Draden

LOL - I also was told I was "big" and am also average.

Thanks @roughjock and @floridarob! Those replies satisfy my apprehension quite a bit. (I'm not really the hang-out and get to know you type so it sounds like what may not be a selling point for others, may work for me!)

Are massage parlors a safer bet than bars? I think I've mentioned this in another thread, but I notice like Onespa and K-Man label the guys clearly Top or Vers. Just wondering if "Vers" means "Top but will unenthusiastically Bottom with a 5X markup." Ha.

Thanks for these great reports, @roughjock. Question for the group ... my past experiences with MBs were in Japan and Taiwan where, if they're sold as open to bottoming, there's really no resistance or backpeddling at the moment and they usually at least give the appearance of being into it. Will I have a noticeably different experience in Thailand? (I notice that rough jock has had a few sub-par interactions.)

Wait - so what do all these mean?

Thank you all very much! Aside from the question of specific type availability, is there typically a lot of haggling involved? I just note that, in some reports, a user will say that they struck out at XYZ place or, at the end of the massage, no specials were offered by ABC masseuer.

That was maybe unnecessarily vague. At the risk of being crude, maybe I can phrase this as an equation ... say I have an extremely strong preference for bottoms in their 20s-early 30s without tattoos (or only lightly tattooed) who are 170CM or less in height. If I were to take four trips to BKK massage parlors looking for full service extras that fit that criteria, what percent could I expect to find something like that would you think? (Hopefully I threaded the needle correctly between vagueness and graphicness in this one. And hopefully I'm not coming across as some kind of sociopath!)

Question - so the week I'm going to be in Bangkok is because I'll be in Asia anyway. I don't think I'm quite as experienced with MBs as some others here so was hoping to get an idea as to whether my time would be better spent there or if I should try Japan or Taiwan instead (my only other two experiences with MBs). I notice some of the trip reports involve negotiations, hits and misses, guys who are unwilling to bottom, etc. I regret I may not be as much of an amorist or socializer as some of the others here and am primarily interested in ST interactions that just get "down to business" so to speak with a guaranteed - or at least high - rate of return. My previous trip to Japan and its brothels you knew precisely what you were going to get when you walked into the room. Will it be significantly different in Bangkok, specifically with massage parlors? Sorry, in advance, for chilling the vibe with my aromantic personality! (But many thanks, in advance, for any advice.)

I keep seeing here Gecko referred to but, when I try to find their website or social media presence, I just get this FB page for this odd-looking nail salon ... https://www.facebook.com/GekkoNailArt/ ... is that one and the same?

same - struck me as just your typical tourist area

"Almost like a cheap abortion clinic" I LOL'ed! Great read!

Thank you for all your responses - this was incredibly helpful!

A couple other questions, if I may: 1. I was never mpox vaccinated and, frankly, mpox is something I'd totally forgot about. Is this something I should do before going to Thailand? 2. Curious - what is the preference people have for hotels over AirBNBs? 3. Does anyone have experience with OneSpa? Most of my experience has been in Japan where they have browsable and bookable websites, so I kinda found that aspect of OneSpa appealing, but haven't seen much in reviews about them. 4. I've seen it recommended that you check IDs. Does that hold true for massage parlors, too? I don't have any issue doing that, just don't want to seem weird if this isn't customary because masseurs are already vetted or something. 5. When a Thai guy indicates he's Vers does that really mean he's a Top and is just trying to expand his possible customer base and - when you get down to it - he's not gonna be interested in receiving? Or do they usually mean what they say? 6. When a "minimum tip" is listed, what is the usual "actual" tip you should leave for good service? Say there's a "minimum tip" of 1200 baht but the service is good, what would be the expectation for "actual" tip? Sorry for so many questions! Thanks, in advance!

Thanks, very helpful! (Not to sound super-weird or anything, but I do have a slight aversion to tattoos of any kind. But maybe this is just an opportunity to get over this affectation - ha!)

I know this is late but I went to all three last year so can give a brief overview. - Independence: The first time you go they have you meet on a street corner outside a metro station. I know that sounds sort-of sketchy but it's fine. The guy will show-up and approach you and ask if you're [your name]. He then walks you back to the shop which is down a dark alley (again, I know that sounds strange, but it's Japan so is fine) roughly a block and a half away. If you go a second or subsequent time you can just go straight to the place and not deal with the pick-up. The guys are only vaguely like what they appear in the photos, by which I mean the photos were not merely smoothed but there was some very creative lighting and - frankly- amazing work by a skilled photographer. No complaints at all by me, just for your awareness. The interior of the shop is the cleanest of them all. - DG: This one doesn't have en suite showers so you are taken to the room, the guy comes in, you get undressed, then he looks out the door to make sure the hallway is clear and you go to the shower at the end of the hall. Then back again after. Only went here once. The guy was exactly how he appeared in the photo absent minor blemishes (i.e. acne). This is also a studio apparently; if you Google the Kanji character name of a guy there's a chance you might find a movie he's been in. They have a small, but multi-story, building and it appears - though I'm not entirely sure - that the guys are actually working in their call center handling customer service questions (for their video websites) when they're not with a client. At least, when I went there, I entered the wrong floor and walked into what looked like a call center, thought I was in the wrong place, but one of the guys immediately jumped up and politely took me to a room on the next floor up, got me settled, asked who I was there to see, and then went and brought him in. - TK: I went there twice and saw two different guys. In both cases, the guys were actually better-looking in person than their photos on the website, by quite a bit. Almost as if they did the opposite as what Independence did and ugo-ed them up. This is probably the most run-down -- in terms of facility -- of the three but not awful or anything. All three had condoms on-site, though they were One Size Fits Small, so you might prefer to bring your own. It seems clear that bare is not an option.