richincali

Lately, I seem to be drinking beer from craft local breweries most often. But my favorite global/widespread brands are: 1. Goose Island IPA 2. Heineken 3. Singha (love it served in a beer tower with ice in Thailand) 4. Corona 5. Paulaner.

Like the others, I can't wait for less restrictive international travel. I miss visiting Europe and Thailand. My last international trip was to Barcelona in March 2020 just as the pandemic was taking off. Seems like a lifetime ago. . .

There are so many wonderful gay-friendly restaurants in Bangkok. Several of my favorite places have been listed. While I agree, most restaurants are gay-friendly, some places have an ambiance (e.g. too hiso or tables uncomfortably close so others might eavesdrop, etc.) that may put off a comfortable dinner for a typical date night. A couple of my favorite places. Hopefully they have remained open during this time: - (Not Just) Another Cup - Nice place for coffee and brunch located in Sathorn Soi 10 - Feung Nara - Mid-priced Thai restaurant in a charming old-house. Located on Naradhiwat Rajanagarindra Road just off an exit for the Chong Nonsi BTS station. - The Deck by Arun Residence - A lovely place across the river from Wat Arun. Located near Wat Po. I like to make dinner an event starting with a Chao Praya ferry trip from Sathorn Pier to Tha Chang Pier near the Grand Palace. Then a short walk in the leafy sois to the restaurant. After dinner, there is a nearby street flower market that opens in the evening and is a delightful stroll.

Absolutely correct @z909. Thailand is going to struggle with balancing their zero Covid tolerance policy with normalizing tourism. Most reports I've read seem to acknowledge Covid will not disappear anytime soon even with widespread vaccinations. Thailand and many other Asian countries that have been successful managing Covid are going to need to be very cautious in reopening. While they need tourists to come back for their economies to rebound, Thai government leadership have so far demonstrated this is not the highest priority. And at this point, I haven't seen a clear timeline or even much of a plan as to how they will vaccinate the Thai population. This is going to be frustrating to those of us who have been vaccinated and wish to return to Thailand under less restrictive conditions.

This is a step in the right direction and not really surprising given how Thailand has cautiously managed Covid. While it would be great to see Thailand open up again and go back to the glory days of free and easy travel, I expect it will take some time. The particulars of this proposal are somewhat strange - why is someone who has been vaccinated required a 7 day quarantine while an unvaccinated foreigner from the same country is required only 3 extra days quarantine? They both are still required to have a negative covid test (although there was an interesting article on an American who recently received a false negative test while visiting Thailand before flying home). Personally, I would be willing to do a short quarantine of say 2-3 days with vaccination and negative covid test but hard for me to justify the time and cost of a longer quarantine. https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/american-has-false-negative-covid-19-test-result-in-thailand-positive-result-after-return-to-the-us

Thank you @anddyfor the pic and report on Soi 2 activities! The personal sacrifice of your health and safety to keep us updated is well appreciated. It’s good to see continuing signs of life in Silom and gives us hope that we may be able to also enjoy it soon.

Good report @TotallyOzand great to hear things are coming back to life! The pic of Soi 4 looked quiet but nice to see some people out enjoying the evening. Did you happen to walk by DJ Station/Soi 2? Haven’t heard much about how they’ve been doing. It’s one of my favorite places and hope it makes it through the shutdown.

As z909 accurately points out, the list of irritants when visiting gogo bars has steadily increased over the years. I miss the days when we could affordably hop between 4 or 5 bars in a night with each one having a stage full of attractive boys. I’m cautiously optimistic that the Bangkok gogo bars will survive a while longer. I miss the excitement and anticipation of an evening at the bars. There is no place else where we can have such an experience. And after a year spending most of my time alone at home, I’m eager to get back and enjoy some live entertainment. Personally, I’ve had less success with the apps in Bangkok. I’ve had boys who don’t look like their pics or who don’t want to perform as agreed. For my typical 7 to 10 day holiday, I don’t want to risk wasting time searching for boys.

Thank you for the great background story. It's interesting to hear how the 3 key players have worked individually and collaboratively to develop these sites over the years. They are invaluable to so many people, and I wish you well with the integrated site. Seems to have gone smoothly!

I visited Moonlight this week. Arrived around 10:30. Show was already started and there was a good fun crowd. Entrance ticket with one drink was 400 baht. After seeing the Facebook videos, I was excited to see the hot models. They are even hotter in real life. They had 5 models. All are well built and very handsome. The staircase from the second level to the stage has been removed greatly improving the sight lines. The staff are wearing festive Songkran shirts now. Moonlight seems to be trying a new business model. I was very interested in a couple of the models. When I asked what the off fee paid to the bar would be, I was told 1,500 baht. I was stunned and asked twice again since I thought the loud music had caused me to misunderstand. But indeed it’s 1,500 baht. . . To take a guy after he finishes after midnight. Drinks for the models are 600 baht. I asked how much to pay the boys but was told up to boy. Other boys - off fee is 500 baht. Not sure about drinks for those boys. There were about 12 other boys- slimmer guys. I wish them all the best since I appreciate having choices.