£ Sterling in 10yr low v Thai baht

[kokopelli]

Guess again.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Oh, I get it now. The thickness of your wallet because you're a multi-millionaire!

[Guest scottishguy]

z909, if you are sitting in a Berlin rent boy bar for "a couple of hours" and seeing only 2 or 3 boys, you're either going to the wrong bars altogether or you're going in the morning or afternoon (when you would find every similar bar in BT closed). I'm thinking of one bar in particular which has not closed in 9 years (not even Xmas day) and where there are plenty to choose from after about 8pm through to 2/3/4am.

 

Yes, you will pay more to the boy for commercial sex - but you won't be coerced into buying free drinks for him and assorted others, you wont be expected to tip the mamasan (there is none) and the bar, and you wont be charged any off fee. 

 

I completely believe that you can find an "acceptable" room in Pattaya for 1200B which is now around 30 Euro. I could find an "acceptable" room in most European cities for the same amount or little more. I gave the Mercure in Pattaya and the 4 star hotel in Berlin only as an example of how there can be surprisingly little difference in price. 

 

The only point I was making is that with general price increases and the poor exchange rate (on-topic, yay!), Thailand is no longer the inexpensive option. If people love and prefer Thailand and still find it affordable then that's where they'll go -  I'm just saying there are other alternatives which are now in the same or similar overall price bracket, which previously were believed to be much more expensive.

 

[Guest]

In Berlin, I've been to Blue Boy, Pinnochio and Tabasco. Location:  52.499425,13.349369

 

Have been several times.  The last weekend trip was about 18months ago.  Peehaps I'm too fussy, but on the last trip I failed to find anyone I fancied in 2 nights. If there is a better bar, please enlighten me. I shall visit it.

 

The best place for trade in Berlin used to be Club Sauna Brasil.  That would typically have up 20 hookers, who wear swimming trunks.  You could admire them, whilst trying to get lucky with one of the cuter non-working customers.  If that failed, well why not pay someone?   

Now the sauna is rebranded  as Splash Club & they have got rid of all the hookers. On my last visit, there was absolutely no one who could be described as attractive there. 

 

 

I do agree with your comments about Thailand no longer being quite the bargain it was, due to exchange rates.

 

Trying not to sound like Beachlover, perhaps I should concentrate on trying to earn more and invest wisely.

[Guest fountainhall]

If you are based in Europe and are basically into Asian guys, are you not better going to somewhere like Amsterdam or Paris? Although it was a long, long time ago, I met some great Asian guys in those cities.

[Guest scottishguy]

If I go back maybe 20 years, Amsterdam was great!

 

There was the little street called the Paardenstraat (or similar) which had the Festival, Music Box, and Cupido Bars - and you were guaranteed to find some very attractive Dutch boys (would you believe on my very first visit I found twin brothers!!!), although the majority were wiry North African boys from the likes of Tunisia or Algeria. The whole scene was very decadent - just how I love it!

 

I recall there was an old Tranny behind the bar in the Festival, ruling the place with a rod of iron - some of those North African boys looked like real cut-throats and desperadoes but she threw them out just the same, if necessary - and she was handy for giving you the low-down on which boys were OK and which to avoid.

 

Then the European boys became fewer and fewer and it really did become almost 100% North African rent scene, and it started to feel very edgy and dangerous. I'm sure very few of those boys were actually gay or even bi - purely commercial. The Festival bar closed and that street then became a place you didn't necessarily want to linger, with little groups of them roaming around.

 

The last time I visited (and that'll be around 10yrs ago), the Cupido bar had also gone, the MUsic Box was renamed and all the North African boys had been replaced by mostly drugged-up Eastern Europeans who were disinterested and struggled to perform.

 

In all that time Fountainhall, I don't recall seeing any Asians "available" as it were - not that I was really looking, but certainly not in the rent bars. I've never been a Sauna queen, so maybe they were in the Saunas?

 

Likewise Paris - I've only ever been once and whilst it was very interesting, I struggled to find any commercial boys at all (in fact not a single one).

 

IMHO the best places in Europe for commercial "activity" are probably Berlin and Prague (in that order).

Hamburg used to be wonderful 10-15 years ago but Herr Harald closed his brothel down (well, he had it closed down for him LOL) and is now dead.

 

Brussels, there are a few boy bars but i found it all a bit Jean Genet: I was sitting on a stool (behave!) at the bar in one place ("Masquerade" or something) and one boy started to get uncomfortably close and he really wasn't my type - so I told him I was just in for a drink, not a boy, and he moved away slightly.

 

A few minutes later he rose as if to go to the toilet, but on the way past me he grabbed my Rolex, ripped it off my wrist, breaking the bracelet, and ran out the door.

Actually I was quite shocked and stunned for a few moments - couldn't believe it had actually happened.

It seemed to be run of the mill because nobody really batted an eyelid! The barman did offer to call the Police - but in a strange country, in a rent bar......so I declined.

 

Anyway, I was smiling to myself at what would happen next morning when the Boy took my three-hundred-baht Rolex to the nearest pawn shop!!

 

Anyway - so much for the exchange rate topic !!

[kokopelli]

Anyway, I was smiling to myself at what would happen next morning when the Boy took my three-hundred-baht Rolex to the nearest pawn shop!!

Hoot mon, yer a true Scotsman!

[Guest]

Would a true Scotsman buy a fake that's good enough to look convincing?

I've never had this problem with a Casio watch though.  Being really cheap seems to work.

[Guest scottishguy]

The answer to your question is - obviously.

 

Whilst a Belgian rentboy might not be too discerning, I have had at least one so-called "expert" watch collector offer me several hundred pounds for the fake Rolex (bought in BKK), which he saw on my wrist.  

Being honest, I had to admit it was a fake - which, if he had any expertise at all, he might have discovered as soon as he felt the weight.

[KhorTose]

In Berlin, I've been to Blue Boy, Pinocchio and Tabasco. Location:  52.499425,13.349369

My experience also. The only boys in all three bars were rough looking hookers, and they were pissed when I cam in with my BF and gave us nasty looks, especially when the other customer in Tabasco talked to my BF and not them. One scruffy boy in Pinochios, but blue boy had quite a few nasty looking (not my type) boys, and the bartender was friendly.

 

If you think Thailand is expensive now, try a permanent boyfriend. It definitely cost more to live with them then to rent.

[Guest]

My experience also.

Now is there some other Rent bar in Berlin that's any better than these three?

Has to be useful to know for my next trip.

[Guest scottishguy]

No, Blue Boy is the best rent bar in Berlin - it's 24/7 365 days a year. Talk to the bar staff they will sort you out. Ask for the boss "Hans"

 

But there's no point going on before 22.00 if you want a choice.

[Guest]

I'm thinking of one bar in particular which has not closed in 9 years (not even Xmas day) and where there are plenty to choose from after about 8pm through to 2/3/4am.

But there's no point going on before 22.00 if you want a choice.

[Guest fountainhall]

Admittedly going back a couple of decades, it was in the saunas in Paris and Amsterdam that I saw lots of Vietnamese and Indonesians respectively - with a smattering from other Asian nations. Never once was cash mentioned then.

[Guest scottishguy]

 

I'm thinking of one bar in particular which has not closed in 9 years (not even Xmas day) and where there are plenty to choose from after about 8pm through to 2/3/4am.

>But there's no point going on before 22.00 if you want a choice.

 

 

22.00 is after 8pm, is it not? LOL

 

Anyway - I have been in that bar at 8pm and there has been a choice  - but, like most of Europe, there is a bigger choice after (say) 10pm. Not all "punters" can be bothered waiting till 10pm to go out though.

 

I also appreciate that the type of boys to be found in rent bars in Europe are not the same type as you would find in Thailand - this is an advantage or disadvantage according to individual tastes.

[Guest anonone]

Just checked exchange rates (for USD) and they are the lowest I can recall ever seeing during the past several years.  29.33

 

Ouch.

[Guest painai]

T & T exchange (near Boyztown on Second Road and best rate in Pattaya) is giving 29.25. I understand the lowest rate for the dollar in 16 years.