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Day 2 (30 December 2024) I broke the frame of my glasses on the night before my departure for Cebu, consequently, there was no time to get them repaired so I had to wear a very old pair for my flight to Cebu. Therefore, I used this day to find a good eyeglass solution, which I found at the Japanese OwnDays franchise shop in the CBP Ayala mall. I was very impressed as I had an almost immediate eye exam, which was performed by the in-house optometrist. I then chose my frames and then they told me to return in 20 minutes. I thought that they must be crazy. So, I went to have a nice lunch and returned in 1 hour and my new glasses were ready and the nose fitting had to be adjusted, which took 5 more minutes and then I paid and I was out of the shop. Cost was 10,990 pesos (~ $188 USD), which I found as extremely good value for money, because my previous glasses that I bought back in Central Festival in Pattaya cost me around 28,000 Thai baht (~ $822 USD) with imported metal frames from Germany. So, I saved around 440% - so I was quite pleased as this will be one less task that I would need to do back in Pattaya with more money in the bank. Casual non-eventful day exploring my local CBD neighborhood and starting to create my daily routine – as part of the purpose of this trip is to simulate retirement life in Cebu and if I would be pleased with it. Later in the evening back on the apps, this time on Heesay a massage guy wrote me and I agreed to let him meet me in my room. He was not your typical guy, in the sense he was a bit tense. Massage went well and when we moved to the afters, he still had his underwear on and I asked him to remove them, and I started to fondle with his cock but it never got erect. He gave me a nice edging and then when it was time to pay him, 2.500 pesos, he became aggressive and started yelling at me that I need to pay him 5.000 pesos because I touched his cock and tried to put it in my mouth. He argued that I did not put all of these minute details in my Heesay request and therefore I needed to pay him extra. He was definitely hardup for money because during the massage he told me his poverty story and his need to feed his 2 children and him being abandoned by his wife. I told him that I would NOT be paying him this exorbitant amount and he refused to leave my room and I opened the door and got near him to assertively ask him to exit my room. He saw my Armani watch on the table that my ex-Thai boyfriend gave me, and he grabbed it and said that the 2,500 pesos plus the watch would suffice. I aggressively grabbed the watch back from him – tearing the leather band from its metal hinge and pushed him out the door and slammed it closed. That was tense and not a fun experience. I did not want to go downstairs and complain to the security team because this was only my day 2 of my 62 day trip and I still wanted to have the right to have additional visitors. Day 2 (30 December 2024) concluded. Day 3 (New Year’s Eve - 31 December 2024) Routine day with my time hanging out in the CBP Ayala mall – it is becoming addictive – this Filippino way of life. Also, got overloaded with the gazillion of app requests for action, meetings, tours, etc. Arranged a massage with a guy from Heesay who works in the BPO building in front of my condo. I paid 3.000 pesos (~ $51 USD) for his massage. He is a great masseur and after the massage we agreed to go and have dinner together as his partner of 8 years is busy with family NYE stuff and they supposedly don’t know that my massage guy is the partner. We run over to the CEBU famous, “House of Lechon” restaurant to get some dinner but it was completely full and furthermore, they were completely sold out of their house specialty, Roasted Pig = Lechon. By the way, this restaurant is the MOST famous for Lechon in ALL of CEBU and it was only 2 streets away from my condo. https://www.facebook.com/HouseOfLechonCebu/ So, we ended up eating in a Chinese restaurant outside of the Ayala mall complex and we were the last customers allowed in. This massage guy, let us call him Mr. R, shared many interesting stories about life in Cebu, such as: The primary occupation for many young gays in Cebu is to work in one of the many BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) centers spread out all over Cebu with a high density of them in CBP and also over in IT Park. The starting salary is between 12,000 to 14,000 pesos per month ( ~ from $206 to $240 USD per month ). He told me this is why many of the gays working in these BPOs are also selling their services “for hire” on the apps, to supplement this dismal salary. But, he told me that his partner of 8 years, holds a more senior position in one of these BPOs and earns 30,000 pesos per month ( ~ $514 USD per month ). He told me that the minimum daily wage in Cebu is 501 pesos ( ~ $8.60 per day), versus the minimum daily wage in Pattaya, which is 400 baht ( ~ $11.80 per day). Consequently, Thai workers command a 37% premium over their Filippino neighbors. This will become evident throughout this trip as we will see that the daily cost of living for a retiree in the Philippines versus Thailand is cheaper. He told me that the gay life in Cebu is mostly underground and/or hidden, as a consequence of the very conservative values found in the Filipino culture and Catholic religion. I pushed back when he told me this, as I told him that I lived in Italy for 12 years and they are the hosts of the Vatican and even Italy has progressed forward with gay rights, even though the Vatican is in their backyard. I further told him that Spain, a very Catholic country, has leapfrogged forward with gay rights. I told him that I was quite surprised to learn this as I had thought that with the Philippines being so far away from the Vatican that it would be more free to move forward – but instead the opposite is true. He told me that in Cebu there are a couple of gay bars, 1 to 2 go-go boy bars, some cruising parks, 3 massage saunas, and 1 to 2 mixed disco clubs. He said that the primary way gays meetup nowadays is via the apps that I already listed above. So, I learned a lot from him during our pre-NYE dinner. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to my room so that I could sit outside on my 32nd floor balcony to watch the fireworks over the sea and I was able to celebrate NYE twice, at 12 midnight in Cebu and again at 1am in Cebu with my Thai boyfriend via a LINE video call where it was 12 midnight back in Jomtien. After the countdown completed, I told my PMB (Primary Money Boy) the magical words that I rarely express in my life = “I love you”. We have been seeing each other for more than 6 months now and for the last 2 to 3 months he has been constantly telling me that he loved me. I just was not ready to say those words until now because: I wanted to allow for the completion of the jinx that I received 1 year prior when my previous Thai boyfriend denied me my first NYE kiss and I had to vacate Pattaya in distress – so I surprised him by appearing in his birth town down in Southern Thailand and I instead kissed the iconic seaside mermaid. With this current NYE countdown of 2024/2025 I was able to allow that jinx superstition to expire – so I felt safe to give my heart to my PMB, I wanted him to hear these words from me in the actual new year 2025. I have to say that I was also influenced by the love stories shared here in this forum by fellow forum members; @jason1975 and @Min, as they both shared their love for their PMBs – and it gave me inspiration that love can be found with PMBs, when I had previously believed that it is a HUGE mistake to give your heart to a PMB. If I have in fact made a HUGE mistake, at least I am in good company with Jason and Min. Day 3 (31 December 2024) concluded. Day 4 (New Year’s day 1 January 2025) Since the Philippines is a super religious country, today EVERYTHING (other than 7-Eleven) is closed. So, it was a boring day eating 7-Eleven food in my room. I took the time to find my next AirBnB condo room, which will be in the CEBU IT Park. Unfortunately, I failed at finding a room with a balcony. The remainder of the day I chatted on the various apps and I found someone who will become my primary, go-to Filipino guy to help me out (in a non sexual way) with tours and miscellaneous things as they arrive. He is still in the closet, and is a young 25 year old who works in the hotel industry. He is a true gem and a rare find. For me, his character is truly adorable and when I pass time with him I feel really good. For purposes of this trip report let us call him, Mr. B. Some background. I transformed all of my existing 5 app profile text to read as follows: In some of the apps, certain words are considered as non compliant with the T&C, so you can use alternative substitutes to get your message across. Some of the local tagalog + Cebuano words to use are: masahe, masahista, maxsage, masaj, hilot à which I noticed that the app AI compliance checkers were not checking for any prohibited words that are in any of the local dialects. This is how I found both Mr. B and Mr. R discussed previously. This was a non-massage day, so prior to the commencement of the NYE activities, I watched the wonderful Thai movie = “How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies”. I HIGHLY recommend this heart warming very original Thai film. Title of this film in Thai is, "Lahn Mah" หลานม่า which literally means "Grandma's Grandchild". I found the film culturally enriching as it gives the perspective of death in Thailand from the Chinese-Thai point of view. Film is available on in Netflix, as well as in Google movies. It has been nominated for the Oscars international shortlist. Read more about it here: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/how-to-make-millions-before-grandma-dies-oscar-shortlist-thailand-1236256031/ On 2 March 2025, we will be told if it has won the actual Oscar award. Day 4 (1 January 2025) concluded.

CEBU Trip Report – Part Ia (28 & 29 December 2024) This is my active ongoing trip report for Cebu City in the Philippines. I am in the Philippines for 62 days as part of my tax minimization plan, as discussed in this previous post: https://www.gayguides.com/topic/61065-bangkok-trip-report-august-2024/page/5/#comment-419422 The other objective is to see if I can find a retiree place that is similar to what I have back in Jomtien Thailand, in the Philippines. Consequently, I will search for hirise condos that are on or near the beach with balconies with sea views – as is commonly found in Jomtien. This will prove to be a difficult task as discussed further on in this trip report. 28 December 2024, in the afternoon, I leave Jomtien in the late afternoon for the Amari hotel via a new car service that Youtube blogger “Pete on Retreat”, my friend’s Thai girlfriend started, Koi Taxi, who drove me to the Amari hotel at Don Muang airport. My Thai boyfriend was with me to say goodbye and many tears were shed as the car service pulled away. Fee was 1,800 baht. My flight on 29 December was at 6:30 am, so I wanted to already be at the airport when I woke up at 3:30am the following day. I chose this Amari hotel because it is physically connected with a pedestrian bridge that crosses the busy Don Muang Toll Way and puts you directly into the international departure area. I did a test run (walk) before going to sleep – which allowed me to get a good night’s sleep for the journey to an unknown country for me. The Amari is not cheap but convenient, I paid 4,237.20 baht for 1 night. I chose the Cebu Pacific 6:35am flight, as it is a non-stop direct flight from Bangkok into Cebu (Mactan airport). This is the only direct flight that I could find and only occurs 1 time per day at this very inconvenient departure hour. The flight is only 4 hours with a 1 hour time zone change – with the Philippines being 1 hour earlier than Thailand. Cost was around € 500 euro, as I wanted a flexible ticket with enough luggage allowance for a 62 day trip. Flight was great and non-eventful arriving slightly ahead of schedule. I collected my luggage and then headed towards the immigration control. As I had already registered for my eTravel QR code (and printed it) back in Jomtien I was able to bypass the chaos that those passengers who had not yet done so had to do on their mobile phones. I presented myself at the immigration desk and the lady was somewhat annoyed with me. She said, Sir, you cannot stay for 62 days without a proper advance reserved visa. I apologized and I explained to her that I was not aware of this requirement. She then wanted to know my purpose for my visit and then agreed to give me the non-Visa maximum of 30 days, which she then stamped into my passport. She told me that around day 29, I should go to the immigration office in Cebu City and ask for another 29 days ( this will give me 59 days in total – so I am not sure what I will need to do for the final 3 days ? ). Then I went to collect my luggage and went to eat, as I needed to kill time, as my arrival time was way too early – as my AirBnB check-in time was for 2pm. So, I ate slowly in some random Filipino restaurant and had my first Filipino meal – lots of rice, some weird pork things with some vegetables. It was so-so and I was not impressed. Important notation: Back in Jomtien, I had already purchased an eSim with my preferred provider = , for which I paid $32 USD for 20GB of data for a 30 day validity. I have used them previously in Vietnam and I was happy with the service. I activated my pre-purchased eSim while I was waiting for my luggage to arrive. This allowed me to reserve a car and/or taxi via the app. You need to remember that the eSim offered by Airolo does not include a local phone number, so you should preload the apps that you might want to use in the Philippines, PRIOR to arriving into the country, as they often require that you have a local phone number for SIM verification. I found this out the hard way on 20 Jan 2025, when I tried to order a motorbike taxi via the Grab app – when Grab told me that I instead needed to install the Move It app , which allows you to order motorbike taxis. Unfortunately, the local Philippine version of Grab does not include the Move It capabilities yet – even though Grab has bought Move It back in August 2022. The only way that I can install the Move It app is if I agree to buy a physical local SIM card that would assign me a Philippine phone number. Note that to find your pre-ordered Grab car/taxi it is not very clear where to go. You should exit the Mactan airport international arrivals section and walk to the Domestic arrivals section and then walk past that building following the walkway towards the parking lots Arrival Bay C-1-C4 and then wait there for your car there. Here is a guide with pictures prepared by Grab: https://www.grab.com/global/airport-rides/mactan-cebu-international-airport/#:~:text=Arrivals&text=1.,at%20the%20pick%2Dup%20point. My Grab fee was 572 pesos (~$9.78 USD), not bad for the 45 minute ride from Mactan island into Cebu City. Below map displays the Airport and then my first AirBnB. It is important to note that I have strategically decided to live in 3 different neighborhoods in the Cebu City metro area as follows: 2 are within Cebu City: first in what is known as the CBP = Cebu Business Park, second in what is known as the Cebu IT Park. I am considering the above 2 places as my comparator to living within the city limits of Pattaya city from the point of view as an elderly retiree. 1 in Newtown on Mactan island – as my comparator to living in Jomtien from the point of view as an elderly retiree. As of the writing of this report, I have completed the first condo living in CBP, and now I am in day 5 of my second AirBnB condo living in the CEBU IT Park. I arrived at the Cityscape Grand Tower and easily checked in with the ground floor security team into my “TINY” AirBnB on the 32nd floor (there are 34 floors in total). The AirBnB owner gave me a digital entry on-the-condo-door keypad code. After opening the door digitally, I was able to then fetch a physical electronic key from the table. The condo was truly very small (it looked bigger on the AirBnB site – pics are below) but nicely done and had the prerequisite mini-balcony that overlooked the parts of Cebu city that are towards the sea waterway that separates Cebu City from Mactan island. From the 32nd floor balcony it is possible to see the sea that is even beyond Mactan island as well as the planes landing and taking off at the Mactan airport. The views were stunning. Photo of my Cityscape condo room. Some photos of the stunning views from the mini balcony: Note that they built many hirise condominium buildings but without balconies – a true tragedy. Consequently, to get a condo room with an external balcony was a true challenge. I paid € 700 euros for 20 nights, at a rate of € 35 euros per night – not bad in my opinion to be located just 2 blocks outside of the CBP – Ayala mall + Avida condo residences complex. My neighborhood was quite safe, where the only annoyance was the poverty that is on the edges of CBP – as my condo was 2 blocks outside, so I had to often encounter the poor begging families who send their children to play the sympathy card day after day. Security is a serious activity both at the Cityscape Grand Tower as well as in the entire multiple block enclave of CBP – as it is well patrolled by private security details who are armed – which scares any potential trouble away. I walked over to the nearby CBP Ayala mall, which is gigantic with 250,000 m2, whereas, Central Festival back in Pattaya has 200,000 m2. I ate an early dinner and I went over to the giant 7 floor Metro store to buy towels to put down on my AirBnB condo mattress – to avoid getting in trouble with the owner (I am referring to a previous incident when massage oil contaminated the AirBnB mattress). Exhausted from waking up at the crack of dawn, flying, checking in, buying sundries for the fridge it was time for a well deserved in-room massage. I fired up the apps, as follows: Grindr – has the most number of users, Heesay – second highest, Planet Romeo – third highest, Blowers – fourth highest, Hornet – in last place – very little activity – unlike back in Pattaya where it is often the number one app with the most available number of users. After chatting with many of the locals on Twitter (X) and in the above apps, I was told that there are also other modalities to meet the local guys, which are: X – just announce your availability and people will DM you. You need to be cognizant of the hash tags; #altercebu, #cebualter, #saunacebu, hire, masahista, #hilot. Or, you can use the above tags / search words and search for your type of desired situation. Tinder – I have no experience with Tinder. Bumble – again, I have no experience with Bumble. Facebook groups – I performed a search for CEBU Gay FB messenger and Google returned many query hits. As I don’t have FB, I could not utilize any of these. As soon as I entered into PlanetRomeo, a sexy manly masseur with a profile name like, “MasseurJerome” wrote to me and I invited him to my condo. This being the Philippines, all visitors need to be registered with the downstairs condo security team. I employed his services for 90 minutes for a fee of 3.000 pesos (~ $51 USD). I found out later that this was on the high side for Cebu – but I was happy with his massage and the fun afters – as he was able to edge me very well. Here in the Philippines the concepts of SIDE and EDGING are very well diffused within the various apps and English being one of their primary local languages (Tagalog, Visayan (Cebuano), and English). I found that when they speak Cebuano, there are many common words with Spanish. Day 1 (29 December 2024) concluded.

Interesting. I spoke with an ex-BBB stage guy who told me that he left BBB because there was little to no off action by the existing customers - as the new customer base just wants you to sit and drink with them. You still earn money but nowhere near like before when the BBB off fee was more reasonable. He told me that now most of the fully clothed guys are not interested to be taken off my us old farangs.

Yes Ring the bell when you see the below Sansuk sign

and for this exorbitant off fee - you get the following because of the current amended modus operandi: guys standing on the stage fully clothed, not much of a show, loud music at decibels that could be damaging to your auditory system, screaming Asian ladies that call down the guys to sit and drink with them - where often either the customer or stage guy gets so hammered that they might need assistance to go to the bathroom to vomit (I saw it with my own eyes on my last visit). so, I would say, if you do not like the above program - then head over to X-Boys Pattaya - just 2 sois (streets) over from Boyztown to see a really exciting show with skin, nakedness, and f#$king on the stage and perhaps even on your lap. It is a great place for fun that BBB used to offer many moons ago. enjoy

Especially when you are invited to have your massage in one of the upstairs rooms. One masculine cutey from there is occasionally invited to my condo room for entertainment - oops, I mean massage.

And they are already packed southbound into Jomtien because of the above mentioned procedure by the station master to maximize the number of passengers to 12 at the starting point. They need to allow some of the southbound bahtbuses to bypass that starting point which is near Boyztown. Then those who live where Jomtien begins (i.e., UNIXX) would have a chance to got on a southbound bahtbus and find a seat.

They forgot to include my group: A sixth group, "vote with your feet" and stay out of the country for > 180 days to avoid becoming a tax resident.

But no where to insert the red bank note to perform the Vinapu tuck. Thank God I was not on the bahtbus in that last seat sitting in front of him fully exposed. I would have had a 🍆 "hard" 🍆 time to control myself. Perhaps I could have offered my hands to try to cover up his indecently exposed package 😜🤪 I would not want him to unnecessarily get in trouble with the BiB 🙈

Could it be because of the new Boss? My friend, Toon (see below) who was the BoyzBoyzBoyz (BBB) outside manager in Pattaya has left BBB and is now working for the new Boss at Atlas in Bangkok. Do any of you know the name of this new Boss? Toon told me he is Mr. Auto But it does not feel right. Thanks.

With all of these recent negative events against Chinese nationals: Scams, Kidnappings, Accidents, Deaths. The current Thai government's GDP targets from tourism are now being threatened and the PM now needs to jump into the current crisis: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thai-pm-reassure-chinese-tourists-security-ahead-lunar-new-year-2025-01-17/

I saw that statistic and I thought the same thing. It could be due to the fact that most Thai people don't update their National ID card with their actual address. For example, my Thai boyfriend's ID card still lists Sukhothai as his home address even though he has lived in Jomtien for many years. I asked him why he doesn't update it and he replied that he does not want to deal with the Thai bureacracy. Lastly, I asked him today why is the Thai population decreasing and he replied with these exact words: Thai people do not have more children because it increases many expenses. Thai people do not have children to reduce the burden.

Hahaha - my favorite place in the bahtbus. Joking aside, watch what they do at the starting station in Pattaya bound for Jomtien. The bahtbus will not depart until there are 12 passengers onboard distributed as follows: 5 seated on each side of the interior bench seats, 1 in each of the 2 external (supposedly illegal) standing areas. For a total of 12 passengers. 12 pax x 10 baht each = 120 baht for the driver less his gas and maintenance costs, and perhaps the station master also gets a fee. Little money. Thank God that along the route people disembark and additional passengers board. The station master at the starting point will not let the bahtbus depart until it is full --> including in the supposedly illegal external standing area. So, flouting this alleged law is part of their daily operation.

Interesting statistic for Thailand. Being in the Pilippines, I went to Statista.com to see what the trend was for all of the ASEAN countries. It appears that there are 2 ASEAN countries that are still experiencing population growth; Vietnam and the Philippines. And when I am in these 2 countries you can definitely feel an abundance of youth.

More importantly because of the history if these deaths on this island, I would add to your list: With whom did these victims make contact with on the island? Were common contacts made between the many victims?

Yes so true. I think this poor guy's fate makes him number 26 of these mysterious deaths on Koh Tao. So sad, as the island is so beautiful and is dedicated to diving and sea turtles.

@ichigo Welcome - now you are bahtbus initiated. That back area where you stand is my preferred area (only if it is not raining). Why? I feel that it is more independent from the interior area where sometimes there can be people that make me feel uncomfortable, as in they try to strike up invasive conversations that I don't want to share with everyone on the bahtbus, they are drunk or smell, etcetra. In that back area you are mostly isolated from all of those discomforts. Lastly, it is very easy to disembark from.

Very interesting observation - as I have never heard any of our forum members report on this. I guess the old adage is very true:

Wow!! Thank you very much as I did not know this. Good to know. Once while going northbound from Jomtien (near Supertown) into Pattaya city, the bahtbus turned left at Phra Tamnak and then drove down to the Bali Hai pier. Then he went from the pier and continued back onto the normal route on Pattaya Sai 2 road. Would you know why? I found this very convenient if it was for a day that I would be going to Koh Larn where the speedboats depart from the Bali Hai pier. Is this a special Bali Hai bahtbus route?

Yes, in rare occassions the bahtbus (songthaew) does deviate and/or abrubtly terminate its route. But I would say that this only happens 1% to 2% of the time, as it is a very rare event. A Dutch friend of mine back in Jomtien sent me this recent photo of the back of a bahtbus, which I found to be hillarious. Meanwhile, over here in Cebu, Philippines, the bahtbus equivalent = Jeepney are very different than what we have back in Pattaya. They are more colorful and can accomodate more passengers, but they have low ceilings making them feel somewhat claustophobic.

This is funny that you say this. When the powers that be created the new SIDE category, we were free to come out of the closet and to stop falsely identifying as TOPs. Consequently, the perceived number of TOPs available for the static number of BOTTOMs decreased, thus creating more tension between us SIDEs and the BOTTOMs - as they often insist that we should TOP them.

No, if you are northbound from Jomtien going into Pattaya city - 10 baht can bring you as far north as the Terminal 21 shopping mall before the bahtbus heads towards beach road to head south. Yes, if you are southbound and decide to return to Jomtien from the heart of northern (Terminal 21) or central (Central Festival), then you have to pay for 2 different bahtbuses at 10 baht each. You will need to disembark at the below mentioned intersection and walk over to the southbound Jomtien bahtbuses. What I usually do is just walk to the route beginning point at the intersection of South Pattaya road and Pattaya Sai 2 road (near BoyzTown) where the bahtbuses heading southbound into Jomtien begin.

Hello You walk onto the main road, Thappraya road (the busy road in front of the main entrance of Supertown) and you flag down (wave with your hands) the bahtbus and if he is: Not full Or in-service He should pull over and then you get on the back of the pickup truck. You ring the bell when you see from your mobile phone map app that you are near your destination. Then you disembark and walk up to the driver and give him 10 baht. Good luck and have fun. I use the bahtbus at least 3 to 4 times each week.

Oops, I prematurely jumped the gun 🍆💦 The Thai cabinet only changed the $80,000 USD requirement for the: Wealthy Global Citizen LTR category, and NOT for the Wealthy Pensioner LTR category. So, I will still need to wait until my 69th birthday, as I don't have $1 million in assets, of which $500,000 USD is invested in Thailand --> as per below AI snippet. https://www.nationthailand.com/news/policy/40045152

Wow That US$80,000 2 year threshold is why I am here in Cebu, Philippines. I won't reach that annual threshold until my age 69 --> another 6 years. I hope that they reveal the new threshold at the soonest. 🤞🤞