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I don't necessarily agree with regard to facilities. If you just want a quick rub and then sex, sure. But personally I much prefer a proper massage table for my massages. I find that much more comfortable. And some massage shops have very nice rooms. Plus your sheets, towels, etc. won't get oily or "dirty" if you go to a shop.

I like your style. And your taste in boys.

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Lumpini on my last visit and seem to recall the bed there was pretty comfy. The only thing I didn't like was having to take two elevators every time I arrived and left. Location is great though right at the corner of Silom and Rama 4. Siri Sathorn I mentioned above was always pretty good too. And the Grand Hyatt. I found the beds at Tarntawan like concrete the one time I stayed there long ago. And the Triple Two Silom was the same. I'm trying out the Continent Hotel near Terminal 21 when I am in town in a few weeks.

at home less often than monthly, but not never traveling...depends where I am and what else I am doing. If I am not touring around and just taking it easy probably every few days in Thailand. In other places it depends somewhat on the going rate where I happen to be. But when I was in HK a few months ago I did 2 on a 24 hour layover. As for bed vs table, I'll take a table 10 times out of 10. On a bed I have to twist my neck into an uncomfortable position that is not conducive to a good massage. If all you want is sex, then I suppose a bed is better. But if you want a proper massage I don't see how you can get one without a table

apparently there is a big party in the works https://www.travelgayasia.com/event/formosa-2017/ (I asked about which NY since there are so many...Chinese NY, Thai NY, NY NY...)

which new year?

Not necessarily expensive. I use miles for my flights. Hotels can be cheap or expensive depending on what you need.

Get Global Entry and you never have to talk to US Immigration. No one really ever asks me. Sometimes my mother will ask if I haven't already seen everything there. But she has never been interested in travel herself so I think the fact that I love to travel is odd to her. I typically combine Thailand with at least one other destination. But I don't go more than once a year or every other year. It's a big world with lots of places to see.

I used Blurb for several years to make hardcover photobooks after my trips. I went for the big format "coffee table" size. They are very nice to have but they take up a lot of room at that size. So I've skipped the last few trips. I also shoot with Olympus OM-D cameras now so they are much smaller as are the lenses. So it's not a hardship to carry my gear around like it was when I was shooting Nikon.

If you haven't already booked hotels it might be too late. Myanmar has a real shortage of decent hotels, hence the high prices as noted above. The balloon ride in Bagan was definitely one of the highlights of my trip and worth every penny to me. I guess there are several balloon companies now. I presume they are all offering pretty much the same product. The sky looks really crowded in the recent photos I have seen. We lucked out the morning I was there and had a flight that lasted about 1:15 due to light winds. The captain mentioned that most flights are :45-1:00 Frankly 5 days is barely any time at all by the time you factor in travel between places. Personally I would wait until I had enough time to really do the country justice. Or limit yourself to two places. I don't know exactly how much damage was done in the recent earthquake that appeared to knock down a lot of the monuments at Bagan. I spent close to 3 weeks when I went. It's been a few years since I was there. Internet was generally terrible and almost unusable in most places in those days. But I presume things have improved some since then. I believe there are ATMs there now, but having relatively new USD is a a good idea in general. I really enjoyed Inle Lake much more than I expected to. It was cool and crisp when I was there. Being in the mountains was nice after spending a couple of weeks in the tropical heat. For me Mandalay was the least interesting of the places I went. Here's a link to a trip report I did for FlyerTalk

I mostly shoot scenery... buildings, landscapes that sort of stuff. But also lots of nature, insects and wildlife. I don't do a lot of "street" or people shots. And I never photograph my romantic partners unless they specifically ask me to. But I would never share them without permission. I also usually end up with a few thousand shots on a trip. But a lot of them are the same subject just from different angles or HDR sequences. On my recent trip to Sri Lanka I think it was something like 3000 shots in a little under 3 weeks. Culling and editing does take some work. Some one else used to claim they limited themselves to something like 5 or 10 pictures a day which they further limited to just a few from a whole trip. I never personally saw the point of that. Some days will be more photogenic than others so why artificially limit yourself? But to each, his own.

Yeah, I'm not sure that finding a connection in a massage shop is especially likely. While some guys are more interactive or chatty than others, I think it's always a bit of a crap shoot. And guys come and go at a lot of places. I think DM's advice is spot on. That's not to say I haven't had some very good experiences at a variety of places. But I've had mediocre experiences at the same places. I go to Prime if I am mainly just looking for a good massage. The guys there are pretty well trained. But if it's really busy (as it tends to be) you don't really get to choose your guy. On my last visit the masseur was not necessarily some one I would have chosen myself. The massage was fine, but he wanted to do other things and I just wanted a massage so it was a bit of an uncomfortable situation. I had quite good luck at Banana last time I was in BKK which was right before they moved to their new location. I haven't been there since they moved. Lots of guys on PlanetRomeo and the apps. I've had lots of guys message me on Grindr, Hornet, etc who claimed to be masseurs. I generally prefer a massage shop that has proper massage tables. There used to be an excellent website that reviewed all sorts of massage places. But the author simply disappeared a few years ago. Some one will remember the name of it...not that it matters since it's gone now. It had a ton of great info.

Don't know which spa this was, but it's disappointing to read that the cops in HKG don't have anything better to do http://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/2016/10/10/13553.hong-kong-police-arrest-gay-massage-owner

I'm not surprised. We don't do world news here very well here in the USA. Not even a mention on the ABC "World" News last night. BBC World has been on the story much more thoroughly, but of course most Americans don't watch that either.

I think the entertainment "toning down" is supposed to last for this first month. No "festivities" I think I read somewhere. I know that some music festivals and high profile concerts are to be canceled or postponed. It's still the first day so I think it will take some time for everyone to figure out what's going on. I did read in the Post that all TV channels will be broadcasting the official palace video in monochrome for a month, including foreign satellite channels. But the internet is supposed to be operating as usual.

I stayed at Ambiance my first couple of times in Pattaya. Not luxurious, but certainly in the middle of it all. Which can be a blessing and a curse. If you don't want to stay out all night you will hear the loud music from BBB below. Every time you go anywhere the massage boys who sit outside will hit you with the constant "Massage, sir?" It might be charming at first, but gets a little old. But you are right there for going out and if you pick up a boy at one of the gogos you don't have far to go. I've stayed at the Barraquda a couple of times. The location is good, but I find the rooms to be pretty moldy. And I am quite sensitive to mold. As for "walking distance" to the baht buses, I guess it depends on how much you can walk. :-) But I walked from there to Sunnee Plaza in about 15-20 minutes. So the bus stop is 10-15 minutes I'd say. I might stay at the Hilton at some point but it's a bit of a hike to Boyztown. I've also stayed at the Aya Boutique Hotel a couple of times. But, while it was quite nice when it first opened, it wasn't especially well maintained. Good location though. It's been a few years since i was there so I might check more recent reviews to see if they've cleaned it up.

Bangkok has such a huge glut of nice properties, both Western chains and others. I would choose based on location. I've read that others have had good luck with AirBNB which might be a good way to find a nice apartment for not a lot of money especially on a long stay. And probably less chance of problems with "security". I've stayed at the Siri Sathorn apartments several times. It's quite nice. Operated by the same management company as the Sukhothai Hotel...or at least it was. Location is a short-ish walk from Silom. I brought a boy back there once and did feel like we were being watched pretty closely when we walked through the lobby. But nobody gave us any real trouble. Also stayed at the Frasier Suites Sukhumvit 11 which was also very nice. One of it's best points was it's close proximity to Hero when it was open. But, like I said, the city is just full of really nice hotels and apartments.

I was there last December and had a great time too. LP, cruise on the Mekong in the south, Bolaven Plateau. It could be a great "eco tourism" destination with some marketing.

I believe it was about US$50 to the shop for the massage and then whatever you decide to tip the masseur. From what I read on TravelGayAsia and what Ted told me a simple handjob is about HK$200 (US$25) or so and anything more than that is HK$300 (US$39) to 500 (US$65).

To answer my own question.... I ended up changing my flights to avoid the east coast storm and have had about 24 hours here in HKG. Sadly much less than that now. I had forgotten how hot the boys are here. Ended up at Aloha Spa last night and had a great massage and a delightful happy ending with "Ted". Great body, nice guy, good English, surprisingly large package. I may go back again this afternoon. It's just a short walk from the hotel so it's pretty convenient. The guys listed on their site all seem to pretty much be my type...young, fit. Massage prices here are a bit more than Thailand but still quite reasonable.

To answer my own question.... I ended up changing my flights to avoid the east coast storm and have had about 24 hours here in HKG. Sadly much less than that now. I had forgotten how hot the boys are here. Ended up at Aloha Spa last night and had a great massage and a delightful happy ending with "Ted". Great body, nice guy, good English, surprisingly large package. I may go back again this afternoon. It's just a short walk from the hotel so it's pretty convenient. The guys listed on their site all seem to pretty much be my type...young, fit. Massage prices here are a bit more than Thailand but still quite reasonable.

They want them in the bar to attract more people to come in and buy drinks. Gay bars all over the world hire hot guys to work there to attract people to go there to drink or hang out. Plenty of bars everywhere have shirtless bartenders, for example, that would never allow their staff to just leave in the middle of a shift because some guy wanted to take them away. Not every gay bar is a brothel. If you want that sort of thing it sounds like you found another place that would provide it. Even stripper bars in places like Montreal don't allow you to take their dancers out of the club during their shift. If they want to make arrangements to meet you later that's up to them to do or not do as the case may be. It's entirely possible the hunks in your bar are straight and not interested in having sex with you or any other guy.

On my way to Colombo next week I will have a long-ish (6.5 hours) connection at HKG. Originally it was going to be 3 hours but the schedule changed. So, I'm thinking with that much time it might be worth popping into town for a massage. Currently I think Touch by 17 looks like a good candidate as it will be fairly easy to get to by the Airport Express train plus free shuttle. And it's got good reviews on travelgayasia.com Any other favorites? It's a shame they don't have photos of the masseurs but I expect they will be fine looking.

there are not gogo type bars in Cambodia as in Thailand. There are a couple of gay bars in SR as well as in PP. The usual apps are relatively popular there as well. I tried to hook up with one cute boy who contacted me on Grindr or Hornet but our schedules never meshed. Tons of hot guys in SR. Many gay guys work in hotels and restaurants. I'd imagine if you're very discreet you'd be able to meet them. A friend of mine apparently hooked up with a waiter or host at one popular restaurant down by the river. There are a couple of massage places in SR. I visited the one associated with Linga bar. There were 4 or so masseurs on duty when I was there. I didn't get to pick my masseur. Mostly big muscle guys. The whole experience wasn't especially memorable. There was a more mainstream massage place on the main road near pub street that had cute guys out front. I wish I had gone there instead. Utopia-asia.com has good info as does travelgayasia.com

everyone seems to agree that the biggest customers of the Thai sex industry are Thais. So this whole alleged crusade by the tourism minister would seem a bit misplaced.