Marc308

Oh god touristy Windsor! One of the worst meals I have ever had in my life was, gasp, Fish n Chips at the Duchess of Cambridge restaurant on High Street there. At BP44 it was the most disgusting FnC I have ever had. Unfortunately apparently the monarchy never promoted a "British cuisine". Being so near Windsor Castle, and being named for the next British Queen, to serve such horrible food was a mystery to me. Anyway, back to Pattaya. I had a huge surprise a few days ago when eating at Yayoi on the 5th floor at Central Festival. Surprisingly excellent Japanese food! Succulent salmon sashimi. Super fresh Shrimp Tempura. Excellent Chicken Teriyaki. All at prices which were 1/3 of what they would have been back home. I am definitely going back! Anybody care to join us?

Haha I am always suspicious of Britishers' food recommendations. I used to see a sign on Thappraya which read "Indian food to British taste" which marked it for me as a restaurant to be avoided at all costs. : ) I once had Phad Thai at the Blue Elephant in London (supposedly THE Thai restaurant there at the time) for the most insipid version of the dish I have every tasted. While I have managed to piss off many of my friends here now, hehe, let's continue on undaunted with the worst cuisine in the world: Britain, USA, Australia. Best food in the world: Lebanon, Iran, Morocco, Brasil, Thailand of course! And perhaps Italy and France, although the standards of food in those two countries has gone rapidly downhill in recent years. India deserves honorable mention -- especially for its Punjabi dishes and heavenly Hyderabadi biryanis. Here my favorite dish is pad siu gai, well prepared just slightly burnt, using all the condiments in the usual 4-glass condiment tray in ample measure which is an ubiquitous dish in Thailand.

Oh gosh, not again. The drama around this place has been swirling for far too long. It's a pity really.

Boys' memories are amazing! I think they can (genuinely) recall us far better than we can recall them. Not sure why but it really does seem the case. Which probably means details of our encounters (for good or bad) are also easily recalled. :0

Oops, got cut off... 2. Repeat performances are much more likely to fail. Perhaps one's expectations run too high, or perhaps it is boredom (I've seen this movie before) or ...? Of course perhaps passion can persist, for a week, for a month, for a year, even forever (I've been with my bf for over 30 years!) but in general the likelihood of failure is greater. 3. The more early conversation turns to protracted price negotiations, the more fraught the encounter is likely to be. High fees usually correlate to low performance. 4. Language fluency is not a measure of success. What do you think? Marc

From a Wordpress post: "You can choose and choose and get the perfect Greek God but looks provide no guarantee of a good time in the room." This observation has haunted me for some time. What really are the predictors of a nice time? We've all, I'm sure, had a quota of duds, and also our quota of surprising successes when expectations were low. I'd appreciate your comments on this. Here are some of my observations -- well it seems to be more of what is NOT correlated than what is: 1. The Greek God ("ain't I gorgeous-type") is likely to fail. I've found the best are those simpler guys who seemingly don't realize how gorgeous/masculine they really are.

Congrats Vinapu and MFJ you two are a marvel! I'm happy to hear you had a great time. I know it is hard enough to get two people organized on a trip, but I wonder if there are any couples who would also like to hang out together? My BH and I will be in Pattaya during July and August. We are both "mature" if you get my drift. Singles are great too. More friends are always welcome!

Gosh MFJ if someone as nice and kind as you cannot explain this phenomenon, then the situation cannot be explained. There is (seemingly) a distrust of "outsiders" and paranoia about putting a moat around their world: "Will he steal my bf?" "Will he tempt away my best boy?" "Will he disrupt my routine?" We can either complain about this situation, or we can do something about it. I am glad to see some members of this board getting together (MFJ and Vinapu, I salute you!) Perhaps we need to have a (better) way of signaling our openness to meeting up? Alas sites as this were designed to being "discreet" and slightly mysterious which makes making a friendship connection all that more challenging. So here is my outreach: My BH and I (both "of a certain age", read "old"!) are going from BKK to VN (Saigon) for a week or so in early August. We plan to stay mostly in HCMC but plan to take the train up to Nha Trang for a few days as well. We've been to VN each year now for the past 3 years so we are pretty comfortable there. We'd be happy for a single person (or another couple) join us, especially someone who has wanted to go there but, for whatever reason, hasn't gone yet. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss this, or would like to meet up otherwise in Pattaya or Bangkok during the months of July and August for dinner (Cafe des Amis?, Yupins?, Beirut (Silom), Shahrazad (Sukhimvit) or ...?) or just socializing.

There were many places on the globe where male companionship was for sale, mainly for female consumption. Despite admonitions from the British missionaries (who came to do good and yes they did very well!), during the hay-day of the ocean liner trade rich women from god-only-knows-where would come and canoodle with the Hawaiian beachboys. They were a major attraction! They brought in many tourists. You can read about all this in Michener's book Hawaii if you are interested. The Hawaiian culture has a far looser attitude toward sexuality than the uptight Protestants.

I remember Hugh very well. And yes he was/is? a kind soul. He split from Jim/Gordon and then went to work as a maitre d at Casa Pascal, after that I lost track of him. He often could be found in the basement of the Ambiance counting purple bills from the last night's take in BBB. He once told me the only money that the BBB/Ambiance complex ever made was from the sale of the drinks in BBB. Everything else was a loss-leader. Interesting.

BBB was once like Dolly Parton's "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"... just a little thrill along with lots of fun (and booze). Yes, it was once the undisputed jewel, run impeccably by Jim and Gordon and Philip and Dtan and Lek. It was all downhill the moment Jim sold out to the Swiss (now to the Chinese). Jim and crew were trusted members of our community. To answer your question, MFJ, well now for me BBB is a total bore. I wouldn't spend a baht to go into that place. The last time I went there I chastised myself for going into that crazy place. And since BBB was the cornerstone of BT, BT also necessarily predictably began to fall apart too. Today's price is totally ridiculous given the value they offer. Once the "screaming Chinese women" get sick of the "thrill", I predict BBB, and most silly old-format boy bars, will pass from the scene. It's time for a renaissance and renewal, guys, updating to the current age of technology and social habit. We need a new, risk-taking, imaginative, fun-loving pioneer like Jim was back then to reinvent the gay adventure. It seems that the most innovative approaches of late have come to the Bangkok massage houses, with their "easy to peruse, easy to book, stated minimum tips" and more. In even this obviously more efficient and transparent concept, the Pattaya "houses of questionable repute" have not seemed to keep pace.

I've always wondered why those myriads of same-same bars don't somehow manage to merge their "talents", and thus for the area to truly become a "SUPERtown" rather than a collection of hopelessly uneconomic shops. They need economy-of-scale and they need to have variety and they need to have a decent environment. Those characteristics cost money, real money; I am really surprised that more bars have not closed in JC. The reason that Jim's BBB was successful is that he understood this concept and thus BT grew and prospered. And I totally agree about the "numbness" of the current concept -- "sit and drink and gawk" -- that only goes so far to keep people's interest. You need energy and expectation and entertainment. I agree with GIP that gay bars are an anachronism, they are a throwback to the "hush-hush" era where we were all constrained and needed a place to "be free". Japan is a good example of this. In those days of ore when I frequented bars in Shinjuku and Shibuya, the bars were small and you needed to be cleared by an all-knowing door person to even gain access to the bar. Once inside the "host" would then introduce you to each of the guys in the small (10?) crowd. It was because most of the guys in those bars were heading for the last train home to their wives, so you had to be fast!

Me too. Here are some suggested rules: 1. Be very careful to NOT accept "dynamic conversion". When taking a large amount out at "yellow bank", it cost me almost $50 on the transaction. 2. Use a debit card which does NOT have a "foreign transaction fee". It can cost you at least 3% above the usual 1% conversion fee that Visa/Mastercard take a foreign currency conversion fee. 3. Use a card which will reimburse you for the usurious fees which Thai banks charge on ATM transactions. Charles Schwab's debit card is one. There may be others. 4. If you must pay the Thai bank transaction fee, then take out as much money as you can at one time (up to B30,000 at some banks) since the transaction fee amount is fixed as doesn't depend on the amount withdrawn.

yes i am sure the mamasans are angels

What is the Line ID for this Phetboy feed? I agree he is a stunner!