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From BBC Weather (https://www.bbc.com/weather/1609350) I see predictions of thundery showers in the coming week for Bangkok. Daily maximum temperatures are indicated to be 33 degrees Tuesday to Friday. But of course weather forecasts are fickle things.

I did not notice any change recently but can say that street behavior largely depends of boys , some are clingier than others. Generally it's like you described above - clingy in bar but reserved on the street and I like it for the same reason - fear of attracting unwanted attention and offending local sensibilities.
In the past I recall few extreme cases  when boy suggested he will follow me at distance and we meet in front of hotel. I suspected it had more to do with desire not being seen walking with man by prospective girl customers. One even plainly admitted that. 

I say amen to what you wrote above.
That is why I chose to retire in Asia and not Europe or the USA - where the attitude games are a daily ongoing frustration.

From Channel News Asia
By Jack Board
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia: From the shady poolside cabanas of a newly opened beach club, only the buzzing of nearby passing sand-dredging ships disrupt the serenity of Cambodia’s largest ever coastal development.
This is stage one of the Bay of Lights - what is meant to be a US$16 billion 934-hectare “eco city”, nearly three times the size of Singapore’s Marina Bay.
Newly forged roads named Sunset Boulevard and Bay Esplanade lead to a menagerie of water sport offerings and a go-kart track. A golf course, shopping malls, luxury hotels and an international financial centre are planned for the future.
Visitors can currently pay US$95 for 40 minutes on a jet ski or US$180 for a ride on a jet pack. A reverse bungee can whisk holiday-goers high into the air, where they might fully see the extent of still-incomplete land reclamation stretching out into the Gulf of Thailand.
Sand has been poured at such a rapid pace that even Google Maps has yet to catch up with the reality that what has always been water, is now land.
The Bay of Lights is reshaping Cambodia’s southern coastline, a sparkling stretch of shallow water. By 2045, when the third phase is pegged for completion, the developers say 160,000 people might live in this new green city, which began in 2019.
The area is being developed by a company called Canopy Sands. Its parent company is Prince Holding Group, a powerful conglomerate led by Mr Chen Zhi, a business tycoon from China who became a naturalised Cambodian in 2014, a process that requires a significant investment or government donation.
For now, aside from a few well-heeled thrill-seekers and the workers continuing to lay the city’s sandy foundations, it is mostly deserted and incomplete.

But local people have already been left wallowing in its wake.

There are growing fears among observers that the entire project could end up resembling a ghost city, undermined by shaky financial foundations, environmental concerns and growing scrutiny of the influential business group undertaking the ambitious construction.
Continues with video and photos
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/cambodia-sihanoukville-bay-lights-eco-city-prince-group-4252091
 

From Pattaya Mail

Chonburi Governor, Thawatchai Srithong, met with Banglamung District Chief Weekit Manarotkit, Mayor Poramet Ngampichet, officials from the Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and representatives from Eastern Water Supply Company on May 2 to strategize solutions for the persistent water shortage issue plaguing Koh Larn Island.
Koh Larn Island, with a local population of merely 3,000 to 4,000 residents, experiences a staggering influx of visitors, averaging 8,000 on weekdays and 12,000 on weekends. This surge translates to accommodating over 500,000 to 1 million people monthly, far surpassing the island’s capacity. Despite this, the current water production capacity, excluding purchases from Pattaya, stands at a meagre 400 cubic meters per day, rendering it insufficient to meet the burgeoning demands for freshwater.
To tackle this crisis, a comprehensive two-phase plan was devised. In the short term, immediate steps will be taken to purchase and distribute freshwater to residents, alleviating the acute water scarcity during this dry season. In the long term, the Pattaya City Administration will collaborate with the Eastern Water Supply Company to ramp up the production capacity of desalinated water from 400 to 3,000 cubic meters per day within the year.
Governor Thawatchai emphasized that despite the water shortage crisis, tourism activities on Koh Larn Island remain unaffected. Accommodations and resorts have made provisions to provide freshwater, ensuring tourists can still relish their time on the island. However, the crisis predominantly impacts local residents, prompting concerted efforts to purchase and distribute freshwater to alleviate their plight.

Exactly!
No trouble finding handsome guys with lots of attitude at home but not a reason to fly 11,000 miles to see more. 🙂
As I've gotten older I find that I no longer seek out guys with glorious bodies or prettiest faces. Perfectly willing to settle for attractive young men who offer affection and intimacy sans the attitude games. Nevertheless fully appreciate why others do flock to Jupiter.

Exactly!
No trouble finding handsome guys with lots of attitude at home but not a reason to fly 11,000 miles to see more. 🙂
As I've gotten older I find that I no longer seek out guys with glorious bodies or prettiest faces. Perfectly willing to settle for attractive young men who offer affection and intimacy sans the attitude games. Nevertheless fully appreciate why others do flock to Jupiter.

Exactly!
No trouble finding handsome guys with lots of attitude at home but not a reason to fly 11,000 miles to see more. 🙂
As I've gotten older I find that I no longer seek out guys with glorious bodies or prettiest faces. Perfectly willing to settle for attractive young men who offer affection and intimacy sans the attitude games. Nevertheless fully appreciate why others do flock to Jupiter.

I asked that question  two different boys on two different occasions on different trips and answer was the same - management thinks it's client  who should pursue boy , not other way around. While there's certain logic in that as some Tawan customers   may attest - there boys approached clients freely and shy ones could feel  unduly pressed.
But end of day result of such policy is that  a lot of Jupiter customers  leave with impression that boys are not interested at all an nobody can blame them. 
Only because I braved and offed few guys from there I know that as soon as they are seated with us , behavior goes back to normal so to speak. On another hand I can confirm that it's a bit of truth in opinion that their boys tend to rush things , specially on the first meeting.
Again it's not universal - I even know one member who foolishly declined boy's offer to extend peace discussion till morning for very modest consideration. Some people are such wasters ! 

.... when lights are turned off

From Thai PBS World

Jiraporn Sindhuprai, a fast-rising political star from a famous red-shirt family, has been promoted to the Cabinet as the new PM’s Office minister, in Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s first government reshuffle.
Jiraporn, 36, was elected as a Pheu Thai MP in the 2023 election with the highest number of votes not just in her home constituency of Roi Et but also in the entire country. She increased her share of the vote from 58,842 in the 2019 election to 61,288.
Just five years after she entered Parliament, her growing popularity and impressive political performances have earned her a Cabinet seat.
Born on September 1, 1987, Jiraporn is the eldest daughter of Nisit and Aim-orn Sindhuprai. Both her parents were Roi Et MPs, but her father was also a co-leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or the red-shirt movement.
During UDD rallies more than a decade ago, Jiraporn and her younger sister Chayapa, also a Roi Et MP, were often spotted at the front of the stage. Jiraporn said it was the eloquence of UDD co-leader Nattawut Saikuar that inspired her to develop her own speaking skills.
Jiraporn studied at Assumption University’s Faculty of Arts in Bangkok before obtaining a master’s degree in political science at Ramkhamhaeng University. She later headed to England to attend the University of Reading, where she picked up a master’s in science. She also participated in the Cambodia-Thai Exchange Program.
After being elected in 2019, Jiraporn was quickly rewarded with the post of deputy spokesperson for the party. She was also handed coveted positions on several parliamentary committees. Among them was the high-powered House panel on economic development, for which she served as secretary.
However, it was on the parliamentary debating floor where Jiraporn’s skills really shone. Despite being a first-time MP, Pheu Thai allotted her nearly one hour to grill then-PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha during a headline-making censure debate in June 2022.
Continues at
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/jiraporn-sindhuprai-child-of-the-red-shirt-movement-and-rising-star-of-pheu-thai/
 
 

Exactly!
No trouble finding handsome guys with lots of attitude at home but not a reason to fly 11,000 miles to see more. 🙂
As I've gotten older I find that I no longer seek out guys with glorious bodies or prettiest faces. Perfectly willing to settle for attractive young men who offer affection and intimacy sans the attitude games. Nevertheless fully appreciate why others do flock to Jupiter.

From Thai PBS World

Jiraporn Sindhuprai, a fast-rising political star from a famous red-shirt family, has been promoted to the Cabinet as the new PM’s Office minister, in Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s first government reshuffle.
Jiraporn, 36, was elected as a Pheu Thai MP in the 2023 election with the highest number of votes not just in her home constituency of Roi Et but also in the entire country. She increased her share of the vote from 58,842 in the 2019 election to 61,288.
Just five years after she entered Parliament, her growing popularity and impressive political performances have earned her a Cabinet seat.
Born on September 1, 1987, Jiraporn is the eldest daughter of Nisit and Aim-orn Sindhuprai. Both her parents were Roi Et MPs, but her father was also a co-leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or the red-shirt movement.
During UDD rallies more than a decade ago, Jiraporn and her younger sister Chayapa, also a Roi Et MP, were often spotted at the front of the stage. Jiraporn said it was the eloquence of UDD co-leader Nattawut Saikuar that inspired her to develop her own speaking skills.
Jiraporn studied at Assumption University’s Faculty of Arts in Bangkok before obtaining a master’s degree in political science at Ramkhamhaeng University. She later headed to England to attend the University of Reading, where she picked up a master’s in science. She also participated in the Cambodia-Thai Exchange Program.
After being elected in 2019, Jiraporn was quickly rewarded with the post of deputy spokesperson for the party. She was also handed coveted positions on several parliamentary committees. Among them was the high-powered House panel on economic development, for which she served as secretary.
However, it was on the parliamentary debating floor where Jiraporn’s skills really shone. Despite being a first-time MP, Pheu Thai allotted her nearly one hour to grill then-PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha during a headline-making censure debate in June 2022.
Continues at
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/jiraporn-sindhuprai-child-of-the-red-shirt-movement-and-rising-star-of-pheu-thai/
 
 

On sale today only at the Romantic Depot. 😉

 

In Jupiter I did not mercifully notice much effort to extract tips. Perhaps when boy is sitting with customer is making some moves but during their walkabouts mostly there are disinterested stares as mandated by the boss. After that they usually sit in the shadows waiting until somebody calls them over.

Just relooking my previous maiden post prior to an earlier trip to bangkok as a newby forum member, and I’ll be there again next week for another  real and massage-fest.  This has been a really informative forum and a great treasure trove of advice. I think the most rewarding of my massage ventures has been Prime, and I went there pretty much every other day, for a marathon combo of 2 hours Thai massage and 2 hours oil massage. Incredibly good and so relaxing, and I was disappointed only once with a lack-lustre massage very late in the evening, in a really cramped room and the massuer was propanly very tired. but all,other occasions had been great.  it will be my principal port of call again for massages when I’m there next week I suspect!  And I was lucky there once…
i also went to Paradise as someone I connected with on Jckd was a 30+ year old massuer there and had been open to a little extra edge kink and been communicating with me on that. It was a clean place, generally well appointed room, decent sized with attached shower. A lot more spacious and less factory-like than Prime if I were to be honest, and I’d rate the overall experience a 7.5/10. Quality of massage is trumped by Prime though..
 
I have had 2 massages now at s’sense, but although they had been in huge anticipation. the experience there had been unexceptional. The first had not been too enjoyable with what I had thought had been a veteran therapist ( who is still there) whom the charismatic Mr S had affirmed I should try, and the second, which was an impromptu visit with a group of guy and gal friends on a subsequent trip after we had dinner at Suan Phlu, by an assigned massuer who was very young. This has taken place on a building a short walk away from the main s’sense shop.   I plan to give s’sense another go, and  try to get the masseurs suggested in this forum, especially suggested by CallmeLee, whose reports I really enjoyed reading.  Knott has left the outfit though as I had lined to ask, but this  it will hopefully be a more enjoyable session.
 
on a visit to MBK, I chanced upon a reasonably posh looking spa called GrandSpa, and booked a 2 hour session. Really disappointing even though the massage room was grand and massive, with private jacuzz and showers. The massuer hasps no idea of positioning of muscles, and the massage was done on the  bone and skeletal structure, which was really uncomfortable. This is the only occasion i asked for the massage to,stop before completion.   So caveat emptor.. grand surroudn8 gs did not make for a good massage at all!  Someone had suggested I try TCS Spa near Chinatown, a relatively new outfit, but there is very little written about it that I could find, though I guess never try never know.
And I sure hope the sizzling weather I ve been reading about in bangkok  cools…
 
 

Even the Philippines is melting, travelled many times to the Philippines and never seen the temps so high and that have persisted for so long, at least in my  favoured part it's still quite nice (up in the mountains in and around Baguio). Link below shows the 5 day highest heat index and it looks damn hot and to quote Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam "It's hot! Damn hot! Real hot! Hot as it is, is my shorts I can cook things in it, a little crotch-pot cookin".
Philippine heat index

From Pattaya Mail

At 79, Wichai Kaewintarathi earns a living by selling traditional musical instruments from northeastern Thailand, such as the khaen and pin along Jomtien Beach.
Originally from Nakhon Phanom Province, Uncle Wichai has been in this profession for over 40 years. The musical instruments he sells are crafted by his wife, who is skilled in this art. He then showcases these instruments to tourists, presenting them as authentic northeastern musical instruments.
Every morning Uncle Wichai sets up his stall at Jomtien Beach, where he remains until evening. In the evenings, he travels to South Pattaya on a song taew (baht-bus) to continue his sales, offering his items for prices ranging from one hundred to one thousand baht.
Uncle Wichai’s sales technique involves not just selling but also performing. He entertains passersby by playing melodies on the khaen and showcasing various songs, adding vibrancy to the tourist scene. Through his efforts, he not only earns a livelihood but also promotes awareness of northeastern cultural music.
 

when I went my guide brought along a giant package of candles to light the place up by candle light. Made for some great photos

From MSN

At least once in their lives, devout Buddhists in Laos strive to visit a very special temple inside a natural landmark, the Pak Ou Caves, directly on the mighty Mekong River, the lifeline of Southeast Asia.
According to estimates, there are as many as 6,000 Buddha statues of various sizes and materials like wood and bronze in two limestone caves, put there by pilgrims over the centuries.
Buddha is depicted with various hand gestures - called mudras - each of which has a specific meaning.
"It is estimated that there are around 4,000 sculptures in the lower cave and around 2,000 in the upper one," says tour guide Somjai Simoonthong, who regularly brings tourists from all over the world here.
The cave temples can only be reached by boat along the Mekong. The journey from the popular tourist destination of Luang Prabang - the former capital of the Southeast Asian country - involves a boat trip of about two hours.
Inside the caves, a Laotian who lives in the US state of Colorado sprinkles a group of Buddha statues with water - as a sign of purification and respect. "I've wanted to travel here for so long, it's very important to me as a Laotian," he says.
Most people in the country believe that their ancestors entered the caves for the first time in the 8th century. At that time, Buddhism was not yet widespread, so the Pak Ou Caves were initially used as a shrine for the river spirits.
Continues with photos
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/travel/tripideas/the-sacred-pak-ou-caves-of-laos-home-to-some-6000-buddha-statues/ar-AA1nYfmm

You would be correct. Restrict my adventures geographically to Bangkok and Vietnam.🙂
+1
"For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing that they like." 🙂
   The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie, 1969
Curious what horrified you about Bangkok?
 

The SEC is late to the party. The Canadian oversight board banned Bogus & Co (as CPAs are affectionately referring to Borgers) in January 2024. 

Joy,  the waitress from Happy Beer Garden once told me :  " Dad you are like me , you like boys and I like boys "