fedssocr

but "Communist Vietnam" also requires actual visas for a lot more places too

I thought maybe that was the view when you passed out

The boxers over briefs thing baffled me as well. I guess the explanation makes some sense. But in such a hot climate why would anyone want another layer there? The glasses frames without lenses I can't explain. Maybe they think glasses make them look smart? It's an Asia-wide thing, not just Thailand. Same same the jeans with torn knees. Lots of Korean stars wear those too. I don't get it.

I think Paragon is hilarious. All of those high end stores with no shoppers in them. I don't know how they stay in business. I like the floor with all of the car dealers though. Want a Rolls Royce or Aston Martin? Go to the mall and buy one! But I love Central World. I don't think many places in BKK have any issues with hotel visitors. However when I stayed at Siam Heritage Hotel many years ago they didn't allow anyone not a registered guest to go upstairs. I stayed at Tarntawan once and didn't enjoy it (hard as concrete bed and the bathroom wasn't great either). But I suppose maybe they've renovated since then. You didn't mention a budget. The Le Meridien on Surawong is nice but a little expensive. Great breakfast buffet. The Crowne Plaza Lumpini is also pretty nice and in a decent location. Airbnb is also an option.

or HiSo matrons

thanks for the replies

Planning my next (brief) visit for November. I had good luck in Seoul with AriBnB and will be using them again for an upcoming Europe trip. So, anyone have a favorite AirBnB or MisterB&B (like Airbnb for gays) in Bangkok? I see several places listed at this building called Klass on Soi Phiphat in the US$50-60 per night range. But I don't mind not staying in Silom. There are also some nice condos on Sukhumvit that are out a ways but offer nice views and are quite new.

I sent them a note and they responded that the new site will eventually have all of the same functionality as the old one. So I take that to mean the escort section will still be around. It's only really all that useful in Europe in my experience, but that's still worthwhile.

Not a fan. Seems like change for the sake of change with no clearly articulated reason why. It's too much like a mobile app. What's the point of putting a mobile app on a desktop website? They have their own mobile app already - although you have to jump through some hoops to download because it's not on the official Google Play store Are they eliminating the escort listings and trying to reposition purely as a "dating" site?

yeah, that certainly sounds like cart before horse alright!

false advertising

I used to use TheLimoPattaya. But I think I paid something like 2400 baht return. So 1000 baht noted above sounds like a very good deal. Looks like a similar sort of set up.

Your narrative about what happened and the timeline is completely different to everything I have read, including UA's own timeline as Munoz set out in his letter to UA employees.

There were several issues. Mainly I think the problem is one of corporate culture. Front line employees are not given any leeway to handle a situation like this with some common sense. And since this was United Express it means that these are the least experienced, most poorly paid employees. According to UA's own telling it wasn't until after the flight was fully boarded that the deadheading employees showed up at the gate saying they needed to be on the flight. Certainly it's much easier to deny boarding before people have boarded. They should have kept offering more compensation until they had takers. But since the rules only require them to pay 4x the one-way fare paid, it was cheaper for the airline to just kick people off the plane and pay them a couple hundred bucks. And since all the airlines really care about is their shareholders and not their customers they do whatever is cheapest for the airline. Offering a voucher and a flight 24 hours later isn't especially enticing to most people. Especially once they're already on board and ready to go. Most people don't have the flexibility to agree to a 24 hour delay. Perhaps if they had offered a flight on American an hour or two later it would have not caused so much trouble. But again it was cheaper to only offer their own flight the next day. I swore to never fly on UA again after they screwed me over on the way home from Asia a couple of years ago. Again it was a United Express issue. Since UA decides to contract out these smaller routes to regional carriers in order to save themselves money they don't have as much control. But their livery (or a version of it) is on the side of the plane so they get the (deserved) blame. UA really is a horrible company with terrible customer service. Maybe this will be the wakeup call they need. But I somehow doubt it when the bottom line is all they really care about. But ultimately I agree that UA won't suffer too much. There's not much competition left in US aviation. So when people don't have a choice other than drive or fly they're stuck. When it comes to no-shows I'd guess that a large part of the time it is due to missing a connection rather than people buying a ticket and just not showing up.

depending on when you plan to be there in April it could be Songkran time...so be prepared for that. as for how much to tip, I think your numbers sound very generous. But those who spend more time in BKK will be able to better answer that perennial question

I've done the Pattaya - Bangkok transfer on Sundays a few times and never noticed it taking any longer or being any more traffic than other days. I usually check out of the hotel around 11 and get to BKK by 1. But it's been 18 months or so since my last trip so maybe this is a new issue? I stayed at the Crowne Plaza on my last visit. It's quite nice. As an IHG platinum (just for having the IHG MasterCard) I was upgraded to the club level automatically. The best thing about it is that it's just around the corner from Sala Daeng BTS (and Lumpini MRT) for getting around town. I suppose if all you're interested in is seeing the boy bars that might not be so enticing, but if you plan to see the city a little it's helpful since it's a shorter walk in the hotter parts of the day. It's not a long walk from Soi Twilight though either. The only thing I didn't like about the hotel was that you have to take 2 elevators every time you leave or arrive since the main lobby is on the 23rd floor or so. Given how expensive the gogo bars/drinks have become I don't spend much time there any more. If you plan to use the hook up apps it doesn't matter too much where you stay. But for a first timer for sure you should check out the gogos while they still exist. On subsequent visits it's worth branching out a bit.

they've been cracking down on Uber and Grab. Most likely it's just low season

because if there's something BKK needs more of it's condos and shopping malls

I saw this news yesterday. I will be there in November so I am hoping the crematorium will be open to the public. I saw the one for his sister several years ago and it was really beautiful. This should be even grander. It will certainly be a historic event

I love Taiwan in general. Taipei is great city. Very easy to get around. The rest of the island has some beautiful scenery.

thanks for posting this. I had no idea this was going on

It's often said that most sex worker clients are Thais, not foreigners. So, I'm not sure what effect this would have on tourism in any case. More supply doesn't necessarily mean more demand. It just drives down (theoretically) prices until and unless demand does catch up to supply. At least that's basic economic theory. But I don't know that that's ever applied in Thailand.

if they have a big following, getting tickets can be difficult. The entire Japanese concert ticketing process is byzantine and weird. But there are services to help if you need a ticket but aren't in the fan club.

HKG has a plethora of male massage spas. Prices certainly higher than Thailand but not outrageous. On my most recent visit I had a good time at Aloha Spa. I was only in town for 24 hours though so I didn't have time to explore the scene much. Taipei also has a number of male spas with lots of cute guys. The apps are pretty popular there as well. And Foutainhall has told us about his experiences at the hot springs there. Indonesia the apps were also pretty popular when I was there...at least on Bali anyway. Met a MB on Grindr there. Lots of guys on GR as well in Jakarta and elsewhere. Headed to Seoul in a few weeks. It will be interesting to check things out there. Looks like there is a handful of massage places there. Prices similar to HKG, Taipei, Singapore. I haven't encountered anywhere in SE Asia that is like Bangkok or Pattaya, really.

I agree that could be a great location for them. You have the people who like to hang out at Soi 4 who might pop in to take a look since it's right there.