ShivRoy

You mean XBar? I heard they'd closed too - but they were an awful lame rip-off to start with, I'd discourage anyone from visiting even if they were open. I don't think it should impact your decision whether to visit Prague in any way

KJ, I can easily imagine spending a month in Brazil (or two, or three). As you mentioned, Salvador is a great city - and some of the best beaches in the country are nearby: Taipu de Fora, Boipeba, Itacare. Plus you can do deeper into Bahia for the wonderful hiking and daytrips from Lencois in Chapada Diamantina. I really like Nordeste - Fortaleza and Sao Luis in particular. One of my all-time favourite beaches in the world, Canoa Quebrada, is a couple of hours from Fortaleza. Inbetween Fortaleza and Sao Luis there is one of the world's biggest wonders - Lencois Maranhenses (not to mix up with Lencois in Chapada Diamantina) near Barreirinhas, I was gobsmacked when I saw it. (easier to do as a 2day/1night trip from Sao Luis with an overnight in Barreirinhas) Iguazu Falls - incredible, more spectacular than Niagara, and you can easily see it from both BR and AR sides, and they are so different in those two viewpoints - could easily be done as a 2day/1night trip from anywhere Brasilia for architecture (1 full day is enough to see it in all its extraterrestrial glory - I've been twice though), Belo Horizonte for a city with really nice vibes and some pretty colonial towns nearby (Ouro Preto) Everything outside Rio and SP is pretty much half price of RJ/SP - from boys/saunas to caipirinhas/carne

looks like that's the guy, yes

I mean, hey it's Brazil so trouble can happen at any moment even during daytime - but that said, I usually walked from 202 to Copa and from 117 to Gloria metro, as well as from Lagoa to Rua Augusta. You do see some questionable characters on your way and you need to be aware of surroundings. I did a walk from 117 to Lapa (and vice versa) a lot of times too - I asked on several occasions a receptionist at 117 whether it's safe to walk - he usually glanced at the clock and said "for now, yes". I got a feeling it's ok until sort of 9pm-ish - and I very rarely left saunas later than that anyway

I think I may have a good idea whom you mean)) or it could be just a strikingly similar story in Siem Reap. I distanced myself - after owning a car and a house and a barbershop didn't all necessarily add up and I envisaged some bumps ahead, so I took a turn to another road so to speak

Surely it was him, yeah. But unlike you, I don't wish I had hooked up with him. There is plenty fish in that big sea - maybe not that gold fish, but it's skills and attitude that sometimes prevail over looks. I really like to peoplewatch, and I was observing the guys who hired him - I didn't have an impression they were ecstatic or super-happy after the hook-up: you know how after a programa even if you don't hang out together with a boy, there could be some eye contact or tactile contact, or generally just a smile. I didn't see any of that, which just affirmed to me I didn't miss out massively.

That was with regard to Russians. And Ukrainians are really everywhere in Europe, with visible numbers in Poland and Czechia

Most abundant post-war Russian gay communities of recent exiles would be (in this order) in Berlin, Thailand, Buenos Aires, Belgrade, Dubai and possibly Yerevan (however Armenia, as well as Kazakhstan, could be less of this case now than it was in 2022 - those who moved there initially found a way to move further into the EU or elsewhere since)

When I was there a year ago, Grindr offers were not abundant. I did hook up for smth like 50e, but some offers were in the 100-200 territory that I didn't take. Be mindful it's a conservative country with a full history of recent anti-LGBT protests or outright violence (and at the same time with a fascinating underground alternative culture that skews towards decidedly queer)

Fully agree. But that Colombian guy was not budging at all - he was not even a fan of small talk or touching his impressive chest: "if you decide to go with me, come back and we'll go to the cabin when you decide", he said taking a step back . Wrapping a towel around the hips was also below him, so he was in longish jogging shorts with a towel around his neck. So I gave a hard pass - my experience shows that this attitude will be even more present in a cabin and the experience will be actually sub-par, even though he was certainly #1 in the sauna looks-wise. I had two other guys in the sauna that night, and it was a blast, so no regrets, it's a full experience what counts after all, not just the looks

Don't panic - power blackouts are only in Russia-occupied Transnistria, which is a breakaway part of Moldova since the 1990s. There have not been any blackouts in Moldova proper, they are getting electricity from Romania On gay life in Moldova - there are no gay bars or anything of that sort. Everything is online on apps and everything is possible. Russian is widely spoken, much much more so than English especially among the target audience of sex providers (i.e. no master's degrees most likely), so Google Translate is handy

I was there last week. Still there, nothing changed much - the roster of guys could be uneven, depending on the day. There was a guy from Medellin - I think his name was Wilton or smth like that - who was stunning but with plenty of attitude, and he was charging 80e, saying "it's fine if you pay 50 here, but that's not the price for me" - and he was still in great demand, I saw at least 3 clients taking him to the cabin/suite. Good for him.

Excellent reports @travguy - we overlapped on some days in Rio. My two cents: 117 on Tues (we were on the same day) was amazing and full of so many hot guys - it's been a while since I remember it this way. Other days at 117 were not that spectacular - not that bad, but Tues blew it all away. It's good they built even more more (dingy) suites downstairs so infamous waits for a suite are much shorter from what I've seen. I've been to the Junior BDay at 202 - it was the most people I've ever seen at 202 in all those years, more than I've seen on Carnaval or around New Year's - the pasta buffet was pretty weird (it was very heavy and just plain weird to have a heavy cheap pasta with a cheap sauce to stuff your face with while you are in a towel amidst some great GPs). I see they bought even more monitors to show Cher on and put them everywhere - from the clients' perspective, I could already see Cher from everywhere, so that investment going into making suites nicer would be more appreciated lol. Another interesting point from that night: there were lots and lots of people, but not many were hiring - at no point there was a queue for the suites. That was interesting, I wonder why. I was at 202 on Monday, and it was OK - by Weds I was gone already.

I agree, there are a few hot locals who are not interested in the whole GP thing - and I remember I was mistaken a few times too: one guy I presumed a GP turned out to be just a local stunner on a sex binge, and another guy whom I presumed a local cruising with friends turned out to be a GP. A key thing for me in these cases is eye contact. If you try to establish eye contact and show your interest, a GP would maintain eye contact back or even approach you or smile, whereas a non-GP local would not maintain eye contact and his body language would be he's not interested. GPs normally do not ignore your eye contact, unless they are booked by someone else already at that particular moment

Many of those travels were during that sabbatical, and I was not posting then. I did post recently though about Fortaleza, Recife and Sao Luis. In many other places everything is apps only, or otherwise very underwhelming (like a GP sauna in Belem which was a ghost-like place even those 8 or so years ago when I visited). In places like Barreirinhas and Jeri (which are both tiny) you pretty much are in the tourist central (Lencois Maranhenses are though one of the most beautiful places that I've seen not only in Brazil, but in the whole world - and that's Barreirinhas). Another good non-gay place which is awesome is Lensois in Bahia with its incredible hiking and day trips in Chapada Diamantina. Beaches in Bahia (Taipu de Fora especially) are some of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. Maceio (and vicinities) has stunning beaches too. But in terms of gay saunas or places, out of these secondary cities only Fortaleza, Recife and Sao Luis stand out, I think.