Olddaddy

perhaps because Philippines have such vast diaspora

I'm still researching my hotel stay and come across what looks like a gay guest house called Ben & Lek  ,however a bit too far walk for me in soi 7 however great rates at average 500b per night.
I wish Baan Souy would drop their average 2500b night rates , I used to love Baan Souy but won't pay that silly amount , but fantastic place to chill out 

Thx
I asked, bcs my nonsexual fantasy is to have real conversations with these youngsters about anything but sex....
 

That roof generates differing opinions. For example, my mate thinks its great and the prefect protection from the elements. Personally I miss being able to sit out in the soi of a night with a drink and a boy and look up at the stars; the romantic in me haha. 
Fortunately for me there are still bars in the Complex outside the roofed area, such as little JoJo Bar just across from Soda Massage where I can still drink, chat to a boy and gaze up at the stars 😂.


 
 
 
 

that's disadvantage of cheap hotels, we love to stay in them but eventually there's not enough money for proper upkeep

Day 8 was a Sunday and it was spent at the pool and later on in the room reading, watching videos and napping. I was sure the department stores would be crowded and I wanted to avoid all that. At 9pm, I went to downstairs Hot Male bar. Myanmar waiter Aung (I had misspelled it as Ong and wrote incorrectly that he was from Laos) served me. He remembered my order yesterday. Chang beer draught. People were walking past the soi in both directions. Several curious tourists (both men and women and of various nationalities) enquired about Dreamboys as they saw some of the boys standing outside on the balcony, shall I call it, and providing very good free publicity. I think two were shirtless. That's the way to promote your bar! But show would not start so soon and these tourists would only enter when show starts. Chicken and egg situation. Only those serious about getting an off would go in early to look at the boys on rotation before show. Reminds me of behaviour of some forum members here!

I haven't watched Gay Adult DVDs for years because one can get it online for free nowadays ,but my question is do they still sell the Adult porn DVDS in the markets in Bangkok?
In Pattaya they used to come around on the motorbike,do they still do this?
I actually had a farang  friend mention this to me today that he used to come back with 100's of gay porn DVDs ,not something I would do particularly if customs would have to go thru each one of  them.😂
How times change, I remember also the internet cafes , now all gone and I think replaced by the gaming places.
Who used to remember the   telephone places 20 years ago where you could call back to overseas .
What about the shoe polisher, haven't seen him for years 😂
Had a work colleague mention to me about the roaming elephants in Pattaya when he went in 2003 and I'm glad their long gone !!
I always thought it was cruel 
What I find particularly strange after watching a recent YouTube video of a guy walking Pattaya is the rise of the kebab shops, they seem to be on every corner !😮

I was shocked to see recently with the recent Australian Federal election that 3 outwardly Gay (conservatives) politicians who lost their seats were against transgender people,glad they lost their seats, obviously they must hate themselves if they are gay and don't support gay marriage.
Australia has just had the Federal election where the Greens & Labor won and thrashed the conservatives.
A lot has I believe had to do with the conservatives not supporting transgender & gay rights !
Can you still believe church /religious institutions are still allowed to discriminate against gay people, hopefully the new PM will change this !!

Like others have advised, you should be tipping them for the opportunity even if they are agreeable to being groped. 
I would also wonder if, these being karaoke type bars rather than gogo bars, there is more resistance to being seen by their mates as the one being groped. Many of them may be straight, and even in such environments, have all sorts of macho hang-ups.
Perhaps the best thing to do is to off the chosen guy anyway and then in the comfort and privacy of your room satisfy your hands. Nothing says that offing must necessarily lead to full blown sex. Naturally, the boy should be compensated with a rate similar to any other off. 
 
 

If you look at  falang visitors as a whole, there is a distinction; many of those who are in BKK at a particular time are there for  a short period...BKK+ CNX + beach, or variations thereof. Not so many BBK tourists stay for a week or more though I know some do . In Pattaya, on the other hand (or Phuket, for example), the beach location results in tourists staying longer. Not many will travel to Pattaya for just three or so days.
There are also business men in BKK who are there for a couple or so nights only and may enjoy a bar or two. Soi Thaniya?
This means that the guys on the scene in BKK and Pattaya may have different expectations, or even hopes and aspirations. In Pattaya, a successful interaction may lead to two weeks of paid employment while a BBK mb will  be less likely to expect a repeat performance.
On balance, I suspect that the Pattaya guy is likely to provide the better service. However, I've read of many falangs who have different experiences. I'm talking in generalities, of course.
Another issue may be that the Pattaya guys often live close together and may even have arrived together as a childhood friends. I'm no expert on the bar-scene of today but my distinct recollection is that the Pattaya bars were more fun, with more inter-dancer interaction, teasing and joking  and so on, compared to BKK, where the guys were more likely to be workmates...not "mates." Sometimes they may live miles away from anyone else in that bar.
Just a recollection, mind you.. 

Scene no but THE LOOK quite possibly yes. After off , particularly more than once,  boy may consider you as customer who owes him off every time he enters his bar. If he moves bars and you happen to be in his new place , same,  same.
While rarely it will lead to anything nasty  you may see him planting beside you uninvited, ordering drink before you were even consulted , in short acting like next off is sure thing in cards so we need to thread carefully not to inject any sense of loyalty unless we wish to. I found that playing diplomatic games won't work but blunt approach 'I will not off you tonight",  " I came today to off XXX " , "I'm not offing anybody " works the best 

Viet boys, both freelancers and bar boys, for whatever reasons, appear to stick strictly to Bangkok. In my 20 years of frequenting both Bangkok and Pattaya, I met just one Viet MB in Cupidol.

Me: Been to BKK, Going to Pattaya 1st time this week.
When I look at the bars in Pattaya and what they put on social media, I just don't get the same excitement as seeing the posts from Moonlight and Jupiter. Eye candy in the planning process is a major selling point. I will say that Dragon Man Club is the exception, and this might be the place that will bring me back time and time again to Pattaya.
However, that's not to say there aren't stunners in Pattaya. It could just be that bars in BKK have to be more adept at social media due to higher rent and overhead. 
As you mentioned, though, Pattaya does seem to be more friendly, and I think that might have a powerful effect on me. Being a vers man myself, I imagine that the twink empire of Pattaya will just put me more in the mood to express my top side, whereas Bangkok is where the bottom loves to come out. I do know there are plenty of twinks who top, though, so please excuse the generalization. 
As I'm in my 30s and am a white foreigner living in a SE Asia country that's not Singapore (the rules are a bit different there), I'll be honest that it's VERY easy to find free hook-ups with twinks, so that's another benefit of Bangkok. (Clarity: I might not love the idea of paying to off twinks when I can just as easily have fun free encounters with local guys who are just as handsome and speak English.) 

Bangkok has a bit of everything all the time. I find muscle boys and twinks in Bangkok but I also found them in Pattaya. For me the main difference is in Pattaya I know the app guys are looking for money, but in Bangkok, it is hit or miss. However, there are still many more guys in Bangkok than Pattaya.
 

I prefer the Pattaya / Jomtien closeness to the seaside - fresh air, and breeze.
The bigness and noisiness of Bangkok stresses me - therefore making the offing guy experience less fun.
So, for longer periods of time I prefer to stay in Jomtien / Pattaya.
For more intense action packed fun for a shorter period of time - then I prefer Bangkok.
For meeting the guys - I am happy with the offerings in both places - especially now with the ease of the apps - but I do like the going out adventure of go-go and or host bar scene.

Buy a bottle of Lactacyd  'Pussy Wash' as used by the girls, gentle, sweet smelling and effective in removing odours  

Good for the boy who brave enough to stand for his right. A deal is a deal. Both party, boy and client should deliver their part of the deal unless one party didnt deliver. Although, since we didnt here from the client's side, i cant really say who is in the right. But i wouldnt want to be in that situation as well, and will just pay up to avoid trouble and put it as a price of learning experience.

I concur with you and @vinapu Tawan is the friendliest gay bar in Bangkok. 

I know Pattaya also has host bars, but I feel like they're not the same model as the ones discussed here. Can anyone share about the Pattaya host bars?

@Boy69 might much younger than us (correct me if I am wrong, sir) and in which case hot guys on grinder are free.

Absolutely, a cop in the small Canadian city where I live told me it could get by with two police officers (instead of 30)  if it wasn't for alcohol. This is the case in many smaller communities in Canada where almost all of the police activity is related to alcohol. The question now is whether legal pot will replace alcohol over time and will crime and police calls go down.

Wow, this is very welcome, but quite surprising. I always thought that Southeast Asia was one of the strictest regions in the world when it came to drug consumption or possession! Hopefully, this becomes a catalyst for more Asian countries following suit, although that seems unlikely for now.

Just reading the latest news on Thailand legalising marijuana this week.
I think it's great that times are changing all over the World .
I'm not into drugs taking of any sort but it's no use fighting a war over a drug that doesn't seem to make people violent.( Unlike alcohol)
I hope the rest of the world including Australia follows suit.
 
 

Here's a graph from Thaiwebsites.com.  The numbers (for quarterly arrivals of tourists) are in millions. The Dec - Feb peak is not pronounced. It's only about 20 percent more visitors than the lowest quarter.