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Getting exact dates for this year's 2024 Songkran festivities has been confusing because the local government extended everything to help the slumping local economy. Below is what the PCEC (Pattaya City Expats Club) posted in their recent newsletter about the Songkran dates which I used to book my flight to Vietnam to escape the water bazooka mayhem. https://mailchi.mp/6c8ad0cceeae/your-news-from-pattaya-city-expats-club?e=f32891168a

You and Moses both wrote the same response. I am well aware that nothing is done for "free". The point that I was trying to make is: In the 1980s in New York City (NYC) these types of concierge services and access to a type of bellboy service were readily made available to you by the building that you lived in. Yes you had to tip them - so it was not free and their salaries were in the condo assessment fee. Now in the 2000s these services are no longer readily available - except for the elite and ultra rich - due to cost cutting and outsourcing. Now in the 2000s (2024) what was once available in NYC in the 1980s is still available in Thailand in many of the large condo places. Yes it is not free - as their salaries are included in the condo assessment fee. But what is more important is that these concierge / bellboy services were not taken away from us in Thailand. So, by living in Thailand - you can have the joy of going back in time to the good old days and get services (not free) that were readily available in the 1980s that are still available in Thailand.

I am enjoying your cock tease writing style. I cannot wait for the next segment....

One of the joys of retiring in Thailand is that the past is still alive. When I lived in New York City in the 80s is was still popular for concierge / bell boy services to still be free and abundant in many of the NYC residential buildings. Fast forward with the western move to outsource everything and to eliminate formerly "free" services - these types of free concierge services quickly disappeared - remaining only for the elite and ultra rich people. I moved to Pattaya 18 months ago and the services available to us condo dwellers in View Talay are amazing and remind me of that time in NYC when we also had these free services. For example - I don't own a car - but when I first started settling into my condo - I had to make many big purchases and rent special Bolt vans - SUVs to get these purchases home. I would struggle to get them out of the Bolt when it arrived to the View Talay lobby and amazingly, many from the condo security team would run towards me to help me unload these large boxes and then assist me with the freight elevator and bring them into my condo room - all for free - and with a BIG smile as they are always happy to see you return home. Of course I tipped them all. This is one example of many where the free services we get in Thailand are a remnant of what we used to get back in the west.... so, retire in Thailand and have the joy of going back in time :>))

he is hot and is my type of man. is he in BKK or in Pattaya or somewhere else in Thailand ?

Yes I agree - it has been hotter than hell here. With my ongoing motorbike lessons, two of my Thai friends suggested that we go over to Koh Larn (there are no cars on the island - only baht bus songthaews) which makes learning to ride a motorbike great. But the piercing sun limited how much we could drive around on our motorbikes so we just headed over to my favorite beach, Tien beach to lay in the shade under the trees. Thais being Thais would not join me to swim (they wanted the shade) in the lovely transparent turquoise clean water. I had my first fall on my motorbike - this was lesson #10 - my fault - during the ride up the steep narrow mountain road from Tawaen beach over to Tien beach - the wind started to blow my hat off of my head and I instinctively with one of my hands let go of the handlebar to capture my hat resulting in me going off the side of the narrow steep path - speed was VERY slow as it was a steep incline and on a curve. So physically to the motorbike or my body no damage was done - only just to my ego. However, I learned a valuable lesson to keep both hands on the handlebar when driving a motorbike (let the sun hat fly away) - unlike when driving a car - to take one hand off the steering wheel does not have the same risk.....

exactly - usually from Twitter when a Thai person is quoting prices for the various services it is for Thai-on-Thai and generally NOT for us farangs - as the marketing of Thai services to us farang is usually done in Grindr, Hornet, Heesay, or PlanetRomeo where the price is generally much higher than the Thai-on-Thai price. Kind of like what us farangs pay to get into a national park versus what a Thai pays to get into that same national park In my opinion, this is fair - as our incomes tend to be several multiples more than theirs......

wow - first I learned about the "Vinapu tuck" and then I started to apply it in my life Now I learn about VST - at first I was confused - as I thought that it was a new time zone = Vinapu time....

Hi Sydneyboy1, Please check out my GayGuides forum post that I made in January - as I discuss 2 of the many Twitter/Line groups that discuss massage shops and their masseurs extensively primarily in Bangkok - with some comments for Chiang Mai, Phuket, HatYai, and Korea and Japan. Unfortunately, there is nothing for Pattaya as the massage scene here in Pattaya is messed up when it comes to social media access and online booking systems like Bangkok has. I hope that this information will help as I see that TCS Spa and Prestige are perhaps in the top 20 of the places discussed in these Twitter/Line forums. Note that this information is only in Thai but with Google Translate you can open this gem which is chock full of juicy and great information. I have even put my own questions into their forums (using Google Translate) and the forum members were very helpful and responsive.

I am also escaping the water bazooka squirting madness of Pattaya - I leave for Vietnam on 12 April and return after the last squirts and water splashing should have been concluded on 22 April. Some years back, I participated in the Songkran madness but one of my eyes got an infection from some of the dirty water that is splashed around and it took 1 entire week for the infection to go away - so I want to avoid this year's festivities. Many of my friends are saying that I should wear googles but I also wear glasses and it is just so inconvenient to do that for 7 continuous days of water madness..... Already here the stores are selling these GIANT bazooka water pistols - OMG

In my opinion you HIT the nail on the head with what you wrote above. Firstly, there is a HUGE missed opportunity of presenting ALL of the Gay Pattaya on social media. Currently it is fragmented - you have the Jomtien Supertown Complex website system (https://www.gaysupertown.com/) which has web media, blog, Facebook, and Twitter feeds. BUT - it is ONLY focused on what is within the walls of the Jomtien Supertown Complex - like a medieval city. To hell with anything gay that is outside of those walls - even if they exist in Jomtien. This blog also is missing a very much needed section on how to retire successfully in the Pattaya area - like what are the things to do and those things to avoid. Instead, each of us who chose to retire here need to do it on our own and pray and hope that we made the right decisions to make it successful. Then Boyztown and Sunee are almost non-existent in social media. So, in my opinion, the worst enemy of the gay community in Pattaya is the same gay community that allows for this defragmented and not united methodology to marketing on ALL of the millions of social media outlets a COMBINED focus on what Gay Pattaya has to offer. It is absent. In closing, in my opinion, until there is a change in the above marketing deficiencies - I believe that Gay Pattaya will continue to disappear - as there is no SINGLE marketing voice to market Gay Pattaya to the world.

I was down in Songkhla Province - including Songkhla city and also HatYai and many other places for 17 days during the Christmas and New Year (2024) period. In HatYai city there was the G-Club Spa https://line.me/ti/p/RQSlvYKWJv --> Twitter information below and also the Kamyan HatYai Massage https://line.me/ti/p/lL62VopRFv -> does not have a presence on Twitter I then also employed the services of 3 different local tour companions that I found in Twitter and Hornet - in case you need more information.

I believe that there are around 4 primary Buddhist holidays where the bars must shut down (due to the no alcohol sales rule), of which the Makha Bucha Day holiday is one of these 4 holidays. I was also in the Jomtien Supertown Complex last night and at midnight all the bars were already closing with lights off. It lasts for 24 hours. Performing a Wikipedia search https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_in_Thailand below is a list of these holidays but I am not sure which ones require an alcohol ban - perhaps those with the "Bucha" word in the holiday name? Do any of our more knowledgeable readers know ?

oh no - these words cast a bad omen on us new entries - I started retiring here in September 2022 how much time would you estimate I have left before I won't know what is going on as I crawl into my turtle shell into my expat retiree sheltered life ?

Hello JD. Hit me up if you want to hang out after you arrive in Pattaya. I sent you a DM.