hank75

Bravo bravo vinapu what an epic trip! I confess I was waiting for your final chapter before finishing my own write up of recent hour-long Moonlight visit, which seems very humble in comparison to your weeklong adventures.

A driver’s license should be sufficient?

Thanks to an unforeseen stroke of luck last week, a business trip created the opportunity for a short overnight transit in Bangkok. My friend offered his place as a base so I didn’t have to deal with the hassle of getting a hotel between 6 pm - 4 am just to park hand luggage. Arrived, rested for a while, had a nice dinner with my friend and off to catch the first show at Moonlight. I have to admit, I was doubly curious to revisit after all the exchanges we’ve had here. First impression is that the bar continues to improve. The show seems more full with new acts including a S&M whipping and f*cking number. Quite a number of new boys, some have moved from other bars. At least 2 were poached from Jupiter and I thought I recognised 1-2 more from Dreamboys. Though as previously mentioned I haven’t spent as much time at DB, though they had the DB “look” to them. I wonder what Moonlight are paying or tempting these boys with to get them to move? As far as I am aware Jupiter and DB still have the lion’s share of customers including the Chinese business. Regrettably it didn’t mean the attractiveness quotient was upped as a whole, I didn’t think all the new boys were as good looking as the original crop. But it certainly projects the impression of a successful bar to have lots of boys on stage particularly when some of the more choice specimens were called off stage early to sit with customers. Some are also performers, the “backing dancers” to Sunny so it makes the numbers very lively. More to come.

I am writing this very quickly off my phone Kempinski- great location and of course well placed in Siam area but I find it stiff and not particularly child friendly, plus you have to trek a long way through Paragon mall to get to hotel exit. If your priority is fastest possible access to shops and restaurants maybe this is for you, and there is Sea World in Paragon to bring your child to. I’d avoid anything in Sathorn area, limited BTS and always terrible non moving traffic so taxi drivers may sometimes refuse to take you. Would recommend Le Meridien or Bangkok Marriott Suriwongse as that is right at the gay area, convenient transport links（for Le Meridien that is but I did a quick search and see there may not be an immediately close BTS at Marriott) etc. Friends have praised both hotels and I believe Marriott is very new so offering excellent value for money. Grande Centre Point Ratchadamri is a good property and well located but recently always full of loud Chinese and other tourists, nice kid friendly pool but whether you will be able to use it without crowds. Restaurant is poor as is room service. Price has been steadily going up so not worth it as not on par with other five star properties you mentioned. I would still stay here when price is at a good level which to me is ~US$100-120 for regular room. Sofitel So is overpriced at that rate .

Still following and enjoying this detailed trip report, thank you to vinapu for writing it up for us.

Bravo vinapu, what a start to the trip!

I am also wondering if the frequency of their on stage appearance directly relates to need for money. If Sunny is at an expensive school it explains why he is on stage every single night without fail based on FB videos. Also Nicky and tattooed boy Tae are usually there. Babe and Tam’s presence seem to be less certain though they are around 3/4 of time. Then again, like Vinapu speculates, maybe Sunny does not take offs so he relies on show fees.

I was just doing the maths...sure enough, adding on tips of 4-5,000 (and assuming multiple offs per week), plus on stage tips, drink tips, these boys are making in excess of what I did at their age! And I was earning in pounds...

I don’t understand vinapu, surely it says nothing about his offability that his customer is not good looking? As long as he is...that’s all that matters LOL I must also congratulate you,...my impression of Nicky is that he is the type who would be picky about who his “repeat” customers are. So it seems both Fluke and Nicky are both hoping from more offs from you...I am curious if Tam too has approached you for repeat off since your encounter with him at Boy66?

I want to thank everyone for time and energy you have put into replying to my questions. This is a trove of valuable advice which I have read through carefully! I’m sure other questions will come to mind over the coming days, and I will keep everyone posted when my trip happens.

Paborn, good to know and I will keep that in mind. I still plan to visit the bars but am expecting my next visit to be work and on a very tight schedule, so I would prefer not to rewatch shows I’ve seen several times. Show-watching is a luxury kept for holidays or when with friends. Also I have some gay colleagues that I plan to introduce to the bar scene at some point but would prefer to keep my own offing discreet.

Perhaps I have been unlucky. On my few past visits to Jupiter the most popular boys were always fully booked by VIP groups (some were women who looked to be female escorts themselves) and there was no way to admire them up close. Yes the VIP seat practice is frustrating. Especially when entering to a packed house, being offered a seat blocked by a pillar only to see empty prime seats being ‘held’ for VIPs who do not show up till late.

I don’t feel obligated to sit through the show, but the two boys I am in contact with perform in some numbers and I imagine the bar would not be keen on them dropping out of the show on short notice. Just trying to understand bar protocol. And they would lose their show earnings. So I assume I would have go to the bar, pay off fee directly to bar (instead of to boy), let them finish their numbers at least before leaving? Or can anyone state otherwise, that show boys are able to leave early? I was not aware that I could pay the next day’s off fee in advance. Is this usual practice?

Thank you alex303, Londoner and z909 for the thoughtful and informative replies. I will take your point on not getting my hopes up for my preferred boy to be around / or available during my visit- hopefully I will be lucky. I also see that the off-fee is a must. I am not trying to save on this by any means but was just wondering if I could pay the boy, and he transfers this to the bar the next day, thus avoiding me actually having to go to the bar in person. I would much rather meet the boy elsewhere and invite him for a late dinner, or make my own plans with an arrangement to meet him at the hotel.

I am interested to hear how other members stay in touch with their favourite boys and set up repeat meetings on later trips. On my last visit, I collected a couple of Line contacts from boys who made an impression. Since then I have been receiving a steady stream of stickers, “how are yous” and the occasional selfies every few days. I respond to each message with matching levels of enthusiasm but without being overly effusive. My question is, do boys actively try to bring back a good customer they liked and actually remember who they are amongst the hundreds of offs? Or is this just an effective form of marketing that they do for every customer? The attention is flattering but I am trying not to read more into this than it is. I can imagine they wake up in the morning, and go to “work” - sending out stickers, smilies and the same selfie to every single customer in their little black book. I know for a fact the boy who stays in touch the most is very popular and I am just one punter amongst many. Toying with the idea of booking him in advance for my next trip but also wouldn’t want to plan my schedule around a misplaced sense of loyalty to a boy who possibly wont know me from Adam if we passed each other in the street. My second question - and sorry for the lengthy post - will boys agree to meet outside bars? Eg skip work and meet me at a non gogo bar or at my hotel? I may not be in the mood to sit through a whole show, knowing already who I will off. Do I offer to compensate for the bar fine and loss of show earnings on top of tip? My friend who has a Dreamboy regular usually “reserves” him over Line but will go to the bar, pay the cover, off fee and sit through part of the show before leaving with him. Given I have very limited time, a more efficient method that is also acceptable to the boy would be ideal.

Fantastic report vinapu, thank you. Look forward to hearing what tonight brings you. It still makes my head swim that the models at Moonlight are so accessible, compared to Jupiter where it is nearly impossible to get within sniffing distance of the stars. And fully agree that guys in the rotation are also appealing. Would be good business sense for Moonlight to start promoting a few of them on FB and create a few “mini stars”. I even remember a very cute young waiter (earring on right ear) who had a charming shy smile when tipped.

The situation was actually somewhere in between. The mamasan kept buzzing around asking “You want who? You want who?”. I don’t recall exactly but believe I said something along the lines “The dancer is very good”, while my friend was undecided, being blinded by the male beauty in front of him. I’m pretty certain we gave a “wait, we are thinking” response. But ten minutes later mamasan’s choice appeared anyway...they weren’t taking no for an answer... I’m afraid I didn’t stay long at Dreamboy. We only stopped by briefly for 15 minutes to collect my friend’s boy. Coming from Moonlight, the boys did not look attractive by comparison and the customers all seemed to be middle aged overweight Chinese couples! I pitied the boys who would be offed for threesomes.

To answer paborn’s question...the model was extremely good looking and my friend was delighted with him even if unlooked for. No off as friend was keen to look up his Dreamboy regular that night. But to be honest we probably wouldn’t have worked up the nerve to request any of the models on our own so it turned out well. Possibly because it was a weekday in rainy season, bar was less than half full by showtime and mamasan may have heard us debating on whether to leave for Dreamboy. They were trying their best to keep customers in their seats. So I can understand they are just doing their job and working hard to make this very new bar a success. But certainly pushier than say Jupiter. Fortunately they sent over such an attractive specimen which was very hard to reject...as they well knew! Alizizou, this was a tall fair model, no tattoos. He’s in most of the FB videos perpetually wearing a headband. But given how quiet it was that day all the models were encouraged to circulate among the customers. And the non model boys all sat in clear view on the side of the stage. Vinapu, sorry to hear your trip is not meeting expectations but I hope it will improve and you will have much luck with Sunny or any other model who takes your fancy. Waiting with bated breath for the report.

I was toying with the idea of offing him or at least inviting him down for a drink on my last visit. Dancers always appeal to me. Sadly the mamasan had other ideas and hustled in another model to sit with us. But my friends and I agreed it was worth the price of admission just to watch one of his solo dance routines. Please do report back vinapu.....in the interests of “public service” for this forum LOL

He is an amazing dancer...puts the rest of the models to shame. Also have you watched the live videos on the FB page?

Zero english is a dealbreaker for me....I need to be able to communicate basic information at least without reaching for the phone. But good to hear of a star who makes an effort and has no airs!

Nice to have a glowing review for Mr Fluke. I suspect his size, huge tattoos and dyed hair might be intimidating for most punters (certainly for me) so perhaps more may be encouraged to off him now. How was his English? I may invite him for a drink next time even if no off. As for tam he’s probably recovering from the China holidays. My friend said there were hordes of cash rich tourists in every bar over the weekend and he’s always been very popular with the Chinese.

I am happy for you that you got your wish! Two Moonlight stars in a row is surely a record. Did you off the ex Jupiter too or did you choose another model after seeing them in person? Were they both good offs?

I can answer this question - no. The regular boys have similar expectations to Jupiter and Dreamboy, around 2000-2500. Actually I don’t think the models are that inflated either (apart from Babe), only the barfine charged by Moonlight. But vinapu and OP Alizizou will know first hand so I shall defer to them.

I find Manila more expensive than Bangkok, less convenient infrastructure, fewer living and dining options etc. Unless you go to a second tier city and not sure what the scene is like there...Angeles apparently is a hellhole...