more (one SK shop has more or less hundred available already). People come and go in the industry, new faces, old faces remain etc. 

Take my upcoming trip for a week in Bangkok - have seen at least hundreds of boys photos but alas only have time for 7 nights…

so 28 boys will suffice , 2 meetings a day, you need 14  and another 14 just to provide you with options to choose , 

[bkkmfj2648]

3 minutes ago, Verchiele said:

Take my upcoming trip for a week in Bangkok - have seen at least hundreds of boys photos but alas only have time for 7 nights…

Some forum members here can do 3 to 5 guys per day = 21 to 35 in 7 nights 🤪 🤩 🍆 💦

[vinapu]

5 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Some forum members here can do 3 to 5 guys per day = 21 to 35 in 7 nights 🤪 🤩 🍆 💦

those must own extensive stamp collections one presumes

[floridarob]

11 hours ago, vinapu said:

for my personal use I consider whole issue of seasonality waaaay overhyped.

Weather is important, can make the difference of going out or looking for a lifeboat or 10 showers a day....as far as finding a guy...it only takes 1 to make some of us happy, some others require a small army (insert random marching comment here😉)  🌦️🌦️ ☀️😎 

[Olddaddy]

13 hours ago, vinapu said:

 

In my 35 trips to Thailand I covered all months with exception of March and April

😳Something happens in March April???

[Moses]

3 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

Something happens in March April???

Too hot.