moistmango

Day 4 The Pattaya virgin arrives in the promised land. Unfortunately, most of the day was spent in an incredibly frustrating back-and-forth with the hotel: I arrived to find that my category of room had been overbooked; I didn't like the room they offered me and requested another, only to find that the wifi in my substitute room of choice was non-existent, so ultimately returned to the original room they had offered. Ugh. The only thing that kept me from losing my sh*t like any entitled first-world tourist was the toke I had earlier, so all involved kept smiling on in the Land of Smiles - the most graceful outcome one could have hoped for. In between, I managed to make my way to Central Festival, a short stroll down Pattaya Beach, for lunch. Chain restaurants in a mall are just that, though, and the bucket list for tomorrow involves a decent place for a meal, either the buffet lunch at the Hilton or a nice seafood joint on Jomtien. I am dying to have a whole crab, all to myself ... After a post-dinner nap, I make my way to Boyztown - finally! I poke my head in at Toy Boyz first. There's a decent line-up of about 20 boys or so, all clad in their skivvies, but no show, so it's a tad awkward with them on stage all staring at you ... TB doesn't charge an entrance fee; beers are 300 baht. Only a handful of boys in the roster catch my eye. It's me and maybe 4 or 5 other johns in there, including several women, and at one point another shows up - a South Asian dude - and very quickly picks a boy out. Boy disappears to change into his civvies, and while he's gone, there seems to be some drama or misunderstanding of some sort, and the john leaves sans boy. The boy quite naturally throws a hissy fit, having already put on his clothes and assumed he was offed for the evening. In any case, I wasn't enthused about hanging around at TB, and decide to make my rounds of the other bars. I amble over to X-Boys and Dream Boys. Business seems slow, even for a Friday night. XB has a small crowd, and several small-ish twinks in their undies and angel wings are performing a number onstage. Not my cup of tea, so I cross the soi to Dream Boys, where the boys are wearing jeans. It's dead quiet, with no one in there - "no show", I was told - but several boys look promising, and I make a mental note to return if nothing else transpires elsewhere. At A-Bomb, the boys sitting outside again suggest a lack of patrons inside. When I show up, they all follow me indoors and leap up onto the stage to begin parading. They're all clad in jeans, and I'm not convinced. I ultimately end up at, yes, Boyz Boyz Boyz. The place is *packed* to the gills. They have a small army of boys parading around up on stage, and, unsurprisingly, quality varies quite widely. Only a handful are flaunting their wares shirtless, while the rest are fully clothed, which I find bizarre for a go-go. One guy catches my eye: he's built, tatted, with a real bad boy vibe to him, and quite obviously straight. There's also a big muscle daddy type - who goes by the handle "jakkrit_pongpaew" on Insta - so if anyone's on the prowl for huge bears in Pats, the zoo ain't where they're at. Like most other bars, BBB doesn't charge an entrance fee, and beers begin at 350 baht. I stay for the show, but clearly a single guy who's nursing one beer isn't a priority when there are large groups buying their booze by the bottle, so service standards aren't great, plus bad boy and muscle daddy get called over to a table by another guy, so after the show ends I cut my losses and return to Dream Boys. There's one other group of Thais in there playing a drinking game, but otherwise everyone seems to be jostling for space at BBB. No complaints from me. The DB crowd seems a little more on the rough trade side than their TB counterparts - just one man's impression - and there are one or two cuties. "All straight", the mama tells me. OK. I make my pick: a jock-y, party boy type who has one of the cutest faces in the room, and goes by "Arm". Off fee 500, tip 2000 minimum. We head back to my hotel, and it becomes quite obvious that Arm is certainly not as straight as DB mama claims. I think my dry spell is over. I'm not sure if I should do a second round of Boyz Town tomorrow, or hit Jomtien or Sunee. Suggestions welcome.

550 for the regular Thai plus a head-and-shoulder working over - no feet (which hurts like hell for me).

Lol, high praise - I appreciate it ..

DAYS 2 and 3 My two and half days in Bangkok were completely unproductive. Had plans to check out a couple of cafes, finally visit Icon Siam, drop in at a friend’s new gallery space - but of course all I did was get a few massages, toke up, hit the bars, in that order. The rain didn’t help. Kicked off my second day with some work, then it was off to Prime, a hop and a skip away, for a Thai massage. Was considering a more erotic experience at Jey or Prince, but those required a commute and I needed a real massage more than anything else. The clientele at Prime was almost exclusively male and gay; hardly a surprise. My masseur had some muscles on him, and looked pretty cute behind his mask, but gave off what I can only describe as straight vibes. (Has anyone tried propositioning the guys at Prime?) It was 550 baht for an hour and a half, sans tip for your boy. Had lunch at Mango Tree post-massage, but as I pointed out in my previous post, the chef there is a little too generous with the sugar. Wound up the day with dinner and drinks with a pal in Chinatown, which can be wonderfully tranquil after hours. Thanks to the reality of gentrification, there are any number of chic eateries and bars popping up these days. We dined at the Chop Chop Cookhouse, a new entity that took over an entire building that used to house a goldsmith’s. After food, we ended up for drinks at the cluster of bars on Soi Nana: the well-known Ba Hao is overhyped, but Asia Today - queer-friendly, queer-owned(?), both perhaps - was great. They have a cocktail menu that features drinks made from their collection of honey. Tried a couple, both fantastic. Cute, nerdy engineer type by himself next to us truck up a convo, and I think was trying to be friendly with me especially, but we didn’t hang out to chat, so that was that. Pal headed back to her hotel after cocktails, and I to Moonlight. One thing you’ve got to say about the place: they bother about standards. Whole new roster of faces in their non-model department, with quite a few head-turners. The papa I was acquainted with, Maxco, had also disappeared. Nothing new show-wise, but the models were a small group that evening, with only six present. There was Tum, York, Babe (of course), Mark and two others whose names I don’t know. I offed one of the regular boys, who told me he was Bank from Chiang Mai. He was a classic twink: fair-skinned, slim, athletic, big-eyed (likely the result of a surgeon’s knife rather than genetics, though I didn’t ask). He stayed the night, and the next morning, over a bagel and coffee, gave me the real scoop on himself: no Thai boy from CM, but like so many others in this business, from Myanmar. In his case, a Shan boy hailing from a town on the Myanmar-Thai border. He did go to school in Chiang Rai though, educated in a NGO-run school for underprivileged kids. The result: he proved to be a pretty good conversationalist with better-than-average linguistic skills, esp. English, and a decent dinner date. My thanks to the NGOs of SEA. My third day was even less thrilling; it was rinse and repeat. Work matters in the morn, a massage at Prime after lunch, a nap, and then I met Mr. Bouncer for dinner (from my first evening at Tawan). Original plan was to check out The Commons, but Saladaeng Rd was completely flooded out and near impassable on foot. We ended up at one of the Japanese joints on Soi Thaniya instead, cheek by jowl with the girlie bars. Got to know him a little better: he used to work as a Tawan boy back in the old space, but, now in his mid 40s and with a teenaged son to support, has decided to focus on more sustainable income sources (bouncer-ing is one of several side gigs apparently). I like him quite a bit: friendly and unpretentious, not hardened like some other bar boys, and clearly not out to fleece me for all I'm worth - though appreciative of the income opportunity I represent. Will probably hook up with him again the next time I'm in town. Rounded out my short, rainy stay in Bangkok on the rooftop deck of the Quarter Silom, staring up at the illuminated Lego tower that is the Mahanakhon, with a roll and some Donald Fagen on the playlist. Things have been decidedly dull so far in the sex department, but making a couple of new friends hasn't been a bad way of spending the last few days. Sitting in a restaurant in Pattaya as I type this, my first time in this city. Here's hoping the rest of the trip is more exciting ..

So I was told! There were a bunch of regular faces at Tawan in the pre-pandemic days of yore - Tiger, for one - but I haven’t seen them around since I started coming back to Bkk last year.

I guess, but Tawan was always the place where one could go to find a particular type - rugged bodybuilders who still had an edge to them, not all smoothed out in the way of Moonlight's models. Now it's just more or less like the other bars ..

In the midst of my week-long Thailand jaunt at the moment, and so far, so so. It is the low season ... DAY 1 My flight got in past 5 p.m. on a weekday. Maybe because the Chinese hordes aren't back yet, a situation that looks about to change soon, clearing immigration at Suvarnabhumi took all of 5 minutes. Decided to train it into the city, rather than risk Bangkok traffic at this hour, and, of course, when I arrived in Silom - am putting up at the Quarter Silom, more on which later - it was coming down cats and dogs. There's good reason why September is the low season! Thank goodness I packed a brolly. An hour later, the rain still hadn't let up, and the stretch of the soi in front of the hotel was literally flooded. Waited a bit more, then headed out to one of the many dispensaries in the neighbourhood. Enjoyed its merchandise for a bit - many feature a smoking area for customers - and then hit the Patpong go-gos. It was not even 10 p.m. on a weekday, and still drizzling lightly at this point, so you can imagine that the place was pretty quiet. The papa from Hotmale dragged me up to its bar, but their boys, while fetching in an aspiring-Moonlight-model sort of way, were clad in red sweat pants. All very Abercrombie and Fitch if that's your thing, but it wasn't mine. I departed quickly. Across the way, the boys loitering outside of the new Sol bar seemed less than promising, so I skipped it in favour of an old favorite, Dream Boys, now housed in the second-floor digs where Lucky Boys used to be. Turns out, I was the only paying customer in the bar at that hour. The boys on stage were still "practicing", according to the papa, and doing so in white boxer shorts. It was a huge disappointment. Clearly, gone are the days when they would be prancing around in briefs and cowboy boots, pre-show .. The boys weren't bad-looking, but I recognized no one from even last year. They were just rotating around on the stage, with several trying to give me the eye, and that was it. I stayed for 15 minutes and drank my 500-baht bottle of Tiger, during which the stereo system gave out at one point 🙄, decided I wasn't interested in the company of a twink that evening, and took off. Patpong 2 was looking sad in the drizzle, so Tawan it was. (Also, being right next to the hotel helps.) Well ... things weren't much better there, unfortunately. Aside from one regular - short, well-built dude with tats all over, even on his thighs, and vaguely reminiscent of a chipmunk in the face department, whose name I don't know - it was a small sea of new faces. Even the guy I off-ed last year was not to be seen. The biggest surprise was the fact that they now boast twinks in the employee roster! It's the end of an era ... They had about 12 boys there that evening, of which about 3 were twinks, 2 serious bodybuilders (incld. aforementioned guy with tats), several jock-y types (i.e. not quite bodybuilders), and with the rest looking like they could stand to hit the gym with a little more regularity. I was fairly stoned at this point, so I just sat and there at Tawan for about an hour and a half, watching the boys parade through their rotations, and then the show. The cute Asian otter seated next to me - most likely Taiwanese - tried to strike up a conversation, but I was too out of it to hold up my end, so that attempt died a pretty quick death ... The show was as it always was, just watered down. The highlight came during the cum competition, when one guy, quite the gusher, sprayed his load right at colleagues seated beneath the stage. Hilarity and some mild indignation followed. I was interested in none of the boys on stage, but I most definitely was in the bouncer at the door - a tall, built, dark type, with a great face, and likely well into his 40s, which I later found out was indeed the case. He would pop in occasionally to show new customers to their seats, and I'd grin at him like a dog in the presence of a treat, hoping he'd take the hint - which he eventually did. I brought him next door back to mine, and got to know him a little better, in all senses of the phrase. We made plans for dinner a few days later. I got the munchies in a bad way after he left, and cleaned the snack bar out in my room. About the Quarter Silom: as with real estate, it's all location, location, location. It's set smack in the middle of Soi Tarntawan, between the gay massage joints like Prime and 19-teen on one side, and Tawan on the other. The Patpong go-gos are five minutes away. There're lots of eating options on the soi itself, including a branch of Mango Tree - the grub is way too sweet for me, a real hazard in Thailand - as well as several izakaya-type Japanese joints. You could, as I have been doing, take forty-step stroll out for a massage in the late morning, have lunch, head back for a nap and maybe a puff and a swim, and then hit the bars. Frankly, this is the only reason to consider the Quarter Silom. (That, and the fact the their rooms come with a microwave oven, if that's a bonus.) The hotel may be barely two years old - I think - but already it's towels are looking pretty threadbare, for one. Walls are thin in this building, so you hear quite a bit of what happens in the corridor. (Thank goodness there are no families with small children, or at least I haven't seen or worse, heard any.) The staff are also, well, nonchalant, I guess, is the polite term for it, but being left alone is a plus for some folks, so whatever floats your boat. I paid a bit more than 2,200 baht a night, all in, so maybe I can't complain. TBC.

The only thing I remember from my virgin experience - it was Tawan - was getting lost in the maze of badly lit Silom soi-s and some random guy on the street offering to show me the way. He of course asked for a tip, which I happily ponied up. Don't recall who I offed that evening, if anyone .. Bit of an anti-climax, I guess, looking back. There were others who came after who made far more vivid impressions.

Actually, I don't believe I've ever off-ed a model from ML. Price aside, I was never sure about the quality of the er, companionship. Hung out with them on numerous occasions though - a female friend of mine had a thing for (with?) Mr. Tum at one point in time, which seems to have ebbed. My regular at ML was one of the twinky dancers, who hailed from Myanmar. He disappeared from ML after a bit, returned home, returned to Bangkok and popped up at Hotmale. Last time I saw him, he was sitting along Soi 4 with an older farang john, looking bored out of his skull. (His English skills are limited, though I suspect his conversational skills even in his native tongue may not be extensive.) I'll say this for him: he never asked me for a 5000-baht tip.

Yes, actually I haven't heard much that's positive about the PT scene (comparative to Patpong) - but I am getting bored with BKK, so am venturing out. Found a nice beachfront hotel, and looking forward to some R&R courtesy of Thailand's newly relaxed laws re: recreational substances.

Boy, @ChristianPFC, you're pretty specific in your body temperature preferences ..

Winner has recent pics on social media of their boys. While I'm (sometimes) partial to twinks, gotta say that their crowd isn't quite there in the looks dept. for me. I like my twinks pretty.

All too true.

Depends on the individual I'm sure, but in general, Tawan guys tend to be a pretty good time in bed - even if it's just vanilla stuff like muscle worship or a mutual JO. Moonlight models are at least out for a party, so can be fun to hang with. The worst of the lot, in my opinion, are the straight ones from Jupiter, especially those on the more attractive end of the spectrum. Complete waste of time and money. I don't even go there anymore.

Where do you hang out when in PT? I hear Toyboyz, X-Boys etc - and now Classic - are the standards. Are the go-gos in Sunee worth the Bolt ride over?

Mm hmm. 3000 for the cuter studs at Tawan is acceptable, 5000 for the models at Moonlight, not so much. Easy on the eye, but they tend to come with attitudes.

Have you written about your experiences there? Would love to hear. There's a dedicated thread on the topic hereabouts, but that's more than a decade old now.

At the 4.29 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97XklH3FxX0

I looked up videos on Youtube, and the shirtless boys at Double Shot do seem quite alluring.

Won't say I have high hopes of Jomtien, but it does seem like a nice leisurely evening, so here's hoping it proves to be that (maybe to be accompanied by a seafood dinner along the beach). Go-gos are where it's at for me. Experience has taught me that it really isn't about the sex, but the thrill of being at the bar itself: the parade of taut flesh in skimpies, the knowledge that it's all available (for a price). It's the same jolt of excitement I get at buffets, faced with an almost endless choice of eats. I used to slip in a little earlier, pre-show, at the old Dreamboys on Soi Twilight just to watch the boys in their undies and number tags and cowboy boots gyrating on stage to some cheesy techno tune. I'd pick a seat right up front if there was one, at the edge of that runway, and stare up at their jiggling brown thighs and little briefs. Probably a moment that I'll bring to the grave: briefs and cowboy boots and techno music ... The new space on Patpong just doesn't cut it.

Lol, the crowd has spoken .. What's a good time in the evening to hit Jomtien, given that there are no go-go shows ? Are the BB boys still performing?

Thanks for asking this question; was wondering myself. Heading to PT in a bit for the first time, and wondering if I should even waste time with Jomtien. Regular bars aren't my scene, gogos are - but maybe there's a first for everything, at least I can say been there, didn't want to do that.

What time did you get to JF, and how long did you have to wait before being seated? They've stopped taking reservations, I hear.

That's unfortunate. Am heading there in a fortnight, for the first time, and rather looking forward to it.

Increasingly, as age advances, it's the small things in life that bring joy. Like an informal community of fellow exercisers, canine members included.