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2.5 billions Baht for 300000 visitors is about USD 245 per visitor. Very reasonable estimation.  

Hot Male at 9.15, just after Foodland inspection very quiet. Few farangs holding court and soon after they took 4 or 5 boys with them. Guy I was hoping to see was there so I grabbed him right away even if there was no competition in the audience. 
By time we finished our drinks and took off two farangs showed up  ( separately), gulped their drinks and left empty handed. Nobody in the audience when we  we're leaving at 10 pm so it looked as quiet night and still quite a few offs. 
New Foodland this morning at 8 am was soo packed that we managed to get only last remaining table,  in the corner so conductive to not so accidental knee touching and similar sinister moves. 
I, m surprised that is more hot than last January but still at least some breeze in the morning pretending to be cool with some degree of success. 

As mandatsted by both UNESCO and Michelin I went to Foodland last night and happy to report nothing wrong with their chicken with cashew nuts. See attached.
It looks that OP had just misadventure.
7.5 stars and World Heritage designation reinstated effective 9.15 pm last night

From Pattaya Mail

The Samae Beach Seaside viewpoint walkway on Koh Larn Island has been restored to its former glory, much to the delight of the island’s residents and tourists. The circular design of the walkway complements the landscape, creating an aesthetic that harmonizes with the natural surroundings. The walkway has been painted in shades of green, mirroring the hues of the foliage in the background.
 

I paid repeated visit to Moonlight last night. Arrived at 10 pm to a almost empty bar even if it was half an hour before show. But models and floor boys soldered on regadless. By 11 filled up nicely to about half capacity.
Show quite decent. There, s new model,I guess his nick is  Sam or similar. Several new, floor boys, as well. Lack of crowds did not mean disaster as some high spending farang was holding court and was distributing tips by a handfull.
Boy I was, sitting with and subseqently took with me to help with dishes was asked by said farang to join for round of drinks. Asked my permission and said for 15 minutes only. I agreed and it was a good move costing me nothing. After 15 minutes, and gulping 2 or 3 shoots he was clutching in his fist no less than 900. 
So it seems that sparse crowd doesn,t mean financial disaster. All depends. On another hand during my time there I. E. 10 to 11.45 my off was only one and I was, sitting in good position to see comings and goings through the door. 
Raya has breakfast again at 250 per person if not included in the rate. Buffet style and all dishes very tasty. Pleased to see that guy I remember from my first stay there good 10 years ago is still working there although I have an impression he looks like 10 years older but what do I know? 

Home Spa has upped its game with addition of this new "T & B" masseur.

There,s similarly tittled thread already but I could, t find it so started new one.
Arrived early evening yesterday. Decimated by long trip and jet lag still managed to do short survey of realm. Area much busier than in July, my last time here. A lot of young farangs. One visitor on Patpong market was, so stunning that I almost pretended to tipple over something, just to hang on to him for brief moment to keep my balance but regained my composure and dropped idea. 
Patpong market and soi 4 fairly busy. 
With another member visited Jupiter. House half full just be fore show  started but filled in with big group of visitors soon after. Show pretty brief, I think just 4 numbers but two erections visible. Mao, heavily tattooed hunk who left to Moonlight while ago is back. Three walkabout, first in briefs, no numbers, second in white shorts, no numbers and last one in black jeans, with numbers although quite a few of the guys did not have one meaning thay are already booked. 
During walkabout I tipped 2 best looking guys and expected as minimum acknowledging nod or smile during  next walk but no. I was like transparent. So same old there, handsome but disinterested guys. Good for them  but I took off for Moonlight.
As it was 11.45 crowd was thinning, few  floor boys still available and few modes, dressed already. Hoping to see one of three guys but to if them did ot show up tonight and third one, while sitting was, already booked by some Asian, as attractive as himself. 
Off to Hot Male beer bar, quite a crowd. Got myself a drink, invited one of their boys for his but he was, still doing some errands prompting comment from one of the patrons " you bought him drink and have nothing to show for it".
Lost all hope for warm bed tonight but there, s still Suriwong where I spotted guy I offed in the past few times. 
Bingo! 
So to summarize, Patpong still alive and presents a lot of opportunities. 

Re original gay bars in Patpong Two. I should have referred to Screwboys as the last remaining of the original gay bars on that street. It was nostalgic to visit anyway.
Freshboys
Had a drink there. More spacious than Screw Boys. 25 to 30 guys available on stage, a lot on stage at one time. Some 20 customers there too. Drinks 450 Baht. Brief show at 2215 with three sexy shows, big cock etc, and only one drag show with one performer(and no sign of any others waiting in the wings). Similar twinky types to Screwboys and bf thought that 30% of them were Vietnamese. Good playful atmosphere and if you are looking for gay boys this may be a good place to visit.
 One thing that we noticed was how light skinned the guys were in the bar(and in hindsight also in Screwboys). Really only one darker skinned guy there. It used to be that brown skinned guys were the majority, and guys from Isarn were much in demand. Perhaps there is a commercial motivation to satisfy Asian customer preferences for lighter skins, which is compounded by shortage of available local guys. Give me an Isarn guy anytime!
 
Hotmale
Also visited Hotmale, seemed to be around twenty guys, comfortable in their own skins and to be on stage, more guys on the hunky side than Freshboys or Screwboy. It’s a good layout and well lit/staged.
 Although we were shown to our ringside seats, we were never asked for our drinks orders, which was fine as we weren’t in a rush to drink more. Whole bar was focussed on an Asian table who were supplying drinks and 200 Baht to all the dancers and the waiters and then the doormen. And then anyone wearing Hotmale branded shirts. There may have been some swapping of clothes going on outside the door to allow others to benefit!
 After 15 minutes we left satisfied to have seen what was on offer and had a(much cheaper) drink at Dragon  beer bar down stairs.
 
 
 
 

that is exaggeration although I can see where your sentiment may came from. Visit to Bang Melea temple  near Angkor I recall as one of my worst experience in travelling due to two busloads of Chinese who filled place, expected to be serene specially in the morning, with screams ,  tried to move some stones and behaved like Huns attacking Rome indeed. But to their credit at least they rose early.
Chinese girls sometimes in bars , BBB specially comes to mind behave equally noisy scaring a lot of patrons in process.
But there's beneficial reverse to all that. Travelling Chinese are crowding our bars ( on one on my visit in Tawan in July I was under impression it was only two us farangs in crowded bar) , buing drinks,  tipping and offing boys and hanging all those stupid 1000 baht garlands on them. Some may be stingy but plenty are not as I was told they like to show off. I witnessed twice boys on the stage were tipped 1000 baht just for standing there and in both cases those tippers were Chinese looking girls . 
In short they are helping to keep afloat  businesses we are frequenting too so hold your nose.
For fun I checked Grindr today and it seems there are tons of them ready to party today and go home on Tuesday. So many listings that it seems they crowded out  local who I presume don't need to advertise for a moment boys because they are harvesting all those Chinese clients.

Only been there once, though good enough that I'd repeat when there's an opportunity. In that one time, my guy was nude from the start, and transitioned to body-to-body midway. That said, I don't know if that is just the guy I hired (whose face is no longer among the pictures that Apollo sends out, so I guess he has quit), or if it is house policy. 
 
In the Saphan Khwai places for example, I have yet to discern any house policy, for example. Technique and service standard vary from one guy to the next, and it's likely because the boys are freelancers.
Frankly, this is something that the client can indicate, if the place is more brothel than massage. Since the boy is anyway going to remove his shorts midway, I doubt that he'd be offended if, at the very start, the client made some hand gestures that signal him to dispense with textile right away. He should only be delighted at the assurances of "special service required"  and tip that are implied.
I just glanced up at the pic of Baller again, and now I think he's more Iranian or Indian. Perhaps he is from the localised Indian community of Thailand (which may explain his speaking Thai).

You mean this guy?  He looks Turkish to me. I'd take him over the African guy anytime. His tip expectations are at the lower end of the Apollo range too.

 

The photo is not the clearest, but good enough to make out that Apollo Massage now lists a guy of African ancestry. What is interesting though is that the requested tips are 3,000 baht for 1 hour and 3,500 baht for 1.5 hours, (I presume in-house).
Not only are Apollo guys generally asking for higher tips than the Saphan Khwai places, as seen from their Line app sample, Dre is asking for twice higher.

(Explanation: He is said to be 1.80m tall, weigh 78 kg and fits a condom of size 56, and he is top)
Most boys advertised by Apollo offer three tip levels, e.g. "15/17/25" where the third figure indicates an outcall rate, but not this guy. Maybe no ID, so too risky to enter hotels?
You can see my November 2023 review of Apollo here: https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2023/12/10/easy-come/

I'm glad you appreciate the map that I have drawn, and yours is a good question that gives me a chance to explain the editorial policy behind the blog and its contents.
To answer your specific question first, about the others that are left out ..... I have read about 27M massage near Inthamara 27, Home Massage about 100 metres short of the Vibhavadi Rangsit expressway, and 15M massage a bit NW of Exit 3 of Saphan Khwai.  But 
(a) they are outside the boundaries of my map;
(b) I have not verified their locations personally.
My general policy for my blog is that what I say is based on personal observation and verification. It is not supposed to be a compendium of the many different things said by others. In the occasional post, I may refer to something reported by others. When that happens, I make that abundantly clear in the text. For maps, if I haven't verified its existance, it is not there. You will notice that I try to take a picture of a shop's front, as sort of proof it is real and that I saw it for myself.
The drawback of such a policy is that the blog and its maps may omit places that I don't know about or haven't verified (it becomes under-inclusive). The upside is that I do not risk including things based on hearsay, e.g. resulting in the location marked wrongly.
Of course, it would be great if others likewise build their own maps.

Just brief comments on my experience in first 24 hours. I had long flight yesterday, so lazy, got as far as G's for a meal, good as ever, brief stop at Banana Bar, and then accepted Grindr booking at hotel. Incidentally, no problem with Hotel, Le Meredien, indeed most of the guests are male couples!
Boy was Vietnamese, reasonable English, great body, kissing, I am a top and bred him. However he was far too rushed,  off to shower almost as I came! 
Tired today, and as an older top, not as athletic as some members here, so just tried go go bars. Hotmale was dull, just boys in red jeans, some shirtless, jeans tight! A few attractive twink types, only one smiling. Really poor show, in my view, too cold, too loud. Maybe a quarter full, all male. 
 
Tried Tawan, in homage to Vinapu, at 10.30. told to go away, as they were full, come back at 11.00. I did, to be turned away again, try 11.30! I gave up. 
 
Better luck tomorrow, I hope! Incidentally, airport was ok. It was New Year's Day, not so busy, but Fast lane difficult to find. Not really marked. I asked an official, who pointed out I had walked past it. Maybe 8 to 10 minute line. 

If you like shows and carberet, here is my list of preference. 
For ladyboy shows, i voted banana bar to be amongst the best, with jupiter came in second, mainly because their ladyboy shows always accompanied by 3-4 sexy boys (my type). 
For sexy boys shows, xboys in pattaya leads the show with tawan came in second. These are the bars that left very little to our imagination. Plenty of dicks on show, creative ways of using them, chuck wow show as well as fucking show. 
I put hotmale as honorary mention as they dont really have ladyboy shows at all, only the guys doing their shows, solo or duo shows at a time. 
Moonlight and BBB used to have great shows, but based on my recent visits there, it has become boring now. Moonlight shows now predominantly done by their models, many of which couldnt dance, and very PG. BBB on the other hand, has added more and more ladyboy shows, now with gay dancers, and gay lipsync shows as well. Kinda similar with banana in that aspect but i actually enjoyed banana bar shows, where as BBB shows really boring in my opinion. One other observation, seems like BBB has different line up for boys who do the shows (mostly big dicks but average body, average looks) and boys who would be on stage for hire, which for me, still amongst the best line up of handsome boys in pattaya, and by extension, on par with jupiter.
I didnt go to freshboy this year, so cant comment on their shows quality nor the boys. Dreamboy bangkok on the other hand, while they always have plenty of boys of various types, none of them i would off, and their shows are average for me, not to boring not too good. 
Regardless of the shows though, my ranking based on preference for offing are quite diff indeed. Based on recent visits, for pattaya, its BBB, and Dreamboys. For bangkok, moonlight has been my go to, with tawan, sol, jupiter came right behind. 
 

I think one can be judicious in their choices.
If you see the same vendor, at the same place, day after day (or night after night), and it is popular with locals, then I think you can assume it is a safe place to eat.
 

this is not how you are supposed to treat client in such venerable institution familiar with hosting royalty, presidents, Nobel Prize laureates and other celebrities, not to mention local hookers of both genders.

Which Foodland  was that ? Patpong or Silom one?
If Patpong I will contact UNESCO to suspend their world heritage designation till I make personal inspection there.
The same with Michelin, at least 1.5 stars from their 7.5 should be taken away immediately.
You absolutely right , cashews should be  cooked with the dish , not served as also run.
Only explanation I'd accept was that the cook is in love, that was what we used to say where I grew up when served under- or overcooked meal.
I'm shocked to the bone !!!!  and want to scream murder . 
But as always , give them another chance or go to G'Bangkok or Happy Beer Garden and try theirs

On my first night in Bangkok this week, I went to Foodland to try the venerable cashew chicken as raved about by @vinapu.
Only when the dish was served did I realize that this vinapu venerated concoction contained not a single cashew. Not one.
Has Mr. Vinapu been joshing?
I asked for assistance and an employee came to the table and couldn't figure out the problem. So I told him very simply "There are no cashews in the cashew chicken!"
The remedy was to bring me a small bowl of cashews, but as chicken cashew lovers would attest, they taste much better when cooked in the dish.
My rating of Foodland's cashew chicken...a 2!

what the hell you need legitimate massage for ?☺️

You guys are funny
So my hotel booked me a taxi to Jomtien. 1200baht, seemed like a good deal to me, especially since the trip back to BKK was 1600.
So on arrival at Jomtien, I check into hotel, and go for a little wander to find the beach and see the area. On walking past one of the massage shops in the complex, I'm grabbed at by multiple boys... clearly the boys are far more forward here! I carry on walking trying to smile and shake my head and say no.
On my return, I spy out Sophia's thai, and a couple cafe/resturants opposite, and make note for food later. My favourite thai food is 'pad gra pow'... and if you ask for not spicy, they simply leave out all of the chillis, If you ask for a little spice, you get all of the spice.
So my first night, I go around the Complex, checking out all the bars. It's busy because its christmas eve, seems like everyone is out. As I'm wandering through several of the bar boys try to grab me to pull me into their bars. One even gives me a bear hug and wont let me past. I was cold sober at this point, and I'm a pretty shy reserved guy. Stangers grabbing and hugging me uninvited is not what I call fun.
I eventually find a bar that looks a bit quiter with a good seat to people watch. After some time, I get a message from the boys I saw it BBK, they're sitting at the bar nearby and invite me over. I sit for drinks and get to know them all better. At the end of the night, I go back with one, I'll call him M, and M certainly wasn't just a beautiful face. He was defintely worth every baht of his tip. He leaves after, and I go to sleep satisfied.
The next morning I take a little trip over to Terminal 21 to wander the mall and see if there is any good sales on. I find a couple of nice things, and head back to the complex. After a swim and a rest, I'm ready for night 2. I run the massage shop gauntlet again to get some food, then I decide to go to the Venue for the show. After enjoying the awesome show, I end up back drinking with M and his friends. I go back to hotel alone though.
The following day I spend relaxing by at the beach and by the pool, and of the evening, I eat then join M and friends for drinks. We end up playing drinking games, and M asks me to take him back to the hotel, and thats where we go. After some good times were had, we both head back to join the others for more drinking and games. M wants to stay with me the night, and I say yes. I leave to your imaginations what we got up to.
At this point, M is starting to refer to me as his bf... which would suprise none of the more experienced members here I'm sure.
It's my last full day in Thailand, and I spend most of it with M, relaxing at the beach and having lunch. Of the evening, we part company for a while, before meeting up again. I want to see the Venue show again, and M comes along. He's really not into the show at all, but I'm enjoying it... technical issues and all
My last night I spend alone as I needed to be up early for the flight home.
 
I had thought this would be my last ever trip to LoS... but I think I've been convinced that there is still much more for me to enjoy there.
 
Thanks for reading

Arena
Still no escalators working in the complex where Arena is sited, and only the rear lift working to take you to the third floor. We arrived shortly after opening time. Pleased to note that the old brown sofas that must have been there for twenty years had finally been replaced by new purple seating. 
 
We both chose two hour oil massages. 990 Baht each(paid afterwards but no change given as previously noted). There were a choice of four masseurs. Two were overweight and over age(40s?) two were of interest. I let my bf choose first a well built quite good looking man around 30 years old, and I took the younger guy, slim, broad shoulders. 
 
Neither quite delivered as planned. Bf’s guy gave a good massage although not using all the historic arena sensual techniques. After half an hour the masseur moved enthusiastically to blow job and was then asking to be fucked. Bf obliged then the massage resumed before masseur was back to a blow job and asking to be fucked again, and bf obliged again. Afterwards he felt that perhaps he should have been the recipient of the tip for his good service!
 
My masseur, as we were just undressing started saying “I give good massage you give good tip”. This wasn’t encouraging and was repeated several times subsequently. The signs got no better when he started trying to put his finger in my hole after only ten minutes of the massage. Actually his massage skills themselves were 4/10  and his after massage skills turned out to be similar. The part of the experience to which he gave most effort was in washing me afterwards in the shower(in the room). Perhaps the motivation came from being close to tip time! This was probably the worst Arena massage I have had.
 
Both masseurs received 2,000 Baht(minimum for 2 hours is 1,500). We also had to fill in the satisfaction questionnaire with the masseurs standing beside us, making it awkward! I just marked mine not as “Very Good” but just as “Good” where those alternatives applied. Hopefully that sent some signal that I wasn’t completely happy.
By the time we left more masseurs had arrived but none inspired us to make a rapid return visit.

Short Bangkok Report
 
Visited Screwboy last night. Around 25 mostly twink physique straightish boys. Quite a lot of eye contact and smiles with 45 minute show at 2200, with later shows at 2330 and 0100. Drinks 400 Baht. Tip given to Boy with nice smile and great six pack but no further engagement. BF not interested and mamasan(known from way back) was not encouraging, (“from Vietnam”).
 
Too much less than basic quality drag content in the show, solo singers lip-syncing in sequins etc, each number greeted by cursory applause. Three elements in the show, say one third of the content, was male performers with “big cocks”(marginal in some cases) but it was the same five performers in each of the five minute segments, a couple of whom were past their prime and one of whom was not available for customers to off.
 
Might go back, all pleasant enough, but on balance probably won’t return on this trip, although good to visit for nostalgia’s sake as it was the original Patpong Soi two gay bar, and was convenient to drop in after a meal at Le Bouchon, now moved to Sathorn area but still worth a visit.
 
More to come.

The next day I woke up when the morning was already done, and decided to go shopping to pick up a few bits I'd not brought with me.
After a power nap back at the hotel, I wandered out to find something to eat, then made my way to Soi Patpong 2. Sol bar was the first that I came accross and in I wandered. My first time solo in a gogo bar like this. I picked a seat right at the back, by the door. A nervous newbie, I wanted to be able to make a quick escape from the Mamasan
I ordered my first drink, and managed to convince the Mamasan that I didn't need a boy to sit with me right away. The boys on stage were a good mix of twinky types and more muscly men. One stood out for me, and clearly my eye had been on him quite noticably, as when the boys evacuated the stage, he came over and after a brief chat I felt oblioged to invite him to sit and have a drink. He said his name was Nam, and he was from Vietnam. He was super cute, and very engaging, asking me lots of questions, tho relying on translater app quite a bit.
Since I was here on an exploratory trip, I hadn't come with the intention to off; tho I did bring 100 notes thinking that I would at least have a boy sit with me.
After my second drink, my feet were getting itchy. I could get a similar experience of chatting via phone messages in a bar that charged less for the same beer. I'm sorry to say, but solo in a GoGo bar, just doesn't seem to be a hit with me. But It might have been my nervousness and anxiety, so (spoiler) it wasn't my only forway into a GoGo bar this trip. Nam and I would continue to chat via Line, but would not meet again while I was in BKK this time.
After leaving Sol, I looked around at the other Go Go bars with the assortment of boys hanging around outside smoking, and decided that I wasn't in the mood for another GoGo bar, and took myself off to DJ station for another night. I like DJ station, and pretty much every night I was in BKK I ended up here. Once more, I left alone, but not without scoring a cheeky kiss and dance or two.

The following day, I met up with my ex, who I had not seen for 3 years. We had a late lunch, and wandered around the new EMSphere shopping mall. We agreed to meet again later for more drinks in DJ station. Again I left DJ station and went back to my hotel alone.
The following day, I was due to go to Chiang Mai in the evening, so after checking out, and leaving my bags in storage, I went for a massage at Prime. One of the best massages I've ever had, and at decent price, definely would recommend. I arrived at Chaing Mai quite late that evening. I wandered to the nearest 7/11, got some drinks and snacks, and had an "early" night.

Hi All,
I thought I'd share with you briefly some of my experiences over the last couple of weeks in the LoS. As a spoiler to avoid disapointing, I'll say it was not a sex-filled escapade, though some spicy action did happen (which of course, I shall describe) 
I arrived in BKK feeling pretty fresh faced, all things considered. Taxi prices from airport seem to have gone up... 600baht said the Taxi Driver! After some firm negotiation, that mostly involved me saying no to his flat fee, and saying I would get another taxi, he agreed to use the meter. I pay express tolls and baggage fee. Not a problem.
(For those interested: To my hotel in Silom, Meter was at ~300 baht, tolls were 100 baht, + baggage was 50 baht I think. I left him with 500 baht.)
I checked in to the hotel, unpacked, had a nap before heading out fairly early for the evening to find something to eat. I checked out Soi 4, which seemed super busy and a little overwhelming. So I took a wander through Patpong, and soon found myself at the Foodland there. Much quieter for me to settle down in to my holiday.
I wandered back to Soi 4, and sat outside Stranger bar for a couple of drinks, checking out Grindr, and acclimatising to the hustle and bustle. I wandered up the Soi, and found myself wandering into Bipolar, above the bar on the corner. It was busy and the drag show was passable, the "hostess" being australian, so very easy for me to understand.
Following a few drinks in Bipolar, I wandered along to see what was happening in DJ station. Much has changed, and I was a little surprised and happy to see its new layout. It's much easier to wander around the club now, and sample everything each room has to offer. I stayed here for a few drinks, dances for a bit and caught a few smiles. For someone who's been living a very quiet life, it was quite the night to wake me up!