Gay Magazine's Thailand Cock-up

[Guest fountainhall]

A friend sent me this travel article about Thailand from Echelon Magazine, a seemingly gay business magazine, and asked for my comments. As far as I can tell, it is utter crap!

 

http://echelonmagazine.com/index.php?id=3001%3Cbr%20/%3E

 

Recently, the magazine alleges its writer experienced "an incredible trip to Thailand." In Bangkok, the only temple he mentions is the Temple of the Tigers. Last time I looked, that was way out past Kanchanaburi! He mentions a "spa ranked as the best in Asia," but clearly cannot recall the name! The only club/bar he attended was One Night Only "housed in Bangkok's gaybourhood Snow Cowboy"! SNOW COWBOY??

 

He then travelled to Chiang Mai and the "little island" of Phuket. Phuket he dismisses because "there is not much of a gay scene aside from other gay people travelling." So he concludes that Chiang Mai is the "perfect balance with 2 million people." Oops! Sure, the province has 2 million; the city well under 200,000!

 

And some people believe this sort of rubbish! The writer clearly has been nowhere near Thailand apart from in his imagination. Sadly, it's not the first time this has happened in supposedly international gay travel magazines.

 

[NIrishGuy]

Damn :-( When I noticed this threads title of gay mazagines cock up I was hoping to open it to find a photo spread feature - no such luck ! :-)

[Guest fountainhall]

Now, if only this Board's policy were changed, I could have satisfied your desire - as to photo spreads, that is!

[NIrishGuy]

Actually on that point what ever happened to that great thread with all the wonderful pics of hot Asian guys, I so looked forward to opening it each morning and starting each day with a hard on smile :-)

 

And getting back on track I laughed on reading the logo for the magazine company - taking PRIDE in Business - but obviously not enough pride to actually research their bullshit editorial it seems !  

[ceejay]

I think that the article is a briliant piece of modernist writing. A travel piece, written by somebody who patently has never visited the place described and yet, by producing a shoddy fake that falls apart under the most cursory inspection and selling it for good money, the writer has involved us all, editor and reader alike, whether or not we ever actually visited Thailand, in an essential part of the Thaland experience.

[KhorTose]

I think that the article is a briliant piece of modernist writing. ............................................ the writer has involved us all, editor and reader alike, whether or not we ever actually visited Thailand, in an essential part of the Thaland experience.

A pretty deep observation, and sadly one that is all too true.

[Guest fountainhall]

It's clear this travel writer, Bryan Kosarek, has been researching more than just a fictitious trip to Thailand. He has also become an expert on some high-end hotels. That echelon article came from Gay Travel.com's supposed Travel Guru. At the start if this month, he also "gives the inside scoop" on Bangkok's St. Regis and "does" the Peninsula Hotel. 

 

Once again, all he has written has been picked up from other official sites. There is not one thing in either review that marks them out to be a personal experience. And this from an official gay travel site. Utterly disgraceful! I for one am writing to gaytravel.com to advise them to stop selling readers short with such crap. I hope others will also do so.

 

Another disgrace is this comment on the short Tokyo description for gay travellers. Having mentioned Shinjuku-Ni-chome as having more gay bars than any other area in the world, it goes on to suggest - 

 

Nightlife in Tokyo offers something for everyone and most bars are accepting of non-Japanese visitors, though the scene caters to locals.  Many bartenders and patrons alike speak fluent English.

 

This is utter BS! Only a few gay bars are accepting of non-Japanese visitors, and few bartenders and patrons in the vast majority of the other bars speak any English at all!

 

http://www.gaytravel.com/blog/in/the-gay-travel-guru

[ceejay]

I've now had a look over the Thailand section of gaytravel.com and it seems to me to be a cack handed cobbling together of information picked up from surfing the net, along with a good deal of pure invention. It  I never knew that Jomtien had go-go bars and I don't know how I missed Silom Soi 4 being "filled" with them:

There is a little bit of everything for everyone. On Silom Soi 4 the street is filled with "Go-Go Bars." Go-Go Bars are places where you watch gay sex shows. It is a very interesting experience that can be enjoyed by many gay ("farang" is Thai for tourists)

(After all the debate on the boards over the years on the meaning of "farang" I'm glad that, at least, has been sorted out).

And, as for Samui, who would have guessed:

Have your gay friendly,  dream wedding in one of Samui’s beautiful beach. Every year growing numbers gay couples, comes to Samui complete their relationship.

The whole point of it all seems to be selling "gay" tours and cruises. We can laugh, but it wouldn't be very funny for anyone who relied on this garbled guff to choose a holiday. I certainly wouldn't part with any money to a company that cared so little about getting repeat customers, but if I didn't know............

To be charitable to Echelon Magazine they may have accepted this in good faith as submitted to them, and be guilty of no more than not checking their sources. That's still a pretty big sin of omission in my view.

[a447a]

This is utter BS! Only a few gay bars are accepting of non-Japanese visitors, and few bartenders and patrons in the vast majority of the other bars speak any English at all!

Yep, spot on!

 

The magazine is getting its "reports" on the cheap.  Shit, the guy doesn't even bother to google anything.

[a447a]

I went to their website yesterday and tried to post a comment on the article.

 

But, alas, I kept getting an error message.

 

But I will keep trying. The editor who employed this bozo should know that he is writing crap.

[Guest fountainhall]

I got the same. Yet I found an editor's email on the site and so wrote directly to him. I received his reply only moments ago -
 

Yes, you are not the only one who has expressed your disappointment.
The comments section of our site is moderated, but I haven't seen anything come through yet
I am contacting the author about your comments.
Michael Lamb
CEO / Editor In Chief
Echelon Business Media Inc.

 
As far as gaythravel's Thailand is concerned, as ceejay noted it is mostly nonsense, a total fiction, as indeed is much of what they print about other parts of Asia. In addition to contacting the Echelon people, I wrote also to one of the editors of gaytravel.com, You can get the comments form here - 
 
http://www.gaytravel.com/about-gay-travel/contact-gay-travel
 
I received a reply from an editor named Steve Rohrick. He says this -
 

Thank you for alerting us. Bryan just recently returned from two weeks in Thailand.
I sincerely appreciate your passion on the subject.
Our intent is to help our community. We want to get it right and your expertise is obvious. Thank you again for taking the time to write us.
Would you possibly be interested in writing for us and correcting any inaccuracies?
I look forward to your reply.

 
I just sent back a long email, in part of which I wrote this -
 

Frankly, it is quite impossible that Bryan visited Thailand and therefore wrote as he did! As I pointed out, it is a pack of utter rubbish. If he did go to Thailand, he went nowhere near Bangkok, Phuket or Chiang Mai . . .

If he visited, where did he stay? Where are his photos (essentials in all travel articles)? Where are the little personal details that mark a true travel experience from a made-up adventure? And why did he "review" (i.e. steal info from other sources) about two of the most expensive hotels in the city that have no gay connections? There are, again, dozens of gay and gay friendly hotels close to gay areas - Le Meridien, Tarntawan Place, The Sukhothai (a 5-star deluxe hotel hugely popular with gay visitors, especially during holiday periods in other Asian countries) etc.

If you paid for him to come to Thailand - or even paid one cent for his contributions, then you should seek every cent of your money back!

. . . I thank you for the offer to write for you. However, since the few articles I have seen so far about Asia are so absolutely wrong and give gay men and women totally the wrong information, I regret to say I do not wish to be associated with any such publication. Far from (as you suggest) helping your community, your articles do a major disservice to our community.

 

Whilst I am on the subject, I recalled somewhere a series of similar posts on some gay thailand sites regarding another largely sham article included in gaytravel.com earlier last year. Headed The Top Ten Gay Friendly Destinations in Asia, this was another clip and paste job with many inaccuracies - viz.

1. "Shanghai is the Capital of Gaysia". Total nonsense.
2. "Koh Hood, Thailand". Well, if there is such an island, no-one seems to know about it. 
3. "Tokyo" - It suggested "check out the areas of Shinjuku and Ni-chome"! Well, every district in the city has a ni-chome! So its readers would waste days visiting them all. What should have been written is "Shinjuku Ni-chome".
4. "Hong Kong" - Another comment: "while there are very few exclusively gay bars and clubs . . ." Again, rubbish! A look at any gay directory for Hong Kong makes that perfectly clear.

 

So I wrote also about these, and then added at the end of my email - 

With all respect, if you are going to maintain what credibility you have, you need writers writing about Asia who have actually been here and experienced what Asia has to offer gay travellers. Until then, your Asian section is, I regret, a sham.

 

For those who wish to make comments (and I hope they are many), Steve Rohrick's email address is - 

steve@gaytravel.com

[ceejay]

Well done, Fountainhall. We all know that this website is probably misleading people who don't know Thailand. You've actually tried to do something about it.

[Guest Garrison]

Great job, FH. You have done good by exposing the article and its author as just plain ol' frauds. Kudos to you!

 

On another note, I must join in with NI and lodge my utter disappointment that the thread's content did not contain scandalous images that give rise to others.

 

And it would indeed be wonderful to continue posting beautiful pictures on what has to be the board's most popular thread thus far. It was such fine work and rather well appreciated by one and all. Let's keep a good thing going, eh.

[a447a]

I just posted off 2 emails, one to each of the guys mentioned in FH's post.  I basically sent the post I made over on SGT, but added a bit more.

[Guest Devint6669]

Everybody's been mentioned this guy who wrote this text knows nothing about Bangkok, It's full a crap crap This is for sure.

[fedssocr]

"After frolicking with Bangkok’s people, Bryan got a taste of this city’s notorious architecture and history at the local temple and grand palace."

 

Notorious architecture and history? The writing is pretty horrific even if you overlook the factual inaccuracies.

[Guest fountainhall]

I have received an email from the CEO of Echelon Business Media following his passing my comments on to gaytravel.com. He tells me the response from gaytravel.com was this -

 

"We received about four letters from four different names with exactly the same content. Our Guru just returned and has not put his stuff up yet. Not sure what the motivation is, but am sure it should resolve once our updated info hits."

 

He has promised to keep me updated. In the meantime,

 

1. gaytravel.com's editor's understanding of the English language appears quite questionable! 

2. I have passed a lot more of the information posted earlier on this thread on to the Echelon CEO.

[Guest fountainhall]

I guess we should not be surprised. gaytravel.com's guru has been writing more about his "experiences" in Thailand. This time he's hit Chiang Mai and reviews The Chedi hotel. Sadly, once again his article was almost certainly written by copying from other sites, as well as containing several inaccuracies.
 
First, he says The Chedi is "the only 5-star hotel in Chiang Mai." Oops, tell that to the Mandarin Oriental (or even The Four Seasons, but then I suppose the latter is based slightly out of the city). Besides, he copied this from the blurb on the hotel's own site. Poor guy forgot, though, to add the caveat in that blurb ". . . the only 5-star hotel in Chiang Mai along the scenic Mae Ping (river)."
 
Second, he describes the rooms "with each room offering amenities comparable to a private apartment . . .". What a load of bs! No kitchen or ktchenette. No living room area. No . . well, I need not go on.
 
He fails to describe the excellent restaurant with its menu of wonderful fusion dishes. Instead, he talks about “ . . . enjoying brunch under the century old trees on the patio”. Oh dear! They serve snacks on the patio, but certainly no brunch. Heck, they don't even serve brunch anywhere in the hotel. Only lunch. I just called them to check!

 

So I have again written to the editor of this rip-off travel site suggesting he employs writers who have actually visited the places they write about. And I copied that to the managing editor of the Echelon site.

[kokopelli]

Our dear British cousins may be surprised  to know that a cock-up has a vulgar conotation to our sensitive Ameican ears.

We would use a more polite term like screw-up or fuck-up.

[Guest Enchanter]

Jesus Christ... This writer's clearly a moron with no integrity and complete indifference to accuracy.

 

First, he says The Chedi is "the only 5-star hotel in Chiang Mai."

That's just brazenly misleading and dishonest. Chang Mai has the Shangri La (very good), Le Meridien, Four Seasons and a heap of other major and boutique brand 5-star hotels. 

 

It's fine to have amateur writers who add no value but when you get someone this incompetent, they actually do more damage than good.  

 

I read the his first few articles and thought they were a bit off...

 

- The Peninsula article mostly regurgitates the hotel's own sales messaging, nothing journalistic and lacks any sort of angle for engagement or interest. Also claims the spa was voted best in Asia but in what year and by who he doesn't specify, which is poor practice. 

 

- The St Regis article promises "inside scoop" in the headline but doesn't offer any at all. Mainly just regurgitates the hotel's own marketing message. 

 

- In the Songkran article he's probably done the right thing by not bothering to write anything at all. 

 

- The nightlife article is as bad as the others and does offer a few logical tips but is a very shallow and poor effort. Really, he really could have tried harder and mentioned some of the other brilliant roof top bars and a few of the more hip Bangkok bars and nightclubs (non gay ones). There's also a heap of gay nightclubs OUTSIDE Silom he didn't bother to mention and it would've been sensible to make at least a small mention of the seedier side of Bangkok's gay nightlife at Soi Twilight (whatever the real street name is). Really, it sounds like it's written by someone who's spent all of one night in Bangkok. 

 

- The food article's just plain weak dumb. If he wanted to give an overview of Bangkok's food he should've segmented it starting with the brilliant fresh street food, a few restaurant eateries places to find good quality Thai food, then some of the top must try restaurants like Nahm and Sra Bua along with a mention that Bangkok also offers a fantastic variety of other country's cuisines and a few recommended restaurants. 

 

All the articles look like they've been written with absolute minimum effort... like something you'd write in about 20 minutes. 

 

Haven't read any of his articles on other countries but the flaws pointed out above are a real shame because Asia does offer a fantastic variety of fun and brilliant experiences for cashed up gay travelers... They really should get someone who knows their shit with decent writing skills (not to mention accuracy) to put together good content or not bother at all.  

 

This guy, Bryan Kosarek should give up on the travel writing gig... He lacks the intelligence, integrity and aptitude for it.