vinapu

Well, we lived in Pattaya for a long time and he mostly dislikes Pattaya Farangs. But, I think that has to do with the constant BS a "taken" boy gets from others trying to woo him away.
 
I went on a boat trip to the River Kwai a few years back. It was organized by a group of Pattaya expats and they charged a price for the boys to go but provided some whiskey etc and guaranteed the boat. I took around 20 guys with me. That means I paid for them, paid for their ticket, their transportation and liquor. I won't even begin to say how much this cost. But, one of the sponsors of the trip took a liking to one of the guys I brought. He was insistently following him around and hitting on him. The young lad was nice but kept saying no and moving on. Finally, the older farang said, "I am one of the sponsors of this trip and you must go to my cabin with me." Many Thais would simply do as asked but he turned back and said as he pointed at me, "That is my sponsor for this trip." The old man came over and asked my name and I chatted with him and he asked if the boy was taken and I said, "Yes, he is." Truth is that he wasn't but he had already filled me in on the guy. The man said, "well, I pay a great deal for this trip and guys like him should not be invited."
 
The story is simple. There are many like that from guys I know. When a farang treats a guy with such disrespect, it is often taken against the whole lot of us. Sad, but true.

I'm surprised nobody has picked up on Michael's comment regarding his friend disliking falungs. Ok, he wrote 'many farangs' but that definitely implies he doesn't like the majority of 'them'. It depends on what is meant by the term 'many' I guess. 
 
Sometimes you read that foreigners (note to any readers new to Thailand: farang is the Thai word for foreigner - when I write falung that is just a common written variant that supposedly reflects the way Thais pronounce it) don't like being referred to as a farang, but then foreigners do the same referring to others as Thais. I think the problem is when a foreigner thinks he ought to be referred to by his name, Johnny, Pete, Steve, or whoever, rather than being de-personalised by use of a catch-all expression, although to be fair I have never been called farang to my face, it tends to be used between Thais speaking amongst themselves when referring to you. 
 
Certainly, once a group of people become referred to in a particular way, they can henceforth be seen to 'be all the same'. Hence some foreigners feel being referred to as falung pigeon-holes them. The same could be said for nationalities, we sometimes use the expression TiT (This is Thailand!) and its many variants. Russians and Arabs, fairly or unfairly, tend to be all lumped together (see recent comments on the Thailand wants to sock it to Tourists thread) and so on. That's fine if any particular group has a good reputation, but if it's a bad one, you're a marked man already! I think I know how Peter Lorre must have felt in M. (famous 1931 film directed by Fritz Lang).
 
 
 
 
Taking this a stage farther, I wonder just how many Thais actually like pizza. Don't we sometimes make the mistake of assuming because we do that everybody else does? Probably in the case of pizza that's a fair assumption, especially amongst younger Thais now that pizzas are so readily available, almost an international food along with hamburgers and the like. Be that as it may, it is probably worth simply asking any young Thai(s) you intend to invite out for a meal "do you like pizza", and if the reply is "up to you" you know it means they aren't too keen . . . not a cast iron way of interpreting it, but very often true.

You are right, drink is just our admission ticket.
 
Before one would gather meaningful statistic sample ' in situ '  to answer your question his budget would be busted and liver ruined / in your case kidneys as I gather you do not drink alcohol /.
 
When I watch now  cold rain outside I 'm sure I'd gladly pay those inflated prices we are discussing here  just to be there. 
 
And really we can always vote with our feet like we do, you are good hunting non-moneyboys and have stable source of cheap company at Saranrom, firecat returned to Pattaya nad immediately found smiling tiger and  I should shut up completely as I like massage over bar boys  / last trip 7 out of 9 /.
 
Thus attendance in bars is owners problem , sometimes one client leaving upset over something is just creating empty chair for next one entering door  at the moment

The same happened to me in May in Jupiter 2 nights in row. And I liked it because I was ignored completely by mamasans other than first drink.
 
Imagine , good hour in the bar without familiar pestering, just this is worth 300 baht drink.

Many Lady Bars have signs No Russians.  You can draw your own conclusions!

Some interesting facts. Didn't know that there are bars elsewhere where the boys have to pay to work there.
 
I think I read on stickmanweekly that price structure in girl bars is completely different (drink price, off fee, tip).
 
It is clear to me that I don't pay for the drink, but for being allowed to enter the bar. I go to bars to watch boys in underwear with the intention to off one. There is an influx of customers when the show starts, I usually leave the bar when the show starts. It might be that the show is the expensive part of running a bar, that would mean I pay for something I don't want. Luckily, there are some bars without shows.
 
An interesting question: does one group of customers (those who only come to watch or those who come to off) subsidize the other group? What is the ratio of these two groups in different bars, Asian and Farang customers, tourists and expats?

Bob, I was in Dream Boys a few months back and the cost was like 360 baht a drink. I was one of only two white people in the audience. The rest were Asian. I was with a good friend who asked the owner about the rates and he said that only the expats cared about it. He said the vast majority of his customers were from Singapore and Hong Kong and they never complain about the cost or the service. He made it clear that he did not care if a westerner came into his places or not as he was just find with the way things were going.
 
I have another friend who use to go there often and order 10 or more drinks each night and the owner knows this. He approached the owner and told him that he would go in for the evening and buy drink after drink if he would lower the price to say 220 baht a drink. The owner said, "No thanks. Find another Bar." So, I guess he is very happy with his clientele which is mostly Asian.
 
Likewise, my favorite Hero is often filled with Thais and other Asians and they could care less if a Westerner is there.
 
It is just the way these particular places make their money. IMHO

Visited said Remington few years ago , beer 4.50 or 4.75 so price with tip will be 6 $=180 baht, you are right , much cheaper than Soi,
Private lap dance was 20$ per song, song lasting 3-5 minutes. Got toughly-feely with very handsome dancer for about 20-25  minutes, 5 songs. Cost 100 $ = 3000 baht. Then realized that this is more then generous  long-time tip in BKK.
 
Since then strictly follow z909 advice above- make adjustments to expenditure patterns at home  and save money for holiday.
 
 
Generally our view on bar pricing depends on whether we are:
 
long term residents- obviously not willing or able to afford those prices on daily basis,
 
people on longer , once a- lifetime vacations who will be more prolific spenders but still watching budget, specially toward end of vacation 
 
and all those Singaporeans  on long weekend hops to LOS or people  visiting Thailand for short period of time / 5 or 7 days in my case/ on the way to, from or between other countries in region whose tolerance for prices is much higher as usually we are on the way to airport before money run out and do not want to waste an opportunity over overpriced 10-13 $ drink. 
 
So no reason to consider anybody cheap Charlie or fools parting soon with money as our motivations and spending patters  are different.
 
I,  for one probably overspend on drinks, boy tips and definitely massages, others spend much more on restaurants, fancy hotels, taxis , discos, saunas etc.  After all those are our vacations and we can treat ourselves however we see fit.
 
Is bad to wake up  in the morning feeling like idiot over spending way too much in the bar last night and also no good to open eyes to empty space in the bed beside over difference in tip's size. 

So glad to be back in Pattaya.  I found Grindr and Jack'd very unresponsive in Bangkok as compared to Pattaya. And of course Gayromeo is much easier in Pattaya also.  I still love Bangkok but it only took me until 30 minutes after my arrival to have this Tiger in my bedroom.
 
Of course also glad to get away from 330 baht diet cokes.  Ridiculous!!!

I don't quite buy the premise that Asians as a group are causing the prices to rise anywhere in Thailand.  Just doesn't make sense to me.  If one had to guess and single out a group that might be doing that, we westerners would get the prize in my view.
 
And I also can't fathom the premise that the Asians will cause Bangkok prices to lower when they figure out it's cheaper to go to Pattaya.  If they're the big spenders, why would they look for a cheaper alternative?

Remington's and Flash in Toronto charge 155 bht (5.00) cover. Bars in MTL don't charge cover. Both T.O. and MTL charge about 187 bht (6.00) for beer/soda and 311+bht (10.00 and up) for mixed drinks. Neither has off fees for the boys but "tips" to take a boy off will run you 3110 - 4666 bht (100.00 - 150.00 or more)in Canadian$. Tips for private dance now run 311 bht per song for no touching and 622 bht per song for touching above the waist. They mix a lot of songs and if your not careful, a 5 minute private "dance" can cost you $60 - $80 Canadian! Safve to say, BKK and Pattaya are a FAR better deal for the money

I certainly hope the good doctor doesn't try to apply her formula finding research to penis size and sexual satisfaction. By the time I finished reading her formula for perfect pizza size I was no longer hungry. If she tried to apply it to sex, most of us would likely fall asleep before the deed was done!

Sorry Christian!
 
Beard backlash: the clippers are out
 
“What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays,” begins one of the greatest kids' books of all time, Roald Dahl’s The Twits.
 
 
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/fashion-and-style/10388072/Beard-backlash-the-clippers-are-out.html
 
(Note to non-Brits, Paxman is an extremely irritating (at least to me!) interviewer on late night BBC TV. On the other hand he is very good at his job.)
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10249396/Jeremy-Paxman-Its-only-a-beard-but-its-a-big-burden.html

The Zeus is former Ocean boys / Future Boys. I was there some weeks ago with a friend, both of us were not overwhelmed. I stayed in X-Boys for the show (until the golf ball, then it got too boring so I left) and there were boys with fluorescent paint "X-Boys" and "The Zeus" which indicates that both bars are under same management (and someone commented somewhere that The Zeus swaps boys with another bar, if I remember correctly).
 
I commented on yesterday's visit to Soi Twilight on SGT, let me just copy:
 

I don't know the current situation but as that was only just over ten years ago probably nothing's changed.
 
One thing is for sure, our members past and present have visited / are intending to visit, purely for pleasure, rather than further add to the misery of narcotic addiction for the sake of personal greed.
 
Unfortunately, the lure of supposed 'easy money' entraps many, often poor people, to undertake the risk of carrying drugs from one country to another. Usually it is the 'little guy or gal' that is arrested. The drug bosses IMO are little better than mass murderers, in addition to the misery they sow, they send the equivalent of the 'Indian scout' into foreign territory knowing full well they may never return.
 
So when Michael writes . . .
 
 
 . . . that's great he made a life for himself starting from scratch. I suppose in an ideal world poverty would be alleviated - socialist countries and capitalist countries alike - but of course in reality the world is an unfair place and there'll always be reasons why criminality thrives.

I don't know the current situation, perhaps things have calmed down a lot since Thailand stirred things up back in 2007.
 
Thailand takes on drug industry, and may be winning
 
 
Tough talking, but . . .
 
 
Understandable comments from Big Pharma . . .
 
 
And at least one Thai is a fan of Chinese proverbs!
 
 
A message for Starbucks here, or am I stretching the analogy too far?
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/world/asia/11iht-pharma.4.5240049.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

reprimand humbly accepted, I'm not a businessman so can't say much about acceptable business practices and may be wrong.
 
I don't like an idea of big guy bullying small one using standard legal channels and hope that during my lifetime at least water and air will not be legally trademarked.
 
Defending legal rights, yes. Strangling somebody without anesthetics while doing so , no 
 
As for legality while not advocating anarchy I can notice that during my lifetime in the Starbuck's  homeland it was perfectly legal to force  black person to use back of the bus only and still  in many countries what we are doing with our boyfriends or boys special is legally hanging or even better stoning offence. So legal channels may be manipulated   to somebody's advantage.

This was my first time out in a month. My back has been out and I haven't really done anything and Firecat and Dev asked me to join in the Soi. I am glad I did.
 
I had a nice Chicken Fried Rice at Maxi's. It was much better than the last one at Dick's cafe.
 
I was also surprised that all of us like the exact same guy. He was fun and flirtations and very cute. I hope he is there for a bit so someone on the board can test him out and let us know how he is.

Finally, a listing for my favorite place in Thailand.
 
Let me help others by summing up Hero: The Best that Bangkok (or Thailand) has to Offer
 
There is no place that compares with the quality and the service. This place is fantastic. I have been there at least 200 times over 10 years and only been disappointed 2-3. It has some of the sexiest guys you will ever find assembled in a massage place.
 
But, they have few twinks and few younger type guys. They always have a few but they are the minority.
 
Hero is amazing and a must do for everyone that visits Bangkok and likes massage with a happy ending!

This establishment has great management. It has been around for a long time and rarely any bad comments. Except having to wait too long for a room.
 
Like many saunas in Thailand,it is located in a remote area but not far from Sukhumvit once you study the map.
  Once you open the door you will see many sofas and a restaurant on the left, where food can be served in comfort.   The boys are in room that looks like a Fish Bowl with a small gym in the back.There is usually a large selection of varied types and satisfaction is a good bet. Mamasan know their boys so tell them what you are looking for.   Their phone number is (02-651-2358). You can call if you get lost and they will help you with directions.   Once you enter Soi 11 from Sukhumvit, make a left at the end of the Soi and follow the road until it hits the canal, Hero will be on your left you can not miss it because of the sign in lights at the entrance. .   http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/9091-hero-massage-in-bangkok-and-what-the-rooms-look-like/?h… http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/9006-my-first-bad-experience-at-hero-massage/?hl=hero http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/8891-hero-massage-club-questions/?hl=hero http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/8667-hero-massage-in-bangkok/?hl=hero   Please tell us about your experience and do not forget to post some photos if you have.. Information: Address: 65 Sukhumvit Soi 11   Phone: 02-651-2358   Google coordinate: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=13.747498,100.556362

So it did not rain last night and I headed out to Soi Twilight and met Michael and Devint6669 at Maxi's for a drink.  It was early at 830pm and things were a little slow. After awhile Christian stopped by to say hello and chat for a few minutes..
 
At 915 we took a walk down the Soi and checked out Zeus which is at least the 3rd incarnation of the former Future Boys. They all have failed and probably so will this one.  Lot of fanfare outside about Grand Opening and contests but upon looking in 6 boys on stage. Certainly not worth the 300 baht drinks.
 
We meandered back the other way and entered X Boys.  This used to be my favorite bar when Soi Twilight was a regular destination for me.  I have not been there for a few months and am interested to see what they have on offer.
 
The 3 of us sit down on the side of the stage and shortly thereafter Christian joins us.  They have a number of attractive boys and the level of the music is bearable.
 
We ask each other who is our favorite boy on stage.  Beyond belief, we all pick the same boy,  #24    4 Guys who rarely agree  on types and we all pick the same boy.  But none of us did anything about it.  Maybe another night.
 
When the Show started we left and that was it for the night.  To be honest at 300 baht a drink bar - hopping is not interesting to any of us.
 
Thank god for the Singaporeans, Chinese, Japanese etc.  Because if these bars needed to survive on Westerners , they would starve.
 
Two photos of the street below. In one you can see all the massage bos standing around!

I know Michael has done a good report on Bumungrad Hospital but I will chime in with my experience today.
 
I wanted to see a Cardiologist I saw 4 years ago and bounce what my Dr in Atlanta is doing for my high blood pressure off of him
 
I also have a healthy distrust of Dr's in the USA and especially restrictions put on them by Insurance Companies.
 
I went  there to discuss the medicines I am on and also to talk about a stress test with Echocardiograms before and after.
 
At any rate we decided to do the stress test if for no other reason to calm concerns of any possible blockages.  
 
Passed with flying colors and the Cardiologist personally did the stress test. Good luck having that happen in the USA.
 
Total cost for Dr Test and some medicine for a month about $350.  My copay would probably be more then that in the USA.
 
Keep in mind , I only made an appointment to see the Cardiologist but they were able to do the stress test at same time. In USA it would have required 2 separate appointments and days in between.
 
This is one of the finest Hospitals in the world and they have spared no expense.  Each Floor has a speciality and their own cashier and pharmacy for that floor only.  In the photos below you will see the entrance as you arrive by taxi and then the sign in desk on your specialty floor , a shot of the Atrium in this Wing , the cashiers desk and some photos out the window in waiting area.
 
If you get sick in Thailand , have no fear of the care you will get at this hospital and if you need procedures done in your home country that insurance will not pay for or the wait is too long, you will be surprised with how reasonable health care cost are in the Land of Smiles.
 
Sunny today and hopefully no rain tonight and I will be off to Soi Twilight and report on some boys I hope.
 
Sorry there has not been a lot of boy stuff the last few days but hope you still find the posts interesting?

Certainly you are giving a lift to Thai economy !
 
Have you ever used services of another male beauty salon Up 2 on Rama IV  between Silom and Suriwong? I need some mutilation on myself and looking for feedback on both

Such is the Thai way.  Their respect for elders in some ways is why they can do the job they do with customers 2 and 3x or more their age.
 
Many of the boys I meet are from broken homes and mama is the parent who was there for them and they will do anything to help her.
 
Although I am sure the situations you mention do happen, I believe in just as many cases the family is dirt poor and things such as recent floods may destroy their way to survive.

Great mystery  for me is as heavy as I am, my cholesterol and sugar are perfect.  Still no excuse and have to get to work on it. So much harder when you get older to lose weight.
 
Think I heard something about it being another mediocre addition in the same building but I will look for Zeus tonight if the rains stay away.