macaroni21

I think the address on their website is wrong. Either that was an old address, and they have since moved, but did not update the website (a very common issue in both Thailand and Philippines), or they deliberately put up a fake address on their website to throw off the authorities. Between corrupt police and a prevailing homophobia in the country, police raids, closely followed by TV cameras, are a known thing. A more detailed websearch indicates their real address is 1148 E. Rodrigues Sr Ave. If you put that address into Google map and click their street view, you will see this, a Fahrenheit sign on the buidling. I would not expect the inside of the place to be anything like their pictures. I would not trust any of their pictures either. For example, if you clicked "gallery" from their menu bar on their website ( https://fahrenheitcafe.com/gallery/) , you will see no photos, but a strange opening paragraph that says "An unforgettable dining experience in the heart of Covent Garden, London. Contemporary british menu, inspired by the traditions of Great Britain.". I think they ran out of money and didn't pay their website developer who abandoned the job halfway. I won't be surprised if the interior of the premises also has signs of running out of money and not paying the contractor properly.

Some members here would be breaking such a rule each time they step into a gogo bar. Based on their reports, and my own observations every now and then when I am nursing a drink in a bar, some customers readily give out tips just because a boy looks handsome. I have always thought that that is a kind of cancer. It has damaged the work ethic when, from the boys' perspective, earnings are not dependent on having to work for the money. Mamasans expect to be tipped despite having been a nuisance; "models" get garlands for just standing around. There was one bar doorman who expected to be tipped because he saw me walk by. Thankfully he was no longer there a few months later.

Is that the one in an old house about 200m from the National Museum? If so, I think it was. On a related note, I also had cashew nuts ice-cream in Brazil. No cashews to be seen, but there was the distinct flavour of cashews in in the cream part....

Thanks, Vinapu. As a matter of curiosity, I wonder how many members of this board have never experienced a pingpong girlie show.....

I agree.

I have tasted a version of "chicken in cashewnuts" (note the variation in the name of the dish) in Phnom Penh, where they were no crunchy nuts either. However, the chicken was bathed in a creamy sauce, and I could detect that what probably went into the cooking process was a long cooking time during the which the cashew nuts (which might have been pre-crushed into tiny bits) softened so much, they became the thickener in the sauce. I could taste the cashew in the sauce, which had the consistency of thick cream.

Oops, sorry. I was momentarily confused. I was somehow thinking of S'sense, but that place is in Suan Plu. The massage at 9teen was OK but not one I would consider worthy of a repeat.

PS David sends his regards. Who is David? Regards sent to whom?

Spoon is onto something. Based on 4-5 sessions with Silom 6 shops over the past 5 years, I'd say they are more rub-and-tug than any decent massage, with one exception. My recent visit to 9teen turned out well, with a pretty good massage. On the Surawong side ( Green, new Aravin) you're more likely to get a decent massage. The extras have always been available as well.

I trust that other members of this board are aware that if one substituted the word "American" for "Chinese" in the above comment, they would make exactly the things that locals in many Asian countries would say too.

There was one year when I happened to visit the city during one of these big events. The vast majority of the visitors at the event were Thais. I reckon they were either living in the Chonburi area or from Bangkok. I can't imagine them needing to spend an average of 8,333 baht per head. Even if that figure included hotel costs for 1 or 2 nights, they are almost all family groups, and so would have shared rooms.

I'm glad you appreciate the map that I have drawn, and yours is a good question that gives me a chance to explain the editorial policy behind the blog and its contents. To answer your specific question first, about the others that are left out ..... I have read about 27M massage near Inthamara 27, Home Massage about 100 metres short of the Vibhavadi Rangsit expressway, and 15M massage a bit NW of Exit 3 of Saphan Khwai. But (a) they are outside the boundaries of my map; (b) I have not verified their locations personally. My general policy for my blog is that what I say is based on personal observation and verification. It is not supposed to be a compendium of the many different things said by others. In the occasional post, I may refer to something reported by others. When that happens, I make that abundantly clear in the text. For maps, if I haven't verified its existance, it is not there. You will notice that I try to take a picture of a shop's front, as sort of proof it is real and that I saw it for myself. The drawback of such a policy is that the blog and its maps may omit places that I don't know about or haven't verified (it becomes under-inclusive). The upside is that I do not risk including things based on hearsay, e.g. resulting in the location marked wrongly. Of course, it would be great if others likewise build their own maps.

Wait.... who is this new bus service supposed to serve? If it is tourists arriving at Chiang Mai airport, then whoever planned or approved this is unfit for his or her job. Arriving tourists want to get to their hotels, not to trudge their luggage immediately to "well-known tourist destinations such as One Nimman, Chang Phueak Gate, Tha Phae Gate, Flower Market, Chiang Mai Gate". I magnified the map, and Chiangmai Boutique Lodge is the only stop with a name resembling that of lodgings. I don't see any other hotel listed amng the stops. Instead, we have totally irresistible places of interest 🤪 such as Suriwong Book Center, Mae Ping Post Office, Yupparaj School, Faculty of Pharmacy, and Computer City. To be fair, perhaps there are hotels near these bus stops, but if so, the least the map can do is to mark the hotels and indicate which stop is nearest which one. In the absence of such markings, hardly any arriving tourist is going to see any use for the service. It also seems to be a one-way route, going clockwise from the airport. Even if you're brave or impecunious enough to put your trust in this service, should your hotel be towards the end of the circular route, then you'd have to endure a very long ride - - and Chiang Mai's traffic can't have improved from "terrible" since I was last there 5 - 6 years ago) - - to your hotel. Look at how the Koreans do it. They have a number of express airport buses from Incheon airport to Seoul. Click their links and you see how they have a clear timetable, information about major hotels served and an app for real-time information. https://airportkobus.com/seoul-incheon-airport-bus/ https://airportkobus.com/the-incheon-airport-bus-6001-route-to-seoul/

** blush ** Thank you for the compliment and feather.

Only been there once, though good enough that I'd repeat when there's an opportunity. In that one time, my guy was nude from the start, and transitioned to body-to-body midway. That said, I don't know if that is just the guy I hired (whose face is no longer among the pictures that Apollo sends out, so I guess he has quit), or if it is house policy. In the Saphan Khwai places for example, I have yet to discern any house policy, for example. Technique and service standard vary from one guy to the next, and it's likely because the boys are freelancers. Frankly, this is something that the client can indicate, if the place is more brothel than massage. Since the boy is anyway going to remove his shorts midway, I doubt that he'd be offended if, at the very start, the client made some hand gestures that signal him to dispense with textile right away. He should only be delighted at the assurances of "special service required" and tip that are implied. I just glanced up at the pic of Baller again, and now I think he's more Iranian or Indian. Perhaps he is from the localised Indian community of Thailand (which may explain his speaking Thai).

Vinapu hit the nail on the head. Generally speaking, people come to this site for information about the sex-related aspects of travelling (whether Thailand, Brazil, Barcelona, or wherever). More specifically, about the opportunities to buy sex 😛. This is the "unique selling proposition", as they say in business, of this forum. Inevitably, a forum such as this attracts a tiny minority of visitors who see an opportunity to get all moralistic (or racist). It's like walking into a cutting-edge fine-dining restaurant and scolding diners for spending top dollar for food when there are people elsewhere living from hand to mouth. Like all instances when people do that, it is subconsciously so that they feel superior to others. (Or because they cannot afford fine-dining 😉). They seldom realise how moralism, racism and holier-than-thouism look to others (tip: not a pretty picture). Therefore, posters on this forum are not equal. I think many of us instinctively categorise posters into two kinds: those who make trip reports and have useful information to share, and those who don't make trip reports and have nothing but their egos on display. Phew, now that I've said it, I feel better too!

Oh no, you've got me wrong. I think their business model is fine, and I totally understand the obviously regular stream of clients they get (mostly local, I would think). As a group, the Saphan Khwai cluster is doing better than the massage/brothels of other districts. All business models comes with risks. The important thing to do is to identify them and take mitigative action. What I am saying it that individually, no shop has optimised its marketing communications to get ahead over its competitors in the same area, or improved its facilities enough to gain an edge. Yeah, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to getting bsuiness right. That said, marcomms-wise, the massage businesses are way ahead of the gogo bars who have either absent social media presence or poorly-aimed ones highlghting ladyboys dressed in excessive finery. Pricing-wise, the massage parlours/brothels are also a lot smarter. Facilities-wise, look at some of the gogo bars' toilets - how do they even compare with the massage parlour facilities?

Then you may want to give 365River a try. New building, ensuite showers. Very clean as well. Quiet neighbourhood; easy access from Bang Pho MRT station (in fact right under the station platform). Note of caution: my one and only experience was that the service sucked, though it's the luck of the draw with the boys.

You mean this guy? He looks Turkish to me. I'd take him over the African guy anytime. His tip expectations are at the lower end of the Apollo range too.

I'm usually happy enough to have 12 to choose from. In any case, as I have said a few times, looks are no predictor of performance. A brothel whose business model is built on offering >25 guys, especially if they are freelancers also listed by other, nearby businesses, takes on a number of risks: - there's a higher chance a boy may not be available when clients pick him, because when a sexworker is only one out of so many on your listing, the chance of being picked is lower, and after a while, he prioritises other means of getting work, and then "not available" leads to customer dissatisfaction; - it's impossible to maintain any kind of service quality; Brothels that list freelancers listed by many other businesses, also need to rethink why a client would choose them over the other businesses. What is their competitive edge when the same boy is available elsewhere? It can't be quality of the boys or their performance, it can't even be the expected tips, since the brothel can hardly control that. It has to be the quality of the premises (and its value proposition) and the ease of access - the elements the businesses can control. Yet, these brothels do not strive to go beyond the basics in terms of premises, and do not communicate why clients should prefer their facility over others. Nor do they even go beyond the most rudimentary instructions as to their location.

The photo is not the clearest, but good enough to make out that Apollo Massage now lists a guy of African ancestry. What is interesting though is that the requested tips are 3,000 baht for 1 hour and 3,500 baht for 1.5 hours, (I presume in-house). Not only are Apollo guys generally asking for higher tips than the Saphan Khwai places, as seen from their Line app sample, Dre is asking for twice higher. (Explanation: He is said to be 1.80m tall, weigh 78 kg and fits a condom of size 56, and he is top) Most boys advertised by Apollo offer three tip levels, e.g. "15/17/25" where the third figure indicates an outcall rate, but not this guy. Maybe no ID, so too risky to enter hotels? You can see my November 2023 review of Apollo here: https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2023/12/10/easy-come/

A report will be nice. Looking forward to it. But what made you think a reservation was necessary? (I'm assuming here that it was a table reservation, not reserving one or more of the models)

If up to me I would probably cap my expenditure in such a bar to 1200 - 1500 baht. That in turn implies a first drink plus 4 private dancers giving me 40 minutes of "hands-on" time.

Oh yeah, I forgot. He was wanting to run a bar in Pattaya. Well, all the more we need answers to my thought experiment (and not just from old daddy) to know how much sales revenue the idea will generate, and therefore whether it will be viable as a business model.

This is the kind of business stupidity that is all too common in Thailand. It is self-defeating. By adopting this stance, it ended up with everybody losing. Bar didn't get drinks orders. Boys didn't get tips. Customer didn't get a good time. The business does not know how to craft a winning formula that leaves everybody happy (One would imagine this is rule #1 of bsuiness marketing, and yet, it's like outer speace to many businesses in Thailand). Often, this failure to craft a better strategy is because (a) owners are unable to think critically and reexamine what they've always been doing, (b) they are completely unaware of the world beyond Thailand and therefore do not learn from seeing other strategies adopted by gay businesses outside Thailand. Here's a thought experiement for @Olddaddy Supposing Nice Boys had booths tucked deeper in the bar, and offered you this option that evening: 1. Take a chosen boy into a booth, and he will private-dance for you for ten minutes (implication: he will wiggle and swing his thing and you can fondle to your heart's content, except no cum) 2. Pay bar 100 baht. Pay boy 200 baht. Would you take up an offer like this -- where, for twice what you were tipping the boys, you get 10 minutes' worth rather than 1 minute's worth; the boy would earn 200 baht instead of 100 baht? The bar too would earn 100 baht without the cost of even pouring a drink compared to whatever the price of a boy drink (200 baht?) in Nice Boys. If you would take up such an offer, how many boys do you think your budget for that evening would allow for? Three boys (30 minutes' entertainment)? Four boys (40 minutes)?