macaroni21

But the rainy season won't begin till towards the end of your planned 130-day stay in Danang. And anyway I wasn't referring to the wet season. I was referring to the mid year period when the weather is in the mid thirties but very humid. Days are muggy and sticky. Like in Thailand, I prefer the wet season (even if it comes with storms and some flooding) than the hot humid season in the middle of the calendar year. Rain cools everything down. Actually, we shouldn't be in the Philippines forum for this discussion. Perhaps you will consider opening a similar thread in the Vietnam forum as you prepare for your trip.

It's been a great series of reoprts. I learnt more about Cebu than I ever thought I would ! I note that you're off to Danang late April for a few months. That would coincide with the hot, humid season in Vietnam. Perhaps the seaside part of the city wouldn't be so bad but my previous experience with Vietnam has taught me to avoid this season.

I can think of four reasons: 1. Vacation time and disposable income Even today, Asians seldom make long-stay trips to Thailand. Three to seven days would be typical. Given such short trips most will largely stick to Bangkok, maybe add Chiang Mai or Phuket and not venture beyond. Less disposable income than westerners limits how long they can vacation abroad. Paid annual leave in Asia is way less than in Europe. 2. Sunnee's heyday was before Asian wave came into Thailand Sunnee's heyday was 2000-2010. Chinese outbound tourism to Thailand didn't really take off till after 2008. Nor Korea. The markets of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (the richest of Thailand's Asian neighbours), while active during that period, are much smaller than Western countries. Japan is a big market, but its people seem to be very demanding of Japanese-centric attractions. For example, they're numerous enough to keep Thaniya Road thriving, but do we see Japanese in the Patpong bars, just a couple of blocks away? 3. Asians are rarely into skinny fem twinks Again, the Japanese are an outlier; they have a domestic market for skinny fem twinks. But I don't see much demand for this type of boy in other Asian markets. Sunnee was well-known for this type, so there wasn't a good fit between what Sunnee offered and what Asian markets wanted. 4. Host bars are useless for non-English-speaking markets Sunnee had more host bars than gogo bars. Even their gogo bars tended to be hidden behind alfresco host bars, with seats occupied by farangs. I don't think they ever looked appealing to Asian tourists even if they walked by. The problem is language. Did the owners and managers of the Sunnee bars speak Korean, Chinese or Japanese? Did the boys speak any of these languages, even if not fluently or grammatically? Do a thought experiment. Imagine a street full of gay host bars in Vientiane with managers more or less fluent in Chinese, but unable to speak a single word of English. Imagine that the boys there speak some Chinese - not well, but enough for a light chat. No English spoken. Imagine the music they play in the bars mostly comprise the top hits in the Chinese music market. Do you think we will see westerners in these bars? This English-centric host bar concept is replicated in Jomtien. Do we see Asian customers there? Do we see Russian customers there? Yet, both come to Thailand in huge numbers.

I have noticed this too, and pinned right at the top of the Colombia forum (if I got that right) is a thread about Medellin murders 😳 Another thing I have noticed is that in the Dominican Republic forum, the only criterion applied is dick size. Our friends there don't seem to care about height, weight, age, service capability, etc... All those details we're talking about here in this thread about Line advertising. They just want enormous dicks not caring who these pieces of meat are attached to. 🤣

The Joe Orton Diaries! I read it in my formative years. It was so engrossing I must have read the whole thing in one sitting, skipping classes and all. Most memorable were his accounts of his visits to Tangier (Morocco), renting a house or sharing with friends, and having boys come over. It was so exciting. He was such a good writer, those adventures jumped off the pages as real and alive. He wrote of somnolent bars with shady side businesses, pimps, boys of unreliable honesty, and duds in bed. Little did I imagine in my younger days that that "lifestyle" and very similar experiences would be mine as well today! Oh, what joy! - the glorious book and the degenerate lifestyle!

I don't find eating in Japan expensive - provided one is prepared to eat at places the locals eat. I too am more than happy at the tiny family-run restaurants; they serve good food for less than 1500 yen most times. Occasionally, I've had a lovely ramen meal for under 1000 yen. Sure, it's still more expensive than eating in Thailand at places Thais eat, but I find that for the Thai price (e.g their food courts), hygiene standards are somewhat suspect and too many dishes are too spicy for me. As for Chinese tourists, don't underestimate their purchasing power. Also, unlike many Westerners, they will find Japanese food relatively familiar, so it's hardly difficult for them to eat at local Japanese eateries. I doubt if meal costs in Japan is much of a factor in choosing Japan as a destination.

Oddly enough, I once spotted a commuter on the NY subway watching porn on his cellphone. It was pretty late at night and the carriage wasn't packed, but other passengers weren't that far away.I was seated next to him, for example! That said, yes, I agree with @PeterRS such a scene would be remarkable in NY, but not remarkable at all in Japan.

I agree with all of you; in fact I had come to the same conclusion as to the business dynamics long ago. This was why my question was really a different one, from the angle of the customer's preference. It was prompted by a passing mention from a friend who said that one particular Japanese site wouldn't work for him because he absolutely had to see faces before making a selection, and that site blurred out faces. He didn't much care about the stats; he just had to have faces. So, my question was from a customer's perspective: do you all ask for stats and service capability if these are not published? Or are faces and beautiful bodies enough for you to make a selection, not caring about the stats (or quite happy to take your chances)?

Unlike the boy agencies in Japan, almost all of whom maintain up-to-date websites complete with boys' stats, availability (by the hour, too!) and the precise service they will deliver, the massage parlours in Bangkok seldom have websites, and when they do, the information tends to be very general or dated. I am reminded of what @vinapu said in the thread "New Silom hotel opens" about businesses needing to have the resource to monitor and update [websites] regularly, though "resource" in my view is a polite way of saying these business owners and managers are too lazy to learn the basics of maintaining a webpage. But I understand that maybe it is not as useful to a business that relies on local customers in Thailand - as just about all massage parlours do - if Thais themselves do not have a habit of visiting websites. Unlike in richer nations, laptops are far from universal. Just about all people in 3rd world countries like India, Thailand, Indonesia, would choose to own a smart phone rather than a laptop if money is tight and they cannot afford both. Yet, I was thinking, even so, why is the information provided on their Line advertising relatively patchy and inconsistent compared to the Japanese sites? A few Thai massage businesses actually do quite well in this respect. For example, Kman and Phetboy consistently put out height, weight and condom size information, expected tip, together with "T" or "T&B" annotation to accompany the photo(s). Some parlours also add age. That said, I think it was @reader who experienced a failure of Phetboy to ensure that the booked boy was there on time; and this is the kind of disrepute that no shop can afford however fantastic their social media presence. On the other hand, places like Jey Spa (I scrolled through a few months of their Line advertising) do not put out any information. They just publicise a facepic. BT House is like that too, except that once in a blue moon, it publishes stats of one boy. One. I should mention TK Massage, but I honestly don't know what to say! Other places are in-between. Either they put out just body stats and nothing else, or they mostly send out only pictures, with the occasional blast containing stats (for a few of the boys, not all). So here's my question for members of this forum: How much do you need these items of information to be able to make a selection: - height - weight - age - condom size - service role - expected tip - availability by day? An additional question: How important is it to see a mostly-unclothed boy in the photo (like the Japanese sites) rather than one with clothes on? I know one can always message the shop to ask, but wouldn't it be easier to just publish the information the way Phetboy and Kman do? Because having to ask and then reply to enquiries with asked-for details is just extra work for the customer and the manager.

I would have thought the easiest way to raise money from tourists in order to reinvest in tourism infrastructure or provide insurance would be to tax hotel accommodation when with a waiver or rebate if the hotel guest happens to be Thai national. Of course, this needs to be supplemented either with enforcement against AirBnB rentals of under 30 days, or else change the law and allow AirBnB for less than 30 days and impose the tax on those too. I know, I know. Thailand is famous for enacting all sorts of laws but not enforcing them.

Just about all other countries' electronic arrivals notification can be submitted a few days in advance. In fact "in advance" is the desired part, so that the immigration system knows to expect you, watch out for health risks, etc. If a tax is to be linked to this, then the e-arrivals system will need to be linked to an e-payment gateway, making it perhaps the world's most complicated arrivals notification system. And then the e-payment option must cater to lots of different travelers including those 3rd countries like India that do not have an easy way for their citizens to make a foreign currency remittance easily. Or the rate of commission will be very high, (15-30%) for small amounts like 300 baht. Yet Thailand wants to attract visitors from there! Some official has been thinking out of his ass.

@Olddaddy, hasn't the death of Sunnee been discussed to death?

I see a place marked in red (accommodation) in the above map, marked as "Siam House". But I don't recall any first hand reviews of this place. Has anyone stayed there, or is it uninhabitable?

@jason1975 when you get into Bangkok in March, do tell us whether you still have to submit your fingerprints and get your photo taken. Something tells me that, knowing Thailand as many of us do, it will take a while before they realise that these procedures are pointless if the famed biometric system isn't storing the data. But junior minions will continue to do as minions do... Isn't that fun?

Re Hotmale, was there anything different about the available boys, prices or the show?

Oh, and how can I forget! A gun battle broke out while our open canoe was on the Kok river as we putt-putted our way through a steep valley. We could see flashes on the mountainside to our right. There was nowhere, absolutely nowhere, to duck or hide, save to jump into the fast-flowing river (which would have been too stupid to contemplate). Some locals on the boat screamed, but others didn't seem too panicky (it was mostly locals on the boat) - a relative calmness which was rather curious. Nor was the boatman too alarmed. He revved the engine, but kept going. In any case, what else could he do? Soon, there were flashes of gunfire from the other side of the valley. But I also noticed that no bullets were piercing the water around us. We weren't being ambused from both sides. The boatman said something to the passengers in Thai, which of course I didn't understand. But it didn't take long for me to guess that it was actually a gun battle between two narcotics gangs who controlled opposite sides of the valley. They are aiming at each other, not us. Still, it was a relief when the shots died down soon after and we were several hundred metres further along. The fast river current helped.

My most memorable excursions around the country have been boat journeys. The first was in the early 1990s - a ride on an open longtail boat from Tha Ton (right up north, near the Burma border, down the Kok river (a tributory of the Mekong) to Chang Rai. It took just an afternoon, but it being an open canoe (albeit a motorised one) with no protection from the blazing sun, I was roasted by the time we reached Chiang Rai. Tweny years later, it was another longtail boat (this time with cover) for a two-day journey upstream on the Mekong River, from Luang Prabang to the Lao town on the opposite bank of Chang Sean (I forget waht the Lao town was called). To be clear, it was in Laos, not Thailand. I loved that trip; we had to negotiate quite a few rapids, and the boat also stopped at several villages and hermitages along the way (the route serves locals mostly). I have been wondering on and off whether it might be fun to go down the broader stretch of the Mekong from Nong Khai to maybe Pakse or, if possible all the way to Phnom Penh. But I don't see any organised route; though I am sure if I put on my younger backpacking self, I can do it without too much trouble. The only thing that makes me hesitate is if this more downstream stretch might be through too flat a region, so less interesting than the gorges and mountains up north.

I have always seen frequent flyer points as something not far removed from Sri Lankan rupees or Nigerian naira. FF points are ultimately a currency with limited recognition. In the same way that SL rupees /Nigerian naira are only recognised and accepted in Sri Lanka/Nigeria, so FF points are only recognised and accepted by the airline or its alliance. In the same way that non-convertible currencies like tha SL rupee are largely controlled by (sometimes) erratic actions and decisions of a single government or central bank, so the value of FF points are arbitrarily decided by the issuing authority (in this case, the airline). The only major difference is that accumulating FF points gives the hoarder bragging rights -- "See I am a high-social status person who jets around a lot". Or he gets to enjoy business class on the cheap. But even that is not much different from enjoying a hotel suite in Sri Lanka or Nigeria after paying in rupees or naira.

I suppose this experience has been super useful in that you may want to avoid these dates should you decide to relocate to Cabu for several months in future? Do you see yourself being able to live in 22 sq m apartment for 2 - 3 months? Might you get annoyed by the limitations? It's 104 percent more expensive, not 204% (sorry, nitpicker here). From the listing of facilities, it does sound justifiable, but features are not the only things that determine prices; there is also supply and demand. If Koreans and Japanese are flocking to Jomtien, you'd get a different comparison.

Before we put to bed our wonderful memories of Tawan bar at its long-time Soi Thantawan location, I have a question for those who were familiar with Bangkok even before I became a regular visitor. (My pic above was taken in 2010) I think my first visit to Tawan bar was in the late 1980s (possibly early 1990s), but I somehow remember it as being at a different address from the above picture, possibly facing Surawong Road rather than inside a soi. I don't even remember it as a muscle bar; more like a bar with average-looking boys. What I do remember with certainty is that it had an upstairs room which I used, since, as a newbie, I was too nervous to take boys back to my hotel. Was I mistaken? Was Tawan at a different location before its heyday (at the location pictured above)? Or was I actually in that shop except that its interior looked different in the early days of the bar? And while I am here, I should again give a shout-out to @Lotusleaf's post which contains a link to an entire show at Tawan.

I noticed it too, but I didn't want to draw more attention to it by pointing it out. Slip ups happen, and most of the time, people either don't notice, or if they have, they forget about it. But what do they do? Are they on the beaches? Are they in the bars, in the shopping centres? Do you see them going around outside of the New Town? Some years ago, I remember coming across a review of boy bars in Cebu which carried a preemptive advisory that said these bars are mostly patronised by Korean women and not to think they are aimed at gay males.

Love the turn of phrase.

The situation may not be as dire as first impressions from the story. Most likely there is a separate database that records and stores data pertaining to entry and exit: your passport number and dates. What they thought they had also stored (facepics and fingerprints) might not have been stored after the licence reached its limit. For most travellers who are honest, this should not be a problem. Perhaps those using new or multiple passports to evade detection of prior entries might benefit from the absence of identity matching that a biometric system is meant to provide. However, I saw that the airport authorities had been boasting of a biometric channel the last few months. I have never used it. If anyone here has, perhaps you can tell us whether you had to see a human after going through the biometric channel to get your passport stamped in/out (and maybe the officer made a data entry into the non biometric database of your entry or exit). If you didn't have to see an officer and didn't get a stamp on your passport, then it may be more serious. The process might have relied entirely on the biometric channel to record your in/out, and if the system was not storing that data, as reported, then one can imagine a lot of trouble ahead. Do read the second part of the Bangkok Post story too, about an alleged assassination attempt. This looks very serious.

One can be both. Remember fondly the old days and still look forward to the next trip. There are so many massage places to try!

I have noticed this too in my travels and bathhouse experiences in China, Korea and Japan. The really interetsing one was Tbilisi. AFAIK, there remains just one traditional bathhouse, operating in the same way as a Turkish hammam (Georgia was once part of the Ottoman empire). I have been to hammams in several ex-Ottoman countries, as far away as Morocco. All of them give out these red chequered tea-towel-like hip wraps, and it is just not the done thing to expose one's pubic region. In the steam rooms, everybody wears those towels. Even when they do a body scrub, the wrap stays on. They will not reach into the buttocks, lower abdomen or groin (hey, those areas need scrubbing too!) Except Tbilisi. Everything about that place -- and it's rather wretched, be warned -- said Turkish hammam, except that patrons walked around stark naked. Influence from Russian sauna? +1