macaroni21

My first thought in response to the opening post was this: To fly halfway around the globe, enduring an 18 - 20 hour flight and a 12-hour time zone difference, for only one week's vacation does not sound like a good cost-benefit equation. I don't know about you, but I have friends who need 3 - 4 days to adjust to the time zone change. Effectively, you're going to be 2 - 4 days short on account of flight time and sleep adjustment time. And then to fly all the way back.... If you can stretch your available time window, it can make a big difference. Other thoughts: 1. I agree with others that (for now) Bangkok is a good introduction to East Asia. In normal (non-Covid) times, I might have suggested Hong Kong or Taipei or even Shanghai, and certainly Bali would be on my shortlist too, but these are not normal times. 2. Culture there certainly is, and there will be customs that, closer to the time, you need to ask about on this forum e.g. long trousers, slip-on shoes, touching, etc. 3. Bangkok is a huge sprawling city with an estimated 10 - 11 million people. Traffic can be bad. Its metro system ('subway" to Americans) is not well developed and some destinations require a long walk (say, 1.5 km in heat) from the nearest station. 4. Because it is a huge sprawling city, you will need to select your hotel location with care. I recommend that you stay in the Silom-Surawong area, where the gay nightlife is. This avoid having to travel a long distance back to your hotel late at night. 5. But there are next to no "traditional" cultural sites in the Silom-Surawong area, so daytime travelling to the main sites cannot be avoided. 6. Forget about nature. Bangkok is one of the most built-up cities. I read somewhere that it has among the lowest ratio of green spaces to paved spaces. If, however, you have an interest in sewer rats, then Bangkok is the place for you. 7. Assuming you do not speak any Asian language, Bangkok will also be an easy introduction to Asia. There are cities that speak more English (e.g. Singapore where English is almost universal) but in the touristy areas, you can get by without having to learn even one word of Thai. 8. Part of culture is the food. You need to know what your tolerance for spiciness is, so that you don't make a huge mistake in ordering. Perhaps you can visit some Thai, Korean or Chinese Sichuan restaurants in your home city and figure out how much you can take. Allow of course, for the fact that in the US these ethnic cuisines would often have adjusted their levels of spiciness to Americans' palate. So what counts as "very spicy" in the US is "medium-low spicy" in Thailand. 9. For me, one of the problematic unknowns when visiting a place I have never been to before is to know the tipping culture (if any). It's quite amusing to me but I have met Americans who are shocked to learn that there are countries where tipping is almost unknown. (Not in the least suggesting that you're one of them, in fact, being on this board, you're probably better travelled than your average compatriot.) But my point is, no two countries have the same tipping culture, and if you wish, a discussion on this board about Thai expectations before you leave home may be useful.

Classic selection bias. Members tend to post when they've had an encounter ( I won't say it's bragging, because quite often the post is about a dud). Nothing to write about if there wasn't an encounter.

I agree with fedssocr - 7 weeks is a long time. Even when I travel for non-sex reasons, I find myself getting bored by the time I hit the 5th week. One temple or cathedral blends into another; one "fabulous" scenic spot starts to look just like the other "fabulous" scenic spot. Instead of town squares looking interesting, new and exciting, I start to notice dirt, squalor, beggars and scammers. With Thailand, since I have been here so many times, I know I will start getting bored by the 3rd week. I won't even last to the 4th or 5th week. So I keep my Thai trips to no more than 2 or 3 weeks. Our bodies are all different, even in younger years. Once out of my teens, I have not been interested in 3 times a day. Nowadays, despite all the attractions of Thai venues, I keep to a certain discipline to avoid burn-out. Every third or fourth day is sex-free. The body needs to recharge. I second gaybutton's advice: Try a legitimate Thai massage. Try a genuine foot massage. Go sightseeing. Go shopping. Try an out of the way, unfamiliar restaurant. I will add one more: Every third or fourth day, get a good night's sleep.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2353912/capital-on-alert-for-monkeypox However, the Phuket Express reports that the patient was not a recent tourist but had been in Thailand since last year and overstayed his visa. https://thephuketexpress.com/2022/07/22/update-nigerian-man-confirmed-as-thailands-first-case-of-monkey-pox-being-traced-by-police-after-vanishing-act-was-on-overstay/#l61p26bpz01idete6ec

I am having a blast in Thailand, and if you've read others' reports, I think you will see that everyone who has made his way here in the last few months had a blast. I think your concerns about insufficient attractions in August can be put aside going by the experiences of those of us who have visited. I find myself faced with more places to visit and revisit than I have energy or time. Or libido either! There are some members here who can do 3 tricks a day. This is beyond me. But the message to take home is that there are enough options here for those voracious enough to do three tricks a day. Haha. Much depends on how much weight you give to the weather situation. Yes, there will be a difference, but unless a key objective is to get a tan ( e.g beach time in Pattaya), then I really don't think weather is any real impediment. I note you didn't mention Pattaya in your post, so maybe beach time is not in your plan anyway. I also understand the complications of arranging travel around available leave periods. I have a similar-ish problem. And my instinct is to grab whatever time I have within my work schedule and not wait in the hope of another slot months later. Slots and opportunities can vanish unexpectedly. By the way, what's a PTO employee? You asked what is our confidence level regarding Screw Boys reopening. It's really hard to say, but with each passing week, it gets more and more unlikely. Reopening can be a costly exercise. Many interiors have fallen into ruin in the last 2 years, and I noticed that several bars have had a complete refit recently. So, it doesn't come cheap for the owners. And if they did their market research, they might conclude that traffic to other bars remain poor and probably unprofitable. Good for us as consumers (more choice) but not so good for those having to put money in.

On second thoughts, this is not a good example of a tip either. It is kinda mandatory, after all, so it's more of a fee for time spent. A better example might be the 100 baht we give to a selected mamasan after he/ she gave us a good recommendation or extra information about a desired boy or helped translate...

Just in case my comments above are misinterpreted, when I say an extra 200-300 baht would be appropriate as the discretionary tip component for really good service, that is exactly what I mean. This tip component is not normalized. That is to say, in more than 50% of engagements, I do not add this tip. They get exactly what was agreed or what is the going rate. Only about one in three boys/masseurs get extra. That way the extra really represents an above average performance. Boys, in my experience, have been happy with my compensation either way. When they get extra, they show their delight.

I found Numazu’s analysis of Tawan’s branding most insightful. Indeed, there is a certain “time stood still” quality to our experiences at Tawan. The bar’s format has hardly changed. Even the newer premises are just as basic as the previous place. As Numazu put it, “Going to it nowadays is like getting into a time machine, harkening back to a Bangkok that was grittier, dirtier, and maybe more fun…” Numazu's analysis can be found at thread title “Bangkok Trip Report 2022: The wait is over. What was I waiting for?”, 24 July 2022, 9:59am. I had a similar thought when I walked in last week. I liked the familiarity of it, even though I am no muscle worshipper. I liked the easy-going character of the place where the guys just come up to you and say a few words without a mamasan swooping in to throw the “buy him a drink?” spanner at me. That said, Tawan does make a few concessions to modernity. The front-of-shop lighting is now more “dynamic”. There were about 15 guys in briefs except two in jockstraps. Most of the guys were in great form. It looked as if there was a competition they were preparing for, but the papasan said there wasn’t. When off the stage they might put a T-shirt on, but most of them stayed shirtless all the time. There weren’t many customers in the bar at about 10pm when I entered - perhaps ten (all Asian) – but because the bar is so small, barely 3 metres wide, it still looked active. At any given time, there were about 3 or 4 muscle guys on stage, which was no bigger than two dining tables placed end to end. The guys mostly just stood there and did nothing in particular. This was the part I thought the management should give more thought to. It’s not interesting enough for customers. But it’s always been like that, so I guess one could say why fix what is not broken? I was not bored, though. The papasan sat with me and we had a good conversation about the long shutdown brought on by Covid-19 and how everyone had to find other ways to survive. He shared a story about a Japanese customer (who had visited only the night before) who was stuck in Tokyo while his business in Thailand floundered. Discretion prevents me from repeating the details, but there must have been many small-time foreign investors in the same predicament. It made me think: As much as we might complain about being unable to visit our favourite destination(s) for two years, others with deeper financial stakes must have been tearing their hair out. On a different note, the papasan volunteered information about why they moved to the new shop, which is just across the street from the old one. Apparently, the landlord (of both the old Tawan bar and Sun Massage which were adjacent to each other) did not want to renew the lease for any of his tenants. The whole row, he said, now stood empty. Perhaps somebody is sniffing redevelopment potential, but frankly, with so much overbuilding in Bangkok, the property market already looks like a glut. At 10:30pm the show began. Once again, it was a throwback to the past. The first three items had cross-dressers doing lip sync numbers. Each was solo; there were no backing dancers because there simply wasn’t enough space on the stage. Then 3 guys came up to demonstrate some flexing. Two had outlines of hard-ons beneath their briefs. The third guy expertly positioned his dick to leave little to the imagination, with the glans peeping out over the waistband. There might have been one more act, but at this point, I wasn’t paying much attention to the show. I was more interested in making eye contact with one guy sitting quietly two metres from me. He seemed lost in his thoughts, and it proved unusually difficult to get his attention. I could have asked a papasan to tap him on his shoulder, but right when you needed one, no papasan could be found. Where were they? Through the corner of my eye, I noticed that the next act was the big cock show. About 6 or 7 guys came onto the stage briefly and then circulated among the audience offering a grope for tips. The trouble was that as soon as I tipped one (after a careful assay of his member with my hands), all the rest came to me like vultures to a carcass. I felt attacked. The fourth guy had my last 100-baht bill and I had to plainly tell the rest that there was no more money. Which was a good thing, because I had to get them away from me as soon as possible before the quiet guy left his seat. They were obstructing my line of sight with the object of my lust. I knew neither his name nor number, so it would not have been easy to tell a papasan who to summon for me should he disappear somewhere into the back of the shop. But he was still there after I shooed away the vultures, and finally, he noticed me beckoning him. “You not do show?” was how I opened my conversation with him. “Last time I do the jack-off show,” he replied. “But now, I don’t want to do anymore. I shy.” This is intriguing. I can understand the progression from shy to not-shy, but in the other direction? This is going to require a more extensive interview, and we made a pact to do it in my room. Drink (for customer or for boy): 400 baht. Off fee: 500 baht. Music volume: comfortable. The papasan also informed me that they had two short-time rooms upstairs. I forgot to ask about the charges but in any case, looking at how basic the bar is furnished, I’d have only the lowest of expectations for the rooms. In the daytime (not sure which hour to which hour) Tawan uses the rooms for massage services. “Some boys”, said the papasan, would be here to provide massages, but not all. He pointed to a guy near where I was seated as one of the usual masseurs. Bad move. That was the one guy who probably used the gym least. All of the sudden, I lost all interest in coming back tomorrow for a massage. That said, there might be others who would also be present in the day for massage, and who might be true hunks, but the papasan didn’t point them out to me.

While they like to call it a "tip", functionally, it is not. If the bar or massage parlour paid the boys a meaningful salary or at least a biggish commission*, then any additional amount we give to the host, gogoboy or masseur would, functionally, be a tip in that it would be a token of appreciation. In that form, it would be a smaller and more discretionary amount, e.g. the 100 baht we give to a boy who sat with us for 15 - 20 minutes in a gogobar without an off. (*I am fully aware that if the bars and massage parlours were to pay a meaningful salary, they might have to jack up their list prices... or they might have to stop paying the cops.) However, in the context of a gogoboy or masseur providing sexual services which the bar or massage parlour (officially) denies responsibility for, then it becomes a fee, not a tip. Fees are either negotiated, or, in the absence of a negotiation, based on some sort of going rate. My personal opinion is that TotallyOz's scale of remuneration (to be precise, he said "acceptable price") is on the high side. In his post 9:38am of 24 July, he said Bangkok Short time - 3,000 baht Pattaya Short time - 2,000 baht plus taxi While he is free to apply his own (generous) rates, as anyone is. I think the going rates are roughly 60 - 75% of those figures. We hear the mamasans in gogo bars say 2,000 baht would be expected for short-time. I think in Pattaya a mamasan would say 1,500? (not too sure here, perhaps others can share their experience). In the Bangkok massage places, my recent experience is that the managers are suggesting 1,000 to 1,200 baht, on average, for playtime at the end of a one-hour massage. Nine Massage actually says 1,000 on its website. And I also agree with you that performance must play a (big) part in what we finally fork out. So, the way I see it. there is a "fee" component and a "tip" component. Say, we take a gogoboy out from a Bangkok bar. Nowadays, it seems the expected fee is 2,000 baht. But if the guy gave us a great time, we may add 200 or 300 baht on top. That would be the tip component. Ditto n a massage parlour. The expected rate may be 1,000 to 1,200, but if we're on Cloud Nine after the session, we naturally feel an extra 200 - 300 baht is well-deserved.

Thanks for the intel, @garylim88. This explains the impossibly large number of boys pictured in the Line advertising of some shops.

For the last few days, I have been trying to search on this site for a post that had a video about the evolving business model for girlie bars in Pattaya, to no success. I am now begining to wonder if I saw the post on another forum altogether. But then, I don't visit any other forum much. It must have been about 2 or 3 months ago, and the attached video was perhaps 15 minutes long. It was made by a resident expat who clearly was in the know. The video spoke about salaries and commissions for the girls and how bar owners were discouraging offs. My main handicap has been that while I can roughly recall what was said in the video, I can't remember anything that was said in the introductory post, without which i can't think of any unique keywords to search with. If anyone can help find that link, it would be much appreciated.

Just as I was about to reach the slab block that housed Sabaidee Massage in its carpark floor, I noticed to my right a number of fire-damaged houses. It had been reported by @reader in https: // www.gayguides.com/forums/topic/37924-many-houses-destroyed-in-bangkok-blaze/#comment-335550, and there's even a photo of the blaze there from the Bangkok Post. I had read about it then, but didn't realise how close it was to Sabaidee's block. At its closest point, it would have been merely 4 or 5 metres from its back door. It's been a month since the fire and the houses have not been demolished. In my picture, the peachy orange wall on the left would be the boundary wall of the slab block. I tried to engage the Sabaidee manager on the disruption (if any) the business suffered as a result, but all he kept saying was "no problem, no problem." Perhaps he didn't realise I was asking about the past, and thought he needed to assure me that business is back to normal. He had sent me a ton of pictures via Line, but the photos of his masseurs had neither name nor number, and I didn't know how to specify which ones I was interested in should I wish to message back. So, without any prior booking, I showed up. He explained that I should have Lined back the pics of my shortlist and he would then tell me more about them. I hadn't thought of that, but surely, it can't be much more work to attach a name or number to each picture in the first place. It would have saved me (and probably other customers) a lot of puzzlement. Anyway, he then showed me five guys on his tablet which he said were "available". Four clearly worked out in gyms, one of whom was a definite W4M. Not quite competition standard but close. The fifth was an S3R- not much muscle - but he had the sweetest face. I told the manager W4M was my first choice and S3R was my second. He got onto the phone and managed to reach W4M immediately, only to be told that W4M was on his way to another appointment - one which the Sabaidee manager didn't know of. This suggests a considerable degree of fluidity in staff management. The boys are in fact freelancers who may work for other massage shops or have their own advertising. So S3R it would be. He was in the back of the shop and appeared within seconds. Let's call him Sucho. He led me up one floor to the next level which had about 8 or 9 massage rooms. I don't know about the other rooms, but the one assigned to me had an ensuite shower. It wasn't a fancy room, but not cramped either. There was enough space to move around the massage table. Sucho showered with me right at the start - that made a good impression already. His massage technique was average. There was a good deal of vigourous rubbing. Although he clearly knew several other strokes, he wasn't putting them to good use, or at the right spots. The exerted pressure was good and strong. As for coverage, it was originally not extensive enough, focussing mainly on the back of legs, back and shoulders. When I asked him to not forget the chest, arms and front of legs, he happily obliged. He knew what to do, but I guess bad habits of omission in a gay-sex kind of place quickly degrades a boy's standard programme. Although he was nude from the beginning, what was noticeable was that for a gay-sex kind of place, there was virtually no brushing during the massage. He wasn't skilled at the arts of seduction in that regard. That didn't deter me and we soon proceeded to Part 2. Nothing much to write home about but I left satisfied. He showered with me in closing. For a 90-miniute oil massage, the manager had earlier indicated a tip of 1,500 as expected. The house itself asked for 1,000 baht for "the room". Looking at the clock on my phone, I noticed that I had spent about 1 hour 35 minutes inside. One last point. When I asked Sucho which day of the week was his day off, he replied that he only worked at Sabaidee Spa 3 days a week. Apparently, the place has a kind of roster. I tried to ask Sucho where else he worked, but I couldn't quite understand the reply. He did volunteer that even on those days where he was "with" Sabaidee, he only got on average one customer a day. If this is the business model, I wondered if that meant that most of the numerous photos that Sabadiee Spa sent out might not represent actual availability on any particular day.

Haha, surely we all know how wonderfully varied the world is ... Mr Straight Guy: "What is this fascination with 2 guys sticking it into each other's rear? The idea doesn't do it for me. What am I missing? Mind you, I would love to admire those toned bodies, but only in the gym, not in the bed."

In one of my visits (2018 or 2019) that coincided with the wet season, I bought a pair of Crocs. I am glad I have them with me this trip. Being entirely plastic, they dry out easily. They can also be scrubbed clean if one had to walk through mud with them.

I went twice to Fresh Boys on Patpong Soi 2 within the same week, but what a difference the hour makes. The first visit, I arrived at about 10pm and stayed for the show. The bar was more than half full. The second visit, I arrived after the show (I can't remember what time exactly) and there were only three other customers there. At 10pm, I counted 18 customers, filling up the two rows of benches facing the stage and as a result, I was shown to a side bench. From that vantage point, I could see that five customers had six boys sitting with them. The total number of customers increased to 25 - 28 by showtime at 10:30pm. However, the bar saw well more than that number of customers because throughout the evening, there was quite a lot of coming and going. The mamasan helpfully moved me to a better seat when a customer left. There were 25 - 30 boys, rotating 10 to 12 at a time on stage, all shirtless and in white shorts. Sitting with customers were 5 - 6 boys. Most were S2 and S3R with the occasional S3M or Q2. In short, "medium twinks". It's a small space, and customers are close to the stage. When off the stage, the boys often sit in a section that faces the customers and eye contact is easily made. That compensates somewhat for the bad choice the bar made in choosing yellow and white for some number tags. The contrast between the two colours is so low, it is virtually impossible to make out the boy's number from anything more than a metre and a half away. This annoyed me because the one guy I thought best-looking had a yellow tag and try as I might, I just couldn't make out his number. Fortunately, he walked by a few times and smiled and we connected. The show could well be the "best" in Bangkok in my estimation, for the simple reason that it had no lip-sync katoey items. These numbers put me off, not least because they also tend to turn up the volume for the song. Undoubtedly the acts were amateurish, but I wasn't here for slick and polish. There were only six items, all performed by the rotation crew. Five out of the six items had engorged appendages on display. The second last act had three guys with stiff members whacking a metal pole, after which they circulated among the audience for gropes and tips. This was followed by the finale that had two guys in coital positions. I didn't off anyone that night. My WhatsApp kept distracting me with messages from home, and with a small crisis brewing, I felt that a longish voice conversation was being expected from me in the following hour. A couple of nights later, I was back at Fresh Boys, timing it for after the show since I was intending to take a boy out. I had no clear idea which boy that would be but since I had the impression from my first visit that quite a number of boys from Fresh were within my acceptability criteria, it was probably the place with the best chance of a good fit. Wow, there were only three other customers post-show. More importantly, there were only about 12 - 15 boys. Assuming that the bar had started the evening with the usual complement of 25 - 30 boys, that meant that about half the boys had been taken, a pretty good "off" rate. I shouldn't have been surprised. The other night, amongst the coming and going, I saw three customers leave with new-found companions within the 30 minutes before the show began, Yellow tag was among the less fortunate ones that night. He had not been taken and was still there. I called him down from the stage and resumed our conversation from where we had left off the previous night. Unlike the last time when, because I didn't want to raise his hopes of an off from me, we talked only about his family and his home town, this time we went quite quickly into the specifics of what he would do and what he'd rather not do in bed. He leaned over and sort of whispered into my ear. "I can bottom," he said. I hadn't expected that, as he looked straight to me. Nonetheless, I did not let my surprise delay me. My reply was ready. "And I can top." A few minutes later, the bill was called. At Fresh Boys, each drink was 350 baht. The off fee was 500 baht.

Unlikely. No boy would remain seated in place if a customer had left. Moreover, my drink, check bin and knapsack were still there. And with so few customers in a bar, just as I could see who was doing what, I am sure others could see that I had headed to the bathroom rather than the opposite direction to the door.

Something similar happened to me a few nights ago, but it wasn't as serious as the OP's incident. It was resolved quickly and I didn't have to contemplate any further action. When I entered the gogo bar, there were only 3 other customers. Each had a boy sitting with him. With so few customers, it's easy to note who was with whom. All 3 customers were on one side of the bar but I chose to sit on the opposite side, facing them. I fancied a boy who was then on stage and signalled to him to come sit with me. That he did and we remained seated together for some 20 minutes before I needed to go pee. In those 20 minutes, we had some discussion about what he would or would not do in the room and his expected fee. I think my boy was pretty sure that we would soon be striking a deal, though I hadn't yet said so explicitly. Just before I went to the bathroom, I happened to notice one of the customers ("John" for now) releasing the boy who had been seated next to him. I couldn't tell if they had agreed on an off or not. When I got back from the bathroom, John was talking to the boy who was sitting with me. He had come over from the other side of the bar to do so. I took my seat wondering a little what a reasonable response from me should be. I don't want to use terms like 'proprietorial rights' but I felt that common courtesy and respect for others' spaces were being called into question. After all, I have been in situations myself where, walking into a bar, a boy recognized me and initiated a hello. My response would typically be to return the hello with a smile and little more, but also a smile and nod to whichever customer was then with him. And move away. In this case, john continued talking to the boy even after I took my seat, ignoring my presence. But the boy was smart enough to resolve the situation. He nudged himself closer to me and placed a hand on my thigh. Meanwhile, I looked straight at john. Don't know if one might call it a glare. He moved away and exited the bar. Obviously he had not offed the guy he had been sitting with. I asked my boy whether he had met john before. The boy said no. Five minutes later, I off'ed my guy and forgot about the incident until I read about your experience.

Two doors from the soon-to-reopen Senso Massage was a restaurant that billed itself as a place for Isaan food. Named Somtum Der, it served provincial cooking in a chic setting. I flipped through the menu on a stand at the streetfront and noted that the prices were reasonable, but it was only a little past six and a tad too early for dinner. Should I or should I not? Then two twenty-something guys came from inside to their glass door to invite me in. "Oh," I said to myself half-jokingly, "what are the Senso guys doing here?" The guys looked deliciously like some of the staff we remember so fondly of Senso. All resistance crumbling, I went in and chose a strategically located table with a good view of the bar and service counter. I particularly loved the woven rattan (or bamboo?) baskets overhead. My guess was that these were inspired by the baskets Isaan folk use to catch fish in rivers or perhaps to hold chickens on their farms. It wasn't a long menu - a good thing - and my order came quite quickly. It turned out to be a wonderful meal. There was a larb salad with generous amounts of fried catfish in flakes. I asked for it to be medium spicy and it was just right for my non-Thai palate. The spring rolls with pork filling were crisply fried, yet very light on the oil. Yummy. The raw vegetables on the side apparently accompanied every order; I didn't have to ask for it. Finally, there was sticky rice steamed in a small woven bamboo cylinder. This is a standard part of an Isaan meal. The total bill came to 285 baht, which included a 10 percent Service Charge. But, feeling very satisfied with the meal (and the scenery), I still added a small amount as extra tip. Although it looked like a small place, there were quite a number of tables. There was a terrace that might be perfect during the cooler season, and there was also a mezzanine floor inside. On the glass front were a number of Michelin decals. I don't know much about such things, since I'm one for the simpler things in life, but this may mean something for those in the know.

Even when a business appears to be doing well, they can still close. First of all, their bottom line may not have been as good as one thinks. Even when custiomer traffic looks good, the cost base could be ruinous. Another possibility is that, as others in the know have reported here, Lucky Boys being a joint venture between Fresh Boys and one other bar (can someone remind me which one?), the partners might have fallen out. This is quite common when circumstances take a sudden turn for the worse, e.g. the onset of Covid and the partners cannot agree how to proceed or how to share the losses. Or simply, as in the case of Tawan's old location, the landlord just wouldn't renew the lease - for reasons unrelated to the health of the bar business.

K-Man Spa sent me loads of boys’ pictures over Line. I knew that they couldn’t possibly all be there and waiting for customers and that I was expected to pre-book. So I assiduously went through all the pictures and shortlisted four. I Lined back and asked which might be available at a certain time. It took no more than 10 minutes for the reply that one of them was, and so an appointment was fixed. Although I gave myself 45 minutes to get to Saphan Kwai BTS station, the BTS ride, including changing trains at Siam, took only about 20 minutes. Adding in walking time from Raya Hotel to Saladaeng station, it took me just 30 minutes at most. K-Man Spa was just down the stairs from Saphan Khwai at the southeast corner of the station; it took no time at all to get to its front door. The chosen – let’s call him Teyko – was waiting. After the brief protocols in the reception where the manager asked me to choose the aroma oil and where I was served some cold water, Teyko led me to the third floor (i.e. fourth level) where the room was. Based on a quick glance, they seem to have assigned the first floor as a waiting area for the boys, and the massage rooms are all on the second and third floors. Anyone with difficulty with steep stairs might want to think twice. The room had a massage table, with a perfectly serviceable face-cradle occluded by a bed sheet. This practice is so common in Thailand, I am no longer surprised. It didn’t come with an attached shower. This was down the hallway. Teyko commenced the massage in his towel – which wasn’t a good sign, but after about 15 minutes, it was dropped without any need for me to tug it away. He began with dry presses before proceeding to oil. He knew quite a few different strokes, which means he’s been through proper training, but his pressure was on the light side. It is not easy for masseurs to know how much pressure a client likes, and so it is important to tell him. Still, he had a tendency to revert to his usual, relatively light pressure a little while each time after I told him to increase it. Although I had booked a 90-minute, I was disappointed too with the coverage. In 60 minutes, I don’t expect the massage to cover much more than the basic areas: back of legs, back and shoulders. In 90 minutes, I’d expect attention to more areas as well, such as the arms, front of legs, and chest. Teyko didn’t seem to have a clearly defined programme that distinguished between 60 and 90 minutes. The afters were enjoyable enough though. He was easily hard. That said, I don’t think I am a demanding person and should be easy to please. At this point, some readers may be hoping for a blow by blow account, but sorry, it’s not my style to get to that level of detail. What I can say is that Teyko was an S2 according to ShamelessMack's "famous" classification system. To round off the session, he offered to shower with me - an offer gladly accepted. He was sweet and good-looking but unfortunately, he spoke next to no English and there is only that much one can do through Google Translate. So, much as I’d like to, I found out very little about him. In total, I spent about one hour 25 minutes there. K-Man Spa’s pricelist showed 60-minutes to be 500 baht for oil massage (550 for aroma massage) and 600 baht for 90-minutes. The manager mentioned something about a minimum tip of 1,000 baht. Their advertising mentioned something about promotions, but either I was outside the applicable time period or it was conveniently forgotten in my case. Overall – would I go back to K-Man Spa again? Yes. Would I choose Teyko again? I think so.

Host boy is not as easy as it sounds. It requires language (English, Japanese, Chinese) and conversational skills. Just last night, I saw a bunch of women call a boy down from the stage only to discover within 5 minutes that no conversation could be had and sent him back. They probably tipped him and he'd get his 100 baht from the boy drink, so he didn't do too badly out of that, I suppose, 😛

There may be something to the post COVID angle. Some might have put on the kilos and know they won't look good in tight briefs now. But the bigger picture is this: pre or post COVID, the vast majority of people won't be caught dead gyrating away on a stage in underwear, so gogoboys has always been minority vocation. Each cohort in turn had suffered the ravages of age and moved on, to be replaced by the next cohort. Maybe the question is why the new cohort is smaller than the previous. Rising prosperity?

There's another possible reason: the manager and mamasans were all wearing suits. Part of the "higher class" look that they're aiming for, perhaps? They won't feel the cold, and think the airconditioning is just fine, while the boys and customers freeze their male-tits off. In a sense, one can say, even in the simple matter of temperature control, the (misguided) business design has closed off a feedback loop.

In New Twilight, shirts, jeans, shoes. Others reported that they are less dressed (exactly what?) after a certain late hour, but I didn't stay past 11:10pm at most. Can't report on what they wear later in the evening, even if that's the case.

White shorts. And I mean shorts, not bermudas. No shirts.