newalaan

I can only give a recent experience of East Suites in Jomtien (as have never stayed Agate) where I stayed for 10 nights last month, my first trip to Pattaya for 30 months. Despite the length of time since my last stay I found East Suites as immaculate as before. I had booked the Executive Suite 70sq m which is huge, but the other standard suites are 50 sq m and also very large. One difference post-covid was the entry system. Before East Suites had 24hr reception, but now has a key fob which 'beeps' for the auto open/close front door, I found that easier than the previous 'pick-up keys at reception' routine. The reception was open from early morning until about 6-7pm where free coffee and croissants are available at breakfast time, so the key fob only really used at night, so therefore no issues with joiners. The room was as usual immaculate. One thing it does have compared to most hotel rooms is a small kitchen area with coffee maker and microwave with cutlery/glasses etc which we found very handy and are used to with staying primarily in apartments. Possibly for some the fact Est Suites has no lift is an issue, but there are ground floor rooms available. I prefer using stairs no matter where I stay and only use the lift when checking in and out with luggage, but at East Suites the male receptionist is available to assist with luggage and is very helpful. The prices Bt1400-Bt1700 depending on room size never really change, but compared to what you get are excellent value for money. Compared to The Agate the room sizes at East Suites will probably be about double the size. John the owner is usually around the reception daytime and is very approachable and helpful. I had no issue with noise from the Complex at East Suites.

From memory the Euro Boys Gogo owner, Mikael from Sweden, became ill and had to sell it because he was poorly, so it might have seemed sudden. I think Eden next door landed up buying it and it was possibly they who turned it into host bar, this would have been around 2011-2012. Mikael also owned a small apartment block Sanai Apartments almost opposite Eros Bar and it was the new British owner of Sanai Apts (having bought them from Mike) who informed me about Euro Boys around that time. But yes, it was a popular Gogo bar back in the day.

By the way, thank you for your update on this and other updates you post regarding Pattaya bars etc.. williewillie, its good to hear from somebody 'on the ground', much appreciated for those of us missing in action.

Just to add a comment as I know of this boy, and know the South African in the passing as we have a common farang friend. Interesting you suggest possible abuse, because from what I have heard, there is, but it is the other way round with the Thai boy very controlling and the farang allowing it to happen despite many giving him good advise about this boy/man. I have seen the Thai boy many, many times in Sunee, he is one I have never engaged with or even spoken to other than him saying 'hi' and avoid at all costs if I can. There are very few people in the sunee or gay Pattaya bars I feel inclined to deliberately avoid, but he is one. If this stabbing is true, I won't be that surprised and it takes a lot for me to say something like that.

A Thai friend who runs QM2.0 bar in Jomtien Complex had a 1 bed room 60sqm room for rent with 2 balconies, I think above the bar, at Bt10,000 per month, but offering at Bt8,500 due to Covid situation.This was couple weeks ago so not sure if still available, or for which months. Sorry don't have precise contact details but if of interest you could try contacting QM 2.0 Bar through their Facebook page [QM2.0 BAR].

With regards to Bangkok, perhaps a chance to consolidate the gay gogo/bar scene in Patpong 2, as per previously on Soi Twilight. I see from 'stickman weekly' site he reports that 2-3 lady gogo bars on Patpong 2 are not going to reopen after lockdown no matter what happens, so maybe a chance to fully establish Patpong 2 as the 'gay soi', even he is suggesting that possibility. Given that Thailand hopes for Asian country customers to return first, as was the case pre-lockdown, where well-off Asians...….Chinese, Sth Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong etc were the main customer base that gives a real hope that they, along with any Bkk expats can offer hope, certainly initially until we see just what the full Covid damage will be in terms of International travel from Western countries as well as the Asian one's. Although it seems the fall-out will be much worse than 2008 Financial crisis, that crisis showed there were still enough gay travellers with deep pockets who still had the will and means to travel to Thailand and visit the gogo bars and entertainment areas.

Thanks to z909 for posting this excellent recent visit update. Even though you describe as short it has plenty of good info and to the point, all the forums seem to be lacking this kind of review nowadays compared to the amount of trip reports there used to be a few years back certainly over at SGT. Your honest, disappointments along with the successes reporting are the posts I appreciate most. I too like Mosaik as a base when i'm in South Pattaya and your types of boy and bars are also similar to my own, our only difference is that your report is from the aspect of looking to off boys regularly, which I rarely (but sometimes) do as happy with bf status in Thailand, but I do bar-hop a lot and enjoy the company of 2-3 of Sunee regulars, in and out of their respective bars at times. Just to advise, the bar right next to Euro Boys is Eden Bar run by a nice, polite, cute lad called Kone, and is a one-shop unit, Diamond Bar is the next one down and double the size with a pool table at the back. All 3 bars have freelancers who do occasionally visit the bars they are not 'based' at. The only shock/surprise from your post and completely different to my own experience, is that of your disappointment with Sai. If its the same lad I'm thinking of, he's a slight built, smaller, cute lad from Eden Bar but older than he looks, closer to 30 than he is to 20 I think. I would have expected him to be an ideal off for you given your likes. While I've only sat with him a couple times, if it is the same lad, I've seen him working quite a few times and always found him to be very eager and service-orientated about taking care of you when in his company, as far as I understand he's definitely bottom and is usually quite forward (when sitting with you quietly) about what he likes as a bottom. I've never offed him so of course cant confirm that's how it plays out back in room. But he's definitely never been pushy with me or have seen him like that with other customers, in fact always comes across as very keen to satisfy, so keen he even offered to pay his own off fee if I took him last trip. (I'm sure he knows I have a bf so maybe he made that offer never expecting me to take it up). Maybe he was a little boozy that evening? and not himself when you offed him and maybe you were just a bit unlucky on the night as his behaviour seems completely different to what I would have expected to hear (which is also based on what Kone the manager and a couple of other boys in the next door bars have told me about him). Just out of interest, when he tried to push you into buying another round and getting you to move, why did you not just put a marker down and tell him you were happy seated where you were, that might have got him to wake up his ideas a bit regarding his responsibilities to his customer. That aside, (and pity about the flu), but it seems you had a very enjoyable and successful trip to Pattaya and we enjoyed hearing about it. Did you not venture to Jomtien Complex during your trip?

I haven't actually asked Kone directly but this is what I was told by a couple of the Diamond Bar guys where Kone previously worked. Agree he is a very likeable lad, very easy to get on with. As I commented over at SGT......good to hear Euro Boys is already open, I expect to be dropping by all three bars early next week.

There are definitely others. All the Cambodian boys I know in Sunee do a return home visit regularly when they need a 'visa run'. In June when I visited one bar had very few of their regular lads the first night I was there. All the Cambodian lads had returned home both to help with harvest and at the same time renew their visas. They were only back home for about seven days all told.

Just saw that confirmed on SGT, as I said over there, very disappointed and surprised. Disappointed as it is my early evening venue to park myself for first couple drinks of the night when in Pattaya, while I soak up the atmosphere and decide the agenda for the rest of the night as well as enjoying checking-out the lads opposite at Toy Boys. Arriving in Pattaya in a few days after a stop in Bkk, so it looks like the Ambiance Terrace or Serene will have to be the early evening place as Oscars is also closed. Struggling to find some good news about Pattaya bars at the moment.

Thanks for the 'heads up' on this new bar hanan, always good to hear of another addition to Jomtien even if further out from the main Soi. Sometimes it's nice to visit the bars outwith the main soi as often it feels like many of the bars especially in the lower main soi seem to merge into one large bar area. Also staff on the outer areas are often very appreciative of customers who make the effort and try a bit harder to make your visit enjoyable. I found that at Pour House (then ganymede) and the likes of Festival Bar. Will certainly make the effort to check out the bar during my visit next month which includes a short stay in Jomtien, at The Venue hotel for the first time as East Suites, my usual lodgings, are fully booked for my dates.

Just to clarify kokopelli, you do get served the large DS in a single glass but as I've been going there since it opened they know just to give me another glass with only some ice and I split the double myself, I don't know if they actually use a measure there but sometimes even the double I get is a rather large double, probably more like a triple. Also the Belgian boss often sends over a top-up on the house without asking if I want one, so land up drinking more than I normally do in one bar. I wasn't sure about the wine or beer as I just stick to vodka/gin there, that's why I emphasised only the spirits were good value, I suspected the wine/beer might be above the surrounding bar average pricing. I'm never in there before 9pm so no happy hour beer pricing for me! Also agree Double Shot is a tremendous asset to the Plaza, things would be even darker without it.

Thanks for this update Hanan. When I visited in Feb/Mar this year I was one of those disappointed with the place. It was very quiet on the customer front and only 5-6 boys the nights I visited, which was a pity as a year previous it was one of the best Gogos in Pattaya. As it was high season then I was concerned for it's future but glad to see it's got itself sorted out. Although even when dead was over-staffed with waiting staff, or rather 'hanging-around doing very little' staff. Look forward to visiting next month during my trip to Thailand, it seems it's back to what it was last year.

I partly disagree with this hanan. The only negative regarding the pricing of spirits, vodka, whisky, gin etc.. in DS is that essentially you have to buy a minimum of two drinks, as part of the 'double Shot' measure they serve in the Bt150 price. When priced as an individual drink, a top-shelf vodka with half bottle of freshly opened original coke at Bt75 is easily competitive with any of the other bars. When I go to Double Shot I usually have the vodka/coke, I receive 2 glasses and split the large double measure with the bottle of the fresh coke. A DS measure in one glass is too strong for my taste. I visit here regularly as I do most of the other Sunee bars during a visit, and always enjoy a stop off here during the evening. Also if you are a night-bird DS can be found open well into to wee hours of the morning. Not sure the pricing of wine and beer, but on spirits DS is a great option in my experience.

Sun bar in particular has a number of Laos boys.......great to talk with, as all naturally Lao/Issan/Thai speakers as well as good English, very keen and nice attitude. In my experience they seem keener to interact here and approach rather than the more 'leave you alone till you ask' style in some other Jomtien Bars.

Have to agree with Colmx in that Sinlapin Issan seems to be current 'in' place for Issan music. Just back from Thailand trip just short of a month,of which 2 weeks were spent in Sth Pattaya. The three nights we went to Sinlapin were best night-outs during Pattaya trip. 2 visits we stayed till 5.30am/closing, mostly tables of gay lads, quite a few bar lads from sunee and Jomtien I bumped into there too. As Colmx suggests a bit too early to know details of outdoor morlam so far in advance of May. I visited only one outdoor Morlam on Fri 16th Feb which was a bigger than usual one near Tam Nan Chon, good attendance and great night, tons of gay lads at this one, and very few westerners/farangs to be seen. Strangely they had the 'big' outdoor one on Fri 16 and also a slightly smaller outdoor one the next night on Sat 17th at the old Xyte area. We didn't attend the second one so i'm not sure how well attended it was. Sadly this was the first trip for a long time that we didn't attend Tam Nan Khon Issan in Pattaya, it was just so much easier to hit Sinlapin Issan, bf forgot ID one night and they let him in after looking at 'something' on his phone for 'proof', I didn't ask questions so not sure what the 'proof' amounted to, but yes they seem quite strict on ID. I usually drink beer towers at Tam Nan Issan but SinlapinE doesn't do them, they offer large beer bottles 600ml? at Bt120 so not over expensive, was off whisky so we bought bottle Vodka 'for me' (although it was empty at the end I certainly didn't drink that much of it!) at 7-11 on way which I think was only Bt100 corkage in the venue, they push Blend 285 aggressively at Sinlapin, most lads perfectly happy with that but sometimes I like a change. Just as passing note: Many of bf's friends now are so concerned about non-original spirits in the clubs (even NAB and Tam Nan/Sinlapin) often buy from 7-11/Family as a matter of routine, more to make sure they are drinking 'original' whiskey than for saving cash.

The owner of TingTongRed reports on this facebook page that the TTR restaurant and guesthouse are still open and serving customers, only the bar has issue with license, and it is expected to fully open again on Monday. I arrive in Jomtien at the start of a Thailand trip Monday and always go over to Sunee on the first evening just to check it out, so hope all back to normal by then.

None of the above. Since I started visiting Thailand start of 2000 the £-Pound Sterling has gone from highs of Bt70+ down through Bt60, Bt50 and with Brexit and other factors is now around Bt44+. I will still visit at least 3 times a year, month at a time and don't compromise with anything regarding trip costs. I simply take more £ Sterling.

It is definitely a more difficult decision to make between staying in South Pattaya or Jomtien nowadays as Jomtien has improved so much. I like both, but definitely prefer to be based for the larger part of my Pattaya stay in South Pattaya in the Tuk Com area. During a Thailand trip I visit other areas in Thailand as well including a short stay in Jomtien, normally for the first 3-4 nights of a trip as a relaxing start after the journey and getting used to Thailand again. I like to break up the overall (about) 4 week visit by being based in different locations. Bkk, Jomtien, South Pattaya and normally Issan or Phuket. Always have done it that way and it keeps my interest up throughout the trip. I don't visit Thailand nowadays or indeed the last 10 years or so just to meet up with boys from the bars and apps as I have bf in Thailand already and the holiday/trip is more about getting away from Euroland, recharge batteries and enjoy time with bf in general. But the Pattaya part of the visit does definitely revolve round bars, clubs, music venues, boys, fun, entertainment...as opposed to taking in travel and sights. So access to all the normal daily requirements of a Pattaya visit have to be taken into consideration and the 'bulk' of those needs are more easily accessed by staying in the Tuk-Com/DayNight area of South Pattaya. My main accommodation at Mosaik apartments is there with very easy walking distance to Sunee, Boyztown, Walking St and it's a quick Baht Bus ride to most of the other places we like visit/hang out at from outside Tuk Com door. If I were into offing boys for long/short time from bars........South Pattaya would still be the preferred base too as ALL the Agogo bars are there as well as the amount of host bars between Boyztown and Sunee.

To be honest Jasper I wouldn't go very far out of my way to earn zero point something of a percent for exchange. But at the airport I was able to compare the rates to my usual exchange booths (T.T in Pattaya, Superrich or x-one currency Silom/surawong) on the spot on my smartphone, and on that specific day Value+ at Airport was the best, so it made sense just to get it changed at the Airport. But the main point for the post was to advise others that there are very competitive rates at the Airport and you don't only need to change small amounts just to get by for the first day, the rates are good enough to beat well known exchange booths in Pattaya, downtown Silom etc.. for larger sums. I stopped taking Travel Cheques some years back in favour of high denomination Sterling cash, but yes, as you say, one does need to be aware of just how fussy even the smallest exchange booth can be with note condition. Like you I take crisp notes, in fact now only order new notes from my UK bank head office to guarantee condition. Just out of interest why did Green Superrich or indeed yourself feel the need to change Baht notes for brand new one's? Surely the one's you got from Superrich would have been fine. I've never had a Bt1000 note rejected anywhere in Thailand over 18 years...

Sorry for slightly off topic, but need to comment and update this. Last two trips in Sept/Oct and June/July best rates I received anywhere in Thailand and that includes Superrich, T.T. outlets in Pattaya and Chinese exchange booth in Pattaya was on the lower floor of Suvarnabhumi Airport where you catch BTS/train to city. There are a few Exchange Booths there in competition, Value+ Exchange just beat Superrich and the other exchange booths. Inside the Airport, on the upper floors the standard bank booth exchange rates were poor in comparison. On Oct trip I changed all my £-Sterling currency on arrival at Airport Value+ booth and didn't see a better rate anywhere on my Thailand travels.

Can't tell you a thing about any massage places outside of Twilight except once in massage shop next door to D'Varee Silom (Ballys) Hotel soi 2 silom. but as above both Bonny and Bangkok in Twilight have never failed to have a suitable (to my taste) twink on hand anytime I've visited there (2-3 times a year) for at least last dozen years. Usually there's more than one of my type available. Also over that length of time, with many different masseurs at Bonny especially, I've found the facilities and massage to be consistent to the point of never having been disappointed as well as worth the cost on every occasion. The fact that it's so close to Suriwong/Silom area is a bonus.

That's me too Londoner! When I did take boys regularly I never had a problem in all the years I've offed guys from Chiang Mai/Pattaya/Phuket/Bkk inc Saphan Kwai. I never discuss money upfront. If I had doubts about a Viet boy no matter how cute I would move on after at least trying to find common ground. If he said he prefers females sexually, its a no go from the start for me. I've always spent a good bit of time with potential offs as part of an evenings enjoyment if in bar/karaoke/club and if there is no common ground or chemistry I abort and try elsewhere. I always found investing not a huge amount of money in boy drinks to guarantee a better overall outcome well worth it. I mean, there are hundreds of available boys, I am never obsessive enough to have to take a specific boy if there is no chemistry. On holiday I have time, bars are open long enough, no need to rush. Often is the case where I've aborted a potential hook up and found an equally appealing guy elsewhere within minutes. There have been offs based on personality as much as looks in the past. I enjoyed my last visit to Screw Boys even just for the eye candy. I'll be back next trip February.

Didn't want to post off topic on the tragic Lurker thread so made new thread. It relates to a comment by floridabob below on the Lurker thread regarding contact info on your person when in Thailand. It's always good to bring the topic up every so often as a reminder. When abroad anywhere, but especially Thailand I carry a credit card sized passport page copy, which is the passport page photocopied laminated and folded in half. Before laminating I use the blank side to print out contact number for bf and best friend in Thailand, then next of kin in UK. Also my travel insurance company name, policy number, tel no and email address. Below that any medication I might be taking, or would list health issues if I had any. Being credit card size it fits into all my shirt pockets and I take it everywhere when abroad, every day no matter where I am. I hate the idea of having an accident or incident where time is of the essence, such as heart attack/stroke or just traffic accident and they have to spend time identifying me and/or if I have the means to pay for medical attention or pre-existing medical cinditions. Also when staying with Bf, he always knows safe combination and where the Travel Ins copy is and credit card is as back up if we are not together. Which often happens as sometimes I go out alone. I don't know about having the info on the mobile phone as I have it locked, but all the crucial numbers I would have in there anyway are always on my person. The habit of picking up money, phone, room key and ID card before I go anywhere is ingrained. Quote from floridabob in the 'Lurker' thread.

Ha! Thanks for that Cham Issan info colmx, if it was open in 2000 then that's the year I would have first visited, and yes would certainly have been my first Morlam exposure. Trouble with those first couple years visiting Thailand, it was madness and a great deal of the time I had absolutely no idea (nor that bothered) exactly where places were, even in hindsight. I visited 7th Hole umpteen times and could never have found it myself, all I remember about exiting the place was that it was very bright sunlight, a motocy waiting then back to hotel, and like Cham Issan, getting there was just a case of jumping on some motocy, either boy's or taxi at/near one of the Patayaland 3 sois and being whisked not too far, traffic of no interest so the next thing I would 'notice' would be the entrance to Cham Issan, 7th Hole or Disco Duck (I still have absolutely no recollection of where that place actually was in relation to the Pattaya of now!). I almost can't believe I wasn't aware of it's existence since start of the year as I've had 3 one month's Thailand visits since then of which Pattaya is usually 2 weeks total over two stays of each visit. I have a horrible feeling I may have been told about a 'new 3rd Morlam!' and really just assumed it referred to the 3rd Rd outdoor Morlam concerts. I should pay more attention! I'll just blame the Leo's, Vodka and Red as I usually do when something is my own fault.