sydneyboy1

The opening date keeps being extended. I am in São Paulo late December. Here’s hoping for a seamless transition.

My big regret about Thermas is that they allow smoking. The floor below the entrance area reeks of smoke and detracts from the experience.

Rtu123 raises an excellent point about the differences in hotel accommodation between Rio and Thai cities such as Bangkok and Pattaya. I defy anyone to name a city of comparable standing as Rio which has a more appalling choice of accommodations. Things have improved very marginally in recent years with the Fasano and the Emiliano and the renovation of the Copacabana Palace but the pickings are very lean. Compare that with Bangkok where there is a bewildering range of 5 star hotels and they continue to sprout like mushrooms. We part company on smoking policy. One of the great joys of travelling these days for those of us who detest smoking is staying in non smoking hotels.

Brazil and Thailand are my main holiday destinations. I been to the former 9 times and the latter about 12. To compare the two is an interesting exercise. I certainly agree that you feel far safer in Thailand, indeed I have never felt a hint of danger. Brazil is altogether a different story. As for, let’s not mince words, the sex scene Brazil has it all. For someone of mature years nothing in the world beats the Brazilian saunas. I have read reports of people who thought the adulation was exaggerated but once experienced came out with comments like they felt like a kid in a candy store or thought they had died and gone to heaven. The gay scene in Bangkok, as I have reported here has deteriorated. The Internet has changed everything. However nothing beats the vibrancy and “colour” of an Asian city like Bangkok and I will return but with some regrets about its former gay glory.

Thank you. Good news.

Thank you. Those in the know keep the information flowing!

Good question.

That as Americans express it 1 November I take it. Any further details on location or anything else worthwhile?

Did Rudolfo discuss the proposed move of Lagoa? Any further information?

Good news that those of us contemplating a visit to São Paulo in the new year that there will definitely be a Lagoa. Any further details appreciated.

If the use of the word “troll” caused offence I apologise. It was probably excessive. I don’t wish to go over old territory but my motivation in reporting my mugging was to alert others to danger and I believed with some justification that some were making light of my experience because it happened some time ago. To answer one contributor I am “over it” as illustrated by the fact that I have returned many times. Can we please start afresh. Any update on Fragata appreciated.

Has anyone been to Fragata lately? I have just been reading Google reviews (which must be treated with caution) and the messages are mixed. Has there been any renovations? What the number and quality of the boys? I have fond memories of Fragata over the years but on the last occasion it was getting very run down. Comments welcome.

Donald Trump has set the standard. Enough said.

Thank you. Mykonos is on my hit list for 2020. What hotel did you stay at? What are your favourite beaches? What is the most desirable area to stay in? How difficult is it to get around the island? I don’t drive and don’t intend to take up cycling. You said that is now number 3 of your favourite destinations, out of interest what is 1 and 2? Thanking you in anticipation.

An Internet forum such as this is a magnificent way of communicating travel ideas and experiences. What a tragedy it is also a forum for Internet trolls to ventilate their venom.

With respect this sort of reply was typical of the rubbish replies I encountered on the TripAdvisor forum when I described my own mugging. Making light, ridicule, questioning my credibility, it can happen anywhere, why don’t you stay home, did you return to Brazil for more, I was out and out liar, it was a busy area so it couldn’t happen etc etc My motivation and I believe ihpguy’s motivation is to alert others of the dangers and to assist in preventing it happening to anyone else.

I have returned to Brazil 8 times since older and wiser. I have a solitary motivation in telling my story which I did in detail on another thread. To do my best to ensure my experience does not happen to anyone else. I will now let the matter rest.

I am one who most certainly will not make light of it. I recounted my 2005 experience (much to the annoyance of one contributor to this thread) to make the point that people can be appalling unsympathetic because it has never happened to them and some believe it never will. Brazil has had and continues to have a crime problem.

The average garoto would have to have had an extraordinarily successful evening.

Being the Devil’s Advocate the “average” customer leaving 117 is likely to be carrying more money than the “average” working boy even after a successful night and consequently more vulnerable.

Thank you. I was probably using the word hill loosely however I respectfully suggest my point remains valid. You are exposed walking to the taxi rank.

Not being a subscriber I can’t read the full Rio on line report. Is there any way of downloading the report in its entirety? I was planning a December trip to Rio but I might opt for the relative peace and tranquillity of Thailand.

Very, very depressing. I was mugged almost in front of the Copacabana Palace in 2005. I have reported details on a number of sites including this one. This provoked responses ranging from a giant yawn and it can happen anywhere through to allegations that I was an out and out liar. There was a time when 117 would ring a taxi when leaving but on my last visit all they would do is direct you to the taxi rank. Walking down the hill after dark gave me the creeps. The appalling mugging reported outside 117 does not surprise me as you are an obvious target leaving the premises leaving particularly after dark. One last thought. So much for a law and order President.

A very good question. I last went to Pattaya about 5 years ago after an absence of about 3 years. It was January, peak season. I ventured out on my first night to Boyz Town and bars were as dead as Julius Caesar.There were few boys and few customers. On previous visits they had been packed with customers and contained some of the most attractive young men I have seen in Thailand. I posted on the Sawatdee Gay Thailand forum a thread that I titled “What on earth is going on?” Next night I went to Sunnee. If your into pubescent tattooed anorexics you would have thought you had died and gone to heaven. It you are a gay man who likes men the place was tragic. Things may have improved in the past 5 years but I doubt it.

For those travelling to Bangkok soon I wish you a pleasant trip. I just hope the standards are higher than my January experience.