bkkguy

do you seriously believe that a global search and replace of "boys" with "guys" or "sex workers" is all it will take to make the typical trip report here more palatable for straights / do gooders / christian groups / under 50 gays like you - and why should this be the objective given the target audience for this forum? bkkguy

I am not sure when you last stayed at IHG in NY or London, but a quick visit to the chain's web site shows typical starting rates for standard rooms of: New York 16,000 Baht London 15,000 Baht Paris 18,000 Baht Bangkok 6,500 Baht Pattaya 4,400 Baht Hua Hin 4,400 Baht Micheal said his rate 5-6,000 Baht - perhaps he can give us a room, service, f&b and amenities comparison with other IHG hotels he has used but from my recent recent experience booking major local and international chains in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Taipei, Singapore and Europe I don't really see much justification for your "cost of doing business" objection to this price or perhaps you can support your claim with some details from your experience comparing the details and price of IHG or other chain rooms in different cities around the world bkkguy

if you are going to be heading to MBK, stop off at the Erawan arcade and have your high tea Thai style at the Erawan Tea Rooms bkkguy

the usual race to the bottom - though that phrase may cause some confusion among readers more familiar with other threads on this forum and Christian does not include the 3.5 Baht 2 hour non-air-con bus trip to get to Ladprao 101 for this culinary delight I can go to a small non-aircon Thai shophouse "restaurant" and for 40 baht get a plate of rice and a serving of curry slopped on from a bain-marie where it has been sitting for a few hours and a plastic mug of water and ice of unknown quality and eat it on a rickety table and plastic stool or I can go to a cafe or chain restaurant in a mall and pay 100 or 200 baht for better quality ingredients, larger servings, freshly prepared, with air-conditioning and comfortable seating you can't compare on just price alone - I get just as confused when people compare 5 star hotels with a 500 Baht guesthouse because both rooms have a bed, toilet and shower bkkguy

I thought Grab in Pattaya had already had its original reasonable prices adjusted by baht bus drivers with baseball bats and was wondering if the same was happening in C'Mai my last two meter taxi fares in Bangkok from Silom to Ekami Soi 4 and Silom to Sukhumvit Soi 16 with traffic were both less than 100 baht my last two Grab taxi fares in Pattaya from Jomtien Complex to Central Festival (with traffic) and Jomtien Complex to Pratumnak Soi 4 (no traffic) were both almost 200 Baht I am hoping Grab C'Mai is more reasonable - I am not a fan of negotiating the red baht buses or rip-off tuk tuk drivers in C'Mai bkkguy

and the visitor/joiner policies of the major hotels around the night market - eg Dusit or Le Meridian? and is Grab still a reasonably priced and reliable option? they are getting ridiculously priced in Pattaya/Jomtien bkkguy

Ahem.! Shhhh. indeed - I don't know about special rules for "hotels" serving alcohol on such occasions but an earlier owner of the Am***** reportedly at one staged purged h**** from the web site and all advertising and indeed jack-hammered it off the front wall - scurrilous rumours suggested licensing issues which if they existed have obviously been resolved by the current owners who now use the term liberally on their website bkkguy

most people just rent them short time or long time - the sex dolls available at some venues and on the apps are sometimes surprisingly life-like and the wind-up dildos usually come with their own mobile attachment that keeps them active for hours bkkguy

Erm in English there is the concept of a reference in the past to an even earlier past and the original post was about people 25 years ago that were referring to their experiences 10 to 20 years before that which would be the 70's or 80's bkkguy

and the local saunas have patrons that differ from the above list how? bkkguy

it was as much about the experience and the attitude as it was about the venues - the scene was much more subtle, the guys much more friendly and relaxed and less crudely commercial while I am sure rose-coloured glasses where just as prevalent back then and the dewey-eyed punters where younger on their first trips etc, and many probably picked up more than a friend in those wild and more reckless days but I sometimes wonder how far we have really "progressed" since then even compared to my early days here I don't know that the explicit live sex shows in the bars, the ready availability of sex on demand with the apps, the circuit parties, etc available now are an improvement - the forums are full of comments about how explicit you need to be these days in negotiating exactly what acts are to be performed for exactly how much money, and how common it is for the straight guy that you have picked up (who is probably not Thai) to need to watch porn on his mobile phone to even get it up! bkkguy

when I first came to Thailand more than 25 years ago the regulars of the day where dewy-eyed about the lost halcyon days for gay visitors of 10, even 20 years before, so this is a lament that has been doing the rounds of the Thailand gay scene many times over the years - including ironically when the (in)famous and eponymous Twilight Bar itself closed its doors! bkkguy

obviously - except those based on age or nationality! governments arguably may be justified in looking to citizenship for major expensive items like university tuition fees for overseas students but operators of commercial tourist attractions or other businesses have no such valid claim - I would support their offer of discounts to locals (show a local address, not show you are a citizen) but not this bullshit example you are quoting here. National parks that depend on tax funding should be happy to offer the local rate to foreign residents with a tax card or even long term resident expats who probably contribute more to the tax base in VAT payments than most Thai citizens do I don't seem to be tipping many Thai college graduates when selecting from the apps or the bars these days and some of the top sex workers are probably earning significantly more than a pensioner from Australia so how much should I be tipping? bkkguy

any action based on nationality or race rather than actions or behavior is inherently racist and such discrimination based on race, age or body shape would probably be illegal in most of our home countries but we seem so happy to accept it to achieve a good night at a sauna or a good night's sleep at a hotel when we travel I am no supporter of mindless political correctness or over-zealous discrimination legislation and I am not specifically aiming this at z909 but I find many of the attitudes expressed here quite disturbing bkkguy

if Chakran seriously wants to "make right of inbalance economy of the world" they could perhaps start by looking in their own backyard and start asking their Thai customers to produce payslips or tax returns to show that they are low income earners and therefore qualify for a cheaper admission rate than other visitors - it would be interesting to see what the reaction to that would be from the locals! or perhaps they could just stop their pseudo-moralistic posturing and follow their own advice - if the don't like the visa fees charged by some countries then respect that and walk away without trying to change it! bkkguy

sauna OK, cum OK, but fitness center? bkkguy

having flown 4 hrs to escape this madness in Bangkok, the first gay bar I walk into in Red House in Taipei on Friday night all the waiters had water guns and were soaking both staff and customers! fortunately other bars in the complex were dry bkkguy

I always thought it should be Songkram (สงคราม) but if it keeps Twilight alive for another year what's a water war between "friends" ... bkkguy

ten years ago I made the mistake of taking a motorbike taxi from Silom across to Sathorn then on to Babylon in evening peak hour and I am still on Valium and hypnotherapy to suppress the nightmares - given the choice of a mode of transport to go over the hill from Pattaya to Jomtien I will always prefer the back seat of an air-conditioned car with a seat belt rather than a motorbike taxi or an overcrowded Baht bus! as they say "your mileage may vary" even if it does or does not include a trip to the local hospital! bkkguy

ah yes, just what the love that dares not speak its name needs - another place to stay that dares not use use the term "hotel" still, given that we all "bat for the other team" I am sure the Pavilion would be an appropriate place to gather behind for the occasional "smoke"? and refresh my memory is Fresh Boys the one that is rumoured to be run by the army or the police? not that I ever listen to such rumours of course, but with a new police chief in the district and an election pending ... just don't mention the French Revolution or darts or we might all get banned! bkkguy

I like in Bangkok and go down 3-4 times a year for a week, stay in Jomtien and these days happily spend most of my time in Jomtien but once or twice a visit I go over the hill to Pattaya to Central Festival or a restaurant on Second Rd or (increasingly) want to go to a restaurant not on the main road or not easy walking distance in Jomtien I have never found Baht buses comfortable but used to just put up with the heat and dust, the overcrowding and the bad drivers but at this stage I really couldn't be bothered and over the last few years the situation has got worse and more frustrating as noted by hanan, recently trying to get a Baht bus into Pattaya along Thappraya is increasingly difficult - on my recent trips I have waited sometimes more than 15 minutes and still not been able to get a Baht bus on Thappraya near the top end of Jomtien Complex around 2:00 PM on a Friday or Saturday afternoon or around 8:00 PM most nights, they are either full or empty and do not stop getting back to Jomtien from Beach Rd near central Pattaya was always annoying at any time of the day or night having to always change buses at south Pattaya and it became even more annoying when the drivers all ignored the new routes that would have addressed this! and yes Kokopelli they put sardine factories to shame at the stop outside the school in south Pattaya Grab initially offered good rates and then had regular promotions usually getting me over the hill Jomtien to Pattaya or return for about 100 Baht - I can go a long way in a taxi in Bangkok for 100 Baht but I still found this better than using a Baht bus, now on Grab or Uber it is more likely 150-200 Baht and a 10 minute wait time for a driver that can't even manage to follow the details for the booking given in the app! I would quite happily walk out of Central Festival on Beach Road to get back to Jomtien and use one of the (usually) 10 taxis parked there at the advertised meter rates but the meter taxi drivers still refuse to accept the concept of a meter taxi service and the (usually) 10 Baht bus drivers parked there (or even the passing ones) start salivating as soon as you walk up to the passenger side window and open your mouth and they all ignore the route signs they display OK so this is an increasingly intolerant 1st world person's problem in a third world country but really is this the best that Pattaya can do, or should be able to do, in 2018? it obviously is given some of the other favorable comments above bkkguy

yeah sure 10 Baht for a hop-on hop-off shuttle along Beach Rd or Second Rd is fine but anything outside that limited scenario on a Baht bus, or anything at all in a "metered" taxi is at a rip-off price Grab caved into pressure on its reasonable initial prices after a coupe of months and now Grab and Uber while still condemned as pariahs by the entrenched operators are not much of an improvement price- and service-wise, particularly compared to their operations in Bangkok perhaps someone can enlighten me as to the difference between the cost of vehicle operation and the cost of living for the operator between Bangkok and Pattaya that justifies these outrageous prices perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why in 2018 the cost and range of public transport options in a place like Pattaya are still controlled by powerful local forces that seem to be completely above the law perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why the local, Bangkok and national authorities still have not learnt the definition of insanity and keep announcing new and more punitive directives with no serious attempt at enforcement and somehow expect the public to believe that this time the outcome will be different perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why ... don't bother we all know the answer - as Trink in the Bangkok Post used to say TIT (this is Thailand), but Pattaya outgrew the Baht bus system 20 years ago, it is time to move on bkkguy

yawn I forget when the first Baht buses started operating in Pattaya - or the first metered taxis for that matter - but in all the years I have been visiting they have never followed the directives of the local, Bangkok or national authorities despite all the threats of serious enforcement with each new directive announcement, and even Grab and Uber have not managed to seriously challenged their rip-off pricing bkkguy

of course it is not the A-list you want to be associating with per se except as a means to an end - their "companions" and the discreetly shared phone numbers and details whilst I have glimpsed inside this inner circle once or twice I don't know that it is the best option unless you have the time, the perseverance and the money - "chill and continue having a good time however i find it" sounds a much better plan! bkkguy

does "up-scale" here just mean better sex or better body; or an entertaining, well educated companion for the whole night with challenging and interesting repartee, a sophisticated palette for both food and drink and a knowledge of the best venues for an interesting experience of the city? for the former forget the apps, try some of the more upscale massage venues for the latter good luck - there is an A-List gay scene here but is is hard for the average western visitor to break into bkkguy