forrestreid

If you are looking for a hotel, with a gym and a very nice pool, but it which is cheaper than the Meridian, you might consider the Rose Hotel. It’s just down a lane across Surawong Road from the entrance to Patpong,. The views from the rooms would not be all that great, but it has a gym and what is, in my opinion, probably the most beautifully situated swimming pool in all of Bangkok - located at ground level. There is no issue with joiners. The main disadvantage is that the rooms are quite small, but also the price is very reasonable - the cheaper rooms go for about €40 a night generally. At the moment the largest room available for the next few weeks on Booking.com seems to be the 16 m², but Agoda have 22 m² room, so perhaps consider Agoda if you’re booking.

Thanks for the reviews. I see that Paradise Massage in Silom Soi 6 Bangkok are advertising that they have opened a new place in Pattaya. Going by the picture, it is beside the old Happy Place Bar in the soi next to the main Boystown lane (Soi 13/3 or 13/4?). Wonder if anyone tried that out?

Firstly, I’d like to thank the OP for another great post about his activities in Thailand. I was visiting my family for New Year (I live in Ireland). My sister and sometimes brother usually assemble in my parents house and watch the rather insipid New Year’s Eve show on we have in Irish TV, and drink a glass of Prosecco at midnight. Then head to bed soon after. I woke up that morning was a bit of a sore throat. But didn’t take much notice of it. When my my sister arrived she said I should said take a Covid test. I decided to take one just to reassure her (my mother had some to hand). To my horror it turned out to be a positive test. My first ever positive Covid test after nearly three years of the virus. What an evening to get it! So that was the end of the party, and I had to go home. Ended up ringing in the New Year with a glass of Baileys in my bed…

For 1, I would guess Calcutta, For 2, I would guess Beijing, For 3, I have no idea For 4, I would guess Austro-Hungarian Empire No idea of 5 or 6.

Sexy Video!

When logging in to this website today via Firefox, it didnt like it. Got a message from Firefox saying the security cert was out of date, and I had to agree to proceed to the site at my own risk...

Shocking story. The Tesco side of things was bad enough, but looking at it from the perspective of Thailand, you just know that the only reason that the employer was able to get away with so much is because these workers were presumably all Burmese. The fact that they are not Thai citizens seems to be an excuse by employers across the board to treat them badly, from fishing boats, to maids, to factory workers.

Thank you for the pictures of the guys 12is12. I regret that it is uncommon this message board to see posts with pictures of sex providers people have met. Another board I sometimes look at is PattayaAddicts, which is aimed at, and written by, straight male tourist to Pattaya. On that board there are very many trip reports with pictures of the girls, which can be interesting. (some posters even have pics of ladyboys and men they have hired!) It is a pity that we don’t see more of those pics here, as I would imagine some guys, if asked, wouldn’t have any objection (as with your examples above).

Great pics! Really wetting my appetite for some out of the way sites in Cambodia

Indeed. You never know who you are going to meet if you venture to see them in real life. I remember one time a trip I took to Pattaya coincided with a birthday party in a Sunee Plaza bar organised by Rainwalker, a poster on one of the boards (think he has since passed on, unfortunately). He issued a general invitation to board members to come, and I went along. I didn’t really recognise anybody, and so was going around introducing myself by my screen name, and giving my real name, and asking theirs. It was interesting to see the faces behind some of the handles. But I was a bit taken aback that some refused to divulge their forum name. I though it was a bit weird. Okay if you want to be discreet about your real personal details, but why not say that you are "olddaddy" or "floridarob" or whatever? There was one particularly grumpy-looking middle-aged guy sitting alone and looking a bit fed-up who I went over to chat too, and when I asked him his handle, he answered "I prefer to be discreet about that". Feeling a bit annoyed about what I saw as a rather precious attitude, I impulsively said to him "a guy over at that other table told me he thought you were Bad Boy Billy", just to wind him up. (Bad Boy Billy was an Australian poster at the time who was a bit of a troll, and always starting rather sensational and probably made-up threads about this sexual exploits. Maybe he’s your cousin Olddaddy, lol). Anyway, to my surprise, the guy didn't realise that I was patently pulling his leg and very indignantly demanded that I point out who it had said it with the implication that he was about to go over and confront him! I had to admit I had made it up. Our chat didn't last too long after that...

When I saw it first I thought it was going to be an old folk song with ancient Japanese instruments, but it turned out to be a very pleasant Japanese pop-song. Nice looking singer too... I always hear Japanese pop-music as sounding so much more similar to Western than South-east Asian pop music (if you played me the above without the video and said it was the Moldovan entry to last year's Eurovision song contest, I would have believed you, lol). I think it is because of the tonal aspect to Thai and Chinese that their pop-songs sound a bit "weird" to my ears, where as the above is far less so.

A discussion of “sociability” in the context of a message board brings up some interesting implications. Generally I would see myself as being quite an introverted person. For instance, I would a bit stressed out by the thoughts of sitting beside someone I hardly knew at a staff Christmas party, for example. And I would probably behave in that situation in a way that would be seen as “shy”. But if I have a specific reason to talk, somebody, I can be quite forward. I think that meeting people in real life that you have only interacted with online can be something of scrambling of normal parameters. Although generally I’m quite introverted, I have in the past made an effort to meet some people who I have known from Thai message boards, such as Smiles, or Christian PFC, that I thought would be interesting to talk to, based on their message board persona. I remember about 15 years ago, when I used to post on an Irish gay message board, and there was discussion of a real life meet-up in a pub. I was happy to go, but a friend of mine, who I knew in real life and also posted on the board, and who is generally far more extroverted than me (especially if he was out in a pub, and had a drink on him) was much more uncertain about the idea. He was not quite sure why, he said he thought the other posters might turn out to be weirdos, but I think he was just a bit uneasy with the idea of meeting some people in real life, and perhaps not feeling he knew them really as as they were previously a name on a screen. Whereas I, who would usually see myself as having a more stand-off or cooler manner, was more comfortable with the idea of meeting such people. I think, it is partly due to the fact that I, like a lot of introverted people, have a rather more instrumental attitude to meeting people. I was looking forward to having the chance to tease out some of the topics I had been discussing in message threads with people face-to-face, where is he was more like “will I like these people?” (in a backslapping sort of way). When I say "instrumental attitude" I don't mean I just want to meet people to get what I can out of them, I mean I am thinking "it would be cool to meet x, we are both interested going to Ko Samet, we can share knowledge", rather than my friend, who would be wondering whether prospective companions might be good fun or not (or "any crack?" as we say in Ireland).

I see that Fake Club are celebrating the World Cup by putting their guys in the various country strips. Video here (you have to be logged in to FB to see it) : https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1482269022353736 I know we should a be boycotting the World Cup and all, but they look cute all the same...

Soda Massage in Jomtien has has had some very good reviews of their masseurs, particularly for the afters, but I think they are mainly on the twinky side.

Well, considering the Ecuador beat Qatar handily to come out with a 2-0 victory, I think the rumour is well and truly scotched now.

Having the highest denomination note as 100,000 is quite an improvement on when I was there (about 2010), when the exchange rate was about 11,000 kip to the dollar, but the highest value note was only 20,000 kip. So the highest denomination note was only worth about 1.80 usd, as compared to about 5.80 usd now. You might be able to hold all the notes in one hand if you went to pay for weeks hotel stay in kip notes now.

I found that in September in Athens the going rate for guys on Hunqz was €100 an hour. The guys I asked were not particularly muscular, but were good-looking native Greek guys with at least ten positive reviews.

Dunno, seems pretty clear to me..."Would appreciate someone experienced to make sure i'm not getting scammed or doing anything wrong".

I don't think you should really call it unhappy news, either. Shows there is some action around , and just because I was a bit nervous to do anything, does not mean that somebody else might not have a more adventurous experience... I would look forward to reading the experience of other guys who visit.

I spent a few days in Athens in late September. I decided to try out few of the places mentioned on this thread, to see if they were still going or had been wiped out by the Covid years. I am not an ideal candidate the task, as i am generally too nervous to actually hire bar hustlers or street rentboys, but I though of the readers of this website, and steeled myself to go out and about.. Adventures in Bars: Both the bars that have been reported here as having escorts - Sami's Bar and Bizzar - are close to Viktoria Metro stop, so I took train there on a Saturday evening. One of the bars is actually only open on Friday and Saturday, so you better be in Athens at the weekend if you want to try them out. I walked around the square above the metro stop first. There were a few guys sitting on the park benches and looking at men that passed – it was obviously what they were after. I didnt linger though, and went to Sami’s Bar first (often spelled “Sammi’s” on social media) When I arrived at around 9.00 pm it was nearly empty. The friendly staff told me it would get busier later, and by ten there was about four customers in the place. No real interaction between them, apart from chatting to the friendly staff. I was frustrated that the sexy Persian guys Xclay met on his visits hadn't turned up, although perhaps it was too early. I decided to abandon it and went to Bizzar bar. This was busier, about 12 customers. There were a few younger guys circulating but they were shy about approaching you in the bar. What I figured out was that when a guy went downstairs to the toilets, they followed you down and made their pitch there. I talked to a Romanian guy during one trip downstairs, and an Egyptian on the next. The Romanian guy was pleasant and offered some fun in the toilets for €40. I did not take him up. The Egyptian guy was more pressing, and when I rejected his suggestion of going into the cubicle for some fun (my understanding was that this would involve me sucking him off, and nothing more), his suggestion of €40 rapidly dropped to €30 and eventually ended up with just begging for some money to eat. I gave him 10 euro and went back up the stairs, just in time to see the Romanian guy leaving with a customer. I then regretted not taking my chances with him, of course. Guys on Omonia Square: The next night, Sunday, decided to walk around the northern side of Omonia Square, to see if they guys were still there. Long time readers of this site might remember that I tried this scene before Covid, but was too chickenshit to do anything in the end. Well, history repeated itself. At about 10 pm on the Sunday, I walked north from Omonia Square towards the pedestrian street the Cosmopolit hotel is on. Plenty of female hookers giving me the eye, but no guys I noticed (there was lot of Middle Eastern-looking guys hanging in groups of two or three, but I did not get the impression they were on the game). Then suddenly a young guy came up to me and started chatting. He started telling me about how you could rent a room for €10 from the Cosmopolit etc. He did not say why, and I was unsure at first if he was trying to pimp a women to me or what. However, it when he said he just wanted €40, it became clearer. He looked Syrian or Iraqi, and was a bit jumpy in manner, so I was too nervous to go anywhere with him. I asked him where he was from and he claimed to be called Alex from Thessalonica. I said thanks, but no thanks, and walked away. But as I had evinced some curiosity, he was not to be shaken off too easily, and followed me round Omonia Square for five minutes trying to get me to change my mind, and did not give up until I was nearly at the Athinaikon restaurant on Themistocles St. Not an interaction that would tempt me back to Omonia Square Guys on web After that, I decided to play it a bit safer, and looked at some guys on the web. Chatted to a few guys on various sites – the main site for Athens is Hunqz, as far as I can see. I agreed to meet two guys, one on Monday and one on Tuesday. The price for each was €100, I went to the apartment of one guy and asked another to come to my hotel – I offered him an extra €20 for this. Both the guys I chose had a number of positive reviews, which is largely why I chose them. They were very polite and pleasant.

Horrifying report - I cannot read about this story.

If you are capable of supporting yourself through online work or suchlike (easier said than done, I know) you may be able to travel to the Caucasus republic of Georgia. That’s presuming you’re going to be allowed out of Russia. I follow a Russian YouTuber called NFKRS. He is an English language YouTuber and makes money that way. His channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/c/MultiNfz Since the war broke out he has moved to Tbilisi in Georgia. He spoke about his immigration situation in one of his videos. Seemingly, a Russian can get a Visa to travel to Georgia for 360 days in a year. Then you can go to (say) Armenia for a week or two, and come back and start another 360 day Visa in Georgia. Not sure if it’s quite as simple as that for everybody, but he is currently renting an apartment in Tbilisi, making money on YouTube and supporting himself in that way. Although he’s only 22, he doesn’t have to worry about the conscription issue, as he has a medical exemption.

If you have twitter, an guy who has a Youtube account and also tweets on travel did a series of tweets on his trip on the new railway, dated the 9th September. Giving his views on it, good and bad. The account is called @nonstopeurotrip

I rather think you are joking. Never heard of him before, but according to the first video I found on Youtube about him (seemingly by a supporter of his) he is facing a jail term for "exposing the identity of an alleged paedophile in breach of a New South Wales Court suppression order". This is presumably because the fool might wreck a forthcoming criminal trial. According to other videos he was already in trouble for harassing politicians and/or various Covid protest nut-jobbery. If DanyaHulus is genuine, your thread hi-jacking is in rather poor taste.

I concur with the assessment of PeterRS. We might not see eye to eye on international relations, but we can agree that Alex Kerr wrote a fine account of Bangkok!