TMax

And I wonder if there was any "friendly" coercion put on Thailand by those other 2 to abstain?

I never had the pleasure or displeasure of visiting Super A but talking of sleaze, I am hoping that since Golden Cock has moved to Nature Boy that the sleaze element is still there? I would love to pay them a visit on my next trip for a bit of harmless fun in the bar.

That's why I always refer to Arena as my rough and ready massage and shag😂

Yes it is, currently operating on Patpong 1, Kings Castle and Kings Castle 1. Rumor has it that the Kings group has also bought the old Superstar gogo bar, that is just a rumor though and I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere

Kings Castle is part of the Kings group, they own and run the Girl gogo bars and also had a ladyboy bar, the actual Kings Castle is a girl gogo bar on Patpong 1. My memory has Kings Castle 1 and 2 and they used to have Kings corner. I think at one stage there was also a Kings massage with both girls and ladyboys

Would this be any help?

Oh well, I shall scratch that one off my must visit list for next year then.

Vietnam: "Can same-sex couples get married? No. Up until now, the law in Vietnam does not recognize same-sex marriages." It's a funny one (not haha funny), they lifted the ban on gay marriage but at the same time they don't recognize gay marriage.

I still get some hardcovers and books I buy here in Australia I get through Dymocks, most of my reading now is history books as I like to read about the past, I have read a lot on WW1 and find some of the books that cover certain units and the people quite interesting. I used to read a lot of novels and Tom Clancy was a favourite with Red Storm Rising still being one of my all time favourite books. Apart from Dasa books in Bangkok I also like to visit Kinokuniya book store in Siam Paragon for new books, that's a big store with a good range of books. For me I just can't read those ebooks, I much prefer to have a proper book in my hands, must be too old for ebooks.

Yes I still read a lot and will continue to do so, when in Bangkok I always pay a visit to Dasa bookshop on Sukhumvit rd which is a very short walk from Phrom Pong BTS. It's a second hand bookshop with a lot of and a big range of books at good prices.

I gave religion the slip when I was a kid and realized it wasn't for me, the only time I go anywhere near a church or chapel is for a family or very close friends funeral service. In the military if you didn't go to sunday religious service you ended up doing work detail, I did a lot of work details.

Porn and an overworked hand😂

You are so right there, I had been reading about the problems for quite a while and had always wondered if the problems were so obvious to everyone why weren't they shut down earlier? Then of course I think of the old saying "follow the money trail" and started to wonder just how high up the trail went and suspect it went very high.

I find myself in a similar situation as you do (small city), my tatses are very simple, my #1 preference is for Asian guys and where I live there are very few gay or bi Asians here and those that are prefer guys closer to their age. Looking at the apps there really isn't much at all in my area that takes my interest and not a lot on offer anyway, maybe I'm just too picky. Maybe if there was a good Asian masseur in Perth that offered full service I would visit there more often. It all makes my trips to Thailand more enjoyable and I am very much looking forward to my 2023 trip.

Not just Thailand, bar owners in the Philippines (Angeles city) have been doing that for many years now (at least since the early 1990's). The moment business drops off up go the prices, funny enough it's the bars that are owned by foreigners that started the trend over there.

I stiil wear a mask here in Western Australia when on public transport or if going into crowded places like shopping centres and I will no doubt wear a mask in Thailand when I go if mandated or not, the risk for me will be restaurants, bars and massage places. My reasoning is simple, underlying health conditions, even a common cold can be bad news for me. If others choose to wear one or not is up to them.

Qantas at #5 is being very generous, I would place them well outside the top 10 now. Of late their maintenance, cleaning and on time departures has deteriorated greatly and their lost luggage percentage has skyrocketed. Domestically their meals are about 1% above garbage, it never was the best but now even worse. What can be the cause of such a deterioration? To put it simply, senior management is the cause, they are driven by cost cutting to the extreme and yet they give themselves (top executives and the board) ridiculous pay rises and bonuses whilst sacking their workers and outsourcing to the cheapest possible alternatives. With so many airlines above them and those improving their services I see a rather bleak future for Qantas. I really feel for their employees as they have to put up with all the cost cutting and rubbish handed down (more like thrown at them) by management. Sorry, rant over.

That answered a question I had in my mind, good to see and slowly getting there.

@emiel1981 nice report on the hotel and thanks for sharing it, that is the hotel I would be looking at for my next trip.

I like Baguio and I used to like Tagaytay for the cooler climate (in both places) however due to the Taal volcano Tagaytay is out of the question which is a pity as it was nice and close to Manila, Palawan is the other option I like but for the opposite reasons (nice and quiet and the people there are the friendliest I had met in the Philippines). Bonifacio Global City would be my choice if I was to choose to live in Manila, more up market and a much nicer part of the city.

The advice I was given by friends many years ago when I was a frequent traveller to the Philippines and considering the Philippines as a retirement option was (as stated above) to go for a lengthy stay first then decide on whether to make the move or not. The second piece of advice I find just as valid today as it was back then is to have something to come back to, a house or apartment etc, things may be all rosey for a while but there is always a chance things can go bad and a person would need an escape route. Things do change and it could be the new lifestyle in a foreign country wears a bit thin, health deteriorates etc. I've been retired for 8 years now, still only in my mid 60's and the thought of making a move is still in my head and is still a possibility in the years to come.

I think I've only been with 2 Vietnamese boys in Bangkok (testing the memory here), had no problems (except maybe their limited english, google translate worked for the most part) and found them very likeable, in fact I loved their strong massage techniques and their smoking hot bodies.

No not that one, north of WA and at least 10 of them over the years.

I did think about the Philippines once, there are a couple of places there that interest me a lot. The main pro to the Philippines for me is the retirement visa, so much easier and less stuffing around and that's the sad part of Vietnam is they don't have a retirement visa or long stay visa option. The big con for the Philippines for me are the typhoons (not to mention their regular brown outs), I had lived in an area in Australia for many years and been through so many cyclones that I would rather not have to go through any more.

Perth, I would love to live in either Thailand or Vietnam eventually but I haven't narrowed down the location yet, there are some places that I really like. My needs on the place are simple, access to good medical, a place with plenty to do and that can be used as a base for travel and with that good internet for studies.