Londoner

I paid the agreed fare. I've always found Thai taxi drivers honest and considerate.

Those d**n Evangelicals and their deranged money-grabbing preachers, like Kenneth Copland. A bizarre perversion of Christianity....minus the love.

Thanks! It always cheers me to hear of posters' happy returns to Thailand! Happy and eager to follow. I was amused by your "lost" taxi driver. Recently, I took a taxi from the airport to the Jomtien Complex and we ended -up exploring parts of that fair city ( in the dark) which I didn't know existed after the driver got lost. Heaven knows where we ended-up, a frustration after twelve hours in the plane. "Jomtien Complex!" I repeatedly cried which , when he used his google sounded like....well, I don't know what but it certainly had nothing to with Jomtien. Or Complex. Eventually, I said to him "Talay! Talay" (the sea), and even though my Thai pronunciation is worse than his English, we arrived.

True....and as for after effects, I was so ill the night after my smallpox vacc that I thought that death was imminent! Five Covid vaccs- four Pfizer and the last one Moderna- and not a bad moment, even though I'm fifty years older. And I didn't get smallpox either.

I'd suggest that, over the last twenty-five years, the age-profile of gay falang visitors has increased markedly. There were rarely men under sixty or so in the Jomtien Complex when I was last there in November. At the same time, it is possible that the medication and care which we receive now for conditions associated with age is better. Perhaps some of the over-seventies enjoying Pattaya today would not have been around years ago?

Ever the pessimist and with my next trip planned for March, my nightmare scenario is that the influx of Chinese tourists from a country which has yet to control the pandemic will lead to "hotspots" in Thailand in tourist areas. This could result in the Government panicking and, before long, we could be back to the dreaded Pass- or even quarantine. I felt for those whom the just-rescinded regulations affected but for those who've been vaccinated ( I assume the vast majority), presenting a piece of paper at check-in wouldn't have been too much trouble. Unlike experiencing a spike in Covid cases.

We shall need to show proof at check-in. An interesting post on the Sawatdee Forum reports that 20% of Chinese visitors to a Korean airport have just proved positive when taking a mandatory Covid test on arrival.

Is a visa to the US that easy for a Thai to obtain? Certainly not true for a Thai wishing to visit the Island Fortress of the UK.

For those of us getting older, carpe diem. Spend as much time as you can with your loved-one. Or ones! And have as much fun in 2023 as you possibly can.

Austrian Airlines was recommended to me before EVA was back in the sky. Change of plane in Vienna of course....plenty of choice if memory serves. Personally, I wouldn't mind a day or so in Vienna. I'm paying £2500 for an EVA trip in March and £3400 in July.

Balcony, Soi4? I like the food there, too. Plus people-watching. Perhaps amore lively environment than in Patpong?

There is a brand-new fitness centre between Surawong an Silom, almost next to Tarntawan. Perhaps there' s a pool there?

I'm paying about 1300bht pn in March via Agoda. More than in November but less than pre-Covid. A good price I think.

I've never met a Thai guy on the scene who wanted to go to a o-go bar.....unless it was to see a show. I remember trying it twice in my early days and it didn't work. My advice is to book two rooms, if possible. You can spend quality time together and give each other space for other activities. I assume you are as comfortable with him having fun as you are for yourself?

Transactional sex can be mysterious. Our mood and the way we communicate can differ by the night, but that is also true of guys on the scene. I certainly remember occasions when I offed a smiling, seemingly enthusiastic guy from a bar and, on the way back to the hotel, realised that It wasn't going to be good. It was like meeting two different guys. Sometimes our style just doesn't work. For example, an old expat friend, now sadly departed, on one of my early inexperienced trips raved about a particular guy and advised me to meet him. I did and couldn't get any response him- he seemed uncomfortable. The assignation was my shortest ever! What surprised me was that I had seen my friend be quite aggressive, even overwhelming with the guys while I'm a lot more gentle. I assumed that a guy would prefer my style. I was obviously completely wrong. It was long ago but it taught me something.....that the guys on the Pattaya scene, like us, are not all the same. And that also like us, their attitudes, wishes and preferences can vary even by the day.

Why should anyone want to when there so many gays available? Isn't mutual enjoyment preferable?

I was fascinated by their childhood experiences in Isaan and so on. About the arrival of electricity to their homes, twenty or so years ago and its impact. And where applicable, their experiences when they did their "monk duty". I wanted to learn about their reactions to their arrival in Pattaya and (if they were forthcoming- not all were!) about their feelings when they were first offed. And of course, about their lives in Pattaya, where they lived, how they lived....so much! Some guys weren't communicative of course and many lacked the necessary English but those who could express themselves taught me a lot.

I learnt very quickly when I became a Pattaya regular that older guys were more fun, that they were more likely to be able to converse in decent English and that their experience of sex made them better practitioners. And that they kept their looks.

Can the Thai tourist industry survive long-term without Chinese visitors? and how can the gay scene return to former glories if the tourist industry as a whole doesn't flourish? chiang Mai was certainly suffering badly in November. And parts of Pattaya are pretty depressing too. As far as Bangkok is concerned, I was interested to discover that money exchanges in the Silom and Surawong areas are almost non-existent. I had to queue up at a bank.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/19/girl-7-raped-at-thai-factory-supplying-clothes-for-tesco-while-mother-worked More disturbing....some may say disgusting....revelations.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/18/workers-in-thailand-who-made-ff-jeans-for-tesco-trapped-in-effective-forced-labour

It's not parties that are the issue; it is parties that impinge on the rights of other people, parties which entertain a small minority and screw-up the evenings and nights of others. Sorry to sell The Good Old Days, yet again, but decades ago when go go bars operated until the last customer left, noise wasn't an issue because the d**n places had doors. And walls. This was one of the reasons why I objected to the BT aural pollution; the guilty bars were the biggest in the soi and could easily have accommodated the party-goers within their buildings. JC is different. Noise cannot be contained by more than two or three businesses. And so it behoves the owners to behave in an appropriate manner, one which allows punters to talk with guys and each other.

Yes, Koreans much in evidence. The Korean restaurants were usually the only mall-restaurants that were full. Apart from MK, of course. I tentatively suggest that there may have been fewer Indian guys in November than July.

Like Macaroni, I'm a noise-refugee from BT. One of the many things that annoyed me was that the noise was for the benefit of owners and their friends. The worst of all the nights I endured was when the owner of a well-known venue in BT had a birthday party not in the bar, not at his home but outside my room. I wasn't invited! And then, another owner put on a show for a friend's birthday outside Panorama rather than in his own bar. I had a look at about 01.00. An amplified singer was performing-loudly- for an audience of four. Yes, I counted.

I can't comment on the bars but, in general terms, I thought the difference in terms of the number of falang visitors, between my July and my November visits seemed minimal. I would qualify that by noting that Agate was busier though that was reflected in more straight guests. I must confess to having been a little disappointed, particular by BKK; I'd hoped to see the first signs of a High Season.