Sherlocked

Hello everyone. Just got my e-visa and I'll be visiting Istanbul in the first week of September for one week. I have gone through the existing posts on Istanbul on these forums, but still had some questions that I would be grateful if anyone could answer! 1. Saunas other than Aquarius - Most people on the forum have mentioned Aquarius sauna, but none of the other reputedly gay saunas. Google and gay travel websites mention Firuzaga bath, Cihangir sauna and Yesilderik hamam too. Has anyone had an experience at any of these saunas and hammams, or any other hammams I've missed out? At the above saunas, is fun only to be had with patrons (like in saunas in the West), or are the masseurs up for extra services as well? 2. Tekyon club - All the gay websites say that this is a pretty popular club in Istanbul. However, the Google reviews are pretty mixed! Has anyone visited Tekyon? Are escorts also available here (a few of the Google reviews mention this)? 3. Massage places - This is probably my naivete, but I was expecting a lot of gay massage places like there is in other parts of Asia like Thailand or Singapore, but through a Google search I could hardly find anything. I found this masseur called Bora (https://malemasseuristanbul.weebly.com/), who has a few good reviews - does anyone have any experience with him? Apart from that, I've found these two massage listing websites - https://www.masor-turkiye.com/, and https://www.masajturkiye.com/. However, the descriptions indicate only a professional massage, with nothing sensual/erotic. Does anyone have experience hiring from either of these websites; are the masseurs willing to go beyond and offer extras? Are there any other masseurs/massage services in Istanbul that forum members can recommend - I was pretty surprised to hardly find anything! 4. Apps/websites - A few people on this forum have mentioned hiring escorts through Planet Romeo or Rentmen? Are they both equally popular and reliable, or is one better than the other? I checked out Istanbul listings on both websites, and they were pretty extensive, but reviews are few. Given some of the dangerous experiences guys have mentioned having through online hiring from Grindr (I don't use Grindr so won't be hiring from here) or to a lesser extent, Romeo (Hunqz) and Rentmen, I was wondering if either one was safer/more reliable? Some of the older reviews mention Hornet being popular; is that still the case or is it now not that popular? 5. Stray dogs - Have any of the forum members had any negative experiences with stray dogs - like attacking people, etc.? I know this point seems a bit unusual, but there has recently been a lot of controversy in Turkey over an app called Havrita which points out locations of supposed aggressive street dogs that have attacked people. On the other side, a lot of people are calling for it to be shut down because some people have apparently poisoned street dogs after learning their locations through the app. Thank you all in advance. I will truly be grateful for any answers anyone shares. I will of course post a trip report of my experiences once I'm back, that I hope will be helpful for forum members visiting Istanbul in the near future. This forum has been extremely helpful to me so far!

I'm sorry I don't know what you mean. I am not this person you claim I am. I am genuinely new to this website. I don't understand how you can cast aspersions on my identity or character without any basis. It is very hurtful that you downvoted my genuine questions and randomly accused me of being someone else.

@floridarob Haha, thanks for the great advice. I'll definitely keep it in mind when I travel 😜! Hopefully, I can have good experiences and post it on this forum to help others. I guess it will probably be harder for me in countries like Morocco, where the majority of Western tourists who seek out local men are older. The local guys may not think I'm interested and probably won't approach me for intimacy, and I'll have to be more proactive in finding guys (which I'm guessing is hard in a discreet society like Morocco). Do you know of any other forums/websites like this one, where people post their experiences of getting local action in countries like Morocco, Tunisia, etc. or Latin american countries like Colombia. I discovered this website quite accidentally very recently, and couldn't believe the great info given and how helpful people are. Do you know of any other similar websites/blogs, etc. (specifically on offbeat destinations like I mentioned)?

Thanks for the reply. This is really an eye-opening experience for me 😄! I thought that Morocco was basically a no-go zone for this kind of fun. After hearing you, I'm more inclined to confirm my travel plans there for winter 2022. I've always loved the culture and history (from what I know, the history and architecture is quite similar to Andalusian Spain), but was hesitant to travel because of how bad I thought it was. Reading your reply and other posts on this forum has made me a bit more confident to actually make the trip this year, and hopefully combine tourism with a bit of fun! @floridarobIf you don't mind my asking, approx. how many years ago was the last time you visited Morocco? Do you have any plans to travel there anytime soon? I saw you mentioned Tunisia as well. Lol, this is again a surprise for me. While I knew they were more liberal than the GCC countries as Tunisia's government has been taking many steps to be secular since the Arab Spring, I hardly know of people travelling there for tourism, and haven't really heard anyone talk about the availability of guys there. Do you have any definite plans to travel there soon? I'm still in my twenties and have just about started my professional life, so my travel repertoire is still quite limited 😅. I've travelled to Western Europe, the US and Thailand, but am looking forward to exploring most of the globe!

Yes, I've heard about this film from a few people and they all gave good reviews. Nowadays Netflix seems to be getting rid of good films and shows at an astonishing rate - this coupled with their recent price hike in the US and Canada has started souring me towards them!

Wow, sounds like very hot experience! I didn't know this was a possibility in a conservative country like Morocco.

Just saw this beautiful film that I wanted to share with everyone here. It's a Japanese animated film from 2016 called "In This Corner of the World". It's set during World War II in Japan, and shows the life of a young bride who adjusts to life during the war, and shows the impact it has on her day-to-day life and her family. I found it really touching because of how it clearly shows that even during war, you cannot tar every citizen of a country with the same brush because of the actions of their government; very often, the normal people have no say in their government's actions. I think this is particularly resonating now, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A lot of Russians are themselves against the war, but cannot do much themselves. I hope you guys like the film . Here's the trailer:

Thanks for the review! Do you think it's worth a one-time watch or it's better to skip it? Is the focus too much on wokeness and being preachy, or does it actually have a richly-developed story which can draw the viewer in? I'd loved the original British series because it touched on many issues without being preachy and actually having a well-developed storyline and great characters!

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.

Has there been any talk on dropping the Covid vaccination requirements for international travellers into the US? From what I understand, only the PCR test requirement is being dropped right, travellers still need to be vaccinated to enter the US?

I'd like to thank everyone who replied to my query and helped me out. Thanks a ton 😊! Based on what you'll have stated as well as my own research, I've decided to postpone my trip to the US for now, because the prices do seem a bit high. They should hopefully settle down by the fall. Additionally, Texas also reported its first case of monkeypox yesterday, and WHO has also warned that cases are also spreading fast in non-endemic nations. Therefore, I figured from both a cost as well as health perspective, I should stay put in Canada for now. Once again, thank you for the warm welcome everyone has given me on this forum!

Thank you so much for your response :). This is what I've finally decided to do - postpone my travel for now, and hope to advance book cheaper fare sometime later this year, when prices settle down.

I was originally planning on travelling to Bangkok and Chiang Mai later this month, but put my travel plans on hold because of the recent monkeypox scare and cases increasing globally. Then I thought of visiting relatives in Texas instead, but the prices have my head spinning!

Hello everyone! I had a question about recent flight prices, that I'd be grateful if someone could answer :). I know it's slightly off-topic for this thread, but I didn't know where else to put it. Just joined this website over the weekend, so I'm still trying to figure things out. My question was - have the frequent flyer members on this forum noticed a significant increase in flight prices due to the war and resulting rise in oil prices globally? I'm in Canada right now, and was looking to fly down to Texas to visit family, but I'm not sure on whether I should wait it out now and fly later. I'm not a frequent flyer, so don't really have an idea of what normal prices were for this route. If it's too expensive right now due to the war, I'll postpone my trip till things settle down. Thank you!

Hey guys. I've just joined this site and am so grateful for the wealth of information provided here. I went through the streaming suggestions on this thread. While they are all amazing, they are mostly all in English, so I thought of providing some non-English examples that I love. I really enjoyed watching this new Indian film called RRR. It's on Netflix and is the No. 1 non-English film globally as of last week, and has also done amazing business in India. It's got elements of history and colonialism and the Indian struggle for independence (it involves 2 freedom fighters in 1920s India under British rule), pretty cool special effects, and a strong bromance (some people have interpreted some homoerotic undertones). Here's a link to one of the scenes in the film