macaroni21

I don't know about Bolt, but I have used the Schedule option of Grab. It doesn't work the way we think it should. If, for example, at 9pm you schedule a ride to the airport at 11am the next morning, most of us might think Grab would find a car in advance and fix it for the appointed time. Well, it doesn't! My suspicion was aroused when Grab did not return a confirmation around 9pm with a car plate number. But drivers showed up at the appointed time, e.g. 11 am. Also known as pick-up time. On 2 occasions, I asked the drivers who came to my door at the appointed time what time they received a broadcast from Grab about my request. Both said about 15 minutes prior to the appointed time. So, Grab schedules the broadcast. It doesn't schedule a specific car. Maybe they have changed the system, but that was they way it worked 2 years ago.

I would be careful not to delegitimise bisexuality as a real orientation with comments like "all sexuality is fluid" (which I too consider too easy a dismissal of the empirical). The observation that in prisons, lots of straight-identifying men have sex with other inmates also needs analysis. I don't have the data, but I think there can be 2 hypotheses that can be tested. 1: only a segment of straight-identifying men have sex with other inmates. If this segment is about 25% then it raises the possibility that these are perhaps the innately bisexual men. 2: if far more than 25%, then we're talking about Kinsey 0 types engaging in sex with other men, in which case we may begin to see the activity as one where they are using each other as sex toys for masturbatory purposes. Interestingly, I don't hear of rampant women-on-women sex in female prisons. Have others heard this?

Not from me. There are hits and misses, no different from massage places in other parts of the city. The only difference is that, unlike duds from tonier shops, a dud in Saphan Khwai hurts the pocket less.

er... just to make sure I was not misunderstood... I was trying to make two points: Firstly, even when the massage parlours advertise their boys as "straight", they are almost surely bisexual to a degree; and there is quite a large pool, going by new data, of bisexual boys to recruit from. Secondly, bisexual really means bisexual. It used to be argued that when people identified as bisexual, they were really gay , but were avoiding the "gay" label. The heavy-duty scientific article makes the case that those who identify as bisexual really do show penile arousal to stimuli from both sexes

Yes, I have heard this warning too. However, I think that the FBI warning (as relayed by others) is poorly phrased. I am told that the risk is with using a USB port to charge your device, because the USB is equally capable of transferring data. If you use an old-fashioned electrical plug, there won't be this risk. I am not sure if free or not free makes all that much difference. Apparently using the USB port in your hotel room can be just as risky, but you've paid for the room anyway.

In a different thread (This time bit different), we touched on how the Saphan Khwai massage shops tag their advertised boys as "Top", "Straight" or "T&B". @vinapu has previously commented on what "straight" means when these boys have no difficulty performing in the room. I came across this YouGov survey from 2019 that asked respondents in the UK aged 18 and older to place themselves on the Kinsey scale. Here's a bar chart showing the results, and comparing it to 2015. The percentage at the "6" end of the scale remains quite constant at 4%. This is the percentage who say they are "completely homosexual". The percentages at the adjacent "4" and "5" categories on the scale also seem quite constant. However, there has been noticeable migration from "0" (completely heterosexual) to the slightly or somewhat bisexual categories "1" and "2". In 2019 compared to 2015. In the more recent results, those reporting some degree or more of bisexuality (i.e. from "1" through to "5") totalled 24 - 25% of respondents. The write up at https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/23882-one-five-young-people-identify-gay-lesbian-or-bise also points out that among younger adults aged 18-24, a third (32%) of them place themselves in "1" and "2" categories. I can't find the detailed data for youngs adults in the other categories; I'd love to see what their percentages of "5" and "6" are, nor can I find any graph reflecting just the 18 - 24 year-olds. If the latest data (especially the sub-data from young britons) corresponds to the biological spectrum (as opposed to earlier data heavily skewed for cultural reaons), then indeed there is a biggish pool of bisexual men who are quite capable of working in our kind of bars and massage parlours. Vinapu does not need to wonder much longer. Even if we exclude those bisexuals who rated themselves as more heterosexual than homosexual, there is still 7% in the categories "3", "4" and "5" as can be seen from the embedded bar chart. "3" represents equally attracted to either sex, "4" and "5" means more attracted to the same sex than the opposite sex. The aggregate 7% in these "equally or more attracted to same-sex than opposite sex" outnumber the "completely homosexual" by nearly two to one. One caveat is that these surveys lump men and women together. It is now recognised that one sex is not a mirror image of the other. That bisexuality is common (maybe even a majority) among women is no longer a contentious argument. On the other hand, men seem to demonstrate more polarity. Therefore, the YouGov percentages may overstate the percentages of gay men simply because of the inclusion of women in their survey. Does anyone know of any recent study giving percentages for men only, across the Kinsey scale? -- Might new self-reportied survey data be skewed too because "queerness" might be seen as fashionable? When men report themselves to be bisexual, how real is that? A study (beware, heavy science: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7414168/) shows that self reports correlate pretty well to physical arousal when subjects are studied using penile circumference meters. Bisexual men's dicks responded to visual stimuli just as they said they would. In other words, we can trust their self-reporting. That biggish portion of people who say they are biseuxal to some degree or more, really are bisexual.

@Verchiele I shall be looking forward to your reports. Whilst I have heard some reports of the burgeoning "onsen" scene in Bangkok, I have never been to any. No interest ever, even though I am a fan of true Japanese onsens. I've heard that - maybe you'll confirm in due course - whilst the original rules in the Bangkok places were full nakedness like in Japan, it was impossible to demand it in the Thai places, so now there is an uncomfortable mix of naked and covered men. Moreover, despite a lot of mutual looking, the places are very strict on new-found couples progressing to "action". Also (if I may be an onsen snob 😉) , what the Thais call an "onsen" is not a true onsen, since a true onsen uses mineralised water from geothermal sources - and indeed the water feels different. Using municipal water and warming it up does not count.

Little factoids like these are very helpful. The bars are incentivised to make money from selling drinks to people who primarily come in to watch the show. The boys however may be the ones paying the price. The offing customer may be marginalised because of several consequences of the showbar effect (no seats left, too many women), and so the rate at which boys are offed may be lower than it could be. To make up, boys (and mamasans) may be pushing for higher compensation whenever they get off'd.

An emerging issue is that of deep fakes; especially pornography. It is now possible through technology to use any face captured in photos and paste it onto other bodies in a pornographic video. I haven't myself seen the output, but I have read that the result is so seamless that it's almost impossible to tell that the video has been manipulated. Such manipulation is often used to humiliate the target person, and unsurprisingly, young women are the chief victims. The problem of course is that however much the victim protests or succeeds in taking down the first video, copies would have spread far and wide. Our resident AI expert @Moses may be able to give us more insight into this trend.

Actually, the US Mint has issued dollar coins. But it's not at all popular for some unknown reason*. The first time I saw such a coin, I thought it was fake. The US has also issued a two-dollar bill. Also unpopular and rare. *A coin is pretty useless for tipping strippers in bars. Has anyone tried, e.g. in Toronto or Montreal? I guess it's one way of making customers tip with a minimum $5. (and boyl have we gone off topic)

If you mean that only about 30% of the time are the boys open to kissing, then I'd say that would be my observation too. I also have the feeling that the percentage may be a bit higher in the slightly more expensive places like Arena, Jey Spa, maybe Prince (but I haven't made that many visits to Prince) + boys from gogo bars, and lower (like 20%?) in the Saphan Khwai shops. More likely than not, though, my experience is just the luck of the draw. It's not as if I have a huge sample size to base my views on.

That's useful information. And that's a lot of money. But spending it on marquees is, IMHO, not the best way to spend it. Money would be better spent on (a) websites and social media promoting the area; (b) business consultants hired to reengineer the bars' business models towards more creativity, variety and customer satisfaction. The way I see it, Jomtien Complex's ailment cannot be cured by figuratively shouting (with a lit marquee) at passengers in songteaws who happen to ride past on Thappraya Road. It can only be saved by attracting more visitors from afar (like France, Korea, etc). You can't do that with a marquee. You do that with a good product offer (thus, redesign the business models) and good advertising that goes out internationally (i.e. in multiple languages). This lack of insight into what's needed is not restricted to Jomtien Complex. You could say the same of other gay areas in Thailand.

Who do you think is paying for this? I find it hard to believe that the bars in that street, with reportedly low customer traffic, have the excess cash for this.

In this specific case of a silicone dick, how do we "use these forums as a warning center"? To do so, we'd have to name/identify the person, something that brings up huge ethical issues. Here's where I plug my idea again: gogo bars should offer a private dance option. That way, we can, for a fee, inspect or lightly play with the boy for maybe 10-15 minutes before making a bigger investment.

About being a side: Like any good statistician, one should begin by explaining the methodology and the sampling technique. I shall declare here that I have neither data or ever tried any kind of structured sampling or observation. Please don’t picture me as some kind of fly on the wall, equipped with clipboard, watching and making notes about other people’s preferred gymnastics. 😮 Well, maybe in my next life when, by the grace of Buddha, I am reincarnated as a fly… but not yet. I don’t think it’s so simple. It may well be that those who are EXCLUSIVELY side are a minority (and even then, a biggish minority), but since even tops and bottoms sometimes have encounters that aren’t insertive, then side-type encounters may be much more common than we think. I posit with my arguments below that side-type encounters may very well be the majority of encounters. We may be able to draw, very indirectly, a sense of the situation from the arrays of boys advertised by many of the Saphan Khwai massage shops. Phetboy, K-man, 27M, KK Massage and OneSpa either always or sometimes tag their featured boys with “Top” or “T&B”. I have never seen a pure “B” or “Handjob only” tag (not in Thailand, at least). The great majority of the tagged boys are “Top”. In my experience, even those tagged as “T&B” sometimes resist bottomming. @reader, who surely has far more experience with the Saphan Khwai shops, may be able to share his view on this. Furthermore, I suspect the shops use the “T&B” tag to simply indicate gay sexual orientation, not what they will actually be prepared to do, which adds another layer of complication. Assuming that there isn’t a situation where “T&B” boys score vastly more bookings than “Top” boys, then (since the large majority of boys as tagged as “top”) we are left with two logical possibilities: Either the great majority of interactions in these shops’ rooms involve the customer bottoming, or the great majority of interactions are side. I somehow think it is more likely the latter. One question for the wisdom of the masses here: What about someone whose primary interest is in blowjobs, giving and/or receiving. Would he be classed as a side?

About 4-hands: I totally agree it is almost always poor value for money. Most of us might be piqued by the possibility – and I wonder whether it’s a transfer from watching porn – but in real life it seems hard to arrange, and too often comes with a low satisfaction rate. I paid for a number of four-hand massages way back in the 1990s, then got disillusioned and haven’t really been buying anymore. From distant memory, the only time when I had what might be called a “good” session was eons ago in Phuket when I hired a pair of guys. They were unusually interactive with each other which was fun to watch. Later I found out that they were cousins and had been frisky with each other since young. But even then, there was some disappointment. After they had both cum, they were so spent they hardly performed much by way of service on me. "Hey guys, I am the one paying!" I have only one story in my blog about a four-hands massage - so rarely do I order this. This was from 2020, and was far more typical of the so-so, meh, experience I associate with such an arrangement.

Indeed! I was once in a Seoul hotel and happened to chat with an American couple at breakfast. They said something about hoping to visit, later that day, a site just outside Seoul. It so happened that I had been there just the day before and our conversation ventured into how I made my way there and back. I simply described taking the metro to a line's final stop and then changing to a bus for the last leg. Our hotel was almost on top of the starting metro station, so it would have been the easiest thing in the world to use that routing. They expressed some horror that I would risk taking the "subway" as they called it. I got the sense they were fearful of being mugged. They kept asking how to rent a car - which I knew nothing about - and I kept saying it was completely unnecessary nor the most convenient since we'd have no idea if traffic could be bad. To be fair, I vaguely recall they were from Missouri or Arkansas or some such state in the middle of nowhere. I don't think they had a metro system in their hometown, so it would also have been very unfamiliar to them. I'd give them credit for getting all the way to Korea (something to do with Korean War, I recall) when most people in their home state might find a trip to Canada more than enough of an adventure. I mean, like, what's wrong with Canadians? Why is their dollar different? Why is there a foreign language on some public signs?

Well, if a premature incident happens and the object of affection turns flaccid soon enough, then the prospective customer of the barber shop shall get a "small penis" price, which represents a discount. Alternatively, a free haircut altogether. 🤣

The part that jumped out at me was "They agreed on a fare of 500 baht." The trip was from Phaya Thai BTS station which most of us are familiar with. His destination was Soi Mangkon, near Wat Mangkon. There is an MRT station called Wat Mangkon. So, it would have been far cheaper (under 100 baht) and more comfortable to go from Phaya Thai to Asok by BTS, and then change to MRT at Sukhumvit station and then go to Wat Mangkon.I reckon it would take less than half an hour in airconditioned comfort, rather than battle traffic jams and breathe vehicular fumes in a non-enclosed tuktuk. Alternatively, take the airport train from Phaya Thai to Makkasan. Walk over to Petchaburi MRT station and train down to Wat Mangkon.

Has it not occurred to anyone that those endowments have been photoshopped?

Wouldn't we all? And some of us would have exacting standards to ensure consistent measurement. It has to be erect after precisely 35 strokes in the penis pump - in the absence of which instrument, my trusty hand.

I'm glad you expressed an opinion on that practice. I too think it is improper to oblige anyone to consume alcohol. I would not even excuse it away with "nobody is forced to drink for money" because in reality his employment in the bar may be at risk if he regularly refuses. It is bad form on the part of the customer, and it is irresponsible on the part of the business to permit an unsafe, oppressive work environment. What if a customer offered a cigarette or cocaine instead of a shot? I have seen and hired barboys who turned out to be Muslim. Should they be made to feel obliged to accept the shot?

If it was a free encounter, it's not that strange, just an unusual coincidence. Among all the free partners out there, they come from all sorts of professions. If it was a paid encounter, then it would have been more remarkable.

https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2023/12/13/how-to-take-in-that-massive-thing/ Second half of that post.

And if you read @vinapu's latest reports, some bar boys are demanding 4000 baht - in excess of USD100 - for max 2 hours! See his thread "This time bit different" Day 9 last paragraph.