macaroni21

After a short ride, I think about 5 minutes, the shuttle train arrives at another shockingly sterile station on the satellite terminal end.  Go up the escalators.

Once up, the first thing that you see is a phalanx of duty-free shops, But of course. Actually, they're not that many. Perhaps more will open when passenger traffic increases, but....

Here's a map of the satellite terminal. The commercial spaces are coloured in tan or dun. As you can see there are not that many spaces earmarked and most of those lots in the middle part of the terminal are already occupied. So I don't think there will ever be many more of these duty-free and brandname shops. In any case, I have long wondered who the heck goes to airports to buy fancy brand merchandise. But then, Thailand has long been a bit behind in its thinking, still catering to glamour travel when the age of mass travel (complete with football yobs) has been upon us for decades.

They did learn from the mistakes when the main terminal was first built- which for some mysterious reason had next to no toilets for the public or passengers. In the main terminal, they went totally overboard in allocating spaces for commerical use (RENTAL INCOME!!!) such that basic amenities like toilets and sitting areas were totally sacrificed. Looking at the map above, the toilets appear to be plentiful in the satellite terminal. 

The floor above the concourse level has lounges. Or maybe just the one lounge "Miracle Lounge". As members of the board may know, I don't fly business class (waste of money, and not being plus-sized, no need for larger seats) or care for lounges, so I didn't go up to explore.

There were only four F&B outlets in the staellite terminal. Fortunately, I was flying on a full-service airline. If one were on a low-cost airline that does not serve meals on board (other than instant noodles, etc, at ridiculous prices) and needed to eat before boarding, options would be limited to McDonalds, Burgerking, Ginger Farm Kitchen and Koh Hup (which also serves burgers + some Thai dishes). The airport authority does not look very smart in its choices of F&B; they could have had a wider range of food.




Another difference from the main terminal is the way the gates now do not come with them own designated waiting rooms. It's open-plan now. There were few flights out of the satellite terminal, so it was mostly deserted.

Another proof as to how behind the curve the airport designers/authority are lies in the provision of charging points. These are few and far between. You would think that every row of seats should be equipped with them, but no, only about one in five or six rows. So that means roughly one set of outlets for every 50 seats. I tried to charge my phone just to test them out (I really didn't need charging, but just wanted to try) and guess what?  There was no juice. The electrical outlets, even when installed, had no electricity! 
I tried another one. Also dead.
In this picture, notice how only the front row has charging points. The rows behind do not.

 

On a related note, I departed Bangkok last month via the satellite terminal. Here are some pictures I took, which should give you an idea of the shiny new addition to the airport.
The gates for the satellite terminal are numbered starting with the letter "S", as you can see from the sign hanging from the ceiling in the main terminal. 

Follow the signs and they will lead you to a set of escalators going down deep into the basement.
 
 
More escalators, but this time there are staff to make sure that you're headed in the right direction. 

Then you're down into an utterly sterile space where you wait for the shuttle train.

To be continued.
 
 
 

You've only noticed it now? I've been saying this for years now. It's also been there in the official tourism statistics for over a decade. Asian tourists far outnumber westerners in both the general as well as gay traffic. And here I qualify that I am not using "asian" in the UK sense where it means indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi, but I mean the oriental Asian (what a quaint term).
 

You've only noticed it now? I've been saying this for years now. It's also been there in the official tourism statistics for over a decade. Asian tourists far outnumber westerners in both the general as well as gay traffic. And here I qualify that I am not using "asian" in the UK sense where it means indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi, but I mean the oriental Asian (what a quaint term).
 

Spot on!
One evening last week, 8:20pm. Mack and friend walk past two doormen for a gogo bar, on his way to Foodland.
Doorman 1: "Boy bar, gogo bar," making arm movement to invite entry into his bar.
Mack: "It's only 8:20. You're not even open."
Doorman 2: "Have many boy."
Mack: "And I have many hungry. For food."
Doorman: 1 "Come back later?"
Mack: "Maybe. We'll see."
Doorman: 1 "Tip?"
 

Here's a new video on Youtube touching on Malaysia Hotel and the Ngam Duphli/Sri Bamphen area. Interesting bits of information.
 

You are absolutely correct, @macaroni21. This time, I didn't go 'institutional' and sampled the freelance offers. Indeed, they are in the same ballpark, and 750k was a single occurrence.
I was disappointed with the deterioration of the message quality (massage, not 'massage') but, to be fair, the comparison is not entirely consistent: my previous samples were mostly (though not exclusively) institutional while the latest sample was 100% freelance and one shouldn't simply assume that they always have the same standards. Quite possibly, I've experienced not the deterioration of quality but the gap between the two standards.

Thank you @dscrtsldnbi. Good to know the rates that you found and the rates I found (a year earlier) are roughly in the same ballpark, though mine was more "institution" based and yours more freelance, if I'm reading your notes correctly.
I wrote 400 - 500k IDR with one example of 600k. You wrote "A massage session with extras would be IDR 400k - IDR 750k." (I think your 750k instance was a sample of one too, right?) @floridarob who always seems good at getting the best deals wrote "300,000-400,000 seem to be the norm, I paid someone 500,000 last november."

Thank you @dscrtsldnbi. Good to know the rates that you found and the rates I found (a year earlier) are roughly in the same ballpark, though mine was more "institution" based and yours more freelance, if I'm reading your notes correctly.
I wrote 400 - 500k IDR with one example of 600k. You wrote "A massage session with extras would be IDR 400k - IDR 750k." (I think your 750k instance was a sample of one too, right?) @floridarob who always seems good at getting the best deals wrote "300,000-400,000 seem to be the norm, I paid someone 500,000 last november."

Some update from December 2023 - January 2024:
 

@cuervoanderson you're in luck. I just posted an updated map of the gay ghetto this morning. Many of the hotels mentioned by others are marked. Except Rose Hotel, which I somehow forgot. It'll have to be amended when I get some time. See https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2023/12/07/map-of-silom-surawong-area-december-2023/

Two quick comments: 
1.  Beware artist's renditions - rooms may be smaller than they look in the pictures.
2. The thing that struck me was the tiny window. Surely it was possible to have a bigger one?

Only one hour? Count your lucky stars. I've experienced much worse.

I have been to Negombo twice, both times because I wanted to be near the airport in the days before departure. As @fedssocr said, there's really nothing that would make Negombo an attraction in itself. The beach is difficult to access and is nowhere as nice as the beaches beyond Galle. Negombo is not even in a convenient location for accessing other attractions around Sri Lanka, which are mostly inland and in the mountains (other than the beach towns beyond Galle).
I did have a massage once in Negombo that included a handjob, a so-so experience. I cannot now remember what the name of the place was, but it's not something I would want to make a trip for. I just happened to be in the town with nothing better to do.

Only one hour? Count your lucky stars. I've experienced much worse.

I had read their reviews. There were some red flags in some of the reviews, but most of the other reviews were quite positive. I decided to go see the place. When I arrived, the gate/door was closed, but not blocked. I opened that and walked into the downstairs area. If you look on their website, they’re sitting on a couch talking to people often times.the area was filthy. The couch was filthy with obvious stains. There was a piece of cloth on a table next to the couch that was filthy. There were dishes in a sink to the right that looked like they hadn’t been washed in a week.
 
I decided there was no way that I would go in there. and I also decided that there was no way I would have a massage there. So I left.
 
I went to a spa that charged almost as much as Tori spa. Presumably, a totally legit spa. I was looking for a good massage. I got a good massage and scrub. It was beautiful. And my massage therapist gave me a happy ending which I was not expecting. So, I would strongly discourage people from going to Tori spa. It was hard to imagine that anyone would operate a business with that level of filth 

Two quick comments: 
1.  Beware artist's renditions - rooms may be smaller than they look in the pictures.
2. The thing that struck me was the tiny window. Surely it was possible to have a bigger one?

Two quick comments: 
1.  Beware artist's renditions - rooms may be smaller than they look in the pictures.
2. The thing that struck me was the tiny window. Surely it was possible to have a bigger one?

Here's a new video on Youtube touching on Malaysia Hotel and the Ngam Duphli/Sri Bamphen area. Interesting bits of information.
 

I have been to Negombo twice, both times because I wanted to be near the airport in the days before departure. As @fedssocr said, there's really nothing that would make Negombo an attraction in itself. The beach is difficult to access and is nowhere as nice as the beaches beyond Galle. Negombo is not even in a convenient location for accessing other attractions around Sri Lanka, which are mostly inland and in the mountains (other than the beach towns beyond Galle).
I did have a massage once in Negombo that included a handjob, a so-so experience. I cannot now remember what the name of the place was, but it's not something I would want to make a trip for. I just happened to be in the town with nothing better to do.

Here's a new video on Youtube touching on Malaysia Hotel and the Ngam Duphli/Sri Bamphen area. Interesting bits of information.
 

Here's a new video on Youtube touching on Malaysia Hotel and the Ngam Duphli/Sri Bamphen area. Interesting bits of information.
 

Here's a new video on Youtube touching on Malaysia Hotel and the Ngam Duphli/Sri Bamphen area. Interesting bits of information.
 

Here's a new video on Youtube touching on Malaysia Hotel and the Ngam Duphli/Sri Bamphen area. Interesting bits of information.
 

Here's a new video on Youtube touching on Malaysia Hotel and the Ngam Duphli/Sri Bamphen area. Interesting bits of information.