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Hi @Londoner, Below is a hyperlink to a well written comparison of elder care in the Philippines vs. Thailand. https://medium.com/@dennis_13378/philippines-vs-thailand-which-country-is-better-for-affordable-senior-care-5c01325ff845 I extracted the below table that is included in the above hyperlinked article and you can see that the monthly cost range is very affordable - especially when I compare what we paid for my mother's end-of-life dementia care, which was around $9,000 to $9,500 per month, in Long Island, New York - exclusive of any additional fees if she fell down within the elder care center and had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance - as those were additional charges tacked onto the monthly invoice. Note, the below chart is not specific to Chiang Mai - it seems to be for all of Thailand. This article was written on Feb 25, 2026 - so it contains recent information. above chart provide by: BetterCare.Today @Londoner, here in Jomtien in the Grand Condotel complex grounds - in addition to the large Grand Condotel condo building, the grounds contain many villas - of which when you enter into the complex on the left side is located the https://www.pattayanursinghome.com/?lang=en Unfortunately, it is fully booked and they have expanded to a larger newer site that is further away from the beach. I asked Grok to summarize what it thinks the cost would be for dementia care in this institution and it replied with information at their newer facility in Chaipruek that is further inland and away from the beach.

The NEW diner, My Favorite Diner, in the Jomtien Complex, aka Supertown is having its soft opening. I will try to go and eat there within the next days to see how it is and report back here. My sense of it is that it may be owned by the same owner's as the Bueno Mexican restaurant - which is right next door.

I actually agree with what you wrote, except for the part where you mentioned to put the dementia afflicted person into an institution. After watching many of my relatives go through the horrors of slowly disappearing into the world of dementia with their final stage of life in an assisted care institution, I personally witnessed first hand their displeasure of being forced into an environment that they had no connection or familiarity with, often resulting in them becoming more recluse or angry with the sense of abandonment by their loved ones. In my pollyanna fantasy world, I would desire to find 2 guys to take care of me in my last years (hopefully even sooner) where these 2 guys love each other and would be willing to create a family with me. Why more than 1 guy? Dealing with a person day in and day out is truly exhausting and requires a lot of stamina and patience - so 2 guys would be the minimum so that when 1 needs a psychological or mental break the other guy can be there for me. I just want the last phase of my life to be at the sea with a seaview, as the sea has an incredible calming effect on me. Is this fantasy too pollyanna-ish?

The Wayback Machine is reporting that there was no further activity for ForoPirata.com after 28 April 2026 From the below screen shot gathered by the webcrawler the look and feel of the ForoPirata.com is similar to our gayguides.com forum - as in the blog/chat technology that was used.

Wow - crazy story. I am glad that the above picture was included - to make sure to avoid them on the apps here. This particularly low season is making people more aggressive - just today while walking through the Jomtien Supertown Complex after lunch - one of the massage guys (I won't say which shop) from one of the massage shops started yelling very loudly towards me - "hey mister you want massage?" I waved my hand no. Then he yelled very loudly so everyone could hear - "Come fuck me now!!" in an aggressive manner and I was at least 100 meters from where he was sitting. Many heads turned and there was no shame on his part.

I was hoping that in the job description we would see: social media marketing capabilities required Instead, if the below Google translation is correct, it seems that the PR staff that they are looking for would work within the bar to chat up the existing customer base. Also, the number of available positions is indicated as: Unlimited 😵‍💫

Do you have a plan for your final years - when perhaps elder care / assisted living may be necessary and traveling may become too inconvenient? Will your Thai partner come over to London to take care of you? Or will you make the big move to Thailand so that your Thai partner can take care of you in those last years?

I have had the same belief as you, where about 90% of the "heterosexual" MBs that I have met in my life - use the excuse of being a MB and doing it for the betterment of his family (as in having additional income) as an excuse for hiding their bisexualness or gayness (no need to come out). In other words, to "have his cake and eat it to..." With these 2 particular Russians - the first one was more bisexual than the 2nd one - who was more heterosexual-ish. The first one was single and the 2nd one was married. They were definitely both doing it to accumulate more income - as their primary sources of income; Youtube and soccer teaching, coaching and entertainment - did not earn enough income for the lifestyles that they wanted to maintain. When the 3 of us would be together - they were both hired to massage me and then for the traditional happy ending - they NEVER touched each other - but they would get very excited (almost as if to be in a competition) to see who could resist the longest from ejaculating when I would jerk them off. They would also get a kick out of seeing who shot their load the furthest.

I can share my local Russian adventure here in Jomtien and my ability to find a Russian MB was via Hornet. Within the Hornet grid of who is available near you - the foreigners tend to jump out because their photos reveal that they are not from Thailand and their profile information tends to be written in English. Within a Hornet profile there is a "Followers" tab and when you open this you can see who is following the person that you are interested in. Another clue that they are Russian is that you will see many followers listed from various Russian cities and you will see Russian language in many of those in-country profiles. Some years ago, I struck gold with a Russian MB that I saw frequently during a 12 month period. He is a local Youtube star and plays on the local Russian soccer team. After building up some confidence with him, he agreed to invite one of the other manly sexy Russian soccer guys from his team into our sessions. I really liked the other guy so much that I exchanged WhatsApp with him and I saw him independently of the first Russian guy. Unfortunately, him and his wife had to return to Russia and I lost contact with him and by then I lost interest in the original Russian guy - but for that 1 year period it was a lot of fun. Both of these guys are heterosexual and extremely discreet, so I cannot reveal anymore about them. My understanding is that there are more of them here in the Jomtien / Pattaya area. Pricing wise - they were demanding a higher price than the local guys (this is common for foreign MBs) - so not on the cheap side - but it was worth it for me, as I was able to connect with 2 soccer players who had amazing bodies and stamina and were super masculine.

Wow Jason, thanks for this positive review of the Joy Zone. I don't recall it being reviewed before in our forum. In my below post, I wrote that the next Massage Insider annual party will be in the Joy Zone on the 4th of July.

I guess they need some diversification in their marketing strategy ? I believe that it is owned by an American?

Your analysis is spot on and very accurate. Last year when I decided to stay out of Thailand for > 180 days and I chose to temporarily live in Vietnam (Da Nang) and the Philippines (primarily Cebu with some time in Boracay) - my goal was to find an alternate Plan B retirement destination solution to Thailand. I had anticipated that Da Nang would win - but after my stay there I realized that Da Nang is not a good destination, long term, for gay elderly foreigners who would want someone local to take care of them in those fragile end of life years. Consequently, the Philippines became the winner, as the Philippines exports 25% of the nurses worldwide. After visiting the Philippines I realized that this emphasis on the caretaking of the elderly is pervasive throughout their society - and is even emphasized and marketed to foreigners who would like to employ these services. One of my concerns is to not have to go back into the closet in that stage of life that would require elder care. The Philippines seems to be more open about (although not perfect) respecting gay rights much more than I felt would be available to me in Vietnam. So, for now, the Philippines shall remain my Plan B, should I not find a suitable elder care solution here in Thailand. https://medium.com/@dennis_13378/philippines-vs-thailand-which-country-is-better-for-affordable-senior-care-5c01325ff845

Thanks for the political update in the Philippines. After my trip there last year - I acquired some friends with their feet on the ground - and they even told me to hold off on moving there until the Strait of Hormuz and National Energy Emergency situation settle down, as all of these friends are now feeling the related negative economic consequences. My feeling is that Thailand is handling the Strait of Hormuz situation much better than the Philippines are and consequently the situation is less negative here in Thailand.

Fantastic Jason. 👍🤩 This Lumpini phenomena has truly taken off with huge success. Our very small Dongtan beach aerobics cannot compete with Lumpini.

I never feel trapped in Thailand - as I could, if necessary pick up my stuff and move to a nearby country - which was my plan from last year for this year to relocate over to the Philippines. That plan is now on hold due to the Strait of Hormuz situation where the Philippines government has declared a 1 year State of National Energy Emergency. Furthermore, the political situation has become unstable, as there was the gunfight that took place in the Senate last month related to the possible arrest, due to an ICC warrant, for Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa - in the ongoing trial of former president Rodrigo Duterte at The Hague. Moreover, there is a movement to arrest and impeach Sara Duterte (VP and daughter of Rodrigo Duterte). Sara wishes to run as the next President of the Philippines in the year 2028 election cycle. Consequently, the government is now very unstable. Probably better to wait until after the 2028 elections to decide if a move is worth it or not. I totally agree. I would not buy a condo here as that would trap you in case you discover that Thailand is not for you and you may lose money on the sale of the condo. There is currently a huge overabundance of empty condos for rent and the prices seem to be declining (here in Jomtien/Pattaya) - so it is a good renters market. If after 1 or 2 years of living here you decide that Thailand is for you - then you could consider buying a condo. What I did when I moved here was to initially rent an AirBnB in the buildings on Dongtan beach that I really liked. Then when I found the condo building that I had a good vibe and energy with - that is where I signed my 2 year lease with (longer lease = better price). @Olddaddy, I live in one of the View Talay condo complexes and I believe that they give you good value for money because they were built in the period of time (from 1997 until 2008) when the concept of small Hong Kong style condos were not yet trendy. Consequently, a typical studio has 49 square meters and a 1 bedroom has 98 square meters with large balconies. The one that I live in is well maintained and the staff that work here are truly like family. The newer condos of today tend to be very small - postage size with miniscule balconies. Please note that there are eight View Talay condo complexes in the Pattaya / Jomtien area. 1 of the 8, View Talay 6 - is the condo building over in Pattaya City and is physically next to the Central Festival shopping mall. The remaining seven View Talay condo buildings are all in Jomtien. In the below Google Map that I prepared for you the View Talay condo buildings that are closest to the Jomtien Complex, aka Supertown AND also on the seaside of the busy Thappraya road are (hence no need to cross the busy Thappraya Road) View Talay 7 - it sits behind Supertown just in front of the beginning of Dongtan beach, View Talay 5C and 5D - these 2 sit just north of the Supertown complex, View Talay 3A and 3B - these 2 sit more north of the Supertown complex - very near to where the gay volleyball takes place on Dongtan beach - but to walk to Supertown would take at least 10 minutes. The 2 View Talay complexes that would require you to cross the busy Thappraya Road are: View Talay 2A and 2B - they are directly across the busy Thappraya Road from Supertown, View Talay 1A and 1B - they are more north and across both the busy roads of Thappraya Road and also Thepprasit Road. These 2 condo buildings sit directly behind the Jomtien airport bus terminal for the bus to the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. For the remaining 2 View Talay condo buildings there are: View Talay Residence 4 - a low rise type of condo residence building, View Talay 8 - which is very far south on the Jomtien Beach road - almost at the beginning of the next community = Na Jomtien. I recently inquired about the Thai Privilege Visa (5 year BRONZE) which has a 1 time cost of 650,000 baht - which expires on 30 September 2026. My thinking (before the war in Iran) was to buy this 5 year BRONZE visa this year - prior to the current fixed price deadline - which would buy me 5 years until my age 70. Originally, I was going to also go over to the Philippines to obtain the SRRV retirement visa - which is valid for life. Due to my previous employer the cost to acquire this SRRV was only $1,400 (processing fee) with only $1,500 locked up in a Filipino bank account for life (much more favorable than the Thailand non-O immigrant retirement visa which requires you to lock up 800,000 baht - approximately $24,500 in a Thai bank account). My idea was to have both the Thai Privilege Visa (BRONZE) and Philippines SRRV simultaneously to allow me to go back and forth as I wish with legal residency in both countries. The longer term plan is to obtain the Thailand BOI LTR Wealthy Pensioner visa at my age 69, because it requires proof of $80,000 USD in passive income (retroactively for 2 years) and this LTR visa is valid for 10 years and there is no income tax on income that is from outside of Thailand. Unfortunately, I currently cannot qualify financially but at my age 67 I will be able to - but I will need to accumulate another 2 years of eligibility due to the retroactive clause - hence age 69. The other benefit of the LTR visa is that you do not need to lock up any money in a bank account.

I live here so it is 12 months per year and if I am lucky I can go and visit the nearby countries - like I did last year with 2 months in Cebu/Boracay and 4.5 months in Da Nang. I am fortunate in that the employer that I retired from provides health care for life via Global Cigna. So, that issue is taken care of. Home for me was the USA until 1999 when I left Denver for Rome, Italy. After living outside of the USA now for 27 years, the definition of "no place like home" has less meaning for me. When I do occasionally return to the USA for a visit - after 27 years it no longer feels like "home". I feel more at "home" when I am in Italy, Hungary, or now Thailand. At this stage in my life, I believe that the other proverb is more relevant: "Home is where the heart is" What I have learned from being an expat of 27 years - is does your heart hurt when you leave your host country? Does your heart feel contentment, familiarity, and euphoria when you return to your host country? If the answer is yes - then for me that is home. When I enter or leave the USA I only feel pain, fear, and stress. When I enter or leave Italy, Hungary, or Thailand - I feel happiness and longing to come back. So, why did I chose Thailand over Italy/Hungary? It made the most economical sense and medical care sense. Will I remain in Thailand for the remainder of my life? With the potential threat of succumbing to dementia (it runs rampant in my family history) I would stay in Thailand if I could find a partner that is trustworthy and that I could trust with my welfare (care giving) during dementia. My plan B is to continue my investigative work over in the Philippines - as there is still time.

This is a very hard question to answer. After living here for almost 4 years - here in the Pattaya/Jomtien area, this is what I perceive: There are 3 types of foreigners in the expat community, as follows: Seasonals - they own or rent a place here during high season and come to stay for less than 6 months - thus avoiding to become a tax resident. Tourists - they come for 30 days or less and are generally passing through Pattaya heading onto somewhere else. Full Time Expats (FTE) - they live here all year round and Thailand is home for them. Of these 3 groups - my sense of it is that the Seasonals are the most happiest, then the tourists, and then the FTEs* However, I assign one important caveat that can put the FTE into first place - that is to be in a full time relationship and in love and enjoying the Thailand experience to its fullest. I am in the 3rd category, FTE - without a partner. I have tried on 2 separate occasions to have a Thai partner - and during the initial phase of each distinct relationship, life was great. But in both cases things fell apart due to the usual issues about constant requests for money due to extended family issues. Unfortunately, the dating pool in the Pattaya area is full of guys who are not from Pattaya - but moved here out of financial necessity - as they come from poor families where there are not good opportunities for success. Those FTEs that I see and know who are the happiest are those who have found a true Thai partner and the relationship works without the money issue becoming problematic. Those kinds of partners, in my opinion, are very hard to find here. Another strange thing is that most of my farang friends are in the Seasonal category - as I tend to get along with that group the best. So, when they are here for the 5 months of the year - life is good. But when they return to their home countries, during the 7 months of low season - life becomes more difficult and lonely. I have had very limited luck with making true friendships with the FTE category of people who live here full time. They tend to be in 2 different camps: reserved and closed off to new friendships - as they have been burned by other FTEs in the past, alcoholics and want to drink alcohol at a rate that I cannot sustain - nor do I want to. Sometimes I refer to them as, "farang sit farang drink". Anyone else have a similar or different experience in Thailand?

Sometimes these types of sickness can originate from the A/C unit. Make sure that the A/C filter is clean (the internal one). I wash mine 1 time every 2 months in the shower - you would be amazed what comes off of the filters. Also, the part of the A/C that is external to the condo (as in outside) should be serviced/cleaned at a minimum of 1 time per year or 1 time every 6 months. That is a bigger operation and when I have mine cleaned (there are 2 in my condo - one on each balcony) it is a big event and usually 2 to 3 technical guys come to do the power washing of the external unit after disassembling the outer covering to reach the internal components. That water (and related splash back) is usually very dark in color = yuck. Also, try to air out your living space at least 1 time per day to get "fresh air" to circulate inside. The few times that I feel that I am getting sick from the A/C (I find it annoying - especially in the throat area - when trying to sleep) I sleep with the A/C off in the bedroom and leave the A/C on in the living room - in that way the A/C air is not directly hitting me while I am sleeping.

Good luck living on that type of budget = 833 baht per day (25k / 30 days). A more realistic monthly budget is 60k to 70k baht (based on the above mentioned assumption that you bought an apartment and don't have rent to pay). On some days it is possible, but on many it is not, if you want to do the things that you describe on your above list. Also, if friends come over to visit you - they are in vacation mode (with a travel fun budget that they saved up all year) and that 833 baht per day suddenly becomes 2,000 to 4,000 baht per day. and in my opinion, this is the hardest part of retirement - how do you repurpose yourself? How do you find new purpose in your life?

I knew of 2 bars like this in Rome, Italy in the early years of 2000. "XL: Mi piaci, ti chiamo" - this was a discreet gay bar near the Pantheon in Rome where they had physical old style rotary phones on the bar tables and you could call someone over at a nearby table to chat. The only thing was that there was 1 phone per table and if the wrong person would answer you had to kindly ask the person to hand the "cornetto" handset to the person that you were interested in talking with. Unfortunately, the person who would usually answer the phone was usually the more extroverted person at the table and then he would torture you with a million questions trying to ascertain from which table you were calling from - to screen your call - truly annoying. When you finally made contact with the person that you were interested with you could have a nice conversation but everyone at the same table would be participating in the call. https://www.gay.it/xl-mi-piaci-ti-chiamo The other bar in Rome that had a similar theme was called, "Edoardo II" on vicolo Margana. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of this dedicated theme night, perhaps, biglietteria or bigliettino ? Anyway, at each table were pieces of paper, like a post it note, and you would write your seduction/introduction note and give it to the sexy waiter to deliver to table X - each table had its own number and you would discreetly tell the waiter which person at the designated table that you were interested in. When the message was delivered by the water he would point you out so that the reader of your message knew who you were. I found this event more fun as an icebreaker than the above mentioned rotary telephone bar - because nobody could monopolize the rotary phone using this paper based methodology. It was truly a lot of fun and I went to "Edoardo II" on many occasions and I was able to meet many Italian guys as a consequence. Our very own @TotallyOz makes reference to this bar/restaurant in his 2013 post: Do any bars like this still exist in Thailand?

Dear @jimmie50, it was a great pleasure and honor to have been able to meet both you and Cam for our lovely day over on Koh Larn. Cam is truly adorable and ever so manly. I loved the way that Cam would surprise you (by touching you with cold ice) to get your attention (because I was always chewing your ear off). What I really like about Cam is that he does not overdo the social media stuff and he truly tries to stay in the realm of real life and connected to you. I was very impressed and a bit envious - as it is very rare with today's youth to find someone who does enjoy the real life outside of social media postings. I also see that you are very happy and pleased with Cam and I have a good feeling for your eventual new life over in Cambodia. Remember what I said, after you guys are settled in your new place - after 6 months or so, expect a visit from me :>))

Today I tried to get the estimated headcount for yesterday's Bangkok Pride Parade and the various media reports were reporting from a low of 50,000 people all the way up to 300,000 people. I know that this specific Pride event is important to Thailand, as they are competing with Barcelona for the rights to host the 2030 World Pride event - hence the inclusion of the longest Pride rainbow flag ever for Thailand. The desire to beat out Barcelona for Thailand to host the 2030 World Pride event has gained the endorsement of many politicians and corporate sponsors with deep pockets. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/pr/3264228/siam-piwat-joins-bangkok-pride-2026-backing-the-citys-bid-for-world-pride-2030#google_vignette If Thailand will win the 2030 World Pride event, I hope that they do not forget to tell the world that gay life in Thailand extends beyond Bangkok - from Chiang Mai, all the way down to Phuket and Koh Samui, and of course here in Pattaya.

Hi @MichaelJay70, There are 4 steps to get access to the Massage Insider Telegram group: In Twitter (X) use the search function to locate @massageinside6 - and then send the owner of this X handle a DM (Direct Message) and tell him that you would like to join the Ultra Plus LINE and Telegram group. He can chat in English and he will tell you what the subscription fee is (it is based on which services you want to utilize and when in the year you are subscribing - as there tends to be an annual renewal process). See below screen shot: Pay the subscription fee and show him the proof-of-payment. In my case, I showed him my Thai bank transfer and/or PromptPay QR code. I believe that I paid 699 baht for this VIP access - renewable annually - and the subscription fee can fluctuate. I notice that at the end of each year that they discount the early birds who renew before their existing subscriptions expire. Once the admin confirms receipt of your subscription payment, he will then invite you to join the LINE group - of which there are 3: Ultra Plus - linked to the Telegram access, Massage Insider (you may see multiple occurrences of these groups because I believe that LINE limits each chat group to <501 members), LINE OpenChat room (as per Grok these are limited to < 200,000 members - and this is the mechanism to get all of your individual 500 person groups into 1 single common chat space) 4. After you conclude with all of the above related LINE group/chat assignments the admin will send you a link to enter into the related private Telegram group - as shown below: Useful notes to enjoy the maximum benefits of these chat groups: Turn on your phones auto AI translate feature - as 99% of the chats are in Thai. I have a Samsung Android based phone, so I activate the Galaxy AI Live Translate feature. As I am not familiar with the Apple iPhone world - I had to ask Grok to see how you can do this and Grok states that Apple limits Live Translation to work only with Apple related apps, like iMessage. Below Grok provided some Apple work arounds to be able to overcome theses Apple restrictions: 2. By joining Ultra Plus you are entitled to get a 100 THB discount (for up to 10 visits for each massage shop) - which is a 1,000 baht discount. When I joined, there were 6 participating massage shops - all in Bangkok - so that would entitle you to 60 visits for a total discount of 6,000 baht. They are always trying to expand the list of participating massage shops (MSENSE was recently added to the original list of 6) - so they may already be up to 8 to 10 shops already. So, even though I paid 699 baht to join (I may have caught a promotional subscription price) - the value of being a member is well worth it with all of the available discounts, gossips on which shops do what - and related masseur reviews with sometimes juicy xxx info, parties and events - for me it is worth it. As they like to say in Thailand, it is "Up to You". Enjoy.

Hi Joost, I am based in Thailand - but prior to living in Thailand I was living in Europe - so I do not know if the Google Play store considers me as EU or Thailand? Below is my receipt from the Google Play store from 1 February 2024 when I purchased my 1 year reoccurring HeeSay subscription. My payment method was PayPal - so I am not sure if that makes a difference. When I have had difficulties in the past with Google Play / Google TV purchases, I have tried different VPN locations until the correct combination allows me to make the purchase. Generally, I need to do this when I want to pay for a movie that I want to see that is not enabled for viewing/purchase here in Thailand or does not have the language combination (subtitles) that I require (as I like to watch many foreign language films). --> Note that I cannot remember if I used a VPN to make the Blued / HeeSay subscription - but I remember purchasing it in February 2024 for my traditional April trip to Vietnam to escape from the craziness of the Songkran festivities here in Thailand - as I wanted it pre-loaded and functioning before I arrived in Vietnam. I also use it here in Thailand and it is my 2nd favorite app after Hornet. However, in Vietnam, Hornet is hardly used and as per Grok HeeSay is the number 1 app (for gay meetups) used in Vietnam.

I agree, as you know I spent 4.5 months last year living in Da Nang and documenting my stay in my related trip report in this forum. Unfortunately, my friends who still live in Da Nang are now telling me that due to the success of Vietnam being able to attract tourists/residents from all over the world, many of my Da Nang friends are now reporting to me that the cost for long term leases have doubled in many cases when their annual rental leases came up for renewal. Furthermore, they report that to find a new condo/apartment/townhouse to rent has become very difficult because, due to high demand, they are being rented before they can even go to see them - as there are now not enough units available near the popular An Thuong and My Khe beach areas. Consequently, for those that don't want to relocate away from the beach area or to move to across the Han River to stay over in the city area - they are starting to relocate into other nearby coastal cities.